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The event is getting closer, but is your website ready for on-sale?

In Part 1, we walked you through what considerations are needed in the month leading up to the next on-sale event. Now, you are two weeks out and the final plan needs to be put in place, and that includes getting your website ready.

Here is a list of activities to complete in the week or two leading up to the on-sale. Keep in contact with your development team to ensure you are prepared for the event.

Within two weeks of the on-sale event

Verify the steps required for getting products available for sale

Create sample products within your test environment and confirm that any required content and back-end system updates are completed. This is also the time to ensure that purchases can be validated properly in the back-end system.

Plan for additional server resources as needed

If you are using a cloud-based system, verify that resources scale automatically or that the server can be increased to the maximum size before the on-sale itself. Keep in mind that this may require at least 24 hours’ notice to reboot any necessary servers.

Ensure that someone has notified the infrastructure or hosting IT team about the event. The team will be able to provide recommendations for scaling up the machines in use to ensure the maximum amount of server hardware is in use for the big day.  Scaling up servers during the on-sale can result in downtime and user frustration.

Consider adding a static landing page for initial visitor traffic

If the event expects a high number of users, a static content landing page might help to alleviate traffic to guide users to the proper location quickly during the on-sale period.  This will keep users moving towards their final goal instead of using more complex features of the website such as a calendar to find the upcoming event.

Within one week of the event

Setup an on-sale event monitoring war room call

This call will help to facilitate communication between departments during the on-sale. You will want to include back-end system administrators, external system contacts, marketing, and any other internal team contacts.

This call ensures that everyone is aware of the event while providing a way for the teams to come together if needed.

Setup any production content that can be staged before on-sale

Now is the time to add any production configurations that can be put in place prior to the on-sale, alleviating stress once it is launched.

Perform a production verification of the pathway within a controlled environment

If there are any products that can be put on sale for specific groups, verify that this configuration is set up. However, if this setup is only for a specific time frame, you might want to consider creating a pre-war room call to turn everything on for sale and run through a sample transaction. Once verification is complete, mark the products off-sale again until the prescribed time.

And just like that, you are ready for your event! By following all our above steps, you have set your organization up for a successful on-sale.

If you are looking for extra assistance for your next launch, reach out to Adage today to see how we can prepare you for your on-sale needs.