9 WooCommerce checks before a big sale

Quick reference

The store

• Stock and prices right — export, then spot-check
• Test order end to end — every payment method
• Coupons tested — dates, limits, exclusions

The server

• Checkout not cached — exclude cart, checkout, account
• Fresh backup — files + database, restore tested
• Room to grow — CPU, RAM and PHP workers

The day itself

• Updates frozen — no plugin updates on sale day
• Uptime monitor on — the checkout page, every minute
• Someone on call — with hosting and payment contacts

Explained

The store

• Stock and prices right — export the products, check the sale prices and stock levels against the plan. A wrong price at scale is hard to undo.
• Test order end to end — place a real order with every payment method you offer, and follow it all the way: payment, confirmation email, order status, stock reduction.
• Coupons tested — start and end dates, usage limits, product exclusions. A coupon that stacks with the sale price by accident can wipe out the margin.

The server

• Checkout not cached — page caching makes a store fast, but the cart, checkout and my-account pages must be excluded. A cached cart shows one customer another customer's items.
• Fresh backup — files and database, taken right before the sale, from a setup where a restore has been tested.
• Room to grow — CPU, memory, and the number of PHP workers. Traffic during a sale can be many times normal. If workers run out, customers see errors instead of slow pages.

The day itself

• Updates frozen — no plugin, theme or WordPress updates on sale day. Update a week before, test, then freeze.
• Uptime monitor on — check the checkout page itself, every minute, not just the homepage.
• Someone on call — with the hosting provider's and payment gateway's support contacts ready.

In one line

Watch the database live

$wp db query 'SHOW PROCESSLIST'