Key takeaways
- Place real test orders with every payment method, shipping zone and discount before launch.
- Check taxes, shipping rates and notification emails in each market you sell to.
- Set up redirects, the sitemap and Search Console before you remove the password.
- Install analytics and conversion tracking, and confirm events fire on purchase.
- Plan the first week: monitor orders, errors, speed and Search Console daily.
Most launch problems are small and avoidable: a missing tax setting, a broken email or a forgotten redirect. Work through this checklist with your team before you remove the storefront password.
Store settings
- 1. Store name, contact email and sender email are correct.
- 2. Your custom domain is connected, with SSL active and the primary domain set.
- 3. Currency, units and time zone are set.
- 4. Staff accounts have the right permissions, with two-step authentication on.
- 5. Legal pages — privacy, terms, refunds, shipping and contact — are published and linked.
Payments, shipping and taxes
- 6. Shopify Payments or your payment provider is fully set up and verified.
- 7. Express wallets such as Shop Pay, Apple Pay and Google Pay are enabled where available.
- 8. Shipping zones, rates and free-shipping thresholds match your policy.
- 9. Taxes are configured for every region you sell to.
- 10. Real test orders have gone through with each payment method — then refunded.
Products and content
- 11. Every product has a title, description, images with alt text, price, SKU and stock.
- 12. Variants, options and inventory are correct.
- 13. Collections are complete and sorted the way you want.
- 14. Navigation and footer links all work.
- 15. Copy has been proofread on desktop and mobile.
SEO
- 16. Titles and meta descriptions are written for key pages.
- 17. Redirects from any old site are in place.
- 18. The storefront password will be removed and nothing important is noindexed.
- 19. Search Console is verified and the sitemap submitted.
- 20. Structured data on product pages passes Google's Rich Results Test.
Speed and quality
- 21. Key pages load quickly on mobile — see our speed guide.
- 22. Unused apps are removed and leftover code cleaned up.
- 23. The store works in Chrome, Safari, Firefox and on iOS and Android.
- 24. Forms, search and filters work.
- 25. Images are compressed and sized correctly.
Tracking and marketing
- 26. Analytics is installed, with a cookie notice where the law requires one.
- 27. Ad platform pixels record purchases correctly.
- 28. Email capture and welcome flows are live.
- 29. Notification emails are branded and tested.
- 30. A first-week plan is agreed: who watches orders, errors and support.
After launch
In the first week, check orders and payments daily, watch Search Console for crawl errors, review site speed with real-user data and fix anything customers report straight away. Launching a new store or moving platforms? Our Shopify store development team runs this checklist on every launch. Talk to us.
Filed under
Jay Patel