WooCommerce Launch Checklist: Everything to Verify Before Going Live

Launching a WooCommerce store is not just clicking "Publish." There are dozens of things that need to be right before real customers start spending real money — and missing even one can cost you sales, trust, or search visibility. This WooCommerce launch checklist covers everything from payment testing to SEO validation, in the order you should do it. No fluff, no filler — just the list you need to launch with confidence.

TL;DR

Before launching, verify: payments work end-to-end, shipping and tax rules are correct, emails send properly, SEO fundamentals are in place, performance is acceptable, and security basics are covered. Print this checklist, work through it top to bottom, and don't skip the testing section.

1. Products and catalogue

Your products are the foundation. Get these wrong and nothing else matters.

All product titles are clear, descriptive, and include target keywords
Product descriptions are unique (not copied from manufacturers)
Prices are correct including sale prices and date ranges
Product images are high quality, properly sized, and have alt text
Variable products have all variations set up with correct prices and stock
Stock quantities are accurate and low-stock thresholds are configured
Product categories and tags are logically organised
SKUs are set for all products (essential for inventory management)

The image mistake everyone makes

Uploading 3000x3000px images directly from your camera or supplier and relying on WordPress to resize them. Resize images to your theme's maximum display size before uploading. Use WebP format where possible. Every oversized image adds seconds to your page load — see our Core Web Vitals guide for the performance impact.

2. Payments

Payment processing is the most critical system in your store. Test it thoroughly — not just "does it work" but "does it work in every scenario."

Payment gateway is configured and connected to your live account
Test a complete purchase with a real card (refund it after)
Test with every payment method you offer (card, PayPal, Apple Pay, etc.)
Test a failed payment (use test card numbers that trigger declines)
Test a refund workflow — partial and full
Verify payment confirmation emails are sent to the customer
Verify order notification emails are sent to you (the store admin)
SSL certificate is active and all pages load over HTTPS
No mixed content warnings on checkout pages

Switch to live mode

The number one launch-day disaster: forgetting to switch your payment gateway from test/sandbox mode to live mode. Double-check this. Then check it again. Process a real £1 transaction and confirm it appears in your payment provider's dashboard.

3. Shipping and tax

Incorrect shipping costs or missing tax calculations will either eat your margins or surprise customers at checkout — both are bad for business.

Shipping zones are configured for all regions you sell to
Shipping rates are correct for each method (flat rate, free shipping thresholds, weight-based)
Test checkout with addresses from each shipping zone to verify rates
Free shipping conditions work correctly (minimum spend, coupon codes)
Tax settings match your jurisdiction (automatic with WooCommerce Tax, or manual rates)
Tax is displayed correctly on product pages, cart, and checkout
Tax is calculated correctly for different regions if you sell internationally
Shipping classes are assigned to products that need special rates (heavy/oversized items)

If you're selling internationally, test checkout with addresses from your key markets. Currency display, tax calculation, and available shipping methods can all vary by country — and a broken checkout for international customers means lost sales you'll never know about.

4. Emails

WooCommerce sends transactional emails for order confirmations, shipping notifications, password resets, and account creation. If these don't arrive, customers panic and you get support tickets.

Test every WooCommerce email type (new order, processing, completed, refunded)
Emails render correctly in Gmail, Outlook, and Apple Mail
Your store name and branding appear correctly in email templates
Reply-to address goes to a monitored inbox
SMTP is configured (not relying on PHP mail which often fails)
SPF, DKIM, and DMARC records are set to prevent emails going to spam
Customer account emails work (registration, password reset)
Check email deliverability with a tool like mail-tester.com

Use a dedicated email service

Don't rely on your hosting provider's email. Use a transactional email service like Postmark, SendGrid, or Amazon SES. They cost pennies per email and dramatically improve deliverability. WP Mail SMTP or FluentSMTP plugins make the connection easy.

5. SEO and search visibility

Launching without SEO fundamentals means you're invisible to search engines from day one. Fix this before launch, not after.

Every product has a unique meta title and description (Yoast or RankMath)
URL slugs are clean and keyword-rich (no /product/p-123456)
XML sitemap is generated and accessible at /sitemap.xml
Google Search Console is set up and sitemap is submitted
robots.txt is not blocking important pages
Canonical URLs are set correctly (no duplicate content from filters or pagination)
Open Graph and Twitter card tags work (test with sharing debuggers)
Product schema (JSON-LD) is present — test with Google Rich Results Test
Breadcrumb schema is implemented for category navigation
Site is not set to "Discourage search engines" in WordPress Settings > Reading

For headless WooCommerce stores, SEO requires extra attention since you're managing meta tags, structured data, and sitemaps in your frontend code rather than through WordPress plugins. Our guide on headless WooCommerce SEO covers every detail.

