Lab score vs real users
Shopify retired the Lighthouse Speed Score in January 2024 because it "fail[s] to represent real-world user experiences." The scoreboard is now real-user Core Web Vitals in your Shopify Web performance dashboard.
Speed optimization
Your Shopify store, faster in 2 business days. Fixed checklist. Fixed $299. No fake scores.
App bloat, oversized images, slow fonts, hero LCP, pixel sprawl, theme junk, JS hygiene, above-the-fold order — and a straight answer on whether your theme is the ceiling. Before/after report included.
7-day money-back guarantee — if the first delivery misses, you get a refund.
- $299 flat — the whole price
- ~2 business days
- Senior-reviewed before delivery
The honest frame
What speed actually means on Shopify
The three numbers that count
LCP within 2.5 s · INP under 200 ms · CLS under 0.1 — measured at the 75th percentile of real visits, mobile and desktop separately. Those are Google's thresholds, verbatim.
Mobile is the scoreboard
It is where most Shopify traffic is, it is what Shopify measures, and it is the harder number. Desktop improves as a side effect.
Sound familiar?
Why this keeps costing you
Your PageSpeed number is red, and every "speed app" you tried added another script to the pile.
A $30 gig promised 90+ in 24 hours. The screenshot went up. Real visitors saw nothing change — that pattern has a name now, and a Shopify Community thread.
Mobile shoppers bounce at second three. You never see the sale you lost.
Why it is worth $299
Speed is money — the sourced version
+8.4%
retail conversions from a 0.1-second mobile speed improvement (and +9.2% average order value)
Deloitte / Google, "Milliseconds Make Millions", 20202.5×
the e-commerce conversion rate of a site loading in 1 second vs one loading in 5 seconds (3.05% vs 1.12%)
Portent, 100M+ page views, 202253%
of mobile visitors leave if a page takes longer than 3 seconds to load
Google / DoubleClick, "The Need for Mobile Speed", 2016Every number above is quoted as published, with the study named. We do not round up and we do not invent percentages — that is the point.
What is included
The nine-point checklist — every Sprint, every store
- App audit & removal plan — each app's JS/CSS weight on your top pages, in KB and ms; you approve removals; we strip the code uninstalled apps leave behind
- Image weight — right-sized heroes, banners and collection grids; responsive srcset and lazy-loading the correct way; oversized originals gone
- Fonts — unused families and weights cut; font-display: swap; the one font that paints your hero, preloaded
- Hero / LCP — the largest element loads first: no lazy-loaded heroes, fixed dimensions, no video where a poster will do
- Pixel & tag bloat — every tracking script inventoried; dead ones removed with your OK; the rest moved to Shopify Customer Events or deferred
- Theme bloat — unused sections, snippets, assets and duplicate libraries removed (two copies of jQuery is common)
- JS hygiene — non-critical scripts deferred, render-blocking inline scripts removed, scripts stopped from firing on pages that don't need them
- Above-the-fold order — the first screen paints before carousels, review widgets and popups
- Theme-ceiling verdict — in writing: roughly how fast your theme can get, and what a change would cost, so you never buy a second Sprint hoping for magic
- Baseline + after measurement on home, collection and product (mobile), a before/after report with the change log, and a keep-it-fast checklist
What is not included — said plainly
- Checkout pages — Shopify-hosted, not editable outside Plus
- Rebuilding an app's feature in code — we recommend removals, we don't replace apps
- Theme migration or redesign — if you need one we say so, with a separate quote
- Server / TTFB work — that is Shopify's infrastructure; nobody can sell you this
- Ongoing monitoring — optional later, never bundled into the delivery
- A promised score — we promise the checklist, the report and the rollback
How the Sprint runs
Day 0 to Day 2 — you see every step
- Day 0
Order + intake (10 minutes for you)
Pay on Stripe. Intake form: store URL, top product and collection pages, collaborator access, the apps you can't live without. You get a queue position and an ETA.
- Day 0–1
Baseline + audit
We duplicate your live theme, baseline three pages on mobile, pull your Shopify Web performance numbers, and measure every app and pixel. You receive the removal shortlist to approve — nothing is removed without a yes.
- Day 1–2
Fixes on the copy
All nine interventions on the duplicate theme. A senior reviewer checks the diff and QAs mobile and desktop: add-to-cart, variants, cart, popups.
- Day 2
Preview + publish
Preview link, before/after report, change log. You publish, or we do on your word. Your original theme stays as a backup for 30 days.
- Day 2–9
Guarantee window
Anything we touched misbehaves, we fix it. First delivery misses the brief, you get the $299 back and your original theme restored.
The report you get
Before, after, and every change listed
This is the report format. The numbers are illustrative, not a client result — yours depend on your theme and apps.
