The short answer: A Shopify CRO audit follows five steps — analytics review, checkout funnel analysis, product page evaluation, site speed assessment, and mobile experience audit. Start with your GA4 data to identify the biggest conversion drop-off point, then work backwards from there. The goal is a prioritized list of changes ranked by revenue impact.
A proper CRO audit is the foundation of every successful optimization project. Without it, you’re guessing — and guessing is expensive.
After running 100+ CRO audits for Shopify DTC brands over 9+ years, I’ve refined this process to focus on what actually moves revenue. Here’s the exact step-by-step approach.
Step 1: Analytics Deep-Dive
Before looking at a single page, spend time in your data. This is where the real story is.
What to check in GA4:
- Funnel exploration — Build a funnel from session start → product view → add to cart → begin checkout → purchase. Identify which step has the highest percentage drop-off.
- Device breakdown — Compare conversion rates between desktop and mobile. A large gap (>50% difference) signals mobile-specific problems.
- Landing page performance — Which pages have the highest bounce rate? Which convert best? Sort by traffic volume to prioritize.
- Traffic source conversion — Not all traffic converts equally. Identify which channels bring visitors who actually buy vs. just browse.
What to check in Shopify Analytics:
- Online store conversion rate trend (90-day view)
- Sessions by device type
- Top products by units sold vs. top products by page views (mismatch = conversion problem)
- Cart abandonment rate
The key question to answer: Where is the single biggest drop-off in your conversion funnel? That’s where you start.
Step 2: Checkout Funnel Analysis
The checkout is your highest-leverage optimization point. Every improvement here applies to all traffic that reaches the cart.
Audit checklist:
- Count the number of steps from cart to order confirmation
- Check if guest checkout is enabled
- Verify all accelerated payment methods are active (Shop Pay, Apple Pay, Google Pay)
- Look for unexpected costs appearing late (shipping, taxes)
- Check form field necessity — is every field essential?
- Test the checkout on mobile (real device, not just browser responsive mode)
- Check page load speed at each checkout step
Step 3: Product Page Evaluation
Product pages are where buying decisions happen. Evaluate your top 5 products by traffic volume.
For each product page, assess:
- Above-the-fold content — Can a visitor understand the product, price, and how to buy without scrolling?
- Product photography — Multiple angles, lifestyle shots, zoom capability, video?
- Social proof — Reviews visible without scrolling? Star ratings? Review count?
- Trust signals — Shipping info, return policy, payment security?
- Mobile layout — Does the add-to-cart button require excessive scrolling on mobile?
- Page speed — Check individual product page load time (heavy images are the #1 issue)
Step 4: Site Speed Assessment
Slow sites kill conversions. Shopify stores are generally fast, but Liquid render time and third-party apps can create significant slowdowns.
How to audit speed:
- Run PageSpeed Insights on homepage, a product page, and a collection page
- Check Shopify’s built-in speed score (Online Store → Themes → Speed)
- Identify installed apps and assess which add render-blocking scripts
- Check total request count and page weight with browser dev tools
- Test on a throttled mobile connection (Chrome dev tools → Network → Slow 3G)
Common Shopify speed issues:
- Too many Shopify apps (each adds JavaScript)
- Unoptimized product images (not using Shopify’s built-in image CDN properly)
- Heavy Liquid logic in templates (nested loops, excessive object access)
- Third-party tracking scripts loading synchronously
Step 5: Mobile Experience Audit
With 60%+ of traffic on mobile, this deserves its own dedicated review.
Test on a real phone:
- Navigate from homepage to purchase completion
- Check tap target sizes on buttons and links
- Verify the sticky add-to-cart works properly
- Test the search experience
- Check filter/sort usability on collection pages
- Verify forms use appropriate keyboard types (numeric for phone, email for email)
- Check that popups don’t block critical content on small screens
Prioritizing Your Findings
After completing all five steps, you’ll have a long list of issues. The next step is prioritization.
I use a simple impact-effort matrix:
- High impact, low effort → Do immediately (these are your quick wins)
- High impact, high effort → Schedule as projects
- Low impact, low effort → Do when convenient
- Low impact, high effort → Skip or defer
“Impact” means projected revenue impact based on how much traffic flows through the affected conversion point. A checkout issue affecting 100% of buyers is higher impact than a product page issue affecting one low-traffic product.
What Comes After the Audit
An audit without implementation is just a report. The real value comes from executing the findings:
- Implement quick wins immediately
- Build a testing roadmap for larger changes
- A/B test changes that carry risk
- Measure impact against your baseline metrics
- Schedule a follow-up review in 30-60 days
CRO is not a one-time event — it’s a continuous process. The stores that grow fastest are the ones that audit, implement, measure, and repeat on a monthly cycle.
Need help running a CRO audit on your Shopify store? Get in touch for a free initial review →
Kaspian Fuad is a Shopify CRO specialist and Liquid developer with 9+ years of ecommerce experience and 100+ completed projects for DTC brands.