Customer Acquisition Checklist for E-Commerce

Deploy Google Tag Manager server-side with GA4, Meta Conversions API, and TikTok Events to improve event match quality and reduce signal loss. Validate purchase, add-to-cart, and view-item events with test tools before scaling spend.

Create a blended CAC and MER dashboard that includes discounts, shipping subsidies, and payment fees. Use Looker Studio or a warehouse to reconcile Shopify orders with ad platform spend daily.

Supply GTINs, MPNs, high-res images, compliant titles, availability, and shipping data. Resolve disapprovals quickly and segment product types for smarter Performance Max reporting.

Adopt a consistent UTM schema across Meta, Google, TikTok, and affiliates to attribute new customer revenue properly. Use templates and enforce via ad ops checklists.

Comply with regional privacy laws while preserving modelled conversions. Configure consent banners and pass consent signals to GA4 and ad platforms.

Compress images to WebP/AVIF, lazy-load below-the-fold media, and minimize third-party scripts. Audit mobile LCP and CLS since most paid traffic lands on PDPs via phones.

Showcase primary media (photo and short video), price, variants, clear CTA, trust badges, review stars, and delivery estimate without scrolling. Add sticky add-to-cart on mobile.

Enable Shop Pay, Apple Pay, Google Pay, PayPal, and test BNPL providers like Klarna or Afterpay. Verify fast checkout on iOS and Android and measure impact on conversion and AOV.

Set Klaviyo and Attentive to trigger cart and checkout abandonment within 15-30 minutes with dynamic cart content and inventory-aware urgency. Cap discounts to protect margins.

Use Algolia or Shopify Search & Discovery to implement synonyms, typo tolerance, and pin best-sellers. Hide or demote out-of-stock items and boost high-margin SKUs.

Implement Okendo or Yotpo with photo/video reviews, Q&A, and Product/Review schema for rich results. Surface pros/cons and filter by attributes that matter to shoppers.

Display shipping costs or free threshold on PDP and cart, show delivery ETA, and explain return policy succinctly. Reduce surprise fees that drive checkout drop-off.

Feed high-quality catalog data, set event priorities, and use UGC hooks and product demos. Segment product sets by margin tiers to protect profitability.

Source native-feeling UGC, whitelist posts, and drive to PDPs with the exact SKU featured. Track new customer CAC and trim spend if creative fatigues.

Ensure Merchant Center data quality, add Audience Signals, brand negative lists, and asset groups by category. Use seasonality adjustments ahead of promos.

Cap frequency and exclude recent purchasers across Meta, TikTok, and Google to avoid overspend. Deduplicate audiences between prospecting and remarketing.

Use Refersion, Impact, or UpPromote to manage tiered CPA, coupon governance, and product seeding. Require content rights to repurpose best creatives in ads.

Run Video Action and Shorts placements linked to your feed for dynamic product overlays. Hook within 3 seconds and measure assisted conversions in GA4.

Write unique descriptions, add FAQs, and implement Product, Review, and FAQ schema. Control faceted navigation with noindex rules to prevent crawl bloat.

Create gift guides, buying guides, and competitor comparisons targeting non-branded queries. Link internally to categories and top-margin products.

Use Octane AI or Typeform to segment by needs and recommend SKUs, then sync segments to Klaviyo. Present a modest incentive only for high-intent visitors.

List best-sellers with consistent pricing, enroll in FBA or reliable 3PL for SLA compliance, and sync inventory to avoid overselling. Monitor Buy Box metrics.

Leverage TikTok Shop and Instagram product tagging to shorten path to purchase. Use limited drops and short runs to create urgency and measure sell-through.

Trigger SMS and email within minutes of restock and throttle sends when inventory is low. Use variant-level alerts to reduce lost demand.

Send order confirmation, shipping updates, unboxing tips, and cross-sells based on purchased items. Time product education before a review request to improve star ratings.

Use Recharge or Skio for easy pause, skip, and swap, and test prepaid discounts to improve cash flow. Message savings and convenience on PDP and cart.

Implement tiers and show points value in cart and checkout to nudge AOV. Sync with POS for omnichannel brands and redeem on first reorder.

Use Gorgias or Zendesk with SLAs and a self-serve returns portal like Loop. Monitor top tickets and feed insights back into PDP copy and ads.

Use Kno or Enquire to capture first-touch channel and creative. Adjust channel mix toward sources with higher LTV and satisfaction.

Include QR codes and unique referral codes in packaging to encourage sharing. Incentivize both referrer and friend with margin-safe offers.

Model COGS, shipping, handling, payment fees, and returns to set ROAS floors. Make scale decisions using MER and LTV:CAC, not platform ROAS alone.

Review traffic, CVR, AOV, CAC, LTV/CAC, refund rate, and inventory risk with owners for paid, SEO, email, and ops. Decide experiments and budget shifts fast.

Use VWO, Optimizely, or Convert and an ICE framework to focus on high-impact tests like PDP headline, image order, and checkout fields. Stop tests at adequate power.

Deploy Hotjar or FullStory to identify rage clicks, form errors, and slow steps in checkout. Pair insights with analytics funnels for precise fixes.

Coordinate promos with supply to prevent stockouts and overspend. Use pre-orders, backorder messaging, or waitlists to capture demand during gaps.

Pipe Shopify/BigCommerce, ad spend, and email data into BigQuery or Snowflake. Build daily data quality checks and expose insights via Looker or Metabase.