I have created the best products in your industry. Your brand design is perfect. You have created social channels for your business. This means you are finally ready to launch your Shopify store!
But don’t rush. It’s easy to get carried away with the excitement of launching your business to the world and miss some critical steps.
While your branding and website may seem polished, there are many elements on the checklist that will ensure a smooth e-commerce launch. Have you optimized your product pages for search engines? Have you created a marketing plan to promote your brand? Does your website have critical pages like FAQs and contact information?
As you start your business, take stock of those easily forgotten tasks that can make the difference between a bad customer experience and a great one. The ultimate e-commerce checklist contains all the tasks you will need to complete before your store goes live.
Tip: Save this list and check it off when you’re about to launch.
1. Add sales channels
2. Create a custom domain for your e-commerce site
3. Review the checkout experience
4. Build the core pages of your website
5. Review automated email messages
6. Conduct content review
7. Set up analytics and tracking
8. Optimize e-commerce SEO and enhance your store
9. Optimize all images on your website
10. Create a pre-launch marketing plan
11. Set tax and shipping rates and settings
12. Review customer contact options
13. Install useful apps and integrations
14. Set up your billing information
15. Prepare for back-end operations
1. Add sales channels
Consumers now expect a holistic experience from brands, with many turning to non-traditional search sources like YouTube and TikTok to discover and purchase products. Even retail channels are making a strong comeback – half of Generation Z consumers prefer shopping in stores, despite growing up online.
Choose the social media and marketplace sales channels that will work best for your brand, and then add the available integrations to your store. Conduct market research to understand where your customers are and which channels they shop on most frequently.
Some online sales channels you can add to your e-commerce site include: eBay, Amazon, Instagram, Facebook, Google Shopping, TikTok, Buy Button, checkout links, and Pinterest.
These channels connect with Shopify, allowing you to easily track orders, inventory, and customers across platforms. Reach customers wherever they are with Shopify.
2. Create a custom domain for your e-commerce site
Custom domains can give your site brand recognition and make it easier for customers to remember your URL and find you.
To get started, conduct a domain name search to see if your business name is available. If it is, and if the name isn’t already registered by another business in your industry, you can purchase your custom domain name directly from Shopify.
If the first domain name you choose isn’t available, you still have options. It can sometimes be difficult to get the desired domain, especially if your brand name is a common word. This is where you can get creative. For example, Pepper chose wearpepper.com for its URL.
Also, try different top-level domains (TLDs). TLDs come at the end of the URL – common examples are .com, .edu, .net, etc. TLDs like .gov and .org are used by governments and organizations, respectively. Common TLDs for e-commerce sites include .store and .shop, but you can also be creative here.
Tip:
Use Shopify’s free domain name generator tool to find the perfect URL for your online store.
3. Review the Checkout Experience
Before you officially open for business, make sure potential customers can complete their purchase on your online store. According to average studies, the shopping cart abandonment rate on eCommerce sites is over 70%. To combat abandonment, identify and fix errors, and remove friction in the checkout process before launch.
When testing your checkout process, ensure that: shipping costs are displayed on the checkout page, giving customers all options for shipping times and service levels for their area discount codes can be applied in the cart (test each code to ensure it works) customers can edit their cart contents (remove products, change quantities) familiar payment methods are available, such as credit cards, PayPal, Google Pay, and Shop Pay there is an option to track order status the contact page is easily accessible for follow-up questions or order adjustments an automatic email notification is activated upon purchase a language selector and currency selector are available and work all around (if you are shipping outside your country or region)
Tip: Using Shopify Payments, you can place a test order on your site using a live payment gateway to ensure everything works. Be sure to test the checkout process on mobile as well.
4. Build Your Website’s Core Pages
The trust of your store relies on the critical pages on your website that signal to the customer that you run a legitimate business. These are the pages customers expect, containing information that helps your audience get to know you as the founder, understand your policies, and contact you.
Based on research, these are the most recommended pages to include in your sitemap for online stores: Home page, Contact page, About page, FAQ page, Shipping and Return Policy page, Terms and Conditions page, and Privacy Policy page.
