5 Steps to Consider When Migrating to Shopify
It's essential for any startup, business, or global brand to use and consider the right platform for their website and online presence. Nothing beats having an intuitive platform supported by powerful promotional tools and built-in features. That's why Shopify has become a leading ecommerce platform, with over 1.7 million businesses in 175 countries already using Shopify as their website platform. Many other startups, businesses, and global brands are considering migrating their websites to Shopify and Shopify Plus. But the question is: how can you ensure a successful website migration to Shopify? In this article, we'll look at the five steps you need to consider for a seamless website migration to Shopify or Shopify Plus.
Step 1: Discover and plan
When migrating from WordPress, Magento, Volusion, Squarespace, or any other platform, the first step is to identify which elements of your website you're considering migrating to Shopify. This could include products, customer information, order history, store credits, blogs, pages, or even product reviews. The order in which you import your data is extremely important to ensure a successful data migration to Shopify.
Step 2: Design Elements and Functionality
Next, it's important to define the design and structure of your website. This includes a thorough understanding of your business, its goals, customer behavior and expectations, and how your website impacts all of this. It's also recommended to analyze the competitive landscape to establish the context and benchmarks for how your website should function and, therefore, improve it. This step will provide you with the foundation for moving forward, whether you're considering a premium Shopify theme template or a custom design, and will help you choose the right features and apps for your website.
Step 3: Setup
Your data has been migrated, and you've finalized the structure of your website with all the required features and apps. You need to start configuring the content for all pages, payments, shipping profiles, and taxes. One of the most important steps in the migration is setting up redirects. This step ensures that any customers who have bookmarked your website can still find it when you migrate to Shopify.
Step 4: Test
Test your new Shopify store before relaunching. First, you'll need to require password resets for all your customers, as passwords are encrypted and cannot be migrated during the process. There are existing apps available in the Shopify App Store for sending these invitations. Shopify Plus merchants have access to built-in apps for bulk invitations. Start by testing all your website pages, including adding different products and variations to the cart, placing and canceling orders, etc. As you go through all the testing processes, you'll also need to ensure all email notifications are relevant.
Step 5: Relaunch
It's time for a change. It's time to officially relaunch your website on Shopify. You've now successfully migrated all your data and pages, as well as designed your website's elements and features.
Contact us
At Yastime, our Shopify experts will develop a tailored plan to ensure the successful migration of your website. Understanding your business, your goals, and your competitive landscape is key to creating a seamless website experience on Shopify or Shopify Plus. If you're considering migrating your website to Shopify or Shopify Plus, contact the experts at Yastime and schedule a consultation to further understand the processes required for your website.
