At SeedProd, we understand that updating your WooCommerce site shouldn’t feel like playing digital roulette. You need a reliable way to make changes without risking downtime, frustrated customers, and lost sales.
That’s where WooCommerce maintenance mode comes in. It’s a safety net for updating your site, tweaking settings, or even revamping your entire design – without causing panic for you and your customers.
In this article, I’ll explain how to put WooCommerce in maintenance mode in four easy steps.
In This Guide
When & Why Enable WooCommerce Maintenance Mode?
WooCommerce Maintenance Mode is a feature that temporarily disables your storefront, giving you a safe space to make changes behind the scenes.
It’s a good idea to enable maintenance mode when:
- Updating WooCommerce, WordPress, or plugins: Avoid compatibility conflicts and ensure a smooth transition.
- Changing WordPress themes: Test and refine your new design without harming the customer experience.
- Adding products, setting up payments, configuring shipping: Make major changes and avoid confusing customers.
- Fixing bugs, optimizing your database, scheduling downtime: Keep things running smoothly and tell customers about your maintenance window.
In each of these scenarios, a maintenance page will show visitors a friendly message letting them know you’ll be back soon
How Do You Put WooCommerce in Maintenance Mode?
There are many ways to put WooCommerce in maintenance mode. You can use maintenance mode plugins, and some hosting providers even build it into their dashboards.
But if you’re looking for the easiest, most feature-rich solution, I recommend SeedProd.
Here’s why:
- One-Click On/Off: Activate and deactivate Maintenance Mode with one click.
- Custom Design: Customize your page with an easy drag-and-drop builder.
- Generate Leads: Capture leads with email opt-in forms, CTA buttons, contact forms, and more.
- WooCommerce Support: Use built-in WooCommerce blocks to display products, buy-now buttons, and even build a custom checkout page.
Let’s dive into exactly how to use SeedProd to put WooCommerce in maintenance mode – it’s incredibly straightforward.
Step 1. Install SeedProd
The first step is to download the SeedProd plugin.
Then, you can follow these steps to install SeedProd on your eCommerce website.
After installing and activating the plugin, click the SeedProd icon in your WordPress admin area. This will take you to the SeedProd landing page builder dashboard.
Click the Set up a Maintenance Mode Page button. This will allow you to add new maintenance mode pages and hide your WooCommerce shop page from the public.
Step 2. Design Your Maintenance Mode Page
After clicking the Set up a Maintenance Mode Page button, you can choose one of SeedProd’s many templates. This will help you design a beautiful WooCommerce maintenance mode page easily.
Alternatively, you can choose a blank template to start from scratch.
Hover over any maintenance template you like and click on the checkmark icon to use it.
Now, you can design your WooCommerce maintenance mode page using SeedProd’s visual drag-and-drop builder.
Your template is on the right side of the screen. On the left side, you can see different content blocks and sections that you can add to your maintenance mode page.
Drag any blocks over to your template and drop them in place.
For example, I added a countdown timer to this maintenance mode page by dragging it over to the template. Then, you can click on the block to choose the style, set the date and time, and set other customization options.
Other blocks you can add include:
- Image
- Video
- Text
- Button
- Contact Form
- Email Optin Form
- Social Profiles
- Add to Cart Button
- Popular Products
- And Much More
You can also click any pre-made sections, like Header, FAQ, Features, or Call to Action, to add them to your maintenance mode page. For instance, you can offer users a coupon to ensure they return when maintenance is over.
You can also change the template’s background image, colors, fonts, custom CSS, and more by clicking the gear icon (Global Settings page) in the bottom left corner of the SeedProd builder.
Key Elements for a Compelling Maintenance Mode Page
- Branding: Incorporate your logo, brand colors, and fonts to ensure a consistent brand experience for your visitors.
- Clear and Concise Messaging: Explain the reason for maintenance in a friendly and transparent manner. Reassure visitors that their data and orders are safe. Offer an estimated timeframe for when the site will be back online and apologize for any inconvenience caused.
- Engaging Visuals: Use high-quality images or graphics that align with your brand’s aesthetic. Consider adding a touch of humor or playfulness to keep the mood light.
- Countdown Timer: A countdown timer creates a sense of anticipation and excitement for the site’s return. It also helps manage user expectations by providing a clear timeline.
- Email Opt-in: Offer visitors the option to subscribe to your email list to receive updates on the maintenance progress and be notified when the site is live again. This is an excellent opportunity to grow your email list and keep customers engaged.
- Social Media Links: Encourage visitors to connect with you on social media to stay informed about the maintenance and other updates.
- Progress Bar (Optional): A progress bar can visually display the maintenance status, giving visitors a sense of how far along the process is.
