Guia de migração

Shopify Pre-Launch Checklist for WooCommerce Migrations

Everything to verify before switching your domain from WooCommerce to Shopify — products, checkout, redirects, SEO, payments, and technical checks. 50+ items to complete before going live.

Passos neste guia

1Verify your product catalog
2Test the checkout flow end-to-end
3Check all URL redirects
4Verify email notifications
5Configure shipping rates correctly
6Set up taxes correctly
7Review and update store policies
8Verify SEO settings on key pages
9Check page speed
10Configure analytics and tracking
11Final: DNS cutover and monitoring plan

Going live on Shopify after a WooCommerce migration is a one-way door — once DNS switches and customers are shopping on the new store, rolling back is painful. This checklist is designed to be completed in the 48 hours before DNS cutover, ensuring there are no launch-day surprises.

The steps above cover the most common failure points in WooCommerce to Shopify migrations. Work through them systematically. For each step, sign off with a date and time — this creates an audit trail if anything goes wrong after launch.

Before starting this checklist

These should already be complete before you reach pre-launch:

Full product catalog migrated and visible in Shopify admin
Collections created and products assigned
Navigation menus configured
Theme installed and basic branding applied
Apps installed (reviews, email, loyalty, etc.)
URL redirect list prepared and imported into Shopify

If any of the above are incomplete, finish them before running this checklist. The pre-launch checklist validates what's there — it doesn't replace the migration work itself.

How to use this checklist

For small stores (under 100 products): one person can complete this checklist in 2–4 hours.

For mid-size stores (100–1,000 products): budget 1–2 full days for thorough testing, ideally with 2 people.

For large stores (1,000+ products): this checklist is a minimum. Budget 3–5 days for comprehensive QA with a dedicated QA lead.

Don't rush. The migration has taken days or weeks — an extra day of QA is worth it.

Passo a passo

Verify your product catalog

Check every aspect of your product data before launch: confirm product count matches WooCommerce (within expected delta for out-of-stock/draft items), verify product titles and descriptions display correctly in Shopify's editor, check that all product images loaded successfully (no broken images), confirm variant pricing and inventory numbers transferred correctly, and test that variant options (Color, Size, etc.) display as expected on product pages. For stores with 100+ products, sample-check at least 10% including some of your top sellers.

Test the checkout flow end-to-end

Place at least one real test order using Shopify's test payment mode: add a product to cart, proceed to checkout, enter a test shipping address, select a shipping option, enter test card details (4242 4242 4242 4242), and complete the order. Verify you receive the order confirmation email. Then test with your actual payment gateway in live mode using a real card (refund it after). Test each payment method you plan to offer: credit card, PayPal, any buy-now-pay-later option.

Check all URL redirects

Test that every major WooCommerce URL type redirects correctly to its Shopify equivalent. Test: at least 5 product URLs (/product/old-slug/ → /products/new-handle), at least 5 category URLs (/product-category/name/ → /collections/name), the shop page (/shop/ → /collections/all or your main collection), blog post URLs if you're migrating blog content, and your homepage. Use a tool like Screaming Frog or Ahrefs to check all indexed URLs, or manually test your top 20 highest-traffic pages from Google Search Console.

Verify email notifications

In Shopify Admin → Settings → Notifications, review and customize each email template: order confirmation, shipping notification, refund confirmation, abandoned cart recovery, and customer account welcome. Send test emails for each. Confirm your sender address is set to your business domain (not @shopify.com). If you have a transactional email app (Klaviyo, etc.), verify the integration is live and test flows are working.

Configure shipping rates correctly

Verify all shipping zones and rates match your WooCommerce configuration: check zone coverage (domestic vs international), confirm shipping rates match what customers expect, test that free shipping thresholds apply correctly (if applicable), verify dimensional weight or weight-based rates calculate accurately, and confirm any shipping apps (Shipstation, ShipBob, etc.) are connected and syncing orders.

Set up taxes correctly

Tax configuration in Shopify differs from WooCommerce. Verify: tax rates apply to correct product types, shipping is taxed correctly per your jurisdiction, digital products have correct tax settings, any tax exemptions for B2B customers are configured, and Shopify Tax (or TaxJar/Avalara) is configured if you need automated tax calculation across multiple jurisdictions. In WooCommerce, many stores relied on WooCommerce Tax or plugins — confirm equivalents are set up in Shopify.

Review and update store policies

Shopify has dedicated pages for Returns, Privacy Policy, Terms of Service, and Shipping Policy. Either import your WooCommerce policies or generate new ones using Shopify's policy generator. These are linked in the footer automatically. Ensure privacy policy meets your local requirements (GDPR for EU customers, CCPA for California, etc.). Confirm the refund/return process in Shopify matches what you promised on WooCommerce.

Verify SEO settings on key pages

Check SEO meta tags on your 10 most important pages: product page titles and descriptions match or exceed your WooCommerce Yoast/RankMath settings, collection pages have descriptive titles, your homepage has a strong title and description, blog posts (if migrated) have correct meta tags, and canonical URLs are set correctly. Install an SEO app (Plug In SEO, SEO Manager) or use Shopify's built-in SEO editor for each page type.

