Webshop Launch Checklist: Test Before You Go Live
By CodexierPublished 6 min read
Webshop launches fail in predictable places. The order confirmation that never sends. The VAT that is added twice on invoice payments. The shipping rule that charges an island address for two parcels. The consent banner that blocks the purchase button on mobile. None of these are hard to test; they are simply not tested because the launch date arrived first. This checklist is ordered the way things actually go wrong, so you catch the expensive mistakes before a real customer does.
Test orders end to end
A test order is not a test-mode order. Put the shop in live mode, buy something cheap with your own card, pay with Swish, pay with Klarna invoice, then refund each one and check that the refund reaches the payment provider, the order status updates and the stock returns. Do it on a phone over mobile data, because that is how most Swedish customers will arrive.
- One order per payment method: card, Swish, Klarna (pay later and instalments), and any invoice option for business customers.
- One order with a discount code, one with free-shipping threshold met, one just below it.
- One order to an address with a c/o line, one with a Swedish postcode written with a space, one to a pickup point.
- One order that fails: declined card, closed Klarna session. Check the customer sees a useful message and no order is created.
- Refund every test order and confirm the money, the status and the stock all go back.
Emails and notifications
The emails are the part of the shop customers read most carefully and shop owners read least. Send yourself every one and read them on a phone. Check the sender name, the reply address, that the logo loads, that prices show VAT correctly and that the links go to the live domain, not a staging URL.
| Message | Check | Common failure |
|---|---|---|
| Order confirmation | Items, prices incl. VAT, shipping, delivery estimate, company details | Sent from a noreply address nobody monitors |
| Shipping confirmation | Tracking link works, carrier named, pickup instructions | Fires before the label is actually created |
| Refund and cancellation | Amount, method, timeframe | Template never customised, still says Your Store |
| Internal new-order alert | Reaches the person who packs, with the right details | Goes to the founder's inbox, not the warehouse |
| Deliverability | SPF, DKIM and DMARC set for the sending domain | Confirmations land in spam on Gmail and Outlook |
VAT, prices and shipping rules
Consumer prices in Sweden must be shown including VAT, and the shop must apply the right rate per product: the standard rate for most goods, reduced rates for food and books, for example. Getting this wrong at launch means either undercharging on every order or a shop full of prices that look strange. Shipping rules are the second source of silent errors, because they interact with weight, destination and thresholds in ways nobody tests.
- Every product has a VAT rate set, and the displayed price includes it. Check one product from each category.
- EU orders: decide whether you charge Swedish VAT or destination VAT under OSS, and confirm the shop does what you decided.
- Business customers with a VAT number: if you sell B2B within the EU, the reverse-charge logic must actually trigger.
- Shipping: test a light parcel, a heavy parcel, a mixed cart and an address on Gotland or in the far north, and confirm the price and carrier options are what you intended.
- Free-shipping threshold: check whether it is evaluated before or after discounts, and that the cart says so.
Terms, returns and company details
Swedish distance-selling rules give consumers fourteen days to withdraw, and require that you tell them about it clearly before purchase, or the period extends. The shop also has to show who the seller is. This is a legal page check, but also a trust check: visitors look for company details before they pay.
Company details
Legal name, organisation number, address, email and phone, visible in the footer and in the terms. If you trade under a name that differs from the legal name, show both.
Terms and withdrawal right
Terms written for your shop, not copied; the fourteen-day right explained with the standard withdrawal form; who pays return shipping; exceptions such as sealed hygiene goods.
Privacy and cookies
A privacy notice that names the payment and shipping providers as recipients, the retention period for order data, and a consent banner that lets people decline without penalty.
Delivery and returns page
Delivery times per carrier, cost, pickup points, how to return, how refunds are paid. This page is read before purchase more than the terms are.
Tracking and consent
Analytics and ad pixels are the last thing installed and the first thing to be wrong. The two failures are opposite: tracking that fires before consent, which is a GDPR problem, and tracking that never fires, which means you launch blind. Test both on a phone with the banner untouched, then accepted, then declined.
- With the banner untouched, no analytics or marketing cookies are set. Check the browser's storage panel, not the banner's promise.
- After accepting, a test purchase appears once in GA4 as a purchase event with the right value and currency, not twice and not in test mode.
- After declining, the site still works and the purchase button is not hidden behind the banner on mobile.
- Ad platform conversions, if used, fire only after consent and use consent mode where required.
- Search Console is verified and the sitemap submitted, with the staging domain blocked from indexing.
When you do not need this from us: if you are launching on a hosted platform with a standard theme, one payment provider and domestic shipping only, an afternoon with this list is enough. The setup gets harder with multiple carriers, B2B pricing, EU VAT and integrations to Fortnox or a warehouse system; that is where a store setup done by someone who has launched shops before saves the first month of firefighting. The package is described on the pricing page, and you can book a call to walk through where your launch stands.
Frequently asked questions
Should we do a soft launch first?
Yes, if you can. Open the shop without announcing it, let friends and existing customers place real orders for a week, and fix what they find. A soft launch turns this checklist into evidence instead of hope.
Do we need separate terms for business customers?
If you sell to companies, yes. The consumer withdrawal right and some price-display rules do not apply to B2B, and mixing the two in one document makes both unclear. A short B2B section or a separate page is enough.
What about the bookkeeping side at launch?
Decide before launch how orders, payouts and fees reach your accounting: an integration to Fortnox or Visma, a periodic export, or manual entry. Payment providers pay out net of fees, and the first month is when that difference confuses people.
How do we know the emails will not land in spam?
Set SPF, DKIM and DMARC records for the domain the shop sends from, then send test orders to Gmail, Outlook and an iCloud address and check where they land. Do this before launch; fixing deliverability after the first campaign is painful.
Launching soon and not sure everything is wired up?
Fifteen minutes: tell us where the setup stands, and we will point out which of these checks is most likely to bite your shop and whether it is worth having us run the launch.
Book a free 15-minute call