A WooCommerce store bleeding mobile revenue got green Core Web Vitals across every page, eliminated checkout errors, and rebuilt 100+ UX pain points – without replatforming.


The Problem: A Botched Migration Left Revenue on the Table

Infinite Defense sells self-healing shooting targets to enthusiasts, law enforcement, and military clients. It’s a niche product in a massive market- but their website wasn’t capturing the opportunity.

The company had moved from Shopify to WooCommerce two years earlier. The migration wasn’t handled by a WooCommerce specialist, and the technical debt compounded over time.

The symptoms:

  • Site regularly broke. Plugins conflicted. CSS issues appeared without warning.
  • Customers reported checkout failures: recaptcha not loading, duplicate cart items, missing payment options.
  • Mobile performance was abysmal – pages took 4+ seconds to load, blocking time exceeded 1,450ms.
  • Their developer could implement features but couldn’t optimize for conversion.

The data told the real story.

The site was generating tens of thousands of sessions per month. Desktop conversion rate was strong – well above industry averages. But mobile conversion rate was 80% lower than desktop, indicating a major UX issue with the mobile experience.

Nearly three-quarters of their traffic came from mobile devices. Less than one-third of revenue did.

Mobile had healthy product view rates – more users were viewing products on mobile than desktop – which pointed to specific friction points at the product page, add-to-cart flow, and checkout completion stages. Mobile users were interested. The site was preventing them from buying.


The Diagnosis: Performance + UX = The Conversion Killer Combo

We ran a full UX audit against 239 Baymard Institute guidelines across 14 categories. Mobile scored “poor” or “mediocre” on nearly every measure:

  • Homepage and category navigation: Buried search, collapsed categories by default, excessive header space pushing products below the fold
  • On-site search: Hidden in mobile menu, no typo tolerance, results showed only one product at a time
  • Product listing and filtering: No result counts, missing “in stock” filter, unclear category depth
  • Checkout: Decent baseline but improvable – prone to plugin conflicts causing intermittent failures

The UX failures compounded the performance problem. Mobile users who waited through slow load times hit friction at every turn.

PageSpeed Insights confirmed the technical damage:

Page TypeMobile ScoreStatus
Homepage31Red
Category39Red
Product37Red

First Contentful Paint took 4.4 seconds on the homepage. Total Blocking Time exceeded 2,400ms on product pages. For mobile users – 72% of traffic – the site was functionally broken.


The Solution: Native WooCommerce Optimization

We optimized WordPress and WooCommerce natively to achieve industry-leading performance without replatforming.

Infrastructure: Kinsta Hosting

We migrated Infinite Defense to Kinsta. Kinsta’s WooCommerce-optimized hosting provides:

  • Edge caching via Cloudflare integration
  • Global CDN for static assets
  • Optimized TTFB (Time to First Byte)
  • Server-level performance tuning for WooCommerce

High-performance hosting is fundamental to a fast WooCommerce store. Kinsta handles the infrastructure layer so we could focus on frontend optimization.

Performance: Full Site Editing + Plugin Reduction

We rebuilt the frontend using a Full Site Editing (FSE) theme. FSE themes load 40% faster than traditional themes because they eliminate legacy code and render more efficiently.

Plugin optimization:

  • Reduced total plugin count by 17
  • Consolidated multiple caching plugins into a single performance layer
  • Replaced underperforming plugins with leaner, more stable alternatives
  • Eliminated duplicate functionality that created conflicts

Asset optimization:

  • Compressed and lazy-loaded images
  • Deferred non-critical JavaScript
  • Minified CSS and removed unused styles
  • Mobile-first asset delivery prioritized critical rendering path

UX: 100+ Enhancements Based on Data, Not Guesswork

We fixed every violation identified in the UX audit. The design maintained Infinite Defense’s brand identity – no visual overhaul – but rebuilt the functional layer for mobile users.

