The 2026 Shopify Agency Shortlist: 7 Questions That Instantly Expose Real Operators vs. Sales-Driven Agencies

Most owners of 7–8 figure Shopify stores have already been burned at least once.

Beautiful decks, confident calls, promises of “explosive growth”… and then 3–4 months later: missed deadlines, surprise “additional scope”, “let’s do an audit first”, and the sinking feeling that you chose wrong again.

If you’re currently speaking with 2–3 final agencies and want to cut through polished sales talk in under 20 minutes, ask these seven questions. The answers (or lack of them) will tell you almost everything you need to know.

How to use this shortlist in one call

Ask the questions in order. Do not accept “we’ll share after the NDA” for basic proof. Blurred examples are fine — excuses are not.

1. Show a live store with Lighthouse ≥ 98 on real traffic

Show us the most recent live Shopify store you brought to Lighthouse ≥ 98 with real production traffic of 1M+ sessions per month. No dev domains. No screenshots. Just a URL we can open.

High-traffic performance optimization at scale is fundamentally different from lab conditions. A 99 score on a low-traffic test store proves very little.

2. Who exactly will be the technical lead on my project?

Please provide two real names and links to their current LinkedIn and/or GitHub profiles.

If you hear “our senior team”, “we’ll assign the best person”, or “we rotate leads”, it usually means ownership is unclear — and accountability will be too.

3. How many working days will it take to launch upsells?

If we give you full access today and the store is already on Shopify Plus, how many working days will it take to implement a fully functional post-purchase upsell and checkout upsell?

We are looking for one clear number. Not “it depends”. Not “2–4 weeks”. Teams that do this regularly can give a realistic answer immediately.

4. Show a real client project board

Notion, Jira, Linear, ClickUp — any real board your team is actively using with a client right now. Sensitive data can be blurred.

Agencies that run structured projects have no problem showing how work actually moves. Agencies that “kind of manage projects” usually have nothing to show.

5. What is the biggest bug you fixed in the last 6 months?

What broke? How much revenue was at risk or lost? How long did it take to fix? What was the final business impact?

Strong teams remember these incidents clearly. Weak teams speak in vague generalities.

6. How many Shopify Plus certified developers do you employ full-time?

Not freelancers. Not contractors. Actual payroll employees with active Shopify Plus certification.

Certification alone isn’t everything, but very low numbers often indicate stretched expertise or dependency on external resources.

7. Name three brands you’ve worked with for over 18 months

Long-term retainers are one of the strongest indicators of client satisfaction. If an agency struggles to name even three, that’s a loud signal.

What usually happens when agencies hear these questions

They suggest starting with an audit. They say the information is confidential. They talk about “the team” instead of real people. Or they promise examples after an NDA.

What happens when you ask us the same questions

We open tabs and show you — usually within the first 10–15 minutes of the call. No drama. No excuses. No “after the contract”.

Ready to run us through these 7 questions live?

Short call. Maximum transparency. Zero fluff.