As the holiday shopping season ramps up, it’s the perfect time to ensure your Shopify store isn’t losing conversions due to simple, fixable performance issues. We all know that site speed impacts sales—but how much can it really affect your bottom line?
According to a KISSmetrics study, even a 1-second delay in page response can cause a 7% drop in conversions. For a store making $50K a day, that equates to nearly $1.3 million in lost revenue per year. It’s not just about lost sales—40% of visitors will abandon a site if it takes more than 3 seconds to load. Plus, Google increasingly uses page speed as a key factor in search rankings.
So, how do you fix these hidden speed bumps and boost your Shopify store’s performance? I spoke with Sarah Gallagher, CEO of Gamma Waves, an ecommerce strategy and development firm partnering with brands like Nuun, Fekkai, and Supergoop. Gamma Waves specializes in going beyond basic metrics, diving deep into your code to find the root causes of slow load times and frustrated customers.
According to Sarah, it’s critical to start by addressing the fundamentals, regardless of your brand’s size. Below are the three most common Shopify performance issues she identifies, along with actionable solutions:
- Oversized Images and Unoptimized Video Content
- Solution: Compress images and use modern formats like WebP to reduce load times.
- Too Many or Duplicate Apps
- Solution: Regularly audit your installed apps, remove unnecessary ones, and consolidate functions where possible. The Shopify App Store provides tools for managing and optimizing apps effectively.
- Bloated or Redundant Code
- Solution: Minify CSS and JavaScript files, eliminate non-essential scripts, and defer the loading of secondary elements.
While these basics are vital, Sarah emphasizes that other, less obvious issues might also be affecting your store’s speed, even if you’ve already optimized these areas.
Subscribe to the Shoplift newsletter
Get insights like these emailed to you bi-weekly!
{{hubspot-form}}
Common Shopify Performance Pitfalls
Here are a few sneaky culprits that could be slowing down your Shopify store:
- Third-Party Script Overload
- Having too many third-party scripts (e.g., for analytics or social media integrations) can significantly slow down your pages. Try loading them asynchronously or deferring them to prevent delays.
- Inefficient Liquid Code Loops
- Poorly optimized loops in Shopify’s Liquid code can impact load times, especially on product-heavy pages. Simplify and limit iterations for better performance by following Shopify’s Liquid coding best practices.
- Over-Customizing Themes
- Excessive customizations, such as too many sections or animations, can lead to bloated code. Regular theme audits and cleanups are crucial for maintaining speed.
“Performance bottlenecks can feel invisible,” Sarah notes. “They’re not always easy to spot, but they can massively impact your store’s user experience and your bottom line. Our audits often uncover critical issues that have silently drained conversions for months or even years. It’s always rewarding to see our clients’ reactions when they realize how much potential their site had all along.”
Imagine being able to pinpoint exactly where your Shopify store’s performance is lagging. Gamma Waves’ Performance Audit thoroughly analyzes every aspect of your site, revealing hidden issues and providing a clear, prioritized roadmap for improvement—whether it’s quick fixes or more complex optimizations.
Special Offer for Shoplift Customers
Exclusively for Shoplift customers, Gamma Waves is offering a free mini Performance Audit of your homepage. Simply email sarah@gammawaves.io with the subject line “Speed Check” and mention Shoplift’s newsletter. You’ll receive a detailed report outlining the top three improvements you can implement immediately.
