For months, when someone dropped a store URL in my DMs or on Instagram, I did the same thing by hand: open it on my phone, screenshot what a buyer sees in the first three seconds, scroll to price and add-to-cart, and write back three specific fixes — not generic “improve UX” advice.
It worked. Store owners forwarded the notes to their team. Some booked calls. But I could only do a handful a week, and the format was inconsistent depending on how tired I was that night.
So I productized the process. Store Look Check is the free tool version of what I was already doing manually — you paste your URL, get mobile + desktop captures, a trust score, flagged issues, and plain-English fixes you can act on today.
What I used to check by hand (the manual audit)
Every manual pass followed the same mental checklist. I was not running Lighthouse for strangers on Instagram.
- Mobile fold first. Does the hero explain what you sell, or is it a full-screen photo with no price?
- Cookie banner test. Does legal text block the product before a new visitor sees anything?
- Buy box on product pages. If they sent a product link, I scrolled to price, variants, and add-to-cart — not just the pretty hero image.
- Trust signals. Returns, reviews, payment icons, contact — anything that answers “is this legit?” on a phone.
- Tap targets. Can you actually hit the primary button with a thumb, or is everything tiny?
I would type three killers and three quick fixes. Same structure every time. That consistency is what made founders trust it — it felt like I had actually looked at their store, not pasted a template.
Why I built the tool instead of scaling myself
Manual audits do not scale. Worse, they create a bottleneck: you have to know me, catch me online, and hope I reply before you lose momentum.
Most store owners are not ready to hire anyone yet. They want a second opinion they can forward internally — “see, even this guy says our scent dropdown is broken.” That is a different job than a sales call.
The tool does three things manual DMs could not:
- Instant. No waiting for me to wake up in Pacific time.
- Repeatable. Same checks on every URL — programmatic rules plus vision on your actual screenshots.
- Shareable. You get a report link you can send to a co-founder, VA, or agency.
What the free scan actually does (no black box)
Under the hood it is Playwright on a real mobile viewport and desktop fold — not a synthetic lab score. The scanner loads your live URL, dismisses common cookie banners where possible, captures screenshots, and runs automated checks (HTTPS, viewport, platform detection, tap targets, SEO basics, load time).
A vision model reads those screenshots the way I would: specific problems visible on the page, plain English, no fake revenue math. On product URLs like /products/your-item, it scrolls to the buy box and keeps the hero shot — so it does not claim “no product image” when your gallery is just above the fold.
You get:
- Mobile screenshot with numbered flags on real issues
- Desktop fold capture for comparison
- Trust score with visual + technical breakdown
- What may make buyers bounce, plus quick fixes to try first
See a full fictional example: VelvetCart sample report. Same format, made-up brand — so you know what you are getting before you paste your own URL.
Homepage or product link — both work
I used to ask “send your homepage” because that is where trust starts. But founders often care about one SKU that ads point to. The scanner accepts either. Product pages get a “Product page” badge on the report and a buy-box-focused mobile capture.
If the URL has a typo (like glossier.com without https, or a comma instead of a dot), the form normalizes it. I have seen those mistakes enough times to automate the fix.
What the tool is not
- Not a guarantee of sales. It is a front-of-store honesty check — the same lens I use before a $497 Store Upgrade Week.
- Not a replacement for a human pass. Automated scans miss context (your ad creative, your email flow, your margins). That is what the 15-minute call is for.
- Not a popup on this site. You choose to run it from /look-check/ or the nav. No interrupting your browse.
There is also a 15-point mobile trust checklist you can print or save as PDF — same checklist I use mentally, written down.
Try it on your store
Paste your live URL at larelabs.com/look-check. Email is required so you get the report link — no spam list, no sales sequence. Just the scan.
If the report surfaces something you cannot fix alone — broken mobile layout, template trust gaps, checkout that feels sketchy — book 15 minutes and we will walk your live store together. Or start with the $497 Store Upgrade Week if you already know you want it shipped.
I built the tool because the manual audits were useful — not because I wanted another SaaS dashboard. Run the scan, fix what you can, call me when you want a human who ships.