Before you can successfully launch your store, several essential steps are required to ensure everything runs smoothly. This checklist summarizes the most important points that are relevant for all stores.
To make sure your store looks professional and operates flawlessly, specific settings and adjustments via the ikas Admin Dashboard, sales channel, and Theme Editor in ikas are necessary. The following steps are grouped by category and should ideally be completed in sequence.
🚀 Overview of the Go-Live Steps:
- Define Product Attributes and Personalizations
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Create Pages for Your Legal Texts and Link them in the Footer
1. Complete Your Store Settings
Make sure all essential information is filled out for smooth shop administration.
2. Create Categories for Your Products
Organize your products by creating categories and assigning them to the relevant products. This improves the user experience and helps your customers find what they’re looking for more quickly. Set up a clearly structured category tree to display your product range in an organized way.
- What Are Categories and Why Are They Important
- How to Create a Normal Category
- How to Create a Dynamic Category
3. Add Your Products
Create new products and ensure that all product details are complete and accurate. Describe your products clearly and, if necessary, add variants to provide your customers with a simple and transparent shopping experience.
- What Types of Products Can I Create in ikas?
- How to Create Simple Products
- How to Create Variant Products
- How to Create Digital Products
- How to Create Digital Variant Products
- How to Create a Basic Product Bundle
- How to Create a Variant Product Bundle
You also have the option to edit multiple products at once using the bulk editing feature. This allows you to adjust prices, stock levels, or other attributes for several products at the same time without having to open them individually.
- How to Manage the Import, Export, and Editing of Multiple Products
- How to Download a Template for Product Import
- What to Consider When Editing the Export File/Import Template?
4. Define Product Attributes and Personalizations
Properties allow you to add additional information to your products — such as a size chart — that goes beyond the regular product description. Use personalization options to offer your customers a unique shopping experience by letting them customize products to their preferences.
5. Set Up Location-Based Tax Settings
Add tax rates and adjust them according to region and product type. This ensures you comply with tax regulations and transparently show your customers which taxes apply to their purchases.
6. Add Your Legal Texts for the Checkout
Protect yourself and your customers with legally compliant documents. Make sure to include all necessary legal texts such as imprint, terms and conditions, privacy policy, and cancellation policy in the checkout area and order confirmation emails. These documents provide legal security and build trust with your customers.
7. Customize Your Delivery Notes
Personalize the packing slips that are included with your product deliveries. This creates a professional impression and provides your customers with a clear overview of the delivered products.
8. Define the Formatting of Your Currencies and Order Numbers
Optimize the display of your currencies and order numbers for clarity and ease of use. This helps avoid confusion and enhances the overall customer experience.
9. Install an App for Your Accounting
Simplify your accounting by integrating the right tools. Choose an app that helps you create invoices and efficiently manage your bookkeeping, such as PDF Invoices or LexOffice.
10. Install an App for Your Shipping Provider
Ensure smooth shipping processes by integrating an app from a shipping provider like DHL or Sendcloud. These apps allow for easy management and tracking of your shipments.
11. Optimize Your Homepage’s Appearance in Search Engines
Improve your shop’s visibility on Google by setting a clear title tag and a concise description for your homepage. Also, upload a favicon to enhance visibility in search engine results.
12. Set Up Your Localizations
Adjust the language and other settings to match your target region. If you plan to sell internationally, you can create different country extensions for your website and set up regional price lists and currencies.
13. Configure Your Payment Settings
Ensure your customers can pay quickly and securely by integrating various payment methods like PayPal, Klarna, or Stripe. Make sure all payment options are properly configured.
- Which Payment Methods Are Available?
- How to Add and Edit Payment Methods
- How to Restrict Payment Methods
14. Adjust Your Shipping Settings
Select the best shipping options for your customers and configure them accordingly. Ensure that the shipping process runs smoothly to increase customer satisfaction.
15. Set Up Your Refund Settings
Offer a customer-friendly refund policy and make sure your refund settings are clearly defined. This builds trust and confidence in your store.
16. Configure Your Customer Settings
Customize your checkout settings to make the ordering process as convenient and efficient as possible for your customers. Ensure all relevant information needed for completing a purchase is clearly and user-friendly provided.
17. Add a Cookie Consent Banner
Inform your customers transparently about the use of cookies and obtain their consent to comply with legal requirements.
18. Install Additional Tools to Extend Your Store
Integrate various tools with ikas to analyze user behavior and optimize your website. These tools help you improve the user experience and increase your conversion rate.
19. Activate Your Automations
Automate essential business processes to save time and provide a better experience for your customers. Send automated emails for tasks like abandoned cart reminders or product review requests.
- Which Automations Are Available?
- How to Activate the Cart Reminder
- How to Activate or Manage Product Reviews
- How to Activate the Back-in-Stock Notification
- How to Activate the Payment Reminder Emails
20. Plan and Create Campaigns for Your Store
Create engaging campaigns to attract more customers. Use the available marketing tools to target your audience effectively.
- How to Create Automatic Discounts
- How to Create Discount Codes
- How to Create an Automatic New Customer Discount
21. Create Your Store Theme
Choose a design that reflects your brand identity. Customize the theme to make your store visually appealing and unique.
22. Adjust the Basic Settings for Your Theme
Customize colors, fonts, and layouts to create a unique shopping experience. These adjustments help align your store with your branding and make your customers feel comfortable.
- Upload your favicon.
- Choose the colors for your e-commerce website.
- Select the font for your e-commerce website.
23. Link Your Categories in the Header
Improve navigation by linking your categories in the header, making it easier and faster for customers to find what they’re looking for.
24. Create Pages for Your Legal Texts and Link them in the Footer
Ensure your legal information is easily accessible by creating pages for your legal texts such as Terms & Conditions and Imprint, and linking them in the footer.
25. Optimize SEO for All Your Pages
Increase your store’s visibility in search engines by optimizing the SEO settings for all pages. This helps drive more traffic and improve your search ranking.
26. Connect Your Email Domain with ikas
Set up a professional email address for your store to build a credible brand presence and improve communication with your customers.
27. Configure Your Email Domain Settings
Optimize your email communication by correctly configuring your email domain settings.
28. Review and Customize Notification Emails to Your Customers
Personalize your customer notifications to deliver a better customer experience and strengthen your brand’s identity.
29. Link Your Domain with ikas
Boost your brand presence with a custom domain and increase customer trust in your store.
30. Speed Up Website Indexing by Google
Ensure your store is quickly indexed by search engines by accelerating the indexing process.
🎉 Your Store is Now Live and Ready to Welcome its First Customers!
In addition to the support articles linked in this checklist, you’ll find plenty of other helpful resources in our Support Center. Feel free to browse through or use the search function to find what you need. If you need further assistance, we’re always here for you!
For any assistance or if you have further questions, please let us know. You can contact us by phone at +49 7361 3893012 or email us at support@ikas.de.