New customer registration approval

EnvyManchester
Tourist
4 0 1

Hi,

I would like to manually approve new customer accounts; when they sign up for a new account on the website. How would I add that?

Thanks,

Saad 

Replies 10 (10)

michael-helium
Shopify Expert
361 5 178

Hi @EnvyManchester,

Unfortunately, you can't do this in Shopify without the use of a third-party app. You could use an app like Customer Fields to customize your registration form with additional information you might need from a customer (like their birth date, photo ID, etc.) and then use Liquid like {% if customer.tags contains 'approved' %} to grant access to your store.

What are you selling and what's your use case?

Michael, COO @ Helium
- Customer Fields ✪✪✪✪✪ (346 reviews)
- Meteor Mega Menu ✪✪✪✪✪ (265 reviews)
EnvyManchester
Tourist
4 0 1

Thank you for the reply. This website will be for wholesaling female apparel to our wholesale customers. Therefore if someone registers on our website we want to approve them before the account is opened. As we are going to implement B2B app on the site as well which will restrict the customers from viewing the prices until they register. We wanted a solution which is not going to incur a monthly charge. Customer fields is too expensive as a monthly cost is attached. Any app with a one time fee or can we code this?

Thanks.

michael-helium
Shopify Expert
361 5 178

Hi @EnvyManchester,

What information do you need from your wholesale customers before you approve them? If you do customize a form to collect that information, where do you plan to manage the approval process-- in email?

There's a common misconception among wholesale businesses that coding a custom form is simple and not worth paying a monthly app fee. Many of these wholesale companies, however, pay a monthly fee for a wholesale app. In reality, it's actually easier to add code that restricts customers from seeing pricing or prevents them from checking out than it is to control the customer registration process. For example, here's a tutorial on how to make certain products, collections, and pages locked down so that only customers that you've approved as wholesalers will have access to them.

Many Customer Fields app users only use Customer Fields to manage their wholesale customers; others use our app in combination with other apps (such as Locksmith or Wholesale Club) to restrict customers until they have been approved, or simply show different pricing to their wholesale vs. retail customers.

I put together a quick 30-second video showing an example wholesale customer approval flow similar to what many successful wholesale customers do using Customer Fields. All said, many of our customers save several hours per week, which makes the $26/mo price point well worth it... you'll likely spend much more time and money trying to find another way.

If you do choose to install the app and start your free trial, our support team would be happy to hear more about your business and desired flow for wholesale account approval so that we can help you create not just a form, but a workflow that runs smoothly and allows you to focus on growing your business.

Cheers!

Michael, COO @ Helium
- Customer Fields ✪✪✪✪✪ (346 reviews)
- Meteor Mega Menu ✪✪✪✪✪ (265 reviews)
EnvyManchester
Tourist
4 0 1

Thanks very much for the detailed message. End of the day we don't want to spend too much money and want to keep things simple. 

Anyone can view the site and see the products; but they can only see the product prices when they register with us on the site (thinking to hide the prices we will use an app for that). 

The field we want to add when making an account it Company Name & VAT Number. Then once they register we will be notified by email. Then we can go in the control panel and approve their account. Can we add this using the code? If so where would I be able to get the code?

Thanks a million. 

 

Saad

 

michael-helium
Shopify Expert
361 5 178

Hi @EnvyManchester,

I understand completely, but what you're asking for is far more complicated to do on Shopify than it may seem, and what I am recommending is what my team, our clients, and our partners have found to be the simplest and most cost effective solution. There is no "control panel" in Shopify where you can go in to approve accounts... you're talking about a massive amount of custom development.

Use an app like Customer Fields to collect Company Name and VAT number and manage your approval process. (Company name will save to the Customers page in your Shopify admin, and VAT will be stored in Shopify metafields). You can set up email notifications using the app when customers create a new account, or edit their existing account. Then use customer tags to approve wholesalers... there is no way in Shopify to prevent a customer record from being created before "approval" which is why customer tags are the most common way to achieve this. Using the Customer Fields app, you could use regular expressions to validate the VAT and automatically add a B2B/Approved Wholesaler customer tag, or your team could manually review the submissions and add a customer tag manually. Our support team could easily help you set this up.

Then use Liquid to hide product pricing... perhaps in product-template.liquid (ie: "{% if customer.tags contains 'approved' %}). 

 

Michael, COO @ Helium
- Customer Fields ✪✪✪✪✪ (346 reviews)
- Meteor Mega Menu ✪✪✪✪✪ (265 reviews)
Jessica36
Shopify Partner
45 1 12

@EnvyManchester 

I actually have that app ^^ installed into a wholesale store and it has been excellent for gathering information from stores such as tax id, contact info, etc. to keep on file, required to open the account. It might be a monthly fee, but in the grand scheme of things, it's the best way. For that particular store, I actually use a different forms app for applications (aaaesellers) as the client wants different information in an application (photos of store front and inside, names of other products, etc) and reject a lot of applicants. Better to keep separate. Also, (not paid endorsement) Customer Fields app has EXCELLENT and very patient customer service. 

michael-helium
Shopify Expert
361 5 178

Thanks for chiming in @Jessica36! Glad to hear your positive experience with the Customer Fields app. 🙂

Michael, COO @ Helium
- Customer Fields ✪✪✪✪✪ (346 reviews)
- Meteor Mega Menu ✪✪✪✪✪ (265 reviews)
michael-helium
Shopify Expert
361 5 178

*Important update to this thread*

Since we last posted, we have launched an 'account approval' feature in the Customer Fields app. When you enable this setting on a form, customer accounts aren't created in Shopify unless you manually approve the account. Here's how Customer Fields app simplifies this process:

  • Create a new registration form and enable the "require account approval" setting
  • Add any fields you need to collect from customers (birthday, business license, etc.)
  • Choose where you want your form to be installed (nearly anywhere on your site)
  • Applicants will be added to a segment called "to review"
  • Review applicant information and choose to approve/deny
  • Customize email templates that will be sent to customers on approval/denial
  • (optionally) auto-tag customers using form rules (the tag will be added only after account is approved)

👍 Learn more.

Here's a screenshot to give you a glimpse into how the approval process works in the app:

Image 2020-10-06 at 9.49.42 PM.png

Michael, COO @ Helium
- Customer Fields ✪✪✪✪✪ (346 reviews)
- Meteor Mega Menu ✪✪✪✪✪ (265 reviews)

erionmesicpw
Visitor
2 0 3

Had the same issue and figured it out myself:

Settings -> Metafields -> Customers -> Add definition

Name: Reseller

Namespace and key: custom.reseller

Description: Make sure customer is a reseller

Select content type: True or False

Save definition, this will create a true/false status for all customers

go to:

Sales channel -> Online Store -> Edit Code

Edit CodeEdit Code

go to Sections -> cart-template.liquid 

find:

 

<button type="submit" name="checkout" class="btn">{{ 'cart.general.checkout' | t }}</button>

 

You need to wrap the checkout button with an if statement:

 

{%- if customer.metafields.custom.reseller != true -%}
<p>Not a reseller yet!</p>
{%- else -%}
<button type="submit" name="checkout" class="btn">{{ 'cart.general.checkout' | t }}</button>
{%- endif -%}

 

This will not allow customers that are not resellers to check out.

 

To make a customer a reseller go to:

Customers -> click on the customer name and change the Metafields Reseller to "true"ResellerReseller

 

 

JaviExpress
Shopify Partner
154 15 23

Without apps, a more or less common solution would be replacing the registration form by a contact form.

 

But this way you would need to create and invite the approved customers, read more here.

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