E-commerce Website Design Checklist for New Store Owners

Why is an e-commerce website launch checklist important?

A well-structured checklist ensures that no critical aspect is overlooked during your launch. Here’s why it matters:

• Streamlines your launch by helping you prioritise high-impact actions.
• Improves user experience through intentional layout, speed, and accessibility decisions.
• Boosts trust and credibility, which is vital for first-time customers.
• Enhances conversion by aligning your design with proven psychological triggers.

Launching an e-commerce site doesn’t have to feel like navigating a maze. This comprehensive checklist covers everything from mobile-first design and site speed to SEO and trust signals. You’ll find actionable tips, real-world brand examples, and tool recommendations to help you create a high-performing, conversion-optimised online store, whether you’re just starting or refining an existing one.

Elements of a Great E-commerce Website Design

The most successful e-commerce websites like Allbirds, Gymshark, and Warby Parker share key characteristics that set them apart. Let’s break them down with clear examples, visuals, and resources so you can apply them to your site.

1. Fast, Mobile-First Performance

With mobile traffic dominating e-commerce (over 70%), your website must load quickly and be fully responsive. Brands like Glossier and ASOS have mastered mobile UX by using clean layouts, large product imagery, and minimal friction at checkout.

Source: Mobile-First Performance

A great mobile-first e-commerce design prioritises:

• Speed optimisation: Compress images, enable lazy loading, and use a content delivery network (CDN) to ensure lightning-fast load times, even on slower mobile networks.
• Responsive design: The layout should automatically adjust to fit various screen sizes — whether it’s an iPhone, Android, or tablet — without breaking the user experience.
• Touch-friendly navigation: Menus, filters, and buttons should be large enough to tap easily with a thumb, and navigation should be intuitive with minimal steps to complete a purchase.
• Streamlined checkout: Simplify the checkout process to one or two steps, allow guest checkout, and support mobile-friendly payment options like Apple Pay, Google Pay, and PayNow.
• Clear product visuals: Use large, high-resolution images that load quickly, and allow zoom or swipe features to help mobile shoppers examine products in detail.

By adopting a mobile-first approach, you’re not just catering to the majority of your visitors; you’re also aligning with Google’s mobile-first indexing, which can positively impact your site’s SEO rankings and organic visibility.

2. Clear Navigation and Layout

Navigation should be intuitive and effortless. Gymshark provides filterable menus based on collection, fit, and use case. Use sticky headers, mega menus, and clear CTAs so shoppers can find what they need without frustration.

Source: https://clarity.microsoft.com/

A great e-commerce navigation experience prioritises:

Sticky headers: Keep the top navigation bar visible as users scroll down. This ensures they can always access the menu or shopping cart without needing to scroll back to the top, improving convenience, especially on mobile.

Filterable mega menus: Allow users to narrow their search quickly by category, size, fit, or purpose. For example, Gymshark lets visitors filter by workout type, gender, or product range, speeding up the path to purchase.

Logical hierarchy: Group related items under consistent categories so shoppers don’t get lost. Use submenus, breadcrumb trails, or icons to reinforce structure.

High-contrast CTAs: “Shop Now,” “Add to Cart,” or “View Collection” buttons should stand out using colour contrast and whitespace, encouraging action.

Responsive design for navigation: Mobile layouts should use hamburger menus, collapsible filters, and thumb-friendly button spacing to make browsing simple for small screens.

By building your navigation with the user journey in mind, you help customers find what they need faster, reduce bounce rates, and boost conversions.

3. Trust-Building Elements

Customers need to feel secure. Add SSL certificates (HTTPS), trust badges (Visa, PayPal, Norton), and real customer reviews. Copper & Brass Paper Goods shows Google reviews right on their homepage, boosting confidence instantly.

Source: Trust Badges

Trust signals reduce hesitation and increase conversion rates.

What to include:

• SSL Certificate: Secure your site with HTTPS.
• Trust Badges: Showcase verified badges like Visa, MasterCard, PayPal, or Norton Secure.
• Customer Reviews: Display ratings on product pages and testimonials on landing pages.
• Transparent Policies: Feature return, refund, and privacy policies in the footer.

4. Conversion-Optimised Product Pages

Use high-quality images, user-generated content, detailed product info, and clear delivery/returns messaging. Allbirds includes user reviews, sustainability info, and large product images for every item.

What to include:

• High-quality visuals: Use zoom, 360° views, and lifestyle imagery.
• User-generated content: Show real customers wearing or using your products.
• Urgency triggers: Highlight low stock or limited-time offers.
• Sustainability and value: If your product has a mission, like Allbirds, include that story.

