Now that you have added your product catalog, as well as payment and shipping methods to your store, it is time to test that everything works. So go through all the following points and pay attention to any potential problem areas.

If possible, you should ask a 3rd party to test the online store, as they can provide you with a new and fresh perspective, for example, on the arrangement of your product selection.

It is advisable to test the online store whenever you make significant changes to the site (for example, adding a large number of products, changing shipping or payment methods, or adding a new language version).

Finding products

In this section, you will make sure that the products that you added to your online store can be easily found by your customers in places that make sense. If products are difficult to find, you likely don't get to sell them.

Browsing

Try to find the products you added by browsing the online store. If you and the test person can browse through all the products effortlessly, your customers are likely to find them as well.

Some visitors may only browse through your online store, just as if they were walking around a shopping center. In such case, it is important that the products are easily visible when browsing.

If it is difficult or not possible at all to find a product while browsing, try the following:

  • Ensure that all products are in some product category, as otherwise they cannot be found by browsing.
  • Name the product categories illustratively and organize them logically.
  • Add products to multiple suitable product categories if necessary. For example, you can categorize clothes based on different features (material, purpose, style, etc.).
  • Define the brand, if you haven't already done so. This adds a new path for the product through which customers can find it.
  • Add an illustrative and clear image of the product. The name and image are the first things a visitor sees about the product.

Searching

Also test the online store's search: use search terms that your customers are likely to use to search for a product. Remember that the product name is not necessarily used as the search term.

If the product cannot be found by searching, you can make it easier to find in the following ways:

  • Add a keyword to the product's name that is likely used to search for it.
  • Choose additional keywords that may be used to find the product, and add them to the product description and information – preferably in the beginning.
  • Add search terms to the product's keywords as well. However, do not create too many keywords, as it may only make it more difficult to find the product.

Ordering

For testing the order process, you can create a hidden test product in the online store with a price of, for example, 1 cent.

This section covers placing an order, now that the required content and settings have been created in the online store.

Placing orders in the online store must be seamless. If there is anything that makes ordering difficult for your customers, they might not place an order at all, even with products already added to their carts.

MyCashflow's shopping cart has been carefully tested, and with functional basic settings it makes buying remarkably smooth.

Try to order products from your online store and pay special attention to potential problems (mostly payment and shipping):

  1. Find a product for testing in the online store and add it to the shopping cart.
  2. Go to the checkout.
  3. Fill in the customer information in the form at the top of the checkout page.
  4. Select the shipping method you created in chapter 6 of the quick guide.
  5. Select the payment method you created in chapter 5 of the quick guide.

    You should test ordering in your online store with all shipping and payment methods.

  6. Accept the terms and conditions, and confirm the order.

    Finally, you will be directed to a thank you page that includes a summary of the order.

    The online store will send an order confirmation to the email you provided. Similarly, a notification of a new order is sent to the email you specified in the admin panel settings.

Your online store now has its first order, which needs to be processed. This is covered in chapter 10 of the quick guide