Do You Need a Performance Audit? A Quick Checklist

This post is part of our Audit Series — covering technical, performance, and regular audits to help your online store thrive.



Your ecommerce store might look great, but if it feels slow, stalls during peak traffic, or struggles on mobile, customers will leave long before they ever see your products. A performance audit helps you uncover speed, responsiveness, and stability issues that impact conversions, SEO, and overall user experience.



Not sure if it's time for one? Use this quick checklist to find out.



🚨 Quick Signs Your Store Might Be Running Slowly



Before diving into the specifics, here are common symptoms that signal performance problems:

Pages take more than a few seconds to load



• Shifting layouts or images that "pop in"
• Mobile users drop off at a higher rate
• The site freezes or lags when switching pages
• High bounce rates on category or product pages
• Search Console or PageSpeed Insights reports show warnings



If even one of these feels familiar, your store may be due for a closer look.



⚡ 1. Site Speed & Load Times



Speed is one of the strongest indicators of overall performance. Slow sites lose traffic and revenue.



Checklist:

• Your homepage or product pages feel sluggish
• You see inconsistent load times at different times of day
• You haven't run speed tests recently
• PageSpeed Insights, GTmetrix, or Search Console show poor performance scores



🛠 Why it matters: Faster sites rank better, convert better, and feel more trustworthy to users.



📊 2. Core Web Vitals (LCP, CLS, INP)



Core Web Vitals measure how real users experience your site. If these are poor, revenue usually follows.



Checklist:

• LCP (Largest Contentful Paint) is slow, especially on product or category pages
• CLS (Cumulative Layout Shift) causes content to jump around
• INP (Interaction to Next Paint) is high, especially on mobile
• You see repeated Web Vitals warnings in Search Console



🛠 Why it matters: Google uses Web Vitals to assess user experience and ranking quality. Customers use them to decide whether to stay on the page or bounce, even if it's not a fully conscious decision.



🖼️ 3. Images & Media Optimization



Images are often the biggest contributor to slow load times — especially on ecommerce stores.



Checklist:

• Large hero images or banners that take too long to load
• Product images not served in WebP or AVIF formats
• Missing or incorrectly implemented lazy loading
• Autoplay videos slowing down mobile devices



🛠 Why it matters: Poor media optimization can add seconds — not milliseconds — to critical load times and lead to problems with CLS and LCP.



📦 4. JavaScript & App Bloat



Apps, widgets, and theme scripts silently pile up over time. Even one inefficient script can slow down the entire store.



Checklist:

• You have uninstalled apps that left scripts behind
• The theme has accumulated one-off customizations over the years
• Third-party widgets load synchronously or block rendering
• Checkout or cart pages feel noticeably slower



🛠 Why it matters: Excess JavaScript is one of the top causes of slow ecommerce sites and can impact every page load.



📱 5. Mobile Performance



Most ecommerce shoppers are on mobile. If the mobile experience falters, performance suffers across the board.



Checklist:

• Mobile PageSpeed scores are significantly lower than desktop
• Buttons feel unresponsive or tap areas are too small
• Layout shifts happen more often on mobile
• Mobile conversion rate lags behind desktop



🛠 Why it matters: A mobile-first world requires mobile-first performance.



🚀 Optional: High-Traffic Stress Points



Stores often perform fine during normal traffic but struggle during spikes like Black Friday, product drops, or influencer promos.



Checklist:

• Slowdowns during sales or promotions
• Images or scripts that fail to load under heavy traffic
• Cart or checkout lag when traffic increases



🛠 Why it matters: Stress testing ensures your store can handle its busiest (and most profitable) days.



⌛When It's Time for a Professional Performance Audit



You may need a formal audit if:



• You saw multiple red flags in the checklists above
• Your store has grown without a structured performance strategy
• You're planning a redesign, migration, or holiday sale
• You rely heavily on third-party apps or a legacy theme
• Your site has not been evaluated in 6–12 months



A performance audit gives you a prioritized plan to fix issues without guessing, digging through code, or rebuilding the site.



🧩What We Include in a Freetail Commerce Performance Audit



Every agency approaches audits differently. Here's what ours typically covers:



• Page speed and Core Web Vitals analysis using various tools
• JavaScript and app performance review
• Theme and code efficiency checks
• Image and media optimization review
• Mobile performance evaluation
• Stress and scalability considerations, within the limits of the platform
• Actionable recommendations with clear priorities



💡 The Bottom Line



If you checked off even 2–3 items from the lists above, a performance audit can uncover quick wins and major improvements alike — often without replatforming or a full redesign.



👉 Want a clearer look at how your store is performing? We offer no-pressure performance audits tailored to BigCommerce and Shopify merchants. Reach out for a free consultation or to request a sample audit.