Once you’ve added all of the elements you need to your maintenance mode page and it looks great, remember to hit the Save button in the top right corner.
Step 3. Enable Maintenance Mode for WooCommerce
Now click on the Page Settings tab at the top of the screen to configure your settings and user roles. Under Page Settings, click on Access Controls.
Scroll down the page to select the Include URLs option. After selecting Include URLs, you’ll see a blank field below it.
Copy the URL of your published password-protected WooCommerce store and paste it into the given blank field.
If this is a new WooCommerce installation, you’ll want to include the following default pages. Just replace “example.com” with your domain:
- https://example.com/shop
- https://example.com/cart
- https://example.com/checkout
- https://example.com/my-account
If you’ve already added products to your store, you should add the following product URLs as well. That way, shoppers will see a maintenance page when they try accessing a product, product category, or product tag:
- https://example.com/product/*
- https://example.com/product-category/*
- https://example.com/product-tag/*
The asterisk on the end of the URL is a wildcard that will include any URL starting with that pattern.
SeedProd will hide the WooCommerce shop pages you added when you publish your maintenance page.
So, let’s go ahead and publish your WooCommerce maintenance mode page.
Step 4. Publish Your WooCommerce Maintenance Page
To make your WooCommerce maintenance mode page live, click on the dropdown arrow next to the Save button and click Publish.
SeedProd will notify you that your maintenance page is live in a popup overlay. To see what it looks like, click the See Live Page button.
Here’s an example of how my WooCommerce maintenance mode page looks live on the front end of my test website:
Of course, your maintenance mode page will likely look different than this, thanks to all of SeedProd’s customization options. But this is what your visitors will see when they land on your WooCommerce shop page.
The final step is to activate the maintenance mode page. To do this, go to SeedProd » Pages from your WordPress admin area and find the maintenance mode section.
Then click the Inactive toggle to make it Active.
You’ve now put WooCommerce in maintenance mode and disabled your shop page.
Now, you can log in to the backend and continue working on the store until it’s ready to go live again. And you can do that while you hide your WooCommerce shop page from the public.
How Do I Turn Off WooCommerce Maintenance Mode?
When you’re done with maintenance, you can turn off WordPress maintenance mode so shoppers can view your WooCommerce pages again.
Suppose you want to turn off maintenance mode for WooCommerce. In that case, go back to SeedProd » Pages from your WordPress dashboard. Under the Maintenance Mode option, click the toggle from Active to Inactive.
That’s it! Now, your visitors can view the live version of your WooCommerce store again.
Extra Tip: Create a Waitlist Page for WooCommerce
In addition to creating a maintenance page for your store, you can use SeedProd to make a waitlist landing page. This lets you tell visitors that something exciting is on the way.
On this page, you can add a signup form that invites people to join your waitlist. That way, they’ll be the first to know when the page is public. With the waitlist information, you can send email newsletters about upcoming sales and promotions.
You can also add social media share buttons to encourage people to spread the word. This can help boost brand awareness and potentially make the page go viral. For more details, see this guide on creating a waitlist landing page.
Other WooCommerce Maintenance Mode Options
If SeedProd isn’t quite your style, don’t worry. There are other paths you can take to put your WooCommerce store on hold, even though they offer fewer customization options.
A few popular plugins that offer maintenance mode functionality include:
- Maintenance Mode for WooCommerce: This free and straightforward plugin toggles your WooCommerce store into maintenance mode, leaving the rest of your site untouched.
- WP Maintenance Mode: Another free option, WP Maintenance Mode, provides a simple way to activate a coming soon or maintenance page for your entire WordPress site.
- Coming Soon Page & Maintenance Mode by LiteSpeed Cache: If you’re already using the LiteSpeed Cache plugin, its built-in maintenance mode feature is a convenient choice.
For those who prefer a hands-on approach, you can also add a code snippet to your theme’s functions.php file or create a custom page template. However, these methods require a bit more technical know-how and might not be suitable for everyone.
No matter which route you choose, the goal is to keep your customers informed while you work behind the scenes to enhance their shopping experience.
WooCommerce Maintenance Mode FAQ
Next, More WooCommerce Tips
You’ve now learned how to put WooCommerce in maintenance mode so you can work on your shop pages in private without disrupting your site visitors.
Get started with SeedProd today to create your very own maintenance mode page.
I hope this article was helpful to you! To grow your store, you should also check out the following guides:
- Best WooCommerce Affiliate Plugins to Maximize Your Sales
- Best WooCommerce Plugins To Skyrocket Your Sales
- How to Customize Your WooCommerce Checkout Page
- Best WooCommerce SEO Plugins for Better Rankings
- How to Make a Custom WooCommerce Thank You Page
- How to Speed Up Your WooCommerce Store (10 Easy Ways)
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