Ecommerce pre-launch checklist: test before opening your store
Before you send traffic to a new store, test the product-to-cart journey as a customer, check the public pages people need, and verify that the storefront's domain and mail records are published correctly.
1. Open the public store in a clean browser
Use a private browsing window and the real public URL. Avoid relying only on the theme editor, preview link or logged-in merchant session. Confirm the homepage loads over HTTPS, the menu opens the expected destinations, and buyers can reach at least one product page.
Pay attention to banners, consent overlays and loading states. A page that appears normally to the store owner may behave differently when opened from another device. If bot protection blocks anonymous visitors, that will interfere with some external checks and should be examined before launch.
2. Select a product option and add to cart
Choose a product with required options, such as size or colour. Select an option shown as available and press add to cart. Make sure the resulting cart includes the item you selected. Repeat the journey on a phone-sized screen and on desktop.
An add-to-cart click does not by itself prove success. A button can fire while an option is unset, a line item fails to appear, or the cart state remains empty. If you sell products with several variants, test additional combinations manually; no bounded automated scan can prove every combination works.
3. Reach checkout without placing an order
From a cart containing a test product, open the checkout-entry action and confirm you can reach the checkout stage. Do not assume a visible checkout link is enough. A dead link, disabled control or unexpected redirect can stop customers before shipping and payment fields.
SnafuFinder tests entry to checkout without entering personal or card information. You still need a separate authorized end-to-end payment and order-confirmation test using your merchant's documented test or live procedure. A storefront audit cannot confirm that a capture, refund or tax configuration is operational without that private checkout process.
4. Test the mobile journey
Check that product choices can be selected on a narrow viewport, add to cart responds and checkout entry remains accessible. Look manually at overlapping banners, menus, sticky bars and long content that pushes actions off screen.
A visual placement problem can exist even when a browser successfully clicks the action. Use the scan result for observed browser failures, then inspect the layout yourself for readability and reachability. Consider both a direct link to a product and the normal homepage path.
5. Inspect main menu and footer destinations
Open the navigation links for products, collections, shipping, returns, privacy, terms and support. Replace blank, fragment-only or unfinished links. Check pages that you moved during a theme or platform redesign.
A bounded automated link checker helps locate some errors, but it won't visit an unlimited number of product and content pages. Check the high-traffic paths first and follow up on every link failure listed in your audit report.
6. Publish the policy and contact pages
Check whether your customers can read shipping, refund or returns, privacy and terms information directly on the public site. Make sure support instructions point to a mailbox or contact page someone actually monitors. Remove launch-preview wording and drafts that were never updated.
An automated check verifies access to detected policy pages and flags certain placeholder phrases. It cannot determine whether the text is legally complete or whether your actual refund practice matches the published page. Review those details separately before accepting orders.
7. Review domain and email authentication
Verify that the public storefront loads with HTTPS and the intended domain. Review DNS for the address people use to find the shop. Then inspect MX, SPF and DMARC records associated with the business's sending or support domain.
MX records cover incoming mail routing; SPF identifies authorized senders; DMARC publishes a domain policy for authenticated email. Publishing a record doesn't guarantee that your order notifications are delivered. Send a real test message and verify replies to your support inbox. Platform-hosted subdomains may not show the same records as your custom domain.
8. Review the audit results before inviting traffic
Run SnafuFinder against your public storefront URL. Read blockers first, then warnings, and compare the observed evidence with your own test. Fix what the report proves is broken, then repeat the affected shopping path.
An interrupted browser run is not automatically a store defect. SnafuFinder separates failed checks from stages it could not verify. Shopify, WooCommerce, Wix, Squarespace and custom stores all support different themes and integrations, so use the report as a checklist of observed results, not a universal guarantee of conversion or legal compliance.
Check your store
SnafuFinder runs public store checks and reports the findings, including checks it could not verify. Start with a free preview: one per day, no signup. The full audit is CAD $29, one-time, no subscription.
Check my store View sample reportSee the SnafuFinder homepage for the full list of checks and the illustrative sample report for the report layout. The sample is not a real customer audit.