Store Building Checklist

Our support team has compiled a checklist that every store will need to complete before they are ready to be live and start accepting orders and use a custom URL. 

Products

In order for customers to shop, they will need something to buy. Create your products, add helpful information, options, and related products. Be sure to also update inventory for all items, regardless of if you are hiding out of stock items or enabling backorders. 

Further reading:

• Adding a product
• Creating and managing attributes
• Troubleshooting products

Categories

Categories help organize your products into general groups. They are your navigation and how customers explore your catalog. We recommend utilizing the Layered Navigation to help your customers refine their search and find the perfect product for them.

Further reading:

• Creating and managing categories
• Adding products to your categories
• Layered Navigation

Design

Our design center is extensive, and there is no limit to customization of your store, especially once you start working with blocks, widgets and CSS! We recommend focusing on consistency, branding and an ease of navigation.

Further reading:

• Fonts and colors
• Selecting and switching themes
• Updating your Footer

Transactional Emails

Most interactions with customers can also trigger emails. You can enable emails to be sent to customers when new orders are made, when an invoice is created, and more. You may want to update the default messaging included in these emails as well as the email addresses they come from.

Further reading:

• Store email addresses
• Adding and configuring store email templates
• Updating Sales or Customer emails

SEO

SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization and will affect how your store is listed on searches on Google and other search engines. The more unique, relevant information you give these tools, the easier it will be for new customers to find your store.

Further reading:

• SEO best practices
• Setting up your Sitemap
• Meta Information - What is it and how to update it

Payments

Customers checking out from your site will need a method to use to send payment for your goods or services. You must offer at least one method for an order to be able to be completed, but you may want to offer additional options based on location or payment type. 

Further reading:

• Adding and removing payment methods
• Which payment gateways can I use?

Taxes

Most Zoey stores charge taxes to their customers based on the store's location and the customer's location. Which taxes you collect, how much, and when are based on your business's needs. Zoey has two sample taxes set for every new store that you may want to edit or remove before you accept orders.

Further reading:

• What Taxes do I need to set up
• Setting up tax rates
• Setting up tax classes
• Setting up tax rules

Shipping

At least one shipping option is required for checkout, so at least one must be enabled. Zoey offers multiple shipping options, from live rate calculations to shipping management once the order has been placed.

Further reading:

• Adding shipping methods
• Setting up flat rate shipping
• Troubleshooting Shipping: FedEx, UPS & USPS

Our support team highly recommends you run a few test orders before going live to make sure your customers are able to see everything you would like them to, as well as checkout!