Use a launch checklist that covers customer experience, transactions, fulfilment, data and operational ownership.
Catalogue and content
Check product status, prices, variants, images, inventory, collections and search. Review spelling, claims, sizing, compatibility and delivery information. Ensure unavailable products and markets are handled intentionally.
Navigation and responsive design
Test header, footer, menus, filters, search, product pages, cart and policy links at common screen sizes. Verify focus states, labels, image alternatives and readable contrast. A visually correct desktop page does not prove mobile usability.
Checkout and payment
Run successful, failed and abandoned payment scenarios. Test discounts, gift cards if used, taxes, address validation and confirmation messages. Reconcile the test order in the payment and store records.
Shipping and fulfilment
Confirm zones, rates, delivery wording, packing workflow, tracking and inventory deduction. Test cancellation, partial fulfilment, refund and return cases. Record who responds when a carrier or supplier misses the expected service level.
Legal, privacy and customer communication
Publish accurate contact, privacy, terms, shipping and return information. Verify cookie or consent behaviour where required. Review order, shipping and refund emails for the correct language and support details.
Analytics and operational monitoring
Confirm analytics events, referral parameters and conversion reporting. Establish a baseline dashboard for traffic, conversion, payment success, average order value, refunds, delivery and support contacts.
Release control
Back up or duplicate the stable theme, record configuration changes and define launch owners. Use a limited release window, watch errors and orders in real time, and decide in advance which problems require rollback.
Action checklist
- Complete mobile and desktop journeys
- Test payment failure and refunds
- Verify shipping, tracking and returns
- Confirm legal and privacy pages
- Validate analytics events
- Assign launch and rollback owners
Common questions
Is one successful test order enough?
No. Test failure, cancellation, refund and fulfilment exceptions as well as the happy path.
When should ads begin?
After the store can process and support realistic orders reliably and measurement is working.
Who signs off launch?
Named commercial, operations and technical owners should approve their areas and accept known risks.