For those maintaining client stores: once a project ships, do you actively monitor that checkout/forms/integrations keep working, or do you find out from the client when something breaks? Is monitoring something clients pay you for, or is it ad-hoc firefighting?
Trying to understand how others structure post-launch support.
I think it depends a lot on how important the store is to the client. For a store that’s actively taking orders, I’d rather have some basic monitoring in place than wait for someone to notice a broken checkout or form three days later.
Even a simple scheduled test order or form submission can catch some pretty painful problems. Apps get updated, themes change, integrations expire, and something that worked perfectly at launch can quietly stop working later.
For me, that’s easier to justify as a small ongoing maintenance service than trying to explain a big monitoring package. The client isn’t really paying for a dashboard, they’re paying for someone to notice the problem before their customers do.
I also like doing a periodic site check alongside that. Something like SiteGuru can catch the SEO and site issues that aren’t necessarily “broken” enough for a monitoring alert but can still start hurting the store over time.
The ad-hoc firefighting model gets expensive pretty quickly for both sides.
Hello @madisoon
We treat it as paid maintenance, not a courtesy. A free uptime monitor (UptimeRobot/StatusCake) hitting the storefront plus a scheduled test order in a draft catches most of what breaks. The other half is webhooks, subscribe to app/uninstalled and themes/publish so you get pinged the moment something changes on the store instead of hearing it from the client three days later.
Cheers
Both replies nailed the technical side. I’ll add a practical thought on packaging.
The way I’ve seen this work best: bundle monitoring into a monthly retainer rather than selling it as a separate line item. Clients don’t get excited about ‘monitoring’ they get excited about ‘peace of mind that your store won’t break and you won’t lose sales.’
For the actual monitoring, a simple combo works: uptime monitor hitting the storefront + a weekly test order through checkout + webhooks for theme/app changes. That catches 90% of issues before the client notices.
The key is making it feel like a service, not a bill. Send a brief monthly report showing: ‘We caught X issues this month and fixed them before they affected your customers.’ That’s how you justify the ongoing cost.
Curious—are your clients currently on retainers, or is it mostly project-based work?"
@madisoon We treat it as paid, not a courtesy. Ad-hoc firefighting trains the client to call you after revenue already leaked.
What we actually watch on Melbourne Shopify stores:
Packaging tip: sell the outcome (“we catch breakage before your customers do”), not “monitoring”. Clients pay for that. They will not pay for a dashboard they ignore.
UptimeRobot plus webhooks plus a weekly test order covers most of it. The judgement call is still human. AI can watch. A person should decide what changes.
If useful, merchants can run a free public scan on the live store first: Is your website dead? Free website health check | Sonder
I structure it as a small monthly care plan with a clear boundary, not unlimited support.
I also send a short monthly note listing checks completed, issues found, and changes made. That makes the retainer easier to renew and avoids the expectation that every future problem is covered for free.
One gap in an otherwise complete checklist above: everything listed catches things that break loudly - downtime, a failed checkout, a dead form. The failure mode that slips through every uptime monitor is slow decay from app churn. Between your check-ins the client installs three apps, uninstalls two, and the uninstalled ones leave script tags and snippets behind in the theme. Nothing is down, the scheduled test order passes, but the storefront gets a little heavier every month until someone asks why PageSpeed dropped and the answer is code for services that no longer exist.
Two cheap additions to a care plan that cover it:
Disclosure: I build Upright Cleaner, a read-only scanner that automates exactly that leftover check on a weekly schedule. But the baseline-duplicate habit costs nothing and works fine manually - it just needs to actually be in the checklist, because no client will ever report it as a bug.
Hi there @madisoon
I typically advise treating post launch monitoring as a specified maintenance offering instead of waiting for customers to report problems. Create automated monitoring for the store front, checkout, forms, critical integrations, and essential webhooks, and monitor exceptions, don’t babysit. It also helps to be very clear on what is included, response times, and what constitutes extra work. This makes support a predictable process for the agency and client, rather than reactive firefighting.