6. Performance

A slow store loses customers before they even see your products. Test performance before launch so you're not optimising under pressure after customers start complaining.

Run PageSpeed Insights on homepage, a product page, and a category page
Target: LCP under 2.5s, INP under 200ms, CLS under 0.1
Caching plugin installed and configured (WP Rocket, LiteSpeed Cache, or similar)
Object caching (Redis) is active and working
Images are optimised and served in WebP format
CDN is configured (Cloudflare free tier at minimum)
Lazy loading enabled for below-the-fold images (but NOT the hero/product image)
Unused plugins deactivated and deleted

If your scores are poor, work through our step-by-step speed guide before launch. For hosting-specific optimisations, see best WooCommerce hosting — the right host makes every other optimisation work better.

7. Security

A hacked store destroys customer trust instantly and can result in financial liability. Basic security is non-negotiable.

SSL certificate active on all pages (check for mixed content)
WordPress, WooCommerce, and all plugins updated to latest versions
Strong admin password and two-factor authentication enabled
Default "admin" username changed to something unique
WordPress login URL changed or rate-limited (Limit Login Attempts plugin)
File editing disabled in wp-config.php (define DISALLOW_FILE_EDIT true)
Automatic backups configured (daily minimum, stored off-server)
Security plugin active (Wordfence, Solid Security, or host-provided WAF)
PCI compliance requirements met if handling card data directly

Hosting handles most of this

Managed WordPress hosts like WP Engine, Kinsta, and Cloudways handle server-level security (firewalls, DDoS protection, malware scanning) for you. Your job is application-level security: strong passwords, plugin updates, and access control. See our hosting strategy guide for infrastructure-level security considerations.

8. Legal and compliance

Getting these wrong can result in fines, payment processor suspension, or legal liability. Not optional.

Privacy policy page published and linked in footer
Terms and conditions page published and linked in checkout
Cookie consent banner active (required in EU/UK under GDPR)
GDPR compliance if selling to EU customers (data export/deletion capability)
Refund and returns policy clearly stated and linked from product pages
Business contact information visible (address, email, phone)
Tax registration numbers displayed where legally required
Shipping policy page with delivery timeframes and costs

9. User experience testing

You've tested individual features. Now test the complete customer journey — the way a real customer would experience it.

Complete a purchase as a new customer (guest checkout)
Complete a purchase as a registered customer (account checkout)
Test on mobile — a real phone, not just browser DevTools
Test on slow 3G connection (Chrome DevTools network throttling)
Test the coupon/discount code flow end to end
Verify order confirmation page shows correct information
Check the customer account page (order history, addresses)
Test the search functionality — does it find products reliably?
Test category filtering and sorting
Click every link in the footer and header — no 404s

Test on real devices

Browser DevTools mobile emulation misses real-world issues: touch target sizes, scroll performance, keyboard behaviour on form fields, and payment method prompts (Apple Pay, Google Pay). Test on a real iPhone and a real Android device before launch.

10. Analytics and monitoring

If you can't measure it, you can't improve it. Set up tracking before launch so you have data from day one.

Google Analytics 4 installed with enhanced ecommerce tracking
GA4 conversion events configured (purchase, add_to_cart, begin_checkout)
Google Search Console verified and sitemap submitted
Uptime monitoring active (UptimeRobot free tier, Pingdom, or similar)
Error monitoring in place (WooCommerce logs, or Sentry for headless)
Facebook Pixel / Meta Conversions API if running social ads
Server monitoring if self-hosted (CPU, memory, disk alerts)

Post-launch: the first 48 hours

The work doesn't stop at launch. The first two days are critical for catching issues that testing missed.

Monitor orders: Check that every order flows through correctly — payment captured, notification emails sent, order status updated
Watch error logs: PHP errors, JavaScript errors, 404s, and failed API calls. Fix immediately.
Check Search Console: Look for crawl errors, indexing issues, and mobile usability problems
Monitor server performance: Watch CPU and memory usage. A traffic spike on launch day can reveal hosting limitations.
Respond to customer issues immediately: Your first customers are your most important. Speed matters.

The single most important post-launch action

Place a real order yourself and follow the entire fulfilment process. Not a test order — a real one. Confirm the payment, process the order, trigger the shipping notification, and complete the delivery. This catches integration issues that isolated testing misses.

Going further: the headless advantage

If you're launching a headless WooCommerce store with a toolkit like WPBundle, many of these checklist items are handled automatically — SEO meta tags, structured data, sitemaps, image optimisation, and performance are built into the architecture. But the commerce fundamentals (payment testing, shipping rules, tax configuration, email delivery) apply regardless of your frontend technology.

For more on the WooCommerce ecosystem, explore our guides on WooCommerce speed optimisation, caching plugins, and what is headless WooCommerce if you're considering an architecture upgrade for your next store.