5. SEO and Accessibility Compliance

Search engines favour well-structured, accessible websites—and so do users. Proper SEO improves discoverability, while accessibility expands your reach and supports all shoppers.

What to do:

• Use schema markup to define product details and ratings for Google.
• Add alt text to all images and icons.
• Enable keyboard navigation and screen-reader-friendly layouts.

SEO Tools: RankMath, SEMRush, Ahrefs

Source: ahrefs.com

6. Ongoing Analytics and Testing

Top-performing e-commerce brands don’t guess—they test. Launching your store is only the beginning. To truly grow and scale, you’ll need to constantly track performance, analyse user behaviour, and run experiments that uncover what works (and what doesn’t).

Here’s how to build a solid testing and analytics foundation:

• Google Analytics 4: Set up GA4 to monitor real-time traffic, user demographics, page performance, and key conversion events like add-to-cart or completed checkout. Use custom dashboards to get instant insight into sales trends and shopper behaviour.
• Meta Pixel: Essential for remarketing and tracking user interactions from Facebook and Instagram campaigns. This allows you to run dynamic ads and improve ad targeting over time.
• Heatmaps and session recordings: Tools like Microsoft Clarity or Hotjar allow you to visualise where users click, scroll, and abandon the page, providing direct insight into your user experience.
• A/B testing tools: Don’t rely on gut feeling. Use VWO, Convert.com, or Google Optimize (sunset in 2023) alternatives to test different headlines, CTA buttons, images, and layouts to find high-performing variations.

Source: warbyparker

For example, Warby Parker runs continuous A/B tests on their homepage and product pages—helping them refine everything from CTA language to navigation layout, which leads to measurable improvements in engagement and sales.

E-commerce Website Design Checklist

Step 1: Prioritise Mobile-First Design

Today, more than 70% of e-commerce traffic comes from mobile devices. If your website isn’t optimised for mobile, you’re likely missing out on sales.

Tips to Get Mobile-Ready:

• Choose a responsive theme (e.g., Shopify’s Dawn or WooCommerce’s Storefront)
• Use large, tappable buttons
• Keep content short and easy to read
• Test mobile usability with Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test

        Expert Insight: “Over 73% of our clients’ traffic comes from mobile devices.”

       — Emily Zhao, Mobile UX Specialist

Source: Ecommerce Nation

This visual from Ecommerce Nation outlines key elements of a product page designed to convert, such as high-resolution product images, customer reviews, pricing, clear CTAs, and SEO best practices. While the layout shown is desktop-based, each of these elements should be thoughtfully adapted for mobile devices. For mobile-first optimisation, they should be stacked vertically, kept lightweight for faster loading, and designed with touch interactions in mind.

Step 2: Boost Site Speed and Performance

Page speed is a major ranking factor for Google and a key reason users bounce. If your site takes too long to load, they won’t wait around.

How to Improve Load Times:

• Compress images using tools like TinyPNG
• Enable lazy loading for media files
• Use a content delivery network (CDN) like Cloudflare
• Avoid bloated themes or excessive plugins

Tool Tip: Check your site speed using Google PageSpeed Insights

Step 3: Keep Navigation Simple and Intuitive

Visitors should be able to find what they need in seconds. If navigation is confusing, they’ll leave.

Navigation Best Practices:

• Use a top-level menu with clear categories
• Add a search bar in a prominent location
• Use sticky headers or hamburger menus for mobile

Pro Tip: Use Hotjar to view heatmaps and user behavior on your site.

Step 4: Build Trust with Security and Reviews

Shoppers won’t buy from a site they don’t trust. Building trust should be baked into your design.

Trust Elements to Include:

• HTTPS (secure your site with an SSL certificate)
• Display security and payment trust badges
• Feature customer testimonials and product reviews
• Highlight return policies and satisfaction guarantees

Data Point: Users are 3x more likely to purchase when trust indicators are                                            present  —  Baymard Institute

Source: Baymard Institute

Step 5: Use Clear and Compelling CTAs (Calls to Action)

Every page on your site should guide users toward a specific action: Buy now. Sign up. Learn more.

CTA Design Tips:

• Use action-oriented language like “Add to Cart” or “Get Yours Now.”
• Choose high-contrast button colors
• Place CTAs above the fold and at logical points within the content

Source:www.wix.com/blog

Step 6: Craft High-Converting Product Pages

Trust is essential for first-time buyers.

Must-Have Trust Signals:

• HTTPS and security icons
• Verified product reviews
• User-generated content (UGC) like photo reviews
• Trust badges (e.g., Visa, PayPal, Mastercard)
• Clear return and refund policies

Recommended Tools:

• Loox and Yotpo for photo and star reviews
• Okendo and Junip for UGC collection, AI-powered tagging, and review widgets that integrate with your CRM or loyalty programme

These platforms not only gather authentic customer reviews but also allow tagging by product variant, keywords, and even customer attributes using AI. This helps display the most relevant content to new visitors, building trust faster.

