Shopify Store Launch Checklist: 15 Must-Do Steps

Starting a Shopify store is an exciting adventure that may help you realize your entrepreneurial goals. It's crucial to pay close attention to every detail because this crucial time might determine your future success. The excitement is palpable, but with so many elements to manage, ensuring a seamless launch can only be daunting with proper guidance.

That's why we've crafted the "Complete Shopify Store Launch Checklist: 15 Must-Do Steps." This all-inclusive guide will take you through every important step—from setup to last-minute adjustments—before you go live. In order to make sure your business is ready for success right away, our checklist includes everything from product listings and website optimization to marketing tactics and customer service planning.

Importance to Complete Shopify Store Launch Checklist

Ensures Professionalism and Credibility

When launching a Shopify store, a comprehensive checklist ensures your store exudes professionalism and credibility right from the start. Potential customers are more likely to interact and make a purchase when an online store is neat and well-organized. First impressions are very important. Making sure everything is in order conveys to customers that your company is reputable and takes its business seriously.

Optimizes User Experience

Enhancing the user experience with a comprehensive launch checklist is crucial for retaining visitors on your website and gaining their loyalty as loyal customers. Due to your careful attention to detail, your website is both navigable and accessible on mobile devices. Content consumers are more likely to come back and refer people to your shop, two things that are essential for expansion.

Enhances SEO and Discoverability

Attracting organic visitors requires concentrating on discoverability and SEO performances. Using a comprehensive checklist helps your shop rank higher in search engine results by ensuring that all SEO best practices—from meta tags to keyword optimization—are followed. Making your shop more competitive in the online marketplace requires this exposure in order to increase traffic and revenue.

Streamlines Operations

Another significant benefit of a detailed launch checklist is streamlining operations. By establishing effective procedures and anticipating possible problems, you may operate your shop more skillfully. This results in more efficient everyday operations and improved overall performance as you can concentrate on client happiness and growth rather than fixing preventable issues.

Boosts Confidence and Long-Term Success

Finally, following a comprehensive checklist boosts your confidence and sets the stage for long-term success. Knowing that you've covered all bases allows you to launch with assurance, ready to face the competitive e-commerce landscape. This confidence, backed by thorough preparation, paves the way for a thriving Shopify store that can adapt and grow over time.

15 Must-Do Steps to Checklist your Shopify Store Before Launching

#1: Add Essential Business Information

Adding your essential business information is one of the first and most crucial steps in preparing your Shopify store for launch. Start with your business name, phone number, email address, and physical address to build credibility.

Ensure your tax and banking information is accurately entered to handle transactions and comply with regulations. To build customer trust, display your store's policies, including shipping, returns, and privacy. 

Additionally, craft a compelling "About Us" page that reflects your brand's voice and values, connecting with your audience personally. This personal touch can turn casual visitors into loyal customers. You're laying a solid foundation for a smooth, professional launch by meticulously setting up your business information.

#2: Focus on your sales channels.

Although having a Shopify store is fantastic, customers won't solely shop on your website. You won't have the search engine optimization (SEO) "juice" to rank your website higher than your rivals when you're just starting. That is one of the several benefits of considering a multi-channel sales approach. Customers may be acquired online from various sources, and everything can be centralized inside your Shopify dashboard.

Once you've determined your target audience's location, include those sales channels in your Shopify business. The most popular choices are Amazon, eBay, Google Shopping, and Facebook.

Connecting your sales channels to your dashboard makes it simple for you to handle all of your orders, clients, and products in one place.

#3: Add Your Custom Domain

Having a unique domain is crucial for branding. Which is more straightforward to recall? Is it EcommerceCEO.Shopify.com or EcommerceCEO.com? (The idea still holds even though we don't have a Shopify store.)

You should quickly check whether you have already decided on a name for your company to see whether the domain name is still accessible. Additionally, confirm that a trademark does not protect your name.

Don't freak out if your dream domain name isn't accessible. Try a few other approaches. Put a term associated with your brand before it, or use your imagination when choosing the top-level domain (TLD). 