Don’t forget other pages like group and category pages and product pages. Double-check your promotional landing pages and your checkout and cart pages. Every customer touchpoint deserves your attention!
Home Page
The home page is usually the most important page on any eCommerce site. Potential customers often land here first, or browse it second. Think of the home page as a “first date” with your customer. It’s an opportunity to make a good impression and set the tone for your brand.
It’s also the starting point for the rest of the site. Providing clear navigation to help users browse your store and having a strong CTA is important here. Link your subcategory pages, product pages, and promotional offers prominently from your home page.
Contact Page
The contact page signals to customers that the store is authentic, that they can reach out to the store owner for assistance, and that real people are behind the brand. On this page, include a phone number, email address, and retail address (if applicable), along with the ways customers can reach you and how long they should expect to wait.
About Page
The “About” page is where potential customers go to learn more about your brand, your mission, and the people behind your products. There are several approaches you can take on this page as a store owner, targeting the main reasons customers visit:
– Tell a Story. Shoppers often try to ensure that the business will last for a long time. The “About” page is an opportunity to show that your store is real, with real people at the helm. Share your story and introduce customers to the background of your brand: your team, your operations, and your local community.
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Shopify مع Google Analytics المدمجة، ولكن يمكنك أيضًا إعداد أدوات أخرى مثل Hotjar و Mixpanel. سجل في هذه الأدوات ودمجها مع موقعك على الويب. تأكد من إعداد أهداف قياس محددة، مثل الطلبات أو الاشتراكات، واجمع البيانات بانتظام للحصول على رؤية أوضح لأداء متجرك.
8. إعداد الحملات التسويقية
قبل الإطلاق، تأكد من إعداد الحملات التسويقية الخاصة بك. يمكنك استخدام وسائل الإعلام الاجتماعية، حملات البريد الإلكتروني، وإعلانات الدفع لكل نقرة لجذب انتباه الزوار. أنشئ محتوى رائع للتفاعل مع جمهورك وبناء المتابعين قبل أن تفتح أبوابك.
استخدم أدوات مثل Canva لإنشاء رسومات جذابة تجعل الحملات التسويقية الخاصة بك بارزة. استثمر في الإعلانات المدفوعة على منصات مثل Facebook و Instagram لتحسين الوصول إلى العملاء المحتملين.
9. إنشاء قائمة بريدية
إن بناء قائمة بريدية هو أمر بالغ الأهمية لدفع المبيعات. استخدم استمارات الاشتراك في الموقع لاستقطاب الزوار للانضمام. قدم حوافز مثل الخصومات أو محتوى حصري لجذب الانتباه.
قم باستخدام أدوات مثل Mailchimp أو Constant Contact لإدارة قائمة البريد الخاصة بك وحملاتك. تأكد من جمع عناوين البريد الإلكتروني بشكل قانوني وشفاف.
10. اختبار الموقع وتجربة المستخدم
قبل الإطلاق، تأكد من اختبار موقعك جيدًا. قم بفحص جميع الروابط، والتحقق من مدى سهولة التصفح، والتأكد من استجابة التصميم عبر الأجهزة المختلفة. يجب أن يكون تجربة المستخدم خالية من المتاعب قدر الإمكان.
يمكنك استخدام أدوات مثل BrowserStack لاختبار موقعك عبر متصفحات وأجهزة مختلفة. اعتمد على ملاحظات الآخرين بإجراء اختبارات المستخدم للحصول على تقييمات وبصيرة لأية تحسينات ممكنة.
Shopify analytics is integrated into the e-commerce platform, allowing you to get data directly in your dashboard. You can also rely on tools like Google Analytics and Google Search Console, or consider specialized solutions. You can use a range of tools to analyze specific aspects of your business, but make sure to track the core e-commerce metrics first.
8. Optimize E-commerce SEO and Improve Your Store
If you are starting to work online, make sure your site appears in search results when customers look for terms related to your product. This is because, although social networks are increasingly becoming sources for product discovery, Google still accounts for 40% of searches. Search engine optimization (SEO) tactics can help you generate steady, high-quality, and (best of all) free traffic. Everything starts with keyword research.
