Shopify CRO agency
A CRO agency that speaks fluent Shopify
Conversion rate optimisation built for Shopify: every test scoped to what your plan actually allows, every app costed in milliseconds, and every winner rebuilt into the theme rather than left running in the testing tool.
Generalist CRO programmes stall on Shopify for platform reasons, not strategy reasons. Checkout is not freely editable, apps rewrite the page under a running test, and theme updates delete whatever the testing tool was holding. We run the whole loop inside those constraints, and we start with the free CRO audit so the first thing you get from us is evidence.
- 24–48h standard test build turnaround
- Winners rebuilt natively into your theme
- No long-term contracts
Run inside your Shopify stack
The problem
Why generalist CRO programmes stall on Shopify
A good hypothesis does not care what platform it runs on. The build does. Hand a Shopify store to a CRO team that learned its trade on custom stacks and the same four platform failures eat the programme from underneath.
Tests the theme editor can break
Variation code pinned to DOM positions dies the moment a merchandiser drags a section. Online Store 2.0 made every page rearrangeable; most test code is still written as if it were not.
The checkout wall, hit mid-programme
Half the backlog assumes checkout edits the store’s plan does not allow. Discovering that at build time, after the strategy deck sold the tests, wastes the months the roadmap was meant to buy.
An app stack nobody costed
The average store we audit runs 18 to 30 apps, and every variation is measured on top of their JavaScript. On a heavy stack a design test is partly a loading test, and it comes back flat for the wrong reason.
Winners that never reach the theme
A winning test left running in the testing tool becomes permanent page weight, until the tool is cut in a cost review and the win silently disappears with it. A winner is only real once it lives in the theme.
We test inside Shopify’s real constraints: backlogs labelled with the surface and plan they need before they are priced, variations written against sections rather than positions, and every winner shipped natively into the theme.
The whole testing loop, run on Shopify.
Build offer vs. testing offer
Development builds the store. This proves what sells.
Our Shopify development service replatforms and builds; this programme tests the store you already have. Same engineers, different question.
What we build
What a Shopify specialist changes
Checkout tests scoped by plan, not by wishlist
- On standard plans checkout is closed, so the testable perimeter is everything that feeds it: cart, drawer, and the delivery and payment information people carry in with them
- On Shopify Plus, checkout UI extensions open the information, shipping and payment steps; thank-you and order-status extensions work on every plan except Starter
- Every checkout idea in the backlog is labelled with the surface and plan it needs before it is priced, so nothing dies at build time
Shopify Functions for what JavaScript cannot reach
- Discount logic, delivery options, payment ordering and cart validation are decided server-side, where no testing snippet runs
- We build these as Functions experiments: one variable at a time, measured on completed orders rather than clicks
- Custom-app Functions need Plus; on standard plans we work within what public apps expose, and say so at scoping, not at build
Theme-safe test deployment
- Variations written against Online Store 2.0 sections and blocks, so a reordered page cannot silently break a running test
- Winners rebuilt natively into the theme: on the Solene Atelier programme every winner shipped in-theme within 14 days, so the test stack never became load-bearing
- Custom work kept out of core theme files, so the theme update path stays open for the life of the programme
The app stack, audited and costed
- Each app costed in milliseconds and conflicts as well as pounds, because every experiment is measured on top of them
- Overlapping apps replaced with native sections and metafields where the theme can do the job for free
- We have cut about 40% of a client’s app stack and watched conversion rise, not fall
Merchandising tests without another app
- Online Store 2.0 sections and metafields turn merchandising ideas such as fit notes, comparison tables and delivery estimates into testable theme changes rather than app installs
- Metaobjects carry structured content the whole catalogue reuses, so a winning pattern rolls out everywhere at once
- Every merchandising change ships behind an experiment, the same rule the rest of the programme follows
The difference
A Shopify specialist vs. a generalist CRO agency
| Optyv on Shopify | Generalist CRO agencies | |
|---|---|---|
| Checkout test ideas | Labelled with the surface and plan they need before pricing | Found to be impossible at build time, mid-retainer |
| Variation code | Written against sections and blocks; survives the theme editor | Pinned to DOM positions a merchandiser can move |
| Winning tests | Rebuilt natively into the theme, then the test code is retired | Left running in the testing tool as permanent page weight |
| App installed mid-test | Named as a failure mode up front, and monitored for | Silent variation drift, discovered in the readout, if at all |
| Low-traffic stores | Fixes and research first; the sample-size maths precedes the pitch | A testing retainer the traffic cannot support |
Why us
Three ways to buy Shopify CRO work
| Engagement | What you get | How it is bought |
|---|---|---|
| Single test builds | One experiment at a time: built Shopify-native, QA’d across the device matrix, tracking verified, launched and read out. For teams with their own strategist and backlog. | A fixed price per test, quoted before the build starts and shaped by how much of the page moves and how hostile the theme is. |
| Build retainer | Standing monthly capacity for an in-house or agency strategy team: briefs in, QA’d builds out, winners rebuilt into the theme. | A monthly fee, scaled to your cadence. Stop at the end of any month. |
| Full-service Shopify CRO | The whole loop: research, hypotheses, builds, QA, monthly readouts and the standing decision of what to bet on next, run against your store’s own data. | A monthly fee, quoted against store size and test cadence. Starts with the audit, so month one is diagnosis, not guesswork. |
How it runs
The first 90 days on a Shopify store
The same order every time, because each step makes the next one trustworthy. What gets fixed is kept separate from what gets tested, and your traffic sets the cadence, not the contract.