Consider prefixing your brand name with "wear" if you are a clothes company. Consider a.coffee domain name if you are a coffee brand. Another option is to use a.store or.shop TLD. Utilizing the domain name UseTopic.com, the SEO tool Topic has achieved success.

You may purchase a domain name through Shopify and connect it to your account once you've discovered one that fits your brand, is available for purchase, and isn't protected by a trademark. You can add to your Shopify store if you already have a domain you want to use.

#4: Evaluate Your Checkout Experience 

Make sure prospective buyers can complete the checkout procedure before you actively promote your Shopify business. According to research, the average percentage of cart abandonment is 70.19%. This implies that, on average, seven out of ten customers will leave your business without buying anything.

As an e-commerce entrepreneur, the most significant thing you can do is minimize friction and preview your checkout process. Keep it as simple and educational as you can. Items to look out for consist of:

• Shipping costs are shown at the time of checkout.
• In the cart, discount codes can be used and function as intended.
• Customers can make changes to their carts.
• Reputable payment options are accessible, and clients are free to select the one they like.
• Option to track order status
• Contact page that is easily accessible in case the order has to be changed
• Order receipt and purchase confirmation by email
• Unambiguous shipping guidelines for sales to foreign countries
• Options for converting languages and currencies for overseas sales
• If you want to utilize Shopify Payments, you can test orders using the live gateway on your website to ensure everything functions properly.

#5: Verify Your Payment Configurations

According to the study, 70% of customers leave their carts unfinished, translating to 7 out of 10 customers needing to make a purchase. To lower the abandonment cart rate, you need to implement strategies that work and give customers a smooth and easy checkout process.

Reduce the number of steps needed to complete the checkout process. Provide a guest checkout option so that users can finish their purchases without having to register. Pre-populate shipping and billing information using autofill features. Make use of real-time validation to avoid errors and minimize friction when entering data.

Provide a range of payment choices to accommodate varying client inclinations. Take into account the popular payment options such as debit and credit cards, as well as digital wallets like PayPal and Apple Pay. Use Shopify Payments for a secure payment processing solution that works smoothly with your store.

Read more:

• 10 Best Payment Methods for your Shopify stores
• How to Test Shopify Credit Card Payments?
• Shopify Apple Pay Integration: Quick Guide

#6: Create Typical Web Pages

It's crucial to have pages on your site that focus on things other than the goods you offer. As Shopify has demonstrated, standard pages with thorough and educational information may help you win over your customers' confidence and approval.

The following are the "non-negotiables" that we advise including and emphasizing when building landing pages on Shopify:

• Homepage: The homepage is the most crucial part of your site, setting the tone for the overall experience. Despite your brand's excellence, some people may miss it by providing straightforward navigation for easy page movement.

• About Page: Your about page is crucial for store owners to introduce the company's background, brand, and behind-the-scenes. It serves as a sales tool, ensuring customers are genuine and willing to invest in your brand. Sharing your mission and company values can connect with new customers who share similar values, making your store more appealing to potential customers.

• Contact Page: Specify how to be reached by phone, email, retail shop address, and social media profiles. To facilitate reachable connection, offer a contact form. If multiple points of contact exist, provide information on common issues like general inquiries, press, and wholesale.

• Frequently Ask Questions (FAQs): To anticipate customer questions during launch, analyze the competition's responses, and consider shipping, return policies, and contact methods. If your FAQ page contains extensive information, To make it simpler for consumers to get the information they need, think about including a search box.

• Store Policies Pages: Customers want to know your shipping and return/refund policies before purchasing from you. It's a beautiful idea to have these on separate sites that are easy to access so that people can obtain the information they need without contacting you. (Did you know that 39% of consumers prefer scrubbing a toilet to waiting for customer service to answer?)

#7: Check Your Settings for Email Notifications

Email is an essential component of running your shop for promotion and direct consumer communication.

Before launching, spend some time configuring the email alerts so they complement the rest of your branding. To change the templates for your emails, go to Settings > Notifications. You can upload your logo, alter the messaging, modify the colors, and more.