PRODUCT PAGE · MOBILE · LAB (PSI) — ILLUSTRATIVE
| Before | After | |
|---|---|---|
| LCP | 4.9 s | 2.6 s |
| INP | 310 ms | 160 ms |
| CLS | 0.31 | 0.04 |
| Page weight | 6.8 MB | 2.1 MB |
| Requests | 142 | 61 |
| Third-party scripts | 19 | 7 |
CHANGE LOG (EXCERPT)
- Removed 4 apps you approved; stripped leftover code from 2 uninstalled earlier
- Hero image 2.4 MB → 180 KB; srcset on collection grid
- 3 font families → 1; heading font preloaded; swap set
- Hero un-lazy-loaded; fixed dimensions; CLS from banner fixed
- 2 duplicate pixels removed; GA4 + Meta moved to Customer Events
- Second jQuery copy removed; 11 unused sections deleted
- Theme-ceiling verdict: this theme can reach ~LCP 2.3 s; beyond that is a rebuild (quoted separately)
The "we don't" list
How to tell a speed fix from a screenshot
- We don't detect Lighthouse or serve test tools a different page.
- We don't promise a score before we have seen your theme and app stack.
- We don't sell you a "Core Web Vitals add-on" after you have paid.
- We don't leave app code behind.
- We don't touch your live theme — every change happens on a copy you preview first.
Some sellers hide content from PageSpeed and GTmetrix so the test sees a blank, fast page while your shoppers see nothing new. The pattern is documented in the Shopify Community. Search your theme code for "Chrome-Lighthouse" — if it is there, someone did that to you.
7-day money-back, in plain words
If our first delivery doesn't complete the nine-point checklist as written on this page, or breaks something we touched and we can't fix it within the 7-day window, you get the $299 back and we restore your original theme. We don't promise a Lighthouse number — nobody honest can before seeing your theme — but we do promise the work, the report, and the rollback.
Covers our changes. Doesn't cover apps or sections you add after delivery, or cases where access or approvals weren't given within the window.
Compare
$299 sits between a gig and an agency — on purpose
| Shopision Sprint | $5–$30 gig | $600–$900 agency package | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price | $299 flat | Cheap — then "premium" tiers | Quote, then add-ons |
| Scope visible before you pay | Yes — this page | No | Sometimes |
| Score guarantee | No — and we explain why | "90+ in 24h" | "Guaranteed 90+" or refund |
| Works on a theme copy, you preview | Yes | Rarely | Usually |
| Before/after report + change log | Yes | Screenshot | Sometimes |
| Tells you when your theme is the ceiling | Yes, in writing | No | Rarely |
Questions
Straight answers
Will you break my theme?
We never work on your live theme. Everything happens on a duplicate, you get a preview link, and the original stays as a backup for 30 days. A senior reviewer checks every diff before you see it. If something we touched breaks, we fix it inside the guarantee window or you get the money back.
Do you delete my apps?
No. We measure them and show you what each one costs in kilobytes and milliseconds on your top pages. You say which ones go. What we always do is remove the code that uninstalled apps leave behind — Shopify's own docs say uninstalling doesn't remove it.
Can you guarantee a 90+ PageSpeed score?
No, and be careful with anyone who does. Lighthouse scores move with network, device and Google's own test conditions, and Shopify retired that score in 2024 for exactly that reason. We guarantee the checklist, the report and the rollback. The number goes up because the weight goes down, not because we told a test tool to look away.
Score or real speed — what am I actually buying?
Real speed. We report both: the lab score you can check yourself in PageSpeed Insights, and the real-user Core Web Vitals in your Shopify Web performance dashboard. The second one is what Google and Shopify use. It updates over about 30 days, so we tell you when to look.
Mobile or desktop?
Mobile first. That is where most Shopify traffic is, what Shopify measures, and the harder number. Desktop improves as a side effect.
How long does it last?
The fixes are permanent. What undoes them is new: a new app, a new page-builder section, a fourth tracking pixel. Your report ends with a keep-it-fast checklist and a two-minute re-test method so you see a regression the day it happens.
Will this improve my Google rankings or ad costs?
Speed is one input among many. Google says Core Web Vitals "align with what our core ranking systems seek to reward" and also that there is "no single signal." Buy this for shoppers who bounce at three seconds and for landing-page experience on paid traffic. If someone sells you rankings from a speed job, walk.
What access do you need?
A Shopify collaborator request scoped to themes and apps. We don't need or want customer, order or payment data. Access is revoked when you say so.
Is $299 the whole price?
Yes. Scope, price and turnaround before we start. You see the queue. You do not see surprise invoices. If your theme is the ceiling, we say so in writing with what a rebuild would cost — that is advice, not an upsell inside the delivery.
Why not just install a speed app?
Because Shopify already runs the CDN, compression, caching and minification, and most "speed" apps add another script to fix the scripts. What is left is manual: images, fonts, app residue, pixel sprawl, the order things load in. That is the Sprint.
Want speed kept fast, every month?
Studio members get the Sprint as an ordinary task in their queue — and every new app, section or pixel gets reviewed before it costs you a second. One flat monthly fee.
Your Shopify store, faster in 2 business days. Fixed checklist. Fixed $299. No fake scores.
Pay by card on Stripe → intake form → work starts next business day.