Check page speed

Run your Shopify store through PageSpeed Insights (pagespeed.web.dev) on both mobile and desktop. Shopify should be faster than WooCommerce for most stores — target 70+ on mobile, 90+ on desktop. If scores are low, check: number of apps installed (each app's JavaScript impacts performance), image optimization (use Shopify's built-in image optimization), unused theme sections with heavy JavaScript. Document your baseline score to monitor after launch.

Configure analytics and tracking

Set up all tracking before launch — you want to capture data from day 1. Connect Google Analytics 4 (via Shopify's Google channel or Customer Events), set up Google Tag Manager if you use custom tracking, connect your Facebook/Meta Pixel, set up Google Merchant Center (for Shopping ads), install your email marketing app (Klaviyo, Omnisend, etc.) and verify subscriber sync, and configure Shopify's built-in analytics dashboards.

Final: DNS cutover and monitoring plan

Before switching DNS, brief your team on the cutover plan. Keep WooCommerce running (don't cancel hosting yet). Point your domain to Shopify in your domain registrar settings. DNS propagation takes 24–72 hours. Monitor during this period: check the Shopify store from different devices/browsers/VPNs, watch for 404 errors in Shopify analytics, monitor order conversion rate, check Search Console for crawl errors (submit updated sitemap), and ensure WooCommerce is still accessible as a fallback during propagation.

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Perguntas frequentes

How long should I keep WooCommerce running after switching to Shopify?

Keep WooCommerce running for at least 30 days after going live on Shopify. This gives DNS time to fully propagate, allows you to monitor for missed redirects (customers trying to access cached WooCommerce URLs), and maintains your order history and subscription data as a reference. After 30 days with no issues, you can cancel WooCommerce hosting, but keep the domain pointed to Shopify permanently.

What's the safest day and time to switch DNS?

Migrate on a low-traffic day (Tuesday or Wednesday morning) and in your off-peak hours. For most B2C ecommerce, Monday and Friday are high-traffic — avoid those. For B2B stores, migrate after business hours or over a long weekend. The goal is minimal customer impact during the 24–72 hour DNS propagation window when some visitors may see the old WooCommerce site and others the new Shopify site.

What happens to Google rankings after migration?

Expect a temporary 10–30% drop in organic traffic in the first 2–4 weeks post-launch as Google recrawls and reindexes pages. This is normal for any platform migration with URL changes. Recovery typically takes 4–12 weeks if redirects are correct and SEO settings are maintained. Track in Google Search Console — you'll see crawl spikes as Googlebot discovers the new URLs. Stores that skip redirects can see 50–80% organic traffic drops that take months to recover.

Do I need to re-verify ownership with Google Search Console?

Yes, once DNS points to Shopify, re-verify your property in Google Search Console if you used the domain verification method. The HTML file or meta tag method works differently on Shopify. After verification, submit your new Shopify sitemap (sync.krokanti.com/sitemap.xml or yourstore.myshopify.com/sitemap.xml) and request removal of any old WooCommerce pages that are now redirected.

How do I check that all my redirects are working?

Use these methods: (1) Screaming Frog — crawl your WooCommerce site, export all URLs, then check each one returns a 301 to the correct Shopify URL. (2) Google Search Console — after launch, check Coverage report for 'Not found (404)' errors. These are missed redirects. (3) Manual spot check — test your 20 highest-traffic pages from GA4. (4) Check redirect chains — ensure old WooCommerce URLs go directly to Shopify, not through multiple hops (bad for SEO).

Should I migrate customers to Shopify before or after launch?

Migrate customer accounts after DNS cutover, not before. Customer migration creates accounts in Shopify and triggers password reset emails — you don't want customers getting confusing emails about a 'new store' before the migration is public. Import customers via CSV within 24 hours of launch, then send a customer announcement email about the new store. Budget for higher customer support volume in the first 2 weeks as customers can't log in with old passwords.

What's the risk if I skip the pre-launch checklist?

The most common costly mistakes from skipping pre-launch checks: (1) Broken payment processing — customers can't checkout, you lose orders immediately. (2) Missing redirects — Google recrawls and finds 404s, rankings drop over weeks. (3) Wrong tax rates — legal and financial exposure if you undercharge tax. (4) Missing tracking — you lose attribution data and can't measure post-migration performance. (5) Wrong shipping rates — you either overcharge customers (bad UX) or undercharge (lose money on every order). Each of these can cost more to fix post-launch than the time spent on this checklist.

Can I run Shopify and WooCommerce simultaneously for a period?

Yes, and this is actually recommended. During the migration, keep WooCommerce password-protected (or use a different domain for the Shopify test store). Only switch DNS when Shopify is fully ready. After DNS cutover, disable new orders on WooCommerce (put it in maintenance mode) but don't shut it down for 30 days. This parallel running period is your safety net — if something is seriously wrong on Shopify, you can switch DNS back to WooCommerce within minutes.