WooCommerce website development makes it easier and cost-effective for retailers and sellers to build their online shop. WooCommerce is a WordPress plugin that enables the creation of an e-commerce store on a WordPress website with ease.
Just like other CMSs, plugins, or modules, there are certain things to check before launching your WooCommerce site. In this blog post, we have shared a few key checkpoints that you must follow before making your WooCommerce shop public.
#1 Payment Gateway is Working.
Before launching your WooCommerce store, ensure the payment gateway is functioning correctly. Online payments are the backbone of any e-commerce store. The profitability of your online business depends mainly on the proper functioning of your payment process. Therefore, it makes sense to test the payment process with a few trial payments before going live with the site. A professional web developer can help to check the payment flow by integrating a sandbox/test version of the payment gateway.
#2 Notifications are working
Another essential thing to check in a WooCommerce store is to ensure that both customers and administrators receive appropriate email notifications for confirmed orders.
Lack of proper order confirmation emails can create confusion among customers, especially when they make online payments to place their orders. At the same time, the admin must receive an email notification after every confirmed order, so they can make the necessary preparations to fulfill the order.
#3 Cart is showing products added
A common issue that many webmasters encounter on their WooCommerce stores is that the product is not added to the cart when customers click the “Add to Cart” button. This can happen due to a conflicting plugin or an AJAX/JavaScript error. Therefore, you must check the process, from adding the products to the cart to making the payment after checkout.
#4 All the forms have proper validation
No matter whether your entire e-commerce process is functioning correctly or the payment gateway is working perfectly, if customers are unable to fill out the required forms (such as shipping details and billing details), they will be unable to make a payment. All the forms on your e-commerce store should have proper validation on the fields that you want customers to fill out.
#5 The loading speed is good
For every WooCommerce store, it’s crucial to load quickly. Regardless of your design or product quality, if the website doesn’t load within a few seconds, potential buyers may leave as soon as they arrive on your site. It is therefore essential to test the loading speed of your site before launching it.
How to check the loading speed?
Several free yet effective online tools are available to check the loading time of your WooCommerce store. Some of these tools include https://tools.pingdom.com and https://gtmetrix.com.
#6 The design is mobile-friendly
Numerous online studies have demonstrated that most buyers utilize their smart devices, including mobile phones and tablets, to search for products and make purchases.
Before you launch your WooCommerce store, ensure its responsiveness. The entire e-commerce flow, from product viewing to payment, should be visually appealing on all devices. If you ignore the browsing experience of mobile users, it will significantly impact your sales.
#7 Shipping & taxes are working
This is yet another standard WordPress error that most webmasters face. Often, on the checkout page, the shipping charges and taxes are not shown and added to the total amount. This creates confusion among users, and sometimes the admin has to pay the taxes and shipping charges out of their own pocket. This is because if the admin asks customers to pay for shipping and taxes after the order has been successfully placed, the users may feel cheated.
It’s really advised to verify that all applicable taxes and charges are included & displayed to customers before they make the final payment.
Conclusion: Building a WooCommerce store is not a challenge, but doing it correctly is. Always hire professional and experienced WooCommerce developers in Dubai or anywhere in the UAE to ensure a smooth launch of your online shop.
