Launching a website is exciting — but publishing before the essentials are in place risks losing customers, creating avoidable admin and, for some organisations, regulatory problems. This checklist focuses on the practical, non‑technical things you should confirm so you and your web team can sign off a launch with confidence.
Core content and user experience essentials
- Contact points: visible phone number and email (or live chat) on every page, plus a clear contact page. Make sure the phone number works during advertised hours and that a named person or role monitors the contact inbox.
- Services and pricing: describe what you offer clearly and honestly. If you don’t publish prices, explain how a customer gets a quote (eg. “Free 15‑minute call”).
- Trust signals: one or two short, verifiable trust indicators — for example trade memberships, professional accreditations or product guarantees. Avoid fabricated claims.
- Customer journeys: test the main flows end‑to‑end: contact form → notification → reply; product purchase → order confirmation → fulfilment. Use the same devices your customers will use (phone, tablet, desktop).
Accessibility: basics that reduce friction
Public‑sector websites must meet WCAG 2.2 AA and publish an accessibility statement; GOV.UK provides guidance and a model statement you can adapt for public bodies and for best practice generally (GOV.UK). Small commercial sites are not all covered by those regulations, but following simple accessibility steps will reduce lost customers and support better SEO and user experience.
- Check colour contrast (text vs background) and that headings are semantic for screen readers.
- Ensure images have meaningful alt text and interactive elements are keyboard operable.
- Publish a short accessibility statement that explains known issues and contact details for problems — GOV.UK offers a template and guidance you can adapt (GOV.UK).
Privacy, cookies and data handling
Any business processing personal data must follow UK data‑protection law. The ICO’s guidance for small organisations covers what to include in a privacy notice, how to handle data breaches and what to consider for higher‑risk processing (ICO).
- Privacy notice: short, clear and accessible on every form page. State what you collect, why, lawful basis, retention and how people can contact you about their data (ICO guidance).
- Cookie banner: give users the choice to accept non‑essential cookies; essential cookies required to deliver the service can be explained and set by default.
- Minimal data principle: collect only the fields you need. If you don’t need a customer’s date of birth or postal address at first contact, don’t ask for it.
- Data breach basics: know who in your business is responsible and how you’ll notify affected individuals; ICO guidance is a practical starting point (ICO).
Conversion and measurement
- Contact form confirmation: send an immediate on‑screen message and an email confirmation that sets expectations for response time.
- Thank‑you pages: use these to confirm submissions and to trigger analytics goals without setting third‑party cookies before consent.
- Analytics and consent: make sure your analytics setup respects cookie consent so tracking doesn’t run before a user agrees. Test analytics events by completing sample journeys.
Operational checks
- Payments: if you accept online payments, test the full payment and refund flow and confirm that confirmation emails are sent and logged.
- Order and fulfilment pages: publish clear delivery, returns and cancellation policies where relevant.
- Domain and email ownership: confirm you control the domain and key email accounts (eg. admin@, info@) so you can update DNS, SSL and recover accounts if needed.
Printable pre‑launch checklist (single page)
- Visible contact details on every page
- Core services and pricing or quote process explained
- Contact form: confirmation screen + confirmation email
- Analytics: events set and consent respected
- Privacy notice live and linked from forms
- Cookie banner configured for consent
- Accessibility statement published; basic accessibility checks passed
- Payment and order emails tested
- Delivery/returns/fulfilment pages live (if relevant)
- Domain and key emails confirmed under your control
Quick templates
Contact form confirmation (on‑screen): Thanks — we’ve received your message. We aim to reply within 2 business days. If urgent, call us on [phone number].
Privacy snippet (for forms): We’ll use your name and email to respond to your enquiry. See our privacy notice for full details.
Simple accessibility statement (short): We aim to make our website accessible to everyone. If you have problems using this site, email us at [email address] describing the issue and the page URL. We’ll respond within 5 working days. For more detail see GOV.UK’s guidance on model accessibility statements (GOV.UK).
If you’d like a ready‑to‑print checklist and the three short templates as downloadable files, use our website launch tool or book a short audit to check these items quickly: Website launch check.
Sources: GOV.UK guidance on accessibility and model statements, and ICO guidance for small organisations on data protection and privacy notices (GOV.UK; ICO).