Academy lesson
Measuring in the field
Measuring in the field is a core piece of Core Web Vitals. This lesson explains what it is, why it matters for Shopify merchants, and how to approach it without wasting effort.
13 min
OpenAll case studies
Atlas Outdoor · Outdoor
Fixing a performance bottleneck for a fast-growing outdoor brand
Atlas Outdoor's theme had accumulated apps, custom sections, and legacy scripts. Mobile experience felt sluggish, especially on product and collection pages.
Reference build — illustrative brand
- Platform
- Shopify
- Industry
- Outdoor
- Stage
- Scaling Brand
- Size
- Mid-market
- Timeline
- 8 weeks
- Challenge
- Performance bottlenecks
- Goal
- Improve Mobile Experience
- Services delivered
- developmentconversionanalytics
01Overview
Business background
Audience
Mobile-heavy shoppers researching gear before purchase.
Model
Shopify with a rich merchandising surface and many apps.
Market
Outdoor gear with strong branded demand but demanding mobile buyers.
Objectives
- Restore mobile speed
- Preserve merchandising flexibility
02What was holding growth back
The challenge
Render-blocking scripts
Multiple third-party scripts were loading synchronously in the head.
Oversized hero media
Homepage and collections were shipping full-resolution images.
App bloat
Several apps were installed but unused, still injecting assets on every page.
03The insight
Discovery & analysis
What we reviewed
- Theme code and section usage
- Third-party script inventory
- CWV field and lab data
Key findings
- Most weight came from a small number of scripts and images
- Some apps were injecting assets storewide but only used on one page
- LCP was inconsistent across product templates
Business priorities
- Fix the top three offenders first
- Set a performance budget
- Document what stays and why
04Guided by the Orbit Growth OS
The approach
- 1Audit
Waterfall & script inventory
Traced every script and asset to a business owner.
- 2Prioritize
Impact vs. effort ranking
Ranked interventions by likely CWV impact and rollback risk.
- 3Implement
Targeted theme changes
Removed dead apps, deferred non-critical scripts, resized media.
- 4Measure
Track CWV over time
Set up a weekly performance dashboard with alerts on regressions.
05What we built
The experience
Development
Theme cleanup, script deferral, and responsive image pipeline.
Conversion
Preserved merchandising while cutting weight on the critical path.
Analytics
Field CWV monitoring in a dashboard the team reviews weekly.
06Described honestly
Outcomes
Mobile LCP
Improved on priority templates
Field data measured across the 28 days post-launch.
Homepage weight
Meaningfully reduced
Weight compared before and after the cleanup.
Performance results are highly dependent on device and network mix, so we report ranges rather than single numbers.
07Takeaways you can apply
What changed
- 01
Most performance issues live in a handful of scripts and images.
- 02
A performance budget makes future changes safer.
- 03
Removing dead apps is usually the fastest win.
08Your next step
Related resources
Growth Intelligence
Website Health
Growth Planning
How this connects
Related services
Common questions
Frequently asked questions
Did the theme need a full rebuild?+
No. Targeted cleanup delivered most of the value. A full rebuild was not required.
Free Growth Audit
Not sure where to start? Request a free Growth Audit.
A senior strategist reviews your store, identifies the highest-leverage opportunities, and shares an honest, no-pressure plan. Educational first, commercial second.
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Where to go next
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