What a Shopify store audit actually checks (front end and back end)
A plain-English guide to what a Shopify store audit checks, from product pages and checkout to apps, shipping, Klaviyo and Merchant Centre.
Written by
L. Broad
Published
Read time
6 min
A Shopify store audit checks two things: what your customers see (the front end) and what runs behind it (the back end). The front end covers navigation, product pages, mobile, speed and checkout. The back end covers apps, shipping, product data, Google Merchant Centre, Klaviyo and your store policies. You get a plain-English list of what's holding the store back, in order of what matters most.
Here's what our Shopify store audit looks at, and why each part matters for smaller and growing stores.
What is a Shopify store audit?
A Shopify store audit is a structured review of your store that finds what's costing you sales, time or money. It looks at the shopper's experience and at the setup behind it, then gives you a prioritised list of fixes.
Most audit content online is written for big brands with big teams. Ours is built for smaller and growing stores: owners who run the shop themselves, or with a small team, and want to know where to put their time and budget next. Nothing is changed on your store during the audit. You just get a clear picture of where things stand.
What does the front-end audit check?
The front-end audit checks everything a shopper sees and touches, from the first page they land on to the moment they pay. The question behind every check is simple: is anything making it harder to buy?
Homepage and first impressions. Is it clear what you sell, who it's for and why someone should trust you, within a few seconds?
Navigation and search. Can people find a product in two or three clicks? Do menus and collections make sense to a customer, not just to you?
Product pages. Photos, descriptions, sizing, variants, delivery info, reviews and the add-to-cart button. This is where most sales are won or lost.
Mobile experience. Most Shopify traffic is on phones, so we check every key page on a small screen, thumbs and all.
Cart and checkout. Surprise costs, extra steps, missing payment options and anything else that causes people to drop off at the last hurdle.
Speed. Heavy images, unused app code and theme bloat that slow the store down.
Trust and brand. Reviews, returns info, contact details and a consistent look and voice across the store.
Accessibility basics. Colour contrast, readable text and image alt text, so the store works for more people (and search engines can read it too).
What does the back-end audit check?
The back-end audit checks the setup customers never see but always feel: apps, shipping, product data and the tools that bring people back. Problems here rarely look urgent, but they quietly cost money every month.
Apps. Which apps you're paying for, which ones overlap, and which are slowing the store down or no longer used.
Shipping. Zones, rates, free-shipping thresholds and delivery messaging. Wrong rates either lose you sales or eat into your margin.
Product data. Titles, descriptions, variants, tags, collections and image alt text. Clean product data helps customers, Shopify search, Google and AI shopping tools understand what you sell.
Google Merchant Centre. Whether your products are feeding to Google Shopping properly, and whether any are disapproved or missing.
Klaviyo. Whether it's connected to Shopify correctly, and whether the key flows (welcome, abandoned cart, browse abandonment, post-purchase) are set up and doing their job.
Policies. Returns, refunds, shipping, privacy and terms. Are they in place, easy to find and clear to a customer?
Do you need an audit before you launch?
Yes, if your store was built quickly or cheaply and you're not sure it's ready. A pre-launch audit checks the store is fit to take real orders before you spend money sending people to it.
We see this a lot with low-cost builds, including marketplace builds from sites like Fiverr. The store looks fine at a glance, but underneath there are broken links, missing policies, wrong shipping rates, a theme that struggles on mobile, or apps that were never set up properly. Finding these before launch is far cheaper than finding them through lost orders and refund requests.
A pre-launch audit uses the same two-part checklist, with extra attention on the basics: test orders, payments, tax and shipping settings, policies and legal pages.
What happens after the audit?
You get a list of improvements, in priority order, and you decide what to do with it. There's no pressure to hand the work back to us.
Most store owners take one of four routes:
Do it yourself. Many fixes are quick wins you or your team can make in an afternoon. We explain each one in plain English so you can.
Flexi hours. Buy a block of 10, 20 or 40 hours of support and we work through the list with you, at your pace, over three months.
A monthly retainer. For stores that want ongoing help with improvements, campaigns and new features.
An overhaul or theme upgrade. If the audit shows the store has outgrown its theme or setup, we can rebuild it properly.
Whichever route you pick, the list is yours to keep.
Ready to see what your store needs?
Our Shopify store audit gives you a clear, two-part review of your front end and back end, and a prioritised list of fixes in plain English. Whether you're live and growing or about to launch, it's the simplest way to know where to start.