Launching on Lead Commerce can be exciting and fun but it can also seem very overwhelming at times.
Below is a common list of items that you will want to consider before switching over to Lead Commerce entirely, turning off your existing legacy system(s) or changing your A Record to point at the Lead Commerce server.
We encourage you to print this page and use the Completed column to indicate which areas have been signed off on and which ones are still pending or not applicable.
| Item | Application Area | Description | Completed |
| Design | Content > Configuration | You will want to make sure your design has been completely integrated into every step of the Lead Commerce Storefront. This includes looking at things like the Checkout, Registration, Forgot Password, Customer Portal, Add to Cart and any other pages that might have been overlooked like, Return Policy, Terms of Service and Privacy Statement. These pages can be accessed either from the Back Office or from the Storefront itself. It is also good practice to go through the Checkout process yourself and make sure everything is configured properly. | |
| SSL | Settings > Licensing | Secure Socket Layers (SSL) is an extra feature that you can deploy once your site has been deployed on your own domain. Again, this is a secondary task that can only be performed once you have pointed your domain at the Lead Commerce server. For more information on pointing your domain to Lead Commerce, please read this article here. | |
| Payment Methods | Sales > Configuration | Payment Methods out-of-the-box are all turned on. Specifically, they are all turned on for the Sales Channel/Customer Types which means that you will have multiple payment options available for your customers who will be checking out using your storefront area. This might not be what you want, so it is advised for you to check the Sales Channels/Customer Types you have created in the Back Office and specifically Sales Channel ID #1, which is the Sales Channel that controls the options like Payment Methods in the Storefront checkout. | |
| Shipping Providers | Sales > Configuration | Shipping Providers can also be turned on by default so you will want to ensure that you have selected the proper Shipping Provider(s) that you would like to present to your customers in the Storefront checkout. You can see which Shipping Providers are Active and selected by going to the Sales Channel/Customer Type area of the Back Office and selecting Shipping Providers on Sales Channel ID #1. | |
| Content Pages | Content > Pages | There are many pages that can be included as part of a Lead Commerce install OR if you have chosen a template from our template marketplace. You will want to check that all pages have been properly filled out and that the content is accurate and makes sense. Some designers when making templates will use placeholder copy like Latin text which you will want to locate and replace with real words and marketing messages. | |
| Banners | Content > Configuration | If you have banners that were designed but never properly completed and linked to certain sections of your site, you will now want to look at those more closely to ensure they are ready to go live. | |
| Products | Catalog | Reviewing your products and making sure that they all have a Product Image, Product Description, accurate Pricing, etc is also another good item to double check prior to launching. | |
| Test Modes | Sales > Configuration | There are quite a few components that allow you to test connections, APIs, and 3rd party integration points prior to launch. Some of these would be Shipping Provider settings, Payment Method settings, SMTP settings and more. It is important for you to make sure that these settings are ready and that both Lead Commerce and the 3rd party gateway is configured properly. For example, you will want to make sure that Lead Commerce is in Live Mode for your Stripe or Authorize.net account and that Stripe or Authorize.net accounts are also in Live mode. | |
| Place a Test Order | Sales | A good practice is to place a test order prior to launch. This can be done by turning on a live Payment Method gateway like Stripe or Authorize.net OR using Cash, for example, to go through the checkout process within the Storefront. If you plan on using the Back Office ordering system, you will also want to practice placing an order this way as well. Both methods should be looked at and considered and you will want to ensure your staff has had ample time to practice these workflows prior to launch. | |
| SMTP | Settings | Out-of-the-box Lead Commerce allows users to leave their SMTP settings blank and use the Mandrill integration which is native to Lead Commerce. However, if you would like to run your own SMTP service, you can configure those settings in Settings -> Site Configuration. Click on Site Configuration and then click on SMTP. Enter in your SMTP server settings and then save. | |
| Site Admin Email | Settings | Lead Commerce has an overall Site Admin email address. The Site Admin email will receive alerts from the system, general messages and other non-operating emails like billing confirmations for the Lead Commerce subscription. You will want to check and make sure that the Site Admin email is set to the proper address in Settings -> Site Configuration. | |
| Send From Email | Settings | The Send From Email address is the email address your customers will receive for any system messages that are sent. For example, order confirmations, shipping confirmations, customer service tickets will all come from this address. By default this address is [email protected] where sample.com is your domain name. If this is not accurate or you want it to send from another email address, you will need to configure that in Settings > Site Configuration. | |
