WooCommerce Maintenance Checklist: Keeping Your Online Store Running Smoothly

Your WooCommerce store never sleeps. Orders come in at midnight. Customers browse at 3am. The checkout process runs around the clock.

This constant activity means more things can go wrong — and when they do, you’re losing money. Here’s a comprehensive maintenance checklist specifically for WooCommerce stores.

Daily Tasks

Check for Orders and Fulfillment Issues

Review:

• New orders processed correctly
• Payment statuses are accurate
• Stock levels reduced appropriately
• Order emails sent to customers

Watch for:

• Failed payments that need follow-up
• Orders stuck in pending status
• Unusual order patterns (fraud indicators)

Monitor Checkout Functionality

Test daily (or use monitoring):

• Can you add products to cart?
• Does cart calculate correctly?
• Does checkout page load?
• Are payment methods showing?

Many stores only discover checkout is broken when sales stop.

Review Error Logs

Check WooCommerce > Status > Logs for:

• Payment gateway errors
• API connection failures
• Email sending failures
• Critical PHP errors

Address errors before they affect more customers.

Check Email Deliverability

WooCommerce sends critical emails:

• Order confirmations
• Shipping notifications
• Password resets
• Account updates

If these aren’t arriving, customers worry and contact you.

Weekly Tasks

Verify Payment Processing

For each payment gateway:

1. Check recent transactions processed
2. Verify funds are reaching your account
3. Test a small transaction if possible
4. Review any declined payments

Payment gateway issues can go unnoticed until you check the bank.

Review Abandoned Carts

If using cart abandonment tracking:

• Check abandonment rate trends
• Review at what stage customers abandon
• Consider recovery emails if not using
• Investigate sudden increases

High abandonment often indicates checkout problems.

Check Inventory Levels

Review:

• Products approaching out-of-stock
• Products that need reordering
• Backorder settings working correctly
• Stock synchronization (if using inventory management)

Analyze Performance

Check:

• Page load times (especially product and checkout pages) — see our speed guide
• Database query times
• Server response times
• Any new Core Web Vitals issues

Slow stores have higher abandonment rates.

Update WooCommerce and Extensions

Weekly update routine:

1. Backup store first
2. Check extension compatibility notes
3. Test on staging if possible
4. Update during low-traffic period
5. Verify checkout works after updating

WooCommerce updates often include security fixes — don’t delay.

Review Customer Feedback

Check:

• Product reviews
• Customer support tickets
• Social media mentions
• Google Business reviews

Customer complaints often reveal issues you haven’t noticed.

Monthly Tasks

Full Store Audit

Test the complete customer journey:

1. Search for a product
2. Browse category pages
3. View product details
4. Add to cart
5. Apply coupon (if applicable)
6. Complete checkout
7. Verify order confirmation email
8. Check order in admin

Do this as a real customer would, including on mobile.

Review and Clean Database

WooCommerce generates significant database activity:

Clean:

• Old completed orders (if not needed for reporting)
• Failed/cancelled order data
• Expired sessions
• Old transient data
• Log files

Optimize:

• Run database optimization
• Check for table bloat
• Review slow queries

Audit Products

Review:

• Products with no sales (consider removing or promoting)
• Products with low stock
• Products with issues (missing images, incomplete descriptions)
• Pricing accuracy
• Category organization

Security Review

Monthly security tasks:

• Review admin user accounts
• Check for unauthorized changes
• Scan for malware
• Review security logs
• Verify backups are working

Financial Reconciliation

Match:

• WooCommerce order totals with payment gateway
• Gateway totals with bank deposits
• Refunds processed in both systems
• Tax collected matches reporting

Discrepancies caught early are easier to resolve.

Review Shipping Configuration

Verify:

• Shipping rates are current
• Zones and methods correct
• Integration with shipping providers working
• Tracking numbers updating

Shipping errors often go unnoticed until customer complaints.

