Performance

Performance

Review Nova is designed to be one of the lightest review apps available for Shopify. Here's what that means for your store and how you can verify it yourself.

Why It Matters

Slow pages lose customers. Studies show that even a one-second delay in page load can reduce sales. Many review apps add a surprising amount of weight to your pages, which can hurt your store's speed scores and your search rankings.

What Makes Review Nova Fast

Tiny widget

The entire Review Nova widget (reviews, ratings, form, and styles) weighs around 10 KB total. Most review apps add 50 to 150 KB. That's 5 to 15 times more code your customers have to download.

Smart loading

Reviews only load when a customer scrolls near them. If your reviews are further down the page, they won't slow down the initial page load at all.

No layout shift

A placeholder appears instantly in the space where reviews will show. When the reviews load in, the page doesn't jump around. Your customers get a smooth experience.

Caching

Review data is cached so repeat visitors and search engines get fast responses. When you approve or remove a review, the cache updates automatically.

How to Check Your Store's Speed

Google PageSpeed Insights

1. Go to PageSpeed Insights
2. Enter a product page URL from your store
3. Click Analyze
4. Look at the Performance score (aim for 90+)
5. Check Largest Contentful Paint and Cumulative Layout Shift in the diagnostics

Shopify Speed Report

1. In your Shopify admin, go to Online Store > Themes
2. Click View report next to your speed score
3. Shopify compares your store against similar stores

Before and After

If you're switching from another review app, here's how to compare:

1. Run a PageSpeed Insights test before uninstalling your current app
2. Save or screenshot the results
3. Uninstall the old app and install Review Nova
4. Wait a few minutes for caches to clear
5. Run the test again on the same product page
6. Compare the two scores

Pay attention to these numbers:

• Performance score (higher is better)
• Largest Contentful Paint (lower is better, measures when the main content appears)
• Cumulative Layout Shift (lower is better, measures how much the page jumps around)
• Total Blocking Time (lower is better, measures how long the page feels unresponsive)

What to Expect

Review Nova should have little to no impact on your speed scores. If you're switching from a heavier review app, you may see an improvement in your Performance score and faster load times.

Keep in mind that speed scores depend on many factors (your theme, other apps, images, and hosting). Review Nova controls only the review widget portion, but we make sure that portion is as small and fast as possible.

Need Help?

If you notice a speed issue after installing Review Nova, reach out to our support team. We're happy to investigate and help optimise your setup.