- 1
Weeks 1–4: diagnosis and reconciliation
The programme opens with the full diagnostic, and it takes the two to four weeks a real one takes: analytics reconciled against back-office orders, the funnel split by device, the app stack costed in milliseconds, sessions watched on the highest-traffic templates. Nothing downstream is believed until the numbers are.
- Analytics reconciled against orders
- Funnel split by device and template
- App stack costed in milliseconds
- 2
Weeks 3–6: fixes before tests
Defects nobody needs a control group for get fixed the moment the diagnosis proves them, not after the readout, and measured before-and-after: broken tracking, dead app scripts, out-of-stock products sorted to the top, delivery costs arriving too late. Spending test traffic proving a defect is a defect is waste.
- Tracking defects repaired first
- App weight cut against a budget
- Each fix measured before-and-after
- 3
Weeks 6–12: testing at your real cadence
Sample-size maths decides how many tests your traffic supports, and below roughly 1,000 orders a month the honest answer leans on fixes and research rather than experiments. Where testing is on, builds ship in 24–48 hours, QA’d across the device matrix with every revenue event verified.
- Cadence set by sample-size maths
- Mobile-first, product page first
- 24–48h standard build turnaround
- 4
Every month after: winners into the theme
A readout call with the wins, the losses and what we are betting on next, and every winner rebuilt natively into the theme so the testing tool never becomes load-bearing. The archive of hypotheses, results and learnings is yours, portable to any team that comes after us.
- Monthly readout, losses included
- Winners rebuilt in-theme
- The archive is yours to keep
What every engagement includes.
Revenue-verified tracking
Every goal and revenue event checked against real orders before a test launches.
Theme-update safe
Custom work stays out of core files, so Shopify’s update path stays open.
Real-device QA
Every build checked on iOS, Android and the browsers your customers actually use.
Fail-safe variations
Error handling degrades to the control, never to a broken product page.
Honest cadence
Sample-size maths sets the test count, not the size of the retainer.
Flexible commercials
Per test, build retainer or full service. Stop at the end of any month.
Every monthly readout is the best meeting on my calendar. Wins, losers, and what we’re betting on next.
NNadia FontaineLumen Apothecary
Technically reviewed by Zahidul IslamCTO & Experimentation LeadThe answers to your questions.
No. Everything up to checkout, which is the product page, collections, search, cart and drawer, is testable on any plan, and that is where most of the money is anyway. Plus changes what happens inside checkout: checkout UI extensions for the information, shipping and payment steps and custom-app Shopify Functions are Plus-only, while thank-you and order-status extensions work on every plan except Starter. We label every checkout idea in the backlog with the surface and plan it needs before anything is priced.
They can, and it is the most common way Shopify test results quietly go wrong: a review, upsell or subscription app installed mid-test changes the page underneath a running variation. We audit the app stack before the first build, cost each app in milliseconds as well as pounds, and monitor running tests for exactly this failure mode rather than promising it will not happen.
Almost certainly not, but it may be too small for A/B testing, which is a different thing. Below roughly 1,000 orders a month the programme leans on fixes and research: analytics reconciliation, session review, app-weight cuts and before-and-after measurement. We say so up front instead of selling a testing retainer your traffic cannot support, and the sample-size maths is shown, not asserted.
Yes. Variations are written against Online Store 2.0 sections and blocks rather than fixed DOM positions, so neither a theme update nor a merchandiser dragging a section silently breaks a running test. Winning tests are rebuilt natively into the theme rather than left running in the testing tool, and custom work stays out of core theme files, so the update path Shopify gives you stays open all programme long.
It depends on which of three shapes you buy: single test builds, priced one at a time; standing build capacity, priced by the month and scaled to your cadence; or a full-service programme with strategy, builds, QA and readouts included, priced against store size and test cadence. Every shape is quoted as a fixed price before anything is built, and none of them asks you for a lock-in. The free CRO audit is the entry point either way: one template of your store read against your own data before any retainer is discussed.
Shopify development builds, replatforms and migrates stores; this service tests and optimises the store you already have. The two share the same engineers and the same QA standard but answer different questions: development answers "build it right", CRO answers "prove which version sells more". When a programme uncovers work that needs a full build, it is scoped separately rather than smuggled into the retainer.
Put your store’s own numbers on the table
Start with the free CRO audit: one high-traffic template of your Shopify store read against your own data, two or three test-ready ideas attached, no obligation. If the sample earns a programme, you already know how we work. We reply to all inquiries within one working day.
Start with the free CRO audit ↗