Email notifications consist of:

• Order emails: Confirmation, edited, canceled, reimbursed, draft order invoice, abandoned checkout, exchange receipt at the point of sale, gift card created, Error Paying
• Emails related to shipping: Out for delivery, updated, confirmed, and delivered
• Emails for local pickup and delivery: Ready for Pickup, Picked Up, Delivered, Missed Delivery
• Emails from customers include: Contact Customer, Password Reset, Account Information, and Account Welcome.

#8: Conduct a Content Audit

Minor mistakes, especially in spelling, punctuation, and broken links, might be hard to see when you're close to the paper. To give yourself new eyes, review every piece of material you've uploaded at least a few hours after it was uploaded.

If you work from the bottom up, beginning with the last paragraph, the faults will more likely emerge.

Being consistent is essential while writing your copy. Select and adhere to your editorial style guide (will you or won't you use the Oxford comma?). Adopt it when and where it makes the most sense if your brand permits you to get a little more creative with spelling and coining new terms (Etsy, Pinterest, and Groupon are just a few examples of made-up terms that have become household names).

Remember the technical aspect. Verify that all links function by clicking on them; if any are broken, update the URLs.

Check that your website renders appropriately on various devices and that the mobile responsiveness functions as intended. Verify that your website appears as you intended in multiple browsers and that no browser-specific issues must be fixed before launching. 

#9: Perform Optimization of Content

Optimization is an essential step if your website contains videos or graphics. Images that load slowly degrade the user experience, and Google will not be inclined to give your website a good search engine ranking if that happens too regularly.

Website graders and SEO audit tools can help you ensure that your content is optimized. However, performance optimization goes beyond simply compressing your films and uploading them to Vimeo or YouTube.

You should definitely:

• Give your files descriptive names: When it makes sense, utilize the keywords you're attempting to rank for and describe what's in the image.
• Provide the image ALT attributes for every picture: This is important for online accessibility and SEO. Like with file names, keywords should represent the image's content since screen readers utilize them to indicate what is on the screen to those with low or no vision.
• Take note of the file size: You don't have to submit a file that large for thumbnails that are just 50 by 50 pixels, even if you have a 3000 by 3000-pixel image that can be printed. The longer the file takes to load, the larger it is.
• Use the appropriate file formats: Some formats are more suitable for online use than others. PNG is the best choice for icons and graphics, whereas JPG is advised for photography.
• Check everything: A/B testing, sometimes referred to as split testing, can assist you in determining what is and is not working. Try using some pictures with a white backdrop and some with context. Discover what most engages your audience.

#10: Installing Analytics tools 

Adding an analytics tool is the next step in adequately configuring your Shopify store! It's critical to have an analytics tool to monitor your visits. You can then precisely track the number of customers who visit your shop.

Yes, Shopify allows you to track that as well. However, Google Analytics or another analytics service provides far more information, such as your page view count, bounce rate, and other metrics.

To set up Google Analytics on Shopify (I suggest utilizing them to monitor traffic to your store), navigate to Online Store -> Preferences (under Sales Channels) and scroll down until you see this:

Now, all you need to do is follow the instructions in our previous post, and your Shopify store will soon have Google Analytics!

#11: Create a Pre Launch Marketing Plan

It is not a good idea to launch your website and hope for the best, as this will not drive any traffic immediately. Therefore, before launching, we strongly advise making some noise around it. You will need to have a pre-launch solid marketing plan in place to do this.

Sales, videos, partnerships with influencers or companies, giving out free samples, leveraging every social media channel available to build your brand, email marketing, and referral campaigns are a few examples of marketing strategies.

You have an abundance of options for promoting your launch. However, because there are so many marketing opportunities if they aren't planned properly, they may also become overwhelming and disorganized.

Thus, give yourself enough time to prepare and produce the content for your marketing campaign before launching. To increase your marketing, you should utilize as many channels as possible, but you should use only ones you know would be effective.

There's no benefit in utilizing Pinterest, for instance, if your target market probably doesn't use it or if you need to learn how to utilize it for marketing. 

You don't want to overdo or be careless with your marketing. Therefore, when assembling your plan, be sure to consider this.

#12: Check Shipping and Tax Configurations

Ensuring your shipping and tax configurations are set up correctly is crucial for a seamless customer experience and compliance. Start by defining your shipping zones and rates based on your target markets. 