Key changes:

Search:

  • Moved search to header on mobile (previously buried in collapsed menu)
  • Implemented typo-tolerant search algorithm
  • Redesigned results layout to show multiple products at once

Navigation:

  • Expanded primary category menu by default
  • Reduced header height to push products higher on initial viewport
  • Added breadcrumb optimization for category depth awareness

Product listing:

  • Added result counts to all filter options
  • Implemented “in stock only” filter toggle
  • Displayed category product counts above filter controls

Product pages:

  • Rebuilt mobile layout to prioritize add-to-cart above the fold
  • Enhanced trust signals (reviews, shipping info, guarantees)
  • Optimized image galleries for mobile interaction

Checkout:

  • Streamlined field layout to reduce cognitive load
  • Eliminated error-prone third-party plugins causing recaptcha and payment gateway failures
  • Tested cross-device, cross-browser to ensure consistency

SEO Protection: Zero Risk

We made zero changes to URL structure. All metadata from existing SEO plugins remained intact. No rankings were jeopardized.

In fact, the performance improvements typically boost rankings. Google’s Core Web Vitals are a confirmed ranking factor, and faster sites get preferential treatment in mobile search results.

Timeline: Projects like this typically take 6-8 weeks from kickoff to launch. Infinite Defense went live in September 2025.


The Results: Green Across the Board

Mobile PageSpeed Insights (Before → After):

Page TypeBeforeAfterImprovement
Homepage3190+59 points
Category3995+56 points
Product3790+53 points

Every critical page hit green. Core Web Vitals – Largest Contentful Paint, Total Blocking Time, Cumulative Layout Shift – all optimized.

Stability:

  • Zero customer-reported checkout errors since launch
  • No plugin conflicts
  • No unexpected breakage requiring emergency fixes

The site runs without constant firefighting. Infinite Defense’s team can focus on growing the business instead of troubleshooting technical issues.

UX Score: Moved from “poor/mediocre” to “good/perfect” across all 14 audit categories. Over 100 specific enhancements implemented based on Baymard Institute research.

Conversion Impact: The site launched 30 days ago, so it’s too early to report definitive mobile conversion lift. But the infrastructure is now optimized to capture the mobile traffic that was previously bouncing due to performance and UX barriers.

Desktop conversion rate remains strong. Mobile conversion rate is climbing as the site stabilizes and user behavior adapts to the improved experience.

Test it yourself: Visit infinitytargets.com on mobile and run your own PageSpeed test. The results speak for themselves.


Why This Approach Works for WooCommerce Stores

You don’t need to replatform to Shopify – or go headless – to get speed and stability.

WooCommerce works. But only if you:

  1. Use performance-optimized hosting. Kinsta, or equivalent providers tuned for WooCommerce, eliminate infrastructure bottlenecks.
  2. Build with modern theme architecture. FSE themes are 40% faster than traditional page builders. The architecture matters.
  3. Cut plugin bloat ruthlessly. Every plugin adds weight, potential conflicts, and maintenance overhead. Audit and reduce.
  4. Fix UX based on data, not opinions. Baymard Institute has tested thousands of ecommerce sites and documented what works. Follow the research.

Infinite Defense stayed on WooCommerce. They kept all integrations – ShipStation, payment gateways, marketing tools. They eliminated technical debt without replatforming risk.


What WooCommerce Store Owners Should Take Away

If your mobile conversion rate is significantly lower than desktop, you have a performance and UX problem – not a platform problem.

PageSpeed scores below 50 cost you revenue on every mobile session. Google penalizes slow sites in search rankings. Users bounce before pages finish loading. Every second of delay reduces conversion by 7-10%.

Plugin sprawl creates instability. Most WooCommerce stores run 30-50 plugins. Half are redundant or underperforming. Audit ruthlessly.

UX issues compound on mobile. What’s tolerable on a 27-inch desktop monitor is a dealbreaker on a 6-inch phone screen. Mobile users are less patient, more task-focused, and more likely to abandon if friction appears.

You can fix this without replatforming. But you need specialists who understand WooCommerce at scale – not generalists who implement features without optimizing for conversion.


Is Your WooCommerce Store Leaking Mobile Revenue?

If your mobile traffic is high but mobile revenue is low, you’re leaving money on the table.

Request a free performance assessment to see where your store stands. We’ll analyze your PageSpeed scores, conversion rates by device, and UX against 239 benchmarks.

Or schedule a 30-minute strategy call to discuss your specific challenges. We’ll show you exactly how we’d approach your store.


About Blaze Commerce

We solve two problems for WooCommerce stores: performance and user experience. We guarantee green Core Web Vitals (90+ on mobile) and fix UX issues that kill conversion. We’ve worked with hundreds of stores worldwide over 10+ years – WooCommerce only, nothing else.