What is Friction Observatory?
Friction Observatory is synthetic checkout monitoring for Shopify. A real browser walks your storefront the way a shopper would — product → cart → checkout — on the markets and devices you choose. When something breaks, you get a health score, plain-language findings, session video, and screenshots you can share with your theme partner.
It is not uptime monitoring (your site can return 200 while checkout is broken). It is not CRO or A/B testing. It does not place real orders or charge real payment methods — runs stop at checkout presentation.
Who it is for
- Merchants selling in more than one market — see whether checkout works in the US baseline but fails in GB, DE, AU, and so on.
- Teams shipping theme or app changes — pin a healthy baseline, publish, then compare.
- Agencies — link client shops, watch a portfolio, and send white-label client PDFs.
Plans at a glance
Billing runs through Shopify Billing. Start on Trial, then upgrade to Pro or Agency from Plan and billing in the app. Cancel anytime to return to Trial.
Trial
Free
Prove the product path works on one shop before you pay.
Prove checkout before you pay
1 product URL, United States only, mobile and/or desktop.
5 lifetime manual tests
Each market × device × URL uses one test. No automatic schedule.
Evidence on every run
Health score, findings, session video, screenshots, and a watermarked PDF.
Link this shop to an agency
Paste a connection code so your agency can watch checkout for you.
Pro
$49/mo
Continuous checkout monitoring for one store that sells in more than one market.
One-click setup for this store
Generate tests from your catalog, or paste up to 5 published product URLs.
Multi-market checkout truth
Watch up to 5 markets (US, CA, GB, FR, DE, AE, ZA, AU) with a baseline country. Market Health shows where shipping, payments, or localization break.
14-day Shopify trial, then unlimited
30 checkout tests total while Shopify is not charging (not 30 per day). Unlimited after a live charge starts.
Set-and-forget after billing starts
Schedule every 1, 6, 12, or 24 hours. Scheduling stays off during the Shopify trial.
Five paths to checkout
Product, collection, Buy Now, homepage, and search — not only product → cart.
Alerts you can trust
Slack and email after a confirmed repeat on the same shop, market, and device, plus a weekly digest.
Theme baseline and proof
Pin a healthy run, compare after a deploy. Premium PDF, share links, health history, and visible self-healing.
Agency
$149/mo
Watch every client Shopify shop from one dashboard, with reports under your brand.
Everything in Pro, on every client shop
Same markets, paths, alerts, and evidence wherever the app is installed.
15-minute schedules
After Shopify starts charging, run as often as every 15 minutes (Pro starts at 1 hour).
Client stores dashboard
Portfolio pass-rate KPIs, worst-market view, and an alert inbox across linked shops.
Connection code
Clients stay on Trial or Pro and paste your code. Each shop still installs the app.
White-label client PDFs
Your agency name and logo on downloadable reports — not our brand.
Peer benchmarks and agency Slack
Compare clients to each other and send one agency-wide Slack feed.
| Capability | Trial | Pro ($49/mo) | Agency ($149/mo) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Who it is for | Prove checkout on one shop before you pay | One store that sells in multiple markets | Agencies watching several client Shopify shops |
| Setup | Generate tests or paste 1 product URL | One-click generate, or paste up to 5 product URLs | Same as Pro on each client shop, plus a connection code to link them |
| Markets | United States only | Up to 5 (US, CA, GB, FR, DE, AE, ZA, AU) with a baseline country | Same 5-market monitoring on each client shop |
| Devices | Mobile, desktop, or both | Mobile, desktop, or both | Mobile, desktop, or both |
| Checkout tests | 5 lifetime manual tests | 30 total during Shopify’s 14-day trial (not per day), then unlimited | Same 14-day cap, then unlimited |
| Schedule | Manual only — no automatic runs | After Shopify starts charging: every 1h, 6h, 12h, or 24h | After charging: every 15 min, 1h, 6h, 12h, or 24h |
| Paths to checkout | Product → Cart → Checkout only | Up to 5: product, collection, Buy Now, homepage, search | Same 5 paths on each client shop |
| Evidence | Health score, findings, session video, screenshots; PDF with watermark | Theme baseline compare, unwatermarked PDF, and share links | Plus white-label client PDFs under your agency brand |
| Alerts | — | Slack + email after a confirmed repeat; weekly digest; market on the alert | Per-shop channels, plus agency-wide Slack and a portfolio alert inbox |
| Self-healing | Healing history when selectors adapt | Same healing history, used with scheduled retests after billing starts | Same healing history on each client shop |
| Agency tools | Paste an agency connection code | Paste a code (this shop stays on Pro) | Full Client stores dashboard, peer benchmarks, branded reports |
Install from Shopify
You only need read_products — we never place orders or collect shopper card data. After install you land in the embedded app on Monitoring.
