Customer Account Verification

[Onyx8789]

Ok it looks like this question has been asked 1000 times. I have yet to find a formal answer to it and by the looks of the dates its been an issue for 5 years????? DOES ANYONE HAVE A SOLUTION TO CUSTOMER ACCOUNT ACTIVATION?

1. New customer enters details (Name, Email, Password)

2. Page changes to "An activation email has been sent!" or something to that degree

3. Customer activates by clicking email link sent

4. Finally customer is redirected to login page and is required to login for access to the store

This is the absolute most basic and logical customer account creation there could be.... I'm not sure why it's still an issue after 5 years and has me considering Shopify to be a platform that might not be suitable for even the most basic of functionality for an eCommerce store.

[Sunny]

Hi, @Onyx8789!

Sunny here from the Shopify Guru team and I would be happy to look into this for you.

From the steps you shared for customers looking to create customer accounts, that looks about right. Can you elaborate a little further on what exactly the issue is or what the question you are looking to get answered is? Which part of the customer account verification are you or your customers having trouble with? I would be happy to troubleshoot and work together to resolve this issue.

I look forward to hearing from you!

Cheers,

Sunny | Shopify Guru

[Onyx8789]

The trouble lies with actually activating an account. When someone goes to our store, they must create an account to view prices. They Go through the account creation process and enter name, email, password etc. Instead of being required to verify with an email activation link sent by the store before gaining access, they are instead instantly verified and the email activation never happens. They would just get an email saying welcome and that's it. I am using the Login to view price app to lock the store until an account is made. Please note that this app has nothing to do with the activation problem not working as it didn't work from the beginning 

[Onyx8789]

@Sunny ,

Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!

[Sunny]

Hello again, @Onyx8789 and thanks so much for your patience!

I appreciate you taking the time to clarify that for me, that makes a lot of sense. For context, the original purpose of customer accounts is for customers to easily keep track of their order history, current order status and to allow for quick checkouts when shopping at the same store in the future. It was not built with a rigid "accept" or "deny" feature but more for the average shopper looking to keep track of their personal information. With that being said, I can understand why you're looking for something like this and can agree that our customer accounts are lacking customization to fit every type of business need.

It seems like you are looking to use the customer account for a different purpose than it was initially intended and built for, and that you are looking for a similar set up to what a combined online wholesale/retail shop may have, where new customers see retail prices but approved customers with a special login key get access to the wholesale area of the site with discounted pricing. Am I understanding that correctly? Since this is not a native feature of the platform, I would suggest to use an app called Locksmith, if you're not already, that can help you achieve what you're looking for since it's definitely more advanced than our basic customer account functionality. If you need a hand setting that up, I would be happy to help!

I would also recommend having a look at this workaround that another forum member shared as a solution if you are comfortable with code: https://community.shopify.com/c/Shopify-Discussion/HELP-How-to-approve-customer-accounts/m-p/322639

Although this may not have been the answer you're looking for, I would be happy to pass along the feedback to our Products team so they are aware of what our merchants would like from our customer accounts in hopes that it will be implemented it in the future! Let me know if you have any questions at all.

Cheers,

Sunny | Shopify Guru

[Domdom]

@Sunny 

I allow customers to shop as a guest because that is necessary for good conversions. However, I need them to have an easy way to complete their account activation after a purchase as I am offering paying customers free access to something on the site and they need their account active for locksmith to grant them access.

So I tried pasting the code from the customer Activation Email into the order confirmation email so that when the customers receive their order confirmation, they immediately go ahead and activate their account. This does not work, the link seems to get deactivated when trying this method. I also tried to create a trigger via shopify flow but there is also no way of sending the account activation through that native shopify app either.

Therefore it appears the only way to do this is via paid 3rd party apps. My view is that allowing customers to easily finish creating their account after making a purchase should be a basic functionality that Shopify offers.  How is this not easy? Why is the only solution offered by shopify to manually send the activations or pay for a 3rd party app to send the invites?

Am I missing something?

Thanks,

[Onyx8789]

Just to chime in since I to had issues with this as well. The only solution I found after all my searching was indeed to pay for a 3rd party app. It was the only way to create triggers, conditions etc. for a customer to be allowed access to certain things effectively emulating what should already be a simple implementation in the Shopify platform itself. Unfortunately paying is the only way to  get this done if you're not a coding expert which I surely was not. 

