How to audit a Shopify store for revenue leaks in one hour
Shopify's analytics tell you what sold. This audit is about what did not, and why. Block one hour, open your admin, and work through the five passes below in order — they are sorted by how much money they usually return.
Pass 1 — Dead inventory (15 minutes)
Filter products by units sold in the last 90 days. Anything at zero with stock on hand is capital sitting still, plus storage cost. Decide per SKU: bundle, discount, or delist. Delisting matters most if any campaign still points at it.
Pass 2 — Discount codes (10 minutes)
Sort active codes by total discount given. Look for codes with no end date, codes shared publicly that were meant for one segment, and stacking combinations that push margin negative. Set expiry dates on everything.
Pass 3 — Checkout drop-off (15 minutes)
Compare sessions that reached checkout with completed orders. A gap wider than usual almost always points to a shipping cost surprise, a payment method missing for a top country, or a broken discount field. Each of those is a same-day fix.
Pass 4 — Refunds and returns by SKU (10 minutes)
One or two products usually generate most returns. If a SKU returns above 15%, the leak is in the product page — sizing, photos or expectations — not in logistics.
Pass 5 — Shipping and fees (10 minutes)
Compare charged shipping against actual carrier cost for the last month. Flat rates set two years ago are almost always underwater now.
Make it automatic
Every pass above is a query. Connecting Shopify to Revenue Leak AI with a read-only key runs all five on a schedule, prices each finding in annual dollars, and lets you fix most of them from the dashboard.