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Ecommerce checklist for store launch

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The GoCardless content team comprises a group of subject-matter experts in multiple fields from across GoCardless. The authors and reviewers work in the sales, marketing, legal, and finance departments. All have in-depth knowledge and experience in various aspects of payment scheme technology and the operating rules applicable to each. The team holds expertise in the well-established payment schemes such as UK Direct Debit, the European SEPA scheme, and the US ACH scheme, as well as in schemes operating in Scandinavia, Australia, and New Zealand. See full bio

Last editedMay 20222 min read

So, you have a good domain name, a reliable source for your product, a web host and designer making your ecommerce store look great. You’ve mapped out your SEO strategy and marketing campaigns, and you’re almost ready to launch.

You just need to run through this ecommerce checklist to make sure you’re ready to go.

Are your standard pages ready?

Make sure you have all your standard pages finalised before launching your ecommerce website. These standards pages consist of the following:

Home page
About page
Contact Us page
FAQ page
Terms of service
Privacy policy
Shipping policy

The home page is the central hub from where users will navigate to the other pages, so its importance cannot be overestimated. It should represent the brand of your company and feature link lists to all categories and products. You should also prominently feature the About Us page where customers can learn about your company and who you are.

Is the checkout optimised?

The checkout experience of a user can be the difference between a conversion and an abandoned cart. Include features such as the ability to edit the cart from the checkout page as well as language and currency switching. It is also a good idea to have your shipping rates appear on the checkout page, as well as fields for applying discount codes.

Modern consumers also like multiple payment options, so integrate the appropriate payment preferences for your store, as it is crucial to winning and retaining customers. You will want both bank debit and credit cards of course, but also look into other options. A payments platform such as GoCardless helps businesses collect payments directly from their customers’ bank accounts and can be ideal for certain types of purchases.

Have you expanded your sales channels?

Use various sales channels to accommodate the many different ways consumers like to shop. Make it a part of your ecommerce checklist to have a presence on marketplaces like Amazon, eBay and Etsy, as well as adding the ability to purchase your products via one or more of your social media platforms.

Have you added all essential ecommerce apps?

There are lots of fantastic ecommerce apps around these days so take advantage of them to enhance your store’s functionality and grow your business. Look for marketing and promotion apps, conversion maximisation apps and SEO apps. You can also add apps for product finding and inventory management.

Are you sending email confirmations and reminders?

You can send welcome emails to new customers or subscribers, as well as abandoned cart email reminders to try and improve your conversion rate. Order and shipping confirmation emails are vital, but you can also use these essential and expected emails for cross-promotional selling of related products.

Are your analytics tools in place?

Analysing customer data reveals what kind of products your customers prefer and when they’re most likely to buy. The data can also reveal the most frequent reasons for abandoned carts and bounces away from your site.

Having your analytics tools in place before launching is one of the last items on the ecommerce checklist before you run tests to make sure everything works perfectly. You want to be gathering this crucial data from the very first visitor to your site.

Have you tested everything?

The final item on the ecommerce checklist is to run tests on every part of the web store to ensure it is all in good working order. Test all links are working as they should, as well as all the buying and checking out processes. Make sure to thoroughly test payment gateways, and check the functionality of all apps, mobile responsiveness and compatibility with all web browsers.

We can help

Having the right payment mix is a crucial part of winning and retaining customers. That mix should include both bank debit and credit cards because no single payment method is universally preferred. By meeting consumer demand for a variety of payment options, you improve your customers' experience which will help prevent them trying out a competitor that does offer their preferred payment method.

If you’re interested in finding out more about the checklist for a successful ecommerce store launch, or any other aspect of your business finances, then get in touch with our financial experts at GoCardless. Find out how GoCardless can help you with ad hoc payments or recurring payments.