The impact Shopify Apps have on your store's performance

the impact of shopify apps

CASE STUDY

Shopify apps are an integral part of their ecosystem and a big drive towards easily managed sites and integrating any necessary tools to help you run your store.

What are the pitfalls and impacts that installing apps has on your website and ultimately, your conversions? We took it upon ourselves to help us answer this question while we ran performance audits for our clients.

61 %

decrease to mobile performance score, according to lighthouse reports

14.3 s

increase of the mobile Speed Index, according to lighthouse reports

44 %

decrease in Best Practices rating on desktop, according to lighthouse reports

Let's dig into more stats

For the charts below, we utilized a client's site that has a highly custom Shopify store setup, including a custom app.

For this case study, we blocked 11 3rd party apps, which had the largest loading hit on the site. At the time of testing, this client had a total of ~50 apps installed.

speed index
According to Google, a delay of just one second in page load time can lead to a 7% reduction in conversions. This statistic underscores the critical link between site speed and user engagement.
total blocking time
According to Web.dev, high Total Blocking Time affects mobile users particularly severely. Since mobile devices often have less processing power than desktops, high TBT can exacerbate issues, leading to a poor user experience and reduced engagement.

How does the page speed stats look?

By reducing only 11 high-impacting apps, performance on mobile and desktop both increased significantly, along with Best practice scores. This can make a big impact on user retention, conversions and google ranking.

curious about how your shopify store ranks?

We offer FREE site audits that can provide you with vital information on your sites performance and recommendations for what you can address immediatly!