Option A — Shopify App Store
Use this once Friction Observatory is listed on the Shopify App Store (public listing).
- In Shopify Admin open Apps, then Shopify App Store (or visit apps.shopify.com).
- Search for Friction Observatory and open the listing.
- Click Add app / Install, then approve access.
- Shopify opens the app inside Admin — you should see Monitoring.
Option B — Website install
Available now — same OAuth flow, useful before the App Store listing is approved or if you prefer starting from our site.
- Open frictionobservatory.com and click Install on Shopify, or go directly to app.frictionobservatory.com/install.
- Enter your
.myshopify.comdomain (for exampleyour-shop.myshopify.com). - Continue to Shopify, approve read_products, then open the app from Apps → Friction Observatory if you are not redirected automatically.
Already installed?
Shopify Admin → Apps → Friction Observatory. No need to install again.
Install troubleshooting
- redirect_uri not whitelisted — always use the production install URL (
https://app.frictionobservatory.com/install), notlocalhost. - Blank iframe / app won’t open — reopen from Admin → Apps. Hard-refresh the Admin tab if needed.
- Permissions declined — uninstall from Settings → Apps and sales channels, then install again and approve read_products.
Quick start (about two minutes)
- Install the app from the Shopify App Store or from app.frictionobservatory.com/install.
- Approve access in Shopify Admin. You land on Monitoring.
- If you have no product URL yet, use Generate checkout tests (also available in Settings).
- Wait for the first run to finish, then open the report — video, health score, and findings.
- Optional: open Settings to refine the product URL, markets (Pro+), schedule, and storefront password.
Monitoring
Monitoring is the day-to-day home: run a checkout test, watch progress, open the latest report, compare against a theme baseline, and review Market Health, health trend, and healing history.
Run checkout test
Uses the saved product URLs and markets from Settings. The page shows a Testing: line so you can confirm which URL will run before you click.
- Free Trial: button disables when the five lifetime tests are used up — upgrade to Pro or Agency.
- Shopify 14-day billing trial (after you approve Pro/Agency): 30 tests total, not per day. Unlimited runs start when Shopify begins charging.
- Each run consumes one test per market × device × product URL × journey.
- Progress survives refresh; when complete, use Open report.
Settings
Everything that configures what we test lives under Settings. Save each section before you rely on a Monitoring run.
Product to test
- Use a published, in-stock product page URL from this shop.
- Format:
https://your-shop.myshopify.com/products/…(or your allowed custom domain). - Trial: 1 URL. Pro / Agency: up to 5.
- Or clear the field and use Generate checkout tests / Clear.
Markets & devices
- Trial: United States only (multi-market is the paid differentiator).
- Pro / Agency: up to 5 markets; set a baseline market (usually your primary country).
- Device: mobile, desktop, or both.
Schedule automatic tests
Hidden on the free Trial plan. On Pro/Agency it stays locked during Shopify’s 14-day billing trial (30 tests total, manual only). After Shopify starts charging: hourly and slower on Pro; Agency also unlocks 15-minute cadence. After you save, Monitoring shows the next run time.
Paths to checkout (Pro / Agency)
Beyond the default product → cart → checkout path, enable collection, search, homepage, or buy it now journeys. Trial always uses the standard product path.
Storefront password & staging
If Online Store is password-protected, save the storefront password (and optional staging URL) so tests can enter the shop.
