What should a Shopify store audit cover?

Written by David • September 11, 2026

If sales have levelled off, traffic is fine but conversion isn’t, or you’ve inherited a store from someone else, an audit is usually the right place to start.

It’s tempting to go straight to a redesign. But a lot of the problems that hold stores back can be fixed without rebuilding anything, and an audit tells you which ones they are.

Here’s what a good audit should cover.

Speed and performance

Slow stores lose sales, particularly on mobile. An audit should look at how quickly key pages load and why. The usual culprits are heavy themes, oversized images and apps that load scripts on every page, even ones where they aren’t used.

The path to purchase

This is where most of the value is. The audit should follow the route a customer takes, from landing on the site to completing an order, and look for anything that slows them down or puts them off:

Can people find what they’re looking for through the navigation and collections?
Do product pages answer the obvious questions? Size, materials, delivery times, returns.
Is the photography doing its job?
Are there enough reasons to trust you, such as reviews, clear contact details and a proper returns policy?
Are there surprises at checkout, like unexpected delivery costs?

Mobile

Most shopping traffic is on phones. The store needs reviewing on an actual phone, not just a shrunk-down desktop view. Small tap targets, long pages and pop-ups that are hard to close all cost sales.

Apps and running costs

Apps are easy to install and easy to forget about. An audit should list what’s installed, what each one costs per month and whether it’s still earning its place. It’s common to find a few being paid for that nobody uses.

Search

The basics matter. Page titles and descriptions, duplicate content, broken links, missing image descriptions and redirects from any old URLs. None of it is glamorous, but it all affects how easily people find you.

Tracking and analytics

If your numbers aren’t right, every decision based on them is a guess. The audit should check that analytics, ad pixels and conversion tracking are set up properly and recording what they should.

Email and retention

Winning a new customer costs more than keeping one. Check whether abandoned basket emails, welcome emails and post-purchase follow-ups are in place and working.

What you should get out of it

Not a 60-page report you’ll never read. A useful audit gives you:

A clear, prioritised list of what to fix.
Quick wins separated from bigger changes.
An honest view on whether the store needs a redesign, or just some focused work.
A rough idea of what each change will cost.

The goal is to leave you knowing exactly where to spend your time and budget.