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, will be pre-filled from the stored information during checkout.

Tip

Only one email address can be associated with a customer account at a time. You can change the email address associated with an account by editing a customer.

Set your customer account preferences

You can make customer accounts required or 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:

Desktop

1. From your Shopify admin, go to Settings > Checkout.

iPhone

1. From the Shopify app, go to Store > Settings.
2. Under Store settings, tap Checkout.

Android

1. From the Shopify app, go to Store > Settings.
2. Under Store settings, tap Checkout.

1. 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 manually enter their details at checkout, because fields won't be pre-filled.

• Accounts are optional Customers can choose to 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 fields are pre-filled when they place an order.

• Accounts are required Customers need to create an account, or have an account and be logged in to complete the checkout. This setting is useful if you're running a wholesale or members-only store, for example. Address fields are pre-filled when the customer places an order.

Note

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.

1. Click Save to confirm your customer account settings.

Customer addresses

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.

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 prompting them to create their own password. The email invitation is only valid for 30 days.

If you want to see if a customer has an account with your store, then you can check in the contact information on the customer's page.

You can generate customer account invite emails individually, or in bulk.

Send individual account invites

Steps:

1. From your Shopify admin, click Customers.

2. Click the name of the customer that you want to invite.

   Tip

   If the customer you're inviting isn't listed, then you'll need to add them first.

3. Click Send account invite.

4. You can change your Account invite notification email by changing details in the Send account invite window. If you want to make permanent changes to your Account invite notification email, then you will need to update the notification before sending the account invite email.

   

   You can change your activation email by:

   • choosing who sent the invitation using the From drop-down
   • selecting recipients of blind copies
   • editing the default copy of your invitation email by clicking the Notifications link under the Custom message area.

5. Click Review email.

6. Confirm your custom message, if you entered one, and the customer's information on the Send account invite window:

   

7. Click Back to make further changes or click Send notification to have Shopify send the account activation email.

Note

You can only send customer account invitations from the desktop version of your Shopify admin. This option doesn't appear in the mobile app.

Send customer account invites in bulk

You can use an app to send account invites to all of your customers who have yet to sign up.

View the app in the Shopify App Store

Shopify Plus

If your store is on the Shopify Plus plan, then you can use the Bulk Account Inviter app.

Reset your customers' passwords

If a customer forgets their account password, then you can reset it for them.

Steps:

1. From your Shopify admin, go to Customers.

2. Click the name of the customer you want to edit.

3. Click Reset password on the customer's information page:

   

4. Click Reset password again in the confirmation dialog:

   

An email is sent to the customer, with instructions for resetting their password. The password reset link is valid for 30 days.

Note

Customer passwords must be a minimum of 5 characters long. Special characters are allowed.

Disable a customer's account

If customer accounts are required, then you can disable an account if you want to prevent a particular customer from placing an order with you.

Steps:

1. From your Shopify admin, go to Customers.

2. Click the name of the customer you want to disable an account for.

3. Click Disable account on the customer's information page:

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 instead of customer accounts.

Shopify Plus

If you are on the Shopify Plus plan, then you can use the Bulk Account Inviter to send customers an email message that prompts them to reset their password and activate their accounts.