Thanks to brand SEO efforts, Starface appears on the first page of search engine results pages (SERP) for the term “acne patches” alongside huge brands like Walmart and Sephora.
Here’s how to use e-commerce SEO tactics to help your online store rank in search engines: conduct keyword research. Discover common and trending search terms related to your products. Try keyword optimization. Use relevant keywords and terms in product descriptions, category descriptions, page titles, on-page text, URLs, media titles, and file names. Use meta tags to help search engines find your content and deliver improved results in Google (e.g., rich snippets). Design a sitemap. Build a sitemap that provides information about your website content to Google. This will help Google easily crawl your site and index your pages. Optimize site speed. Choose the best hosting company, invest in a content delivery network (CDN), and compress images to help your website load faster to enhance customer experience. Utilize the power of content marketing. Create blogs that rank for targeted keywords, educate readers, and gain valuable backlinks from other sites. Providing value to customers in search results can lead to increased conversions.
9. Optimize All Images on Your Website
Slow-loading images can affect user experience and performance in search engines – and slow loading speeds can even lead to decreased conversion rates. Ensure that all images (including product photos and lifestyle images) are optimized for the web for faster loading speeds and a better shopping experience.
Shopify takes care of the technical complexity of keeping your images speedy because speed matters for online stores. Here’s what you can do to enhance loading speeds and optimize your images for the web: use descriptive file names. Optimizing file names helps with your site’s SEO ranking and product pages. Use your alt text. Alt text is used for accessibility and SEO. It should be descriptive text containing keywords when relevant. Reduce the size of your images. Large, beautiful images make an impact on the homepage, but ensure that the file size (in pixels) is minimized as much as possible without sacrificing quality. Save images as JPEG or PNG. For most images online, a good rule of thumb is to use JPEG images for photography and PNG images for graphics and icons. Conduct A/B testing for your images. You’ll want to know what works and what doesn’t, and most importantly, why. Run some A/B image tests to see which type of images perform better in different scenarios (e.g., lifestyle images in context versus products on a white background).
10.
Prepare a Pre-Launch Marketing Plan
You won’t announce your site to the world unless people know about it. The best way to spread the word is through a pre-launch marketing strategy. These are the actions you might take to build an audience or to create anticipation for your launch. While marketing is an ongoing task for your e-commerce business, the pre-launch marketing strategy is one that is particularly crucial.
Some ideas for your pre-launch marketing plan include: Creating a pre-launch landing page to capture email addresses, Posting content on social media before and after the launch to keep customers excited and informed, Arranging PR opportunities, Hosting a pre-launch event, whether virtual or in-person, Setting up pre-orders, Inviting early subscribers for an early promotional campaign with password access to the site.
11. Set Rates and Tax, Shipping Settings
Make sure your shipping rates are appropriate for the products you sell in the locations you sell them. Otherwise, you might end up cutting into your profits, covering the difference between the shipping rates you’ve published and the actual shipping cost.
It is also important to set your tax settings. Depending on the location of your business and your customers’ locations, you may need to collect sales tax and remit it to the government at tax time. If you sell in multiple areas, an accountant can help you set it up.
12. Review Customer Contact Options
While it’s essential to build a dedicated contact page on your e-commerce site, it’s also good practice to include your business address, phone number, email, and even live chat on most pages. Many businesses add this information to the fixed footer on every page.
According to one study, companies that talk with site visitors see revenues increase by 48% for each hour of chat, a 40% increase in the conversion rate, and a 10% increase in average order value.
13. Install Useful Apps and Integrations
The Shopify App Store has many apps that can expand your site’s functionality, but start small and choose only the ones that are necessary for managing your business efficiently. You can always add more as you grow.
New businesses should focus on apps that assist with marketing, customer support, and increasing conversion. Also, look for apps that fit your type of business. For example, advanced size chart apps are great for clothing businesses. Clinical trial apps can enhance the customer experience and reduce return rates for brands with complex products by helping customers make the right choice.
14. Set Your Billing Information
Before you go live, let’s make it official! If you’ve completed the free trial period, choose the appropriate plan on the e-commerce platform.
Source: https://shopify.com/blog/shopify-store-launch-checklist
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