Consider offering multiple shipping options, from standard to quick delivery, to accommodate various client demands. For tax configurations, accurately set up tax rates according to local and international regulations. Shopify's built-in tax features can help automate this process, but it's wise to double-check for accuracy. 

Integrate with reliable shipping carriers and test the checkout process to ensure everything calculates correctly. Properly configured shipping and tax settings prevent surprises for your customers and help maintain your store's credibility and operational efficiency.

#13: Make Sure Guests Can Get in Touch with You 

Yes, we have already discussed how crucial it is to create a contact page for your website, but there are other areas where your contact details should be included. Put your contact information in the website footer so that people can view it from anywhere and contact you. 

Ensure most of your website's pages contain a live chat feature so visitors may contact customer service or sales as soon as they have an inquiry or issue. How come? Because 50% of adult consumers will back out of a transaction if they don't receive a prompt response to their query, according to Forrester. 

Do you want your online store to sell more products? One way to do that is to use quick and simple contact techniques.

#14: Install Apps

You should only install a small number of applications at a time from the Shopify App Store. Many monthly recurring costs pile up rapidly, even though many are free. 

Furthermore, your website may load more slowly with more open apps. Installing just the vital programs can help maintain the seamless operation of your online business since each software needs resources to function. For ideas, peruse this list of the top Shopify apps.

#15: Configure Billing Details

You must enter your billing information before the three-day Shopify trial expires. Subsequent orders can only be processed with the billing information. To avoid having to pay after the trial expires, make sure you select the right Shopify Plan and provide your billing details.

Testing Your Store

Thoroughly testing your store is essential to ensure a flawless customer experience. Begin with order process testing by simulating the entire customer journey—from browsing products to completing a purchase. Test various payment methods, shipping options, and discount codes to confirm all functionalities work seamlessly. Catching and fixing issues now prevents headaches later.

To evaluate the entire user experience, usability testing will then be carried out.
Encourage a variety of users to explore your website and share their thoughts on the layout, navigation, and overall user experience. Incorporate their feedback to make improvements that enhance usability. Pay particular attention to mobile responsiveness and loading speeds. Customers are more satisfied and are more likely to return when they have a simple, easy-to-use buying experience. The success of a shop launch depends on effective testing.

Post-Launch Tips

Monitoring Performance

After launching your Shopify store, continuously monitor its performance to ensure ongoing success. Track important data like traffic, conversion rates, and average order value by using tools like Google Analytics and Shopify's integrated analytics. 

Please pay attention to customer behavior, including the places at which visitors leave off and how they browse your website. It's possible to promptly detect and resolve any problems by keeping an eye on these data, which guarantees the seamless operation of your shop.

Continuous Improvement

Optimization doesn't stop at launch; it's an ongoing process. Regularly update your store based on performance data and customer feedback. Conduct surveys and read reviews to understand your customers' needs and preferences. 

Use this feedback to make informed product improvements, improve website design, and improve customer service. Continuously refining your store enhances user experience, fosters customer loyalty, and stays competitive in the ever-evolving e-commerce landscape.

Wrap up

Although opening a Shopify business is an exciting milestone, success depends on careful planning. You can securely handle all important tasks, from testing your store and organizing pre-launch promotion to putting up vital company information, by following our detailed 15-step checklist. Step by step, your shop's potential is unlocked, its foundation strengthened, and its customer experience enhanced.

Remember, the launch is just the beginning. If you want to make adjustments all the time, monitor how your store is run and get feedback from customers. You can meet customer requests, adapt to changes, and sustain long-term growth by taking the initiative. Your Shopify store is positioned for success with meticulous planning and consistent improvement.

Are you Ready to Enhance your Shopify Stores before Launching?

With EComposer Landing Page Builder, you can effortlessly create stunning landing pages, product showcases, and promotional sections tailored to your brand. Boost your conversions and drive sales with ease. Ensure your Shopify store launch is flawless and impactful with beautifully designed pages that captivate your audience.

Stop waiting! Start your free trial on EComposer now to witness the perfect integration and transformation of your Shopify store.

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