As we’ve discussed in previous blog posts, Magento is a top-choice eCommerce platform for many organizations looking to shift their business models online.
As more and more people continue prioritizing eCommerce as a main point of conducting business, Magento’s open-source features make it perfect for these organizations to create a seamless user experience.
As there are many steps to creating an impactful Magento store—from design, to development and even testing—there are even more steps you should take before launching your store. Read through our comprehensive Magento pre-launch checklist before you take your eCommerce site live.
15 key steps to launch your Magento site
1. Run the latest version of Magento
For your Magento site to run properly, we recommend running the latest version of Magento: Magento 2. While your site can still run on Magento 1, running on the latest version will ensure optimal page performance, and make it easier to update your webpage in the future.
2. Build a sitemap
If you’re shifting your business model to eCommerce, a major goal is to ensure people can both view and interact with your site. By creating a sitemap, you can communicate priority pages within your site to search engines like Google and Yahoo, all to increase visibility. While you should always focus on creating bountiful, clear-cut backlinks and a seamless web experience, sitemaps help web crawlers discover your business.
3. Buy an SSL certification
When people engage with your online store, especially if they’re considering making a purchase, they need to trust that your website is capable of safely managing, storing and safeguarding their sensitive data—payment information, addresses, and more. When users see some variation of that “secure” sticker, they’ll feel more comfortable completing their purchase, and will be less likely to abandon their carts.
4. Get your base URLs intact
Test URLs can create a disjointed user experience. For both SEO and UX purposes, make sure your base URLs meet the following criteria
- Keep your URLs short and sweet – try to aim for 60 characters or less.
- Separate words with hyphens, underscores, or both.
- Use focus keywords (i.e. pineappledevelopment.com/blog/magento-ecommerce-launch- checklist)
5. Have a 404 error page ready to go
Nothing kills the credibility of an eCommerce site quite like broken links. Whether you need to simply relink the content on your page or provide an “under construction” page, either action will help improve your user experience.
Ultimately, websites are a process. From conception to wireframing, writing, designing, developing, testing and eventually launching, there’s a lot that might not be ready when the time comes to launch your website.
6. Prepare your HTML tags
A major indicator of your site’s success comes in your SEO and SERP rankings. By updating your heading tags, title, meta description, keywords and more, you’ll improve your search engine visibility, which will only help your site and business flourish in the long run.
7. Add your favicon
Brand recognition is key to a successful website. By adding a favicon, a favorite icon which appears in each tab of your browser, you can distill a variation of your logo.
8. Update your phone number
In the event customer questions or issues arise, having an updated phone number on your website will not only help resolve issues in a timely manner, it will also add an additional layer of trustworthiness to your website.
9. Make sure your email addresses are valid
In the event customer questions or issues arise, having an updated phone number on your website will not only help resolve issues in a timely manner, it will also add an additional layer of trustworthiness to your website.
10. Build impactful email templates
Across the board, email is the most effective way to connect with users. By creating customized templates with branded colors and logos, you can effectively communicate the arrival of new products, push deals, and create a thoughtful consumer journey, from awareness to action.
11. Create an engaging newsletter
Businesses are constantly growing, evolving and offering new benefits to customers across the board. By creating an engaging newsletter that piques user interest in your brand, you can continue building your brand voice, see spikes in brand loyalty and repeat users, and even target new ones. Better yet, you can plug some shameless product and service promotionals, increasing the chances of overall conversion.
12. Manage your product inventory
Running your business should be a seamless experience, and you have the ability to view fulfilled orders and manage your in-stock products. Major worries, like managing product quantities, can be easily avoided with Magento’s inventory management features. As people purchase your products, your stock automatically updates, and the benefits don’t stop there. This feature also allows you to view shipments, view refunds, and track new or transferred stock.
Check our case study and learn how our expert Magento developers helped Pinch-a-Penny, the largest franchised retail pool supply and service company in the US, customize inventory management at over 260 locations nationwide.
13. Write actionable CTAs
Calls-to-action (CTAs) are the launching point of any conversion. Users need to know the next steps needed to take action, which means that enticing and pushing them to add a product or service to their cart, click checkout and make that purchase, should be a priority.
To help increase website buyers, our expert team at Pineapple Development launched Trigger, an incredible Magento plug-in that leverages the power of FOMO-inducing CTAs to drive users to that final step: conversion. By combining data insights, viewer counts, user reviews and more, our powerful plug-in helps instill that sense of urgency and ensures no user will miss out on your incredible products and services.
14. Establish your shipping methods
We’ve all obsessively checked shipping updates for that one product we can’t wait to get our hands on. Start by offering multiple delivery options, from more cost-effective options, which are likely to take longer, to costlier, faster options.
Placing the option for delivery and establishing the estimated delivery date in your users’ hands—even going as far as specifying the time of day the product will be delivered—is a starting point of building confidence in your brand. By offering your customers the ability to track their product as it’s being packed and shipped to your destination of choice, you’ll instill a sense of personalization and customer satisfaction that will keep them coming back.
15. Double check your payment methods
As we discussed above, you should offer a seal of security when it comes to accepting payments. You should accept all common forms of payment—Visa, Mastercard, Discover, and American Express—but you should also optimize your site for guest checkout, as well as one-touch purchasing.
Magento offers multiple secure payment gateways and plug-ins that instill comfort and trust within the users that come across your site and decide to make a purchase.
Ultimately, checking out is a major commitment for today’s online shoppers. Omitting those extra check-out steps at the end of their journey will not only secure the purchase they’re about to make, but also they’ll feel confident returning and buying more of your products and/or services.
Trust our certified Magento experts to get your site up and running
As the checklist above entails, launching a Magento website is a tall order, with many moving parts and technical puzzles to piece together.
To make life easier and ensure your eCommerce site launches as you intended, hire a team of Magento certified experts who provide round-the-clock support that meets your business needs.
View our case studies, learn more about our eCommerce maintenance offerings and discover the Magento services available to you.