Customer accounts
When you enable customer accounts, Shopify stores password-protected information about a customer's identity, order history, and current order status. Your customers' details, such as address information, is filled automatically from the stored information during checkout. To use customer accounts you need to have the Online Store sales channel.
Set your customer account preferences
You can make customer accounts required, optional, or disable them altogether. When creating an account, customers are redirected to a separate account creation page. Keep in mind that requiring customers to create accounts might decrease sales conversions.
To edit your customer account settings:
- From your Shopify admin, go to Settings > Checkout.
- From the Shopify app, go to Store > Settings.
- Under Store settings, tap Checkout.
- From the Shopify app, go to Store > Settings.
- Under Store settings, tap Checkout.
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In the Customer accounts section, choose a customer account option:
- Accounts are disabled: Customers won't see the option to create an account or to log in during checkout. They'll have to enter their details at checkout because their information won't be filled automatically.
- Accounts are optional: Customers can create an account, but it's not mandatory to create an account to check out. If customers do have an account and they're logged in, then their address information is filled automatically when they place an order. Customers have the option to log in through the Already have an account? Log in link above the email entry field. Clicking this link prompts a customer to either enter their email address and password, create a new account, or continue to check out as a guest.
- Accounts are required: Customers need to create an account or have an account, and to be logged in to complete the checkout. This setting is useful if, for example, you operate a wholesale or members-only store. Addresses are filled automatically when the customer places an order. Selecting Accounts are required doesn't remove the option for your customers to create accounts. To limit access to your store, you need to customize your store's theme.
Click Save to confirm your customer account settings.
If customers are logged in during checkout, then they can select one of the addresses that they used recently. Alternatively, they can type their address. Customers cannot choose the five addresses that they want to save.
Your checkout form also has the Save this information for next time option. If a customer selects Save this information for next time during their checkout, then the customer's browser saves the contact and shipping address information that they entered for your store. Next time that customer uses your checkout, their browser automatically fills their contact and shipping address information. Shopify doesn't store the customer's saved information. The information is cached by the customer's browser. After one year, Shopify causes the browser to clear the customer's cached information, providing the customer hasn't cleared their cache sooner.
Invite customers to create accounts
If you set customer accounts to optional or required in your Checkout settings, then you can send customers direct invitations to encourage them to activate an account. They'll receive an email that prompts them to create their own password. The email invitation is only valid for 30 days.
You can verify on the customer's profile page whether they have an account with your store.
You can generate a customer account invite email for individual customers or for all your customers.
Before you start
When you create the email message that is sent to the customers, there is a default subject line and body message. The content in the Subject and Custom message boxes can be edited by going to Settings > Notifications > Customers > Customer account invite.
Learn more about editing notification templates.
Send individual account invites
Before you invite customers to create an account, the customer must already be added to your store. If the customer hasn't been added to your store, then they aren't available on the customer list. In this case, you need to add the customer first.
Customer account invites can only be sent from the desktop version of your Shopify admin. This option isn't available on the Shopify app.
Steps:
From your Shopify admin, go to Customers.
Click the name of the customer that you want to invite.
Click Send account invite.
Optional: Edit the content in the Subject field.
In the Custom message field, add a message for your customers. If you leave this field blank, then the default message is sent to the customer.
Click Review, and then click Send notification.
Send customer account invites in bulk
You can use an app to send account invites to all your customers who have yet to sign up.
View the app in the Shopify App Store.
View your customers' active subscriptions
When a customer purchases a subscription product, their subscription information is displayed in their customer profile. You can view the products that a customer has subscribed to and when their next order is scheduled for in the Active subscriptions section.
Steps:
From your Shopify admin, go to Customers.
Click the customer name.
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In the Active product subscriptions section, do either of the following:
- To go to the subscription order that the customer placed, click View order.
- To go to the subscription information in your subscription app, click View subscription.
Disable a customer's account
If customer accounts are required, then you can disable an account to prevent a particular customer from placing an order with you.
Steps:
From your Shopify admin, go to Customers.
Click the customer name.
Click Disable account.
Considerations for customer passwords
Because passwords are encrypted, you can't migrate customer passwords from another platform to Shopify. As a result, only customer records are migrated to Shopify, and not customer accounts.