Quarterly Tasks

Performance Deep Dive

Analyze:

• Site speed trends over time
• Core Web Vitals scores
• Conversion rate trends
• Mobile vs desktop performance

Use this data to prioritize optimizations.

Plugin and Theme Audit

Review all extensions:

• Are you still using this?
• Is it being maintained?
• Are there better alternatives?
• Is it affecting performance?

WooCommerce sites often accumulate unnecessary plugins.

Security Assessment

Quarterly security tasks:

• Full malware scan
• Vulnerability check on all plugins
• Review of user permissions
• Password rotation for critical accounts
• Test backup restoration

SEO and Content Review

Check:

• Product pages indexed correctly
• No duplicate content issues
• Category pages optimized
• Broken links fixed
• Schema markup working

Customer Experience Review

Analyze:

• Support ticket trends
• Common questions and complaints
• Checkout abandonment patterns
• Return/refund patterns

These often reveal fixable issues.

Annual Tasks

Full Store Review

Annual strategic review:

• What’s selling and what isn’t
• Customer acquisition costs
• Lifetime customer value
• Technology stack assessment
• Competition analysis

Hosting Assessment

Evaluate:

• Is current hosting meeting needs?
• Performance during peak periods
• Support quality received
• Cost vs value
• Growth capacity

Extension Audit

Review all paid extensions:

• Are renewals worth the cost?
• Are there free alternatives now?
• Is the extension being maintained?
• What would happen if it stopped working?

Legal and Compliance Review

Verify:

• Privacy policy is current
• Terms and conditions accurate
• Cookie consent working properly
• Accessibility compliance
• Data retention appropriate

Disaster Recovery Test

Annually, test:

• Full backup restoration
• Recovery time if server fails
• Can you access everything needed?
• Is documentation current?

Critical WooCommerce-Specific Checks

Payment Gateway Health

Regular testing:

• Each payment method works
• Subscriptions renewing (if applicable)
• Refunds processing correctly
• Webhook endpoints responding

Email System

Verify:

• All WooCommerce emails sending
• Email content is correct
• Links in emails work
• Unsubscribe works
• Not landing in spam

Customer Accounts

Check:

• Registration works
• Password reset works
• Order history displays
• Account details update
• Saved addresses function

Tax Calculations

Periodically verify:

• Tax rates are current
• Calculations are correct
• Tax exempt statuses working
• Reporting is accurate

Coupons and Promotions

Before major sales:

• Test all active coupons
• Verify discount calculations
• Check usage limits working
• Ensure expired coupons are disabled

Automation Tips

What to Automate

• Daily backups
• Uptime monitoring
• Security scanning
• Update notifications
• Stock level alerts
• Abandoned cart emails
• Order notification routing

Useful Tools

Monitoring:

• UptimeRobot (uptime)
• Pingdom (transaction monitoring)
• Google Search Console (SEO issues)

Automation:

• AutomateWoo (WooCommerce automation)
• ManageWP (WordPress management)
• MainWP (if managing multiple sites)

The SparkHost WooCommerce Advantage

For WooCommerce sites on our Managed plan:

We handle:

• Daily security monitoring
• Core and extension updates
• Performance optimization
• Backup management
• Server-level optimizations for WooCommerce

You focus on:

• Products and pricing
• Customer service
• Marketing and sales
• Business growth

Running an online store is hard enough without worrying about technical maintenance.

Getting Started

If you’re not currently maintaining your WooCommerce store systematically:

Week 1: Implement daily and weekly tasks Week 2: Schedule monthly tasks on calendar Month 2: Conduct first monthly audit Quarter 2: Full quarterly review

Document your processes. Create checklists. Set calendar reminders.

Consistent maintenance prevents emergencies. A little effort regularly is far better than crisis management when things break.

Your WooCommerce store is your business. Treat its maintenance with the same importance as you would physical premises. The customers depending on it will thank you.