[Globacontrol]

Hi Onyx8789,

I have the same problem as you.

What application did you install? And what is your opinion?

Thank you very much and best regards, Bruno

[cramipeg]

How did you fix this issue? 

[Onyx8789]

I used locksmith to hide prices until a customer was logged in. I also hid other parts of the stores using locksmith so the only way to see that part of the store or prices would be if I added the user's email to the locksmith condition. I also set up an email notification every time a new user was created so I could manually "verify" them for access. This wouldn't be useful in high volume stores.

[Pedro_Peixoto]

Agree! Don't understand why the basics are still left unchecked.

Paid third party solutions are no argument for shopify "not implement" the security basics of a proper e-commerce site.

- Creation of an user account should have two-step validation with a code sent by email, or code sent to cell-phone. The staff accounts already have it, optionally, I don't understand why customers can't have it too. It would prevent BOTs from creating accounts, and the increase of paid services that the site may be paying to thrid party (due to subscribers or/and existing accounts).

- Also, the customer him-self should have the option of two-step authentication in log in. This will demonstrate the commitment of Shopify in keeping the accounts secured.

Security, and quality of services, specially the basics, are lacking. I Recommend that you prioritize this type of functionalities.

[Onyx8789]

I couldn't agree more. The whole reason we wanted it for our store was to
ensure that those who created an account did so with valid credentials.
With the current design you can make your email 123@abc.com and it does not
validate if that email even exists. Your customer doesn't get the INDUSTRY
STANDARD style email where you receive a request to validate your email. I
had to add "email my webhooks" to even notify me that someone created an
account.

[Alex_Russell]

Seriously Sunny must be a star employee at Shopify, doing exactly what they do best: Responding to issues with their software by telling people they need to pay for a 3rd party app to use a function that is industry standard and should be in their product.

Never ceases to amaze me, the lack of care Shopify have for their clients. Just amazing.

[geokandas]

Hello,

Has Shopify done anything about this issue? We are talking about an online store standard feature that is missing!

[Onyx8789]

@geokandas  Nope. I had to use a web hook plugin to notify me that someone created an account and then purchase locksmith to lock the entire store except for people who I've entered emails for. Basically I have to provide access to every customer manually, otherwise there is no solution. 

[geokandas]

So there is no simple solution to this! Thanks to@Shopify........ pfffffff

[Domdom]

Hi @Sunny 

Do you think you could give us a brief explanation for Shopify's reasoning behind blocking us from having customers make an account easily?

A lot of us are really perplexed as to why Shopify is deliberately making this an impossible task. Pasting the registration link into an automatically generated email such as a purchase receipt DEACTIVATES THE LINK so this is a deliberate move from Shopify and it makes our task of having customers create an account difficult. 

Why not allow us to nudge our customers after a purchase and say "Hey, finish setting up your account".. All they would need to do is enter their passwords and done. This can be done by manually sending them that email from your dashboard so why not allow us to automate it?

Thanks.

[flofa]

---

@Domdom wrote:

Hi @Sunny 

Do you think you could give us a brief explanation for Shopify's reasoning behind blocking us from having customers make an account easily?

A lot of us are really perplexed as to why Shopify is deliberately making this an impossible task. Pasting the registration link into an automatically generated email such as a purchase receipt DEACTIVATES THE LINK so this is a deliberate move from Shopify and it makes our task of having customers create an account difficult. 

Why not allow us to nudge our customers after a purchase and say "Hey, finish setting up your account".. All they would need to do is enter their passwords and done. This can be done by manually sending them that email from your dashboard so why not allow us to automate it?

Thanks.

---

https://community.shopify.com/c/Shopify-Discussion/HELP-How-to-approve-customer-accounts/m-p/322639

Does this work?

[Domdom]

@flofa That suggestion is an excellent alternative to using Locksmith. It worked like a charm for me.

My main issue remains unsolved, though: How can a customer shop on my website, then when they are finished checking out, press a button that says "activate my account" and all they need to do is create a password, and now they have made an account using all their credentials used when shopping. This is the step I need automated so that my customers don't have to try and figure out how to access the content later on.

[MaddyPaw]

My customers are not receiving verification email during the creation of the account.

Can someone please help? It will be appreciated.