Sales inputs
Monthly visitors and average order value feed revenue-at-risk estimates on reports. Defaults work; replace them with your numbers when you can.
Reports & evidence
Every completed run produces a report: health score, what happened, fix next steps, session video, and (on failure) a screenshot. Share a link or download a PDF for owners and theme partners.
Market Health
After multi-market runs (Pro / Agency), Market Health compares your baseline market to other countries. A healthy baseline with failures elsewhere usually means localization, shipping, or payment configuration — not “the whole site is down.”
Theme baseline (before / after)
- Run a healthy checkout test.
- On Monitoring, click Save as baseline.
- Publish your theme or app change.
- Run again, then Compare to baseline to see regressions.
Alerts (Pro / Agency)
Open the Alerts page in the app sidebar. Configure Slack Incoming Webhook and/or an alert email, save, then send a test. Trial shows an upgrade wall instead of channel settings.
Agency
Agency seat (Agency plan)
- Settings → Agency portal — copy the connection code; optional agency Slack webhook.
- Open Client stores / portfolio to see linked shops, pass rates, recent alerts, peer benchmarks.
- Use Send client report for a white-label PDF.
Client shop (Trial or Pro)
- Settings → Agency connection — paste the agency code → Link store.
- Connected agencies lists the link; Disconnect removes it.
- Each shop keeps its own plan billing; portfolio shows the client’s Trial/Pro label.
Healing history
When selectors change after a theme update, self-healing may adapt. Monitoring → Healing history shows recent heuristic / LLM adaptations so maintenance is visible, not silent.
Billing
- Open Plan and billing in the app.
- Choose Pro or Agency → approve the charge in Shopify Admin.
- Shopify’s 14-day trial is 30 tests total (not per day) and does not include automatic schedules. Unlimited runs and scheduling start when Shopify begins charging.
- Cancel from the same page to stop paid billing without uninstalling.
To remove the app entirely: Shopify Admin → Settings → Apps and sales channels → Friction Observatory → Uninstall.
How to read results
- Verified / healthy — trustworthy successful run; open the report if you want evidence.
- Needs confirmation — first critical signal; we usually wait for a matching retest before alerting.
- Confirmed issue — same problem again on the same store / market / device; alerts may fire.
- Monitor issue — our infrastructure (proxy, bot block, rate limit). Not a claim that your store is broken.
Common journey failure codes
- PRODUCT_NOT_FOUND — bad or unpublished product URL.
- CHECKOUT_UNREACHABLE — never reached checkout (sold out, empty cart, theme).
- BOT_BLOCK / RATE_LIMIT / PROXY_ERROR — monitor-side; we do not treat these as store guilt.
Common market codes
- SHIPPING_RATES_UNAVAILABLE / PAYMENT_METHODS_MISSING — buyers in that market cannot complete checkout.
- REGION_NOT_SELLABLE — country missing from checkout.
Troubleshooting
Cannot install / OAuth error
Use app.frictionobservatory.com/install (not localhost). Full steps: Install from Shopify.
Run still uses an old product URL
Confirm Settings shows the URL you want, click Save, then on Monitoring check the Testing: line before you run. Monitoring always uses the server-saved URL.
Free tests used up
The free Trial plan includes five lifetime manual tests. Upgrade to Pro or Agency for more markets, then use the 14-day Shopify trial (30 tests total) until billing starts.
Shopify trial tests used up
After you approve Pro or Agency, Shopify’s 14-day billing trial includes 30 tests total — not 30 per day. Unlimited runs and automatic schedules start when Shopify begins charging this shop. Reduce markets, devices, or product URLs if one run would exceed what you have left.
Password page blocks the bot
Save the storefront password under Settings → Storefront access, then re-run.
Video or screenshot missing
Refresh once; signed media links can expire. Re-run the test to capture new evidence.
Cannot add markets on Trial
Expected — Trial is US-only. Upgrade to Pro or Agency for multi-market Market Health.
Support
Email support@frictionobservatory.com. Include your .myshopify.com domain, plan, product URL, market / device, and the report link if you have one.
Privacy requests: privacy@frictionobservatory.com. Legal: Privacy · Terms · Support page.