Custom fields at registration - how to store data best?

[dg_eye]

My plan is to store additional information about the customers upon registration. 

The data of additional fields such as a checkbox (whether user concents to newsletter advertisements) and other input fields should be stored for each customer.

What is the most elegant method to store additional user information?
"customer note" is an option. However, it stores all the information from the different custom inputs in one field/column which makes analysis tedious in case of export of customers to Excel. 

"Tags" could also be an option. So upon registration users would get the tag "newsletter_confirm" or "newsletter_decline" and so on. However, tags are again stored in a single column.

Is there a straight-forward method to add additional fields upon registration but store them in a single column each or do I need an app or access the API?

Thank you.

[Brett_Helium]

Hey @dg_eye!

If you are not wanting to store your custom data collected in the customer note, you are looking for customer metafields, which would allow you to store each piece of data as individual fields on the customer record.

Unfortunately metafields are not able to be set directly through the front-end/theme code, so you do need an app for this (or access Shopify's APIs directly through your own custom app). The Helium Customer Fields app is one option available which would allow you to accomplish this without the extra time and effort of building your own custom solution. 

[dg_eye]

Thank you for your response. Could you recommend any tutorials on customer metafields and Shopify apps?