Shopify store audit checklist 2026 — the 42-point diagnostic

Shopify store audit checklist 2026 — 42 points to check

Below is the exact 42-point checklist we run when auditing a Shopify store — the same checklist that powers Converta, our free AI audit app. You can work through it manually (allow ~90 min), or install Converta and it runs across most of these automatically. If you want the guided walkthrough version instead, start with how to audit your Shopify store in 30 minutes.

Table of Contents

Key Takeaways

Question Answer
How long does the manual audit take? ~90 min working through this carefully.
How long does Converta take? 2-5 min automated.
Which section leaks most revenue? Section 2 (product pages) + Section 3 (checkout) for most brands.
When to run this? Every $10K MRR milestone + quarterly for tuned stores.
What's the pass score? 32/42+ = healthy. Below 25 = major fixes needed.

How to use this checklist

Print it, open your Shopify admin in a second tab, and mark each item PASS / FAIL / N/A. Total the fails per section — that's your ranked fix list. Or install Converta and let it run across most of these automatically.

Section 1 — Conversion funnel (7 points)

1.1 Overall conversion rate above 1.5% (Shopify median)?

1.2 Session → PDP conversion above 60%? (Are landing pages routing to products?)

1.3 PDP → ATC above 5%? (Are product pages converting browsers?)

1.4 ATC → Checkout initiated above 60%?

1.5 Checkout initiated → Purchase above 70%?

1.6 No single traffic source above 60% of revenue? (Diversification)

1.7 Mobile conversion rate at least 60% of desktop?

Section 2 — Product page structure (8 points)

2.1 Every product has 5+ images? (Includes lifestyle + detail, not just white background)

2.2 Every product has schema.org markup (structured data)?

2.3 Every product has a written meta description (not auto-generated from body)?

2.4 Reviews visible on product page (not just count — actual review text)?

2.5 Sizing / fit info present on relevant categories?

2.6 Shipping estimate shown above the fold (not "calculated at checkout")?

2.7 Add-to-cart button visible on mobile without scrolling?

2.8 Related products / cross-sell block below the fold?

Section 3 — Checkout page (7 points)

3.1 Guest checkout enabled by default (not requiring account creation)?

3.2 Express payment methods (Shop Pay, Apple Pay, Google Pay, PayPal) enabled and visible?

3.3 Free shipping threshold achievable (i.e., threshold < ~1.5x your AOV)?

3.4 Trust icons row visible (guarantee, returns, security)?

3.5 Discount code field NOT visible if no active promo (encourages code-hunting abandonment)?

3.6 Delivery estimate shown as concrete date, not "3-5 business days"?

3.7 Order summary always visible on mobile (not collapsed)?

Section 4 — Retention flows (6 points)

4.1 Welcome flow live (email 1-3 after signup)?

4.2 Abandoned cart flow live (3-7 emails over 5 days)?

4.3 Browse abandonment flow live?

4.4 Post-purchase flow live (thank-you + product care + review request)?

4.5 Win-back flow live (60/90 day inactive customer)?

4.6 SMS opt-in offered at checkout or via popup?

Section 5 — Technical CRO (7 points)

5.1 LCP (Largest Contentful Paint) below 2.5s on mobile? Check via PageSpeed Insights.

5.2 CLS (Cumulative Layout Shift) below 0.1? (Images/fonts not causing content jump)

5.3 INP (Interaction to Next Paint) below 200ms?

5.4 No broken links or 404s on high-traffic pages?

5.5 OG image + og:title + og:description set on every product + collection?

5.6 Twitter card meta tags set?

5.7 Sitemap accessible at /sitemap.xml and up to date?

Section 6 — SEO baseline (7 points)

6.1 No products with duplicate meta descriptions?

6.2 No collections with thin content (under 100 words)?

6.3 Blog posts live and updated (last post within 60 days)?

6.4 Google Search Console verified and pulling data?

6.5 No manual-action penalties in GSC?

6.6 robots.txt not accidentally blocking key pages?

6.7 Canonical URL set per page (not defaulted to homepage)?

Scoring

Add up your PASS points across all 42:

Most Shopify stores we audit initially score in the 22-28 range. Getting to 35+ takes a focused 2-3 week sprint on the top-priority fixes.

Do this in 2 minutes instead

Installing Converta runs most of this automatically in ~2 minutes. You get the ranked fix list without spending 90 minutes clicking through your admin.

Talk to Branva

If your score is below 30 and you want us to ship the fixes, book a working session. We'll walk through the audit output, prioritize the fixes by revenue impact, and scope the sprint.

Frequently Asked Questions

Should I fix everything at once?

No. Fix the 5-8 highest-impact items first. Ship, measure, then move to the next batch. Trying to fix 30 items in one week creates change-attribution problems (you can't tell which fix moved conversion).

What if I score high but conversion is still low?

Then the issue is probably angle-to-page match (traffic quality) or offer, not structural. Read I have sessions but no sales, why? — points 1 and 2 cover this.

Do I need Shopify Plus for these fixes?

No. Every fix listed above is achievable on Shopify Basic or Shopify. A few checkout tweaks (Section 3) benefit from Plus's Checkout Extensibility but the audit itself doesn't require it.

How often should I re-audit?

Every $10K MRR milestone (structural changes matter at scale), and every quarter regardless (drift is real).

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