Launching an ecommerce store is exciting as well as overwhelming with millions of thoughts running through our minds. Numerous questions and doubts persist about the launch of the store, wondering about the efficacy of the store and marketing strategies, its security, and a hundred other thoughts keep racing in our minds. If we are migrating from your current platform to Shopify, even then the same questions keep lingering on. There are inherent migration risks like organic traffic loss, 404 errors, and a drop in conversion rates but with an internal checklist, we can minimize the risks and launch your Shopify store without a hitch.
Step-by-Step Shopify store pre-launch checklist:
Add a custom domain
Build your brand recognition by adding a custom domain to your website. Ideate on picking up the right domain that reflects your business niche. If it’s already in use, you can use a different top-level domain (TLD) like .com, .edu, .org, .store, .shop and you can flex your creative muscles here by using a custom TLD too.
Build all your standard pages
A few pages on your Shopify store are visited frequently by your customers to learn about your company. These pages should be included in your sitemap and should have the relevant content that elevates your business persona and wins over customer trust.
- Homepage - This is the first landing page for your customers and should have clear navigation details, the overall look, the business logo, and all relevant details that can create a great first impression.
- About - Your customers go to your “about” page to learn about your company, brand, vision, and other details. Don’t overlook this page and share your business mission, principles, and purpose diligently as it can win you some new customers who are driven by your values.
- Contact page - Without this page, you may be missing out on some sales opportunities. A customer would immediately look for this page if they encounter any issues in their navigation or need guidance with something in the transaction process.
- FAQs - A helpful page that answers the most frequent questions the customers would have on their minds. Anticipate them in advance and include them on this page so that you would reduce the turn-around-time for customers.
Optimize the Media content
Optimize the media to ensure fast-loading websites as speed matters and a slow-loading page has a higher customer churn. Use relevant keywords, appropriate descriptions, optimized alt attributes, compressed images, reviewed logos, and thumbnails to optimize your website. This could improve your rankings in the search engines.
Test your checkout process
Even with a kickass Shopify website, you need to tread very carefully when it comes to the checkout process. A shockingly 70% of the customers have abandoned their carts during the checkout process. You don’t want to lose out on any sales due to a poor payment process. So smoothen any friction during this process. Make sure that shipping rates are shown clearly, discount rates & taxes applied, cart edits, and popular payment gateway options to make this process a much easier one for the customers.
Do a Content Audit
Conduct a content audit to find out any broken links, grammar mistakes, spelling errors, and any others that create a poor image. Make sure that you maintained a consistent tonality and style throughout the site. Check your website on different browsers and devices and see if there are image-rendering and mobile responsiveness.
Add your sales channels
With a rapidly growing customer base, one needs to explore multiple channels to sell their products. According to a survey, nearly 75% of the customers opt for multiple channels to make a single purchase with a brand. If you want to fully capitalize on multi-channel retail, find out all the sales channels that will work for you, and then add them to your store. Connecting all sales channels with your Shopify store helps you in tracking orders, products, and customers across all these platforms.
Review your email notifications
You need to nurture your list to drive them to a sale. So set up an effective email marketing app and send them automated welcome emails, e-receipts, abandoned cart follow-ups, order confirmations, and shipping information. You can edit the email templates and customize them prior to the launch of your store.
Set up analytics tools
Shopify store will have a built-in analytics reporting tool but you may also want to have a third-party tool. Google Analytics, Adobe Analytics, Piwik, or a combination of tools to gain deeper insights into your business performance. You can also gain some knowledge about your customer persona, their buying behavior, and other preferences.
Plan a pre-launch Marketing Campaign
Having a pre-launch marketing plan provides you the necessary visibility to your store. Outline a marketing strategy that reflects your vision and brand value. With a pre-launch marketing campaign, you start priming your audience to keep their eyes and ears on your launch.
Install essential apps
There are tons of apps in the Shopify app store and not all of them are essential for your business. Having unnecessary apps even slowdowns your website. Decide on which ones are the most relevant ones and install only those to streamline your business.
Review the Shopify settings
Review the Shopify payment settings, taxes, shipment, privacy policy settings, 404 pages if any, SEO content, and any legal settings. Review all the website pages on different browsers and devices to make sure that you are ready to go live.
Why do we need a checklist?
A checklist would help you streamline the whole process and reduce any ambiguity that may arise before the launch. Even seasoned developers may miss out on a thing or two and a concrete checklist would cut through the fog and serve as a reminder of the critical steps in the launch.
Wrap-up
Launch your Shopify store harmoniously by taking a methodical approach and giving closure to all your frantic thoughts. With the above checklist, you can mitigate the risks and potential glitches that arise during the launch. If you need further assistance with your Shopify launch store, you can contact us and book your free consultation.
We provide Shopify online store development services to fuel your business with enterprise level capabilities and keep your customer coming back! Whether you want to migrate to Shopify, integrate any application, redesign your online store, require a new development and maintenance for your store, let us know about your requirements and we’ll get back to you as soon as possible!
