Prepare to launch your store

Going live with your web store means working through a sequence of checklists that take you from early preparation to post-launch verification. Each one is a checkpoint: it moves you closer to launch and gives you a chance to fix any issues before they reach customers. The checklists can be adapted to suit your specific store.

You work through them in order:

• Pre-production checklist, completed by StoreConnect internally
• Pre-dry-run checklist
• Dry-run checklist
• Go-live cut-over checklist
• Go-live functionality checklist

Early in project

• you need to find out if your current DNS provider can handle an ALIAS record on the APEX domain name of your chosen store domain name. You can find out more about how to do this via our Set your store domain and go live article.

Pre-dry-run checklist

A pre dry run Production configuration checklist will be completed by your StoreConnect team. Once done, the following should be checked by you during the run up to your Dry Run so that any major issues can be fixed.

Functionality check

• customer can browse catalog
• customer can add to cart and purchase
  • each payment option can be successfully used
  • each shipping option can be successfully used
• customer can register after checkout
• customer can login and see their order history
• customer is receiving standard (or customized if done) checkout flow emails
• checkout & customer data appears in Salesforce
• automated shipping provider information is syncing (if used, eg Australia Post)
• any web-to-case forms when filled out by a customer create cases in the production Org
• any web-to-lead forms when filled out by a customer create leads in the production Org
• redirects are working (test a sample)
• check merchant feed is working and correct products are selected to be listed

Domain name system

• Ensure your DNS provider supports ALIAS or ANAME records if you are using an apex domain. See Connect a domain to StoreConnect for DNS configuration details.
• Ensure DNS provider’s TTL is set to 300s or lower. Lower it further to 60 seconds on go-live day for fastest propagation.

Dry-run checklist

The Dry-Run Checklist is done by the Store owner with the assistance of the StoreConnect team at least 2 days before go-live and is used to make sure access is available for all required systems and no red flags are encountered.

Switch to production settings

Ensure:

• the Store’s “from” email address is configured and validated in Organization-Wide Addresses

Enter:

• production level credentials for all Payment Providers
• production level credentials for all Shipping Providers

Dry run functionality check

• customer can browse catalog
• customer can add to cart and purchase
  • each payment option can be successfully used
  • each shipping option can be successfully used
• customer can register after checkout
• customer can login and see their order history
• customer is receiving standard (or customized if done) checkout flow emails
• checkout & customer data appears in Salesforce
• automated shipping provider information is syncing (if used, eg Australia Post)
• any web-to-case forms when filled out by a customer create cases in the production Org
• any web-to-lead forms when filled out by a customer create leads in the production Org
• redirects are working (test a sample)
• check merchant feed is working and correct products are selected to be listed

SEO, AEO and inbound redirects

Complete this check when replacing an existing website, since it depends on content and marketing decisions made before launch.

• Confirm every indexed page on the existing site has an equivalent StoreConnect page and a 301 redirect configured. See Redirect to StoreConnect from existing web pages
• Confirm page, product, and article titles and meta descriptions are set to their intended production values, not placeholders
• Confirm the sitemap at /sitemap.xml reflects the live catalog and content. See Search engine optimization
• Confirm structured data renders on product pages. See Structured data for products
• Confirm analytics tracking (for example Google Analytics or a Facebook Pixel) fires on the new store, not only the old one

:::note GEO (Generative Engine Optimization, also known as AEO) measures whether AI-powered search and chat tools cite the store as a source. Sitemap accuracy and structured data are the levers StoreConnect exposes for this. There is no separate GEO-specific setting to configure. :::

Go-live cut-over checklist

The Go-Live Cut-Over Checklist is completed by the Store owner with assistance of your StoreConnect support team to ensure all the points are done correctly.

Domain switch

Salesforce

For each Store:

• update the Store record with correct production domain (and path if used)
• update the Custom Metadata for Base URL to new domain (https://www.yourstore.com/))
• update all web-to-case forms’ callback urls to the new domain
• update all web-to-lead forms’ callback urls to the new domain

Allow a few minutes for the data to sync.

Hosting & DNS

For each domain being used:

• ensure the store primary domain is entered correctly
• confirm each Web Domain record is set to Active and the Status field shows Success, which confirms SSL is provisioned
• add an apex domain redirect if apex aliases are not supported by the DNS provider
• Change the CNAME and Apex records as appropriate
• Wait at least 5 minutes before proceeding

DNS propagation

It can take 15 mins or so for the DNS to propagate around the internet. Some locations and browsers will be faster to pick up the change than others. Check from as many locations as you can: work, home, mobile, overseas (if you have staff there), and from each major browser, in Private mode if you can, to ensure that the DNS is propagated correctly. Once that has been confirmed, you can perform the Go-Live Functionality Check.

Go-live functionality checklist

Once the store has had its production settings all setup and your domain name has been re-pointed to your store, the following checks should be done minimally to ensure your store is operating on the new address correctly.

• customer can browse catalog
• customer can add to cart and purchase
  • each payment option can be successfully used
  • each shipping option can be successfully used
• customer can register after checkout
• customer can login and see their order history
• customer is receiving standard (or customized if done) checkout flow emails from the correct production email address
• checkout & customer data appears in Salesforce
• automated shipping provider information is syncing (if used, eg Australia Post)
• any web-to-case forms when filled out by a customer create cases in the production Org and callback URL is landing on the correct domain name and page
• any web-to-lead forms when filled out by a customer create leads in the production Org and callback URL is landing on the correct domain name and page
• redirects are working, including any high-traffic pages carried over from the previous site (test a sample)
• ensure SSL is working (You should see the prefix https:// before your domain name)
• check merchant feed is working and correct products are selected to be listed
• production SEO metadata (titles, meta descriptions) and structured data are live, not staging placeholders

Optional if installed:

• confirm your analytics tracking is working as expected on the new store domain (eg Google Analytics or Facebook Pixel)
• Confirm your live chat is working as expected