| Disable All Email | Settings | As part of your project or if you used a partner company to help you migrate to Lead Commerce, they might have used the Disable All Email option located in Settings -> Site Configuration. This setting is useful when importing legacy customers and orders where you do not want the chance of existing customers receiving order notices when importing existing orders. Check this option and if it is selected, then uncheck the box and save your changes. Now email has been turned back on. There are some additional email settings you will want to consider as well which will be discussed below. | |
| Email Notifications | Sales > Configuration > Sales Channels | If you do not want your customers to receive email notifications when they place orders and when you ship their orders, you can turn these notifications off in the Sales Channel area. If you go to Sales -> Configuration -> Sales Channels and locate the Sales Channel you want to adjust, on the Rules section, you can unselect the Auto Send Order Emails and this will stop Lead Commerce from sending any emails to your customers when they place orders via that Sales Channel. If you have multiple Sales Channels, then repeat this process. | |
| User Logins & Roles | Settings > Security Settings | User Logins are the username and password your team will use to access their own Back Office account. Each Login is associated to a single Role. You will want to check the settings for each Role to make sure that a particular User has access to the proper areas or remove areas from that Role for security access reasons. | |
| Templates | Settings > Templates | The Templates located in Settings -> Templates and classified as Order Emails, Customer Emails and System Emails. Each one of these will want to be reviewed for messaging and content to ensure that your internal policies and procedures follow the same copy that has been provided out-of-the-box. | |
| Access to Registrar | N/A | Your Registrar is the company that you registered your domain with. The domain should be located in the customer portal area of your Registrar or if need be you can call your Registrar and have them make the changes you need. You will need to be able to gain control and modify your domain settings (specifically the A Record) at your Registrar in order to launch Lead Commerce on your domain name. | |
| Tax Regions | Sales > Configurations | If you have a physical nexus in a state you are obligated to collect state and local sales tax if your business does more than $1M dollars in revenue a year (this is based on internet tax laws currently in place). You will want to consult with your accountant or local state and city departments for the proper sales tax collection rules and regulations. If you do need to setup your sales tax regions, they are located in the Back Office by going to Sales -> Configuration -> Tax Regions. | |
| Customer Types | Customers > Configuration | If you have set up Customer Types to handle different tiered pricing models or if you are using Customer Types in conjunction with Product Types, you will want to test and ensure all discount values, tax exempt settings have been configured correctly. You can review all Customer Types by going to Customers -> Configuration -> Customer Types. To check your Product Types, navigate to Catalog -> Configuration -> Product Types and review your Product Type(s) settings. | |
| Inventory | Catalog > Inventory | Most users of Lead Commerce are going to rely on the inventory management features of Lead Commerce to keep track of SKU stock levels, backorders and On Order levels issued from Purchase Orders. It is good practice to ensure that inventory levels are accurate prior to launching the site. You can quickly update inventory via the SKU export/import process. The Export and Import feature for SKUs is located in Catalog -> Inventory -> SKUs. Choose the blue More button on the right and then choose Export or Import depending on your needs. | |
| Business Information | Settings | Your business information can be found in Settings -> Business Information. You can adjust any business address information there. If you have created more than one Sales Channel, then the business information for that Sales Channel is located at Sales -> Configuration -> Sales Channels. Drill into the Sales Channel and then go to the Business Information section. | |
| Default Increments | Settings | The Default Increment settings allow you to set Lead Commerce to auto-increment at a set number you select as the start value. For example, some customers migrating to Lead Commerce will set the Order ID to be something much larger than their current Order ID in their legacy system. This allows users to quickly identify new orders that have been created in Lead Commerce versus older orders that were created in their legacy system. This can be found in Settings -> Default Increments. | |
| Apps | App Connectors | If you are using any of the App Connectors that connect your Amazon, eBay, Shopify, Big Commerce, SPS Commerce or other 3rd party marketplaces and platforms, please ensure you have reviewed all App documents and best practices in the Support Articles area. The section is called App Connectors | |
| Go Live | All | Once you are ready to go live you can update support and we will remove any test orders from your database, reset your order screen and then update you once this is done. |
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