In eCommerce, speed isn’t just a “nice to have” — it’s a conversion multiplier. Every extra second your Shopify store takes to load could be costing you visitors, sales and search visibility.

At Seventyfour Design, we’ve helped Aussie brands boost conversions by 10–30% simply through smart performance optimisation. In this guide, we’ll take you through a clear, actionable performance roadmap to make your Shopify store faster, smoother and more profitable.

Why Performance Matters More Than You Think

Performance impacts every part of your online experience:

• Trust: A quick, seamless site feels professional and reliable.

• Conversion rates: Research shows that pages loading in 1 second convert up to 3x better than those that take 5 seconds.

• SEO: Google’s Core Web Vitals (LCP, CLS and INP) directly influence rankings.

• Mobile shoppers: With over 70% of traffic on Shopify coming from mobile, even minor lags can cost you customers.

Simply put — performance optimisation delivers one of the best returns on investment you can make.

Step 1: Audit Your Store’s Current Performance

Before you optimise, you need to measure.

Use these tools to see how your store stacks up:

• Google Lighthouse (via Chrome DevTools)

• PageSpeed Insights (check Core Web Vitals)

• Shopify Speed Report (Online Store > Themes > View Report)

• WebPageTest.org (for deeper technical insights)

Key metrics to track:

• Largest Contentful Paint (LCP): Under 2.5 seconds

• Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS): Below 0.1

• Interaction to Next Paint (INP): Below 200ms

• Total Page Size: Ideally under 2MB

Keep these benchmarks handy — they’ll help you measure improvement over time.

Step 2: Quick Wins (The One-Hour Fixes)

Some changes can deliver instant improvements with minimal effort:

Compress and convert images

• Use next-gen formats like WebP or AVIF.

• Shopify’s built-in optimiser is good, but tools like TinyPNG or Crush.pics can do even better.

Remove unused apps and scripts

• Every app adds code that can slow your site down. Audit and uninstall what you don’t need.

Enable lazy loading

• Load images only when they’re visible on the screen.

Minify CSS and JS

• Strip out unnecessary code and whitespace.

• You can use your theme’s settings or a performance app to do this.

Optimise font loading

• Use font-display: swap to prevent invisible text on load.

These simple fixes alone can make your site 20–40% faster.

Step 3: Optimise Your Theme Code

Many Shopify themes — especially off-the-shelf ones — come with unnecessary bloat. The aim here is to simplify and streamline.

What to do:

• Remove unused sections, blocks or snippets.

• Defer non-essential JavaScript until after the page loads.

• Inline “critical CSS” for above-the-fold content.

• Use Shopify’s Theme Inspector for Liquid to identify slow templates.

• Minimise loops or complex Liquid logic.

If your theme is older or heavily customised, consider upgrading to Online Store 2.0 for faster, modular architecture and improved flexibility.

Step 4: Optimise Third-Party Apps

Apps are fantastic for functionality — but too many can quietly crush your performance.

Tips:

• Remove apps you’re not using.

• Defer app scripts until after the main content loads.

• Replace heavy apps with native Shopify features or server-side integrations.

• Only load apps where necessary (e.g. live chat on checkout or product pages, not the homepage).

Step 5: Streamline Media & Content Delivery

Your images and videos are usually the heaviest part of your site.

Tips:

• Serve responsive images (srcset for different screen sizes).

• Rely on Shopify’s global CDN (powered by Fastly) for fast delivery.

• Keep homepage hero videos short and compressed.

• Preload key assets for above-the-fold content.

Step 6: Strengthen Caching & Delivery

Shopify already uses a robust global CDN, but you can still go further.

How:

• Use Cloudflare or similar for advanced caching and edge delivery.

• Set long cache headers for static assets.

• Use asset versioning to prevent unnecessary re-downloads.

• Enable browser caching for returning visitors.

Step 7: Consider Going Headless (for Larger Stores)

If you’re running a high-traffic or complex store, headless commerce might be your next step.
It separates your front-end (e.g. built with React or Next.js) from Shopify’s back-end, delivering blazing-fast speed and design freedom.

Benefits:

• Lightning-fast rendering.

• Seamless, app-like user experience.

• Greater flexibility for integrating with other platforms or APIs.

Headless setups aren’t for every business, but for scaling brands, they can provide a serious edge.

Step 8: Monitor and Maintain

Performance isn’t “set and forget.”
Recheck your metrics regularly — especially after new apps, theme changes, or big content uploads.

Maintenance checklist:

• Re-run Lighthouse and PageSpeed Insights monthly.

• Track Core Web Vitals in Google Search Console.

• Review installed apps quarterly.

• Set a “performance budget” (e.g. keep LCP under 2.5s).

Step 9: Track ROI (It’s Worth It)

Performance improvements directly impact the bottom line.

Measure:

• Conversion rate improvements

• Drop in bounce rate

• SEO ranking changes

• Mobile engagement rates

For example, one Seventyfour Design client saw a 15% lift in conversions after reducing their average load time by just over a second. Faster stores simply sell more — it’s that straightforward.

Final Thoughts

Performance optimisation isn’t just technical — it’s about creating a better experience for your customers and unlocking more value from your traffic.

At Seventyfour Design, we build and optimise high-performance Shopify stores that don’t just look amazing — they convert. Whether you’re after a quick speed audit, theme clean-up or a full rebuild, our team can help you deliver a store that’s built to perform.

Ready to find out how much faster your store could be?
Book a free Shopify Performance Audit with Seventyfour Design today.

SEO Details (for your marketing team)

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Meta description:
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