The Shopify Launch Checklist
Launching a Shopify store involves about a hundred small decisions, and the ones that hurt are never the ones you were worried about. Nobody forgets to design the homepage. People forget shipping rates for the one country that orders most, the abandoned checkout email, and the test order that would have caught the broken confirmation email before customer number one found it.
So we wrote down the list we actually use. Two pages, six phases, 44 checkboxes, from store settings through the first week after launch.
Where should we send it?
The download starts right after you submit.
What’s inside
- Foundations. Domain, payments, shipping zones, taxes, legal pages. The plumbing that breaks quietly.
- Products and collections. Titles written for shoppers, images that match, alt text, inventory tracking.
- Theme and experience. The real-phone pass, navigation depth, 404 page, placeholder hunt, speed check.
- Tracking and SEO. GA4, Search Console, redirect maps for migrations, email platform wiring.
- The final hour. Including the step almost everyone skips: place a real order with a real card, read every email it triggers, then refund it.
- The first week. Watching for 404s, reading abandoned checkouts, protecting your theme before edits.
Use it, then tell us where it hurt
If every box checks cleanly, you are in better shape than most stores we audit. If a section made you wince, that is useful information. Our design and development work covers launches end to end, migrations come with the redirect map already on the list, and our Shopify SEO service picks up where the tracking section leaves off.
Book a free consultation and bring the half-checked list. It makes for a very efficient first call.
FAQs
Is the checklist really free?
Yes. It costs an email address and nothing else. The download starts as soon as you submit the form, you can print and share it with whoever is helping you launch, and anything we email you afterwards has a working unsubscribe link.
Who is this checklist for?
Merchants launching a first Shopify store, brands migrating from another platform, and anyone who wants a sanity check before flipping the password page off. Agencies are welcome to borrow it too.
Why is placing a real test order on the list?
Because it is the single most skipped step we see, and the most revealing. A real order with a real card shows you the confirmation email, the packing slip, the notification flow, and the refund process exactly as your customer will experience them. Five minutes, and it catches problems nothing else catches.
What if my launch needs more than a checklist?
Then talk to us. We design and build Shopify stores, handle migrations with full redirect maps, and stay on for growth after launch. A free discovery call will tell you honestly how much help you actually need.
