A launch checklist should prove that a customer can buy and your team can deliver. Use these ten checks to connect the storefront to the work behind it. Record an owner and evidence for each item rather than marking it complete because a setting exists.
1. Define the offer and its economics
Write down what you sell, who it is for and why they would choose it. Estimate product cost, packaging, payment and platform fees, delivery, expected returns and acquisition spending. Identify the assumptions you still need to test. A selling price is not a margin calculation.
2. Research the buying decision
Review competing offers to understand product information, delivery promises and common questions. Use that research to identify what your store needs to explain. Do not simply copy a competitor's policy or assume their economics match yours. Choose the initial distribution channels you can support.
3. Choose and configure the platform
Evaluate the platform against your catalog, payment methods, fulfillment and team capabilities. List required integrations and confirm who owns them. Include recurring app costs and maintenance in the decision. Use the provider's current documentation for the specific plan and features you select.
4. Connect the domain and access controls
Check the public domain, HTTPS, redirects and transactional sender configuration. Assign individual staff access appropriate to each role. Record who controls domain renewal and account recovery. Test the public site outside an administrator session so a preview or login-only view does not pass as a customer experience.
5. Prepare product and policy pages
Verify variants, dimensions, compatibility, stock, photographs and prices. Explain shipping, returns and contact options where shoppers can find them. Check pages and menus on a phone. Our ecommerce best-practices guide provides a second pass for navigation and product clarity.
6. Test payment and order records
Use your payment provider's documented test process to check successful and failed payment paths. Verify discounts, shipping charges and the order record. Review the appropriate tax setup with the responsible owner for your business. Shopify's test-order guidance is a useful reference for stores on that platform.
7. Walk through fulfillment and a return
Follow a test order from receipt through packing, shipping information and customer notification. Confirm the address and stock behavior. Then walk through the return or cancellation process and check which system records the result. A storefront launch is incomplete if the team cannot act on the order it receives.
8. Prepare support before the first inquiry
Choose channels your team can cover and publish realistic response expectations. Provide answers for product, payment, delivery and return questions. Assign a person to handle exceptions. If you use Chad, test the configured answers and workflows against those same scenarios, including a request that needs human review.
Use the support hiring guide if coverage requires additional people. Adding several unsupported channels can create more confusion than offering one reliable route.
9. Check marketing and measurement
Verify campaign links, signup flows and promised incentives. Review page titles, descriptions and search visibility settings. Test analytics against a known action and check for duplicate purchase events. Confirm that previews and test orders will not distort the reports used to judge launch performance.
10. Run the final customer journey
Ask someone unfamiliar with the setup to find a product, understand the offer, complete the test checkout and contact support. Capture the confusing points. Review Shopify's launch preparation guide if applicable, including the transition out of test settings.
Keep a short launch record
Record what was tested, when, by whom and what remains unresolved. Assign the first post-launch review to a named owner. Watch actual orders, payment failures, fulfillment exceptions and support questions so the team can fix an operating problem before focusing on the next marketing campaign.