Step 7: Optimise for Search Engines (SEO)

To take your product page strategy further, make sure your content is optimised not just for users, but also for discoverability. SEO plays a key role in how people find your products on search engines like Google.

Recommended Tools for Serious Store Owners:

• Rank Math – Advanced SEO plugin for WordPress with schema integration, redirection control, and content scoring.
• Ahrefs – Professional-grade tool for keyword research, competitor tracking, backlink monitoring, and site audits.
• SEMRush – Comprehensive platform for SEO audits, PPC strategy, and market analysis.

Tip: These tools offer in-depth insights and keyword tracking features that are invaluable for serious e-commerce store owners aiming to grow long-term traffic and sales.

Step 8: Make Your Website Accessible to All

Accessibility isn’t just the right thing to do; it also opens your site to more customers.

Accessibility Essentials:

• High-contrast text and background combinations
• Clear, readable fonts
• ARIA labels for screen readers
• Keyboard navigation support

Fact: 15% of global users live with some form of disability.

Learn More: Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG)

Step 9: Add Legal Pages and Store Policies

Legal pages are not just regulatory requirements; they’re critical for building trust, setting clear expectations, and avoiding customer confusion or disputes.

Must-Have Pages:

• Privacy Policy – Clearly outline how customer data is collected and used; include GDPR and CCPA clauses where applicable.
• Terms & Conditions – Define the rules of using your site, purchasing from your store, and any disclaimers.
• Shipping & Returns Policy – Set expectations about delivery timeframes, return procedures, and refunds.
• Cookie Policy – Especially important if you use analytics, remarketing, or other tracking technologies.
• FAQs & Contact Page – Reduce support load and give customers confidence that they can reach you.

Placement Tips:

• Add legal page links in your footer
• Reference them during checkout and in email confirmations
• Include policy highlights on product pages when applicable (e.g., “30-day return guarantee”)

Tools to Help:

• Termly and Iubenda – Auto-generate legal pages tailored to your region and business model
• Enzuzo – Create and manage privacy compliance with editable templates

Pro Tip: Reinforce trust by using visual badges (like “SSL Secured” or “30-Day Return Policy”) and ensuring your checkout area links to all relevant policies.

Step 10: Install Analytics and Gather Feedback

Once your website is live, tracking user behaviour and gathering feedback is essential for improving performance and making informed decisions. Without accurate data, you’ll struggle to understand what’s working and where visitors drop off.

Core Tools to Set Up:

• Google Analytics 4 – Analyse traffic sources, user flow, and conversions
• Google Search Console – Monitor search visibility, index status, and fix crawl errors
• Meta Pixel – Optimise your Facebook and Instagram ad campaigns based on real-time behaviour
• Hotjar / Microsoft Clarity – Visualise how users interact with your site through heatmaps, scroll depth, and session replays
• Qualaroo – Trigger micro-surveys on key pages to collect user feedback on content, usability, and satisfaction

A/B Testing Tools (Post-Google Optimise):

• VWO – A reliable alternative to Google Optimise for running A/B and multivariate tests on your site. Use it to test different CTA placements, product imagery, headlines, and layouts to improve conversion rates.
• Convert.com – Another enterprise-grade tool with GDPR compliance for privacy-conscious brands.

Pro Tip: Regularly review your data to identify friction points, such as where users drop off during checkout, and experiment with changes using A/B testing tools.

Note: Google Optimize was officially sunset in 2023. For ongoing experimentation and site optimisation, VWO or similar platforms are now the standard choice for e-commerce brands.

Learn what’s working and what’s not:

• Google Analytics 4 – Track conversions, user flows, and traffic sources
• Google Search Console – Monitor site indexing and search performance
• Meta Pixel – Track Facebook and Instagram ad performance
• Hotjar / Clarity – Visualise user behaviour with heatmaps and session recordings
• Qualaroo – Get customer feedback via micro-surveys
• VWO – Run A/B and multivariate tests to optimise CTA placement, product imagery, and layouts

Note: Google Optimise was sunset in 2023—consider VWO or similar platforms for A/B testing moving forward.

Source: vwo.com/ab-testing

Designing an e-commerce website isn’t just about aesthetics; it’s about creating a seamless, trustworthy, and enjoyable experience for your visitors. Here are some additional best practices that top-performing brands consistently follow:

Real-World Experience Insight:
As Kelly Vaughn, founder of The Taproom and Shopify Expert, shares from her agency experience, brands that test early and simplify navigation often see double-digit lifts in conversions. One client, after streamlining their navigation and focusing on mobile usability, saw measurable improvements in engagement and checkout rates. UX isn’t about trends—it’s about consistency, clarity, and continual iteration based on real user data.
– Kelly Vaughn, Founder of The Taproom & Shopify Expert

Keep Your Design Consistent

Maintain the same colour palette, typography, and button styles across your entire site. This consistency builds visual trust and strengthens your brand identity. Tools like Figma or Canva can help you create a style guide to follow.

Highlight Promotions Without Overwhelming the User

Use promotional banners sparingly and position them strategically, like the homepage header or below product categories. Avoid cluttering pages with too many pop-ups. Choose tools like Privy or Sleeknote to design non-intrusive banners.

Optimise Your Checkout Experience

A complicated checkout process is a leading cause of cart abandonment. Reduce the number of steps, offer guest checkout, and support various payment options such as PayPal, Apple Pay, Google Pay, or Klarna. Use progress indicators so users know what’s next.

Enable Live Chat or Chatbots

Real-time support reassures customers and resolves objections quickly. Tools like Tidio, Intercom, or Gorgias can be integrated into your site to provide instant support or automated answers.

Add Exit-Intent Popups

When users move their cursor to close the tab, tools like OptiMonk or Sleeknote can trigger exit-intent popups that offer a discount or incentive to stay. This tactic is proven to reduce bounce rates and reclaim potential customers.

Each of these tips complements the main checklist and helps create a polished, high-converting user experience. Start with one or two changes and build from there—your future customers will thank you.

Key Takeaways – E-commerce Tools to Help You Launch

E-commerce success today isn’t just about what you build—it’s about how smartly you build it. Whether you’re a solo founder or running a small team, these tools can help automate repetitive tasks, personalise customer journeys, and streamline operations for faster, more profitable growth. By integrating the right platforms into your workflow, you gain the competitive edge needed in today’s crowded digital marketplace. To build a store that converts and scales, you need the right mix of strategy, tools, and data-backed decision-making. Below are curated tools and categories that support different parts of the website launch process, making it easier for solopreneurs and small teams to scale efficiently:

• Customer Engagement & Content: Loox, Junip, Okendo, ChatGPT, Jasper
  Use these tools to generate on-brand copy, collect authentic reviews, and showcase user-generated content that builds trust.
• Design & Branding: Canva, Figma, Magic Edit, Looka
  Create consistent, high-converting visuals with easy-to-use tools that make design accessible, even for beginners.
• SEO & Analytics: RankMath, Ahrefs, SEMRush, Google Analytics 4, Microsoft Clarity
  Plan your keyword strategy, run technical audits, and monitor user behaviour to inform design and content decisions.
• A/B Testing & Optimisation: VWO, Convert.com
  Test your CTAs, product layouts, and copy variations to boost conversions with evidence, not guesswork.
• Product Reviews & UGC: Yotpo, Okendo, Junip
  Showcase real customer feedback through text, photo, and video reviews—boosting credibility and conversion.
• Email Marketing: Klaviyo, Mailchimp, Omnisend
  Send targeted, automated emails that recover abandoned carts, upsell bestsellers, and welcome new customers.
• Chat & Support: Tidio, Intercom, Gorgias
  Provide 24/7 real-time support that helps shoppers feel confident while browsing and buying.
• Exit-Intent & Popups: Sleeknote, OptiMonk
  Convert hesitant users into customers with smart popups and offers triggered by exit-intent or browsing behaviour.
• Legal & Compliance: Termly, Iubenda, Enzuzo
  Auto-generate essential legal policies and stay compliant with global privacy regulations like GDPR and CCPA.
• Page Speed & Optimisation: Cloudflare, TinyPNG, NitroPack
  Keep your website lightning-fast with performance optimisation tools that improve both user experience and SEO.

From branding to checkout to post-launch data analysis, using the right stack of tools empowers you to build with strategy, not just speed.

Your Website Is More Than Just a Shopfront

Your e-commerce website is the heart of your brand’s online presence. It’s where first impressions are formed, trust is built, and purchasing decisions are made. A well-designed store doesn’t just look good; it functions seamlessly, inspires confidence, and guides your customers towards action.

By applying the steps in this checklist, you’re not simply launching a website—you’re shaping a digital experience that encourages repeat visits and drives sustainable growth. Regardless of the platform you choose—Shopify, WooCommerce, Wix, or otherwise—the foundations remain the same: focus on usability, trust, performance, and your customer’s journey.

Ready to take your e-commerce skills to the next level?

Explore our Certified E-commerce Specialist Programme. Whether you’re starting from scratch or scaling an existing business, this comprehensive course will equip you with the strategies, tools, and hands-on training to thrive in the competitive online marketplace.