Solved

Can you merge duplicate customer accounts on Shopify?

makers18
Excursionist
21 0 214

Has there been any updates or progress on the ability to MERGE CUSTOMER ACCOUNTS that are duplicates?  We have a ton and we basically began online sales in early March.  This is really needed to keep up with past orders and preferences.  We also offer rewards for our repeat customers and this system has really made tracking sales difficult.  

 

 

Accepted Solution (1)

ekeshen
Shopify Staff (Retired)
12 8 10

This is an accepted solution.

You can now merge customer profiles. Thanks to your advocacy and feedback - you can merge customer profiles to ensure you have the most accurate view of your customers.

Identify duplicated customer profiles with the same name, phone number, email address, or another overlapping attribute then merge customers to make sure you maintain quality customer data.

To merge customer profiles:

  1. Search for a duplicate customer in the Customers page of your Shopify admin
  2. Click on the customer’s name and review their customer profile data to identify what data needs to be kept or removed. 
  3. Click into one of the duplicate profiles 
  4. On the bottom right of the profile you will see a heading called, Customer Data
  5. Click the button in that section that says Merge customer
  6. Search for the customer profile you intend to merge. 
  7. Complete the merge steps. 

 

Keep in mind, not every customer profile can be merged. There are some limitations for merging profiles that you can review in the Shopify Help Center.

We know this has taken time, and we appreciate your patience. We are excited to be launching this improvement for you today and look forward to hearing your feedback so we can keep improving your experience maintaining customer data in Shopify.  

 

To learn more visit the Shopify Help Center or the Community Blog.

View solution in original post

Replies 415 (415)

2faroffroad2
Tourist
6 0 15

I did notice. 

There is 219 replies, but only 70 thumbs up... 

 

PLEASE THUMB UP THIS THREAD!

CDRess
Shopify Partner
26 0 24

I will say, a lot of the same people have replied over and over.

 

But yes, maybe more Thumbs Up 👍🏻 is what they need? 

CDRess
Shopify Partner
26 0 24

It's also crazy that you can't edit a misspelling in email addresses (Which is easy to do!) because that "email address is taken"... 

BecFrack
Visitor
1 0 2

I haven’t started loyalty programs yet but my customers are already a mess. One issue I have is a customer who buys gifts for many different addresses. I have her customer name entered like 8 times. Can we get a set up like Amazon where a customer can enter a bunch of different addresses and recipient names under their customer name? Then, when I begin my loyalty program, perhaps the points will be attributable to the correct customer. 

Kevin_Hartman
Excursionist
22 0 45

Just give up on the loyalty points.  Unless shopify can implement merging customers you will find yourself in an endless quest to find customers points and allow them to use em.    Then when you cancel the points feature, you will be left with pissed off customers. 

CDRess
Shopify Partner
26 0 24

@Kevin_Hartman I wouldn't dare even try to set up loyalty through this mess! 

Kevin_Hartman
Excursionist
22 0 45

I was just told by customer support:

"We understand that this is a major frustration with our customers. It is being looked at. I just do not have information on the project.

It is being looked at on a serious level."

 

So if we all just keep hitting up the customer support, then perhaps they will actually hear us. 

CDRess
Shopify Partner
26 0 24

That's great to hear! I want to get as many people bugging them about this as possible, lol. 

2faroffroad2
Tourist
6 0 15

By "being looked at". 

They mean every time it pops up here. 

Lawson_Thalmann
Shopify Partner
76 0 64

I actually have it on a pretty good source within Shopify that it is truly being looked at now. It's reached the product team's desk in some capacity, but doesn't mean any plans are made yet and it will still take a while to change it. 

CDRess
Shopify Partner
26 0 24

I'll believe it when I see it.

AlexanderKunz
Tourist
9 0 20

Being looked at.  LOL.  One of the co-founders of Shopify is on our board of directors (no longer involved).  We escalated this issue two years ago and they have done nothing about it.  We sat down for 45 minutes with their dev team to clearly articulate the issue, the result was, nothing was done about it.  Even the co-founder of Shopify agreed it was a problem that needed to be addressed.

 

I don't think the current Shopify team takes customers' concerns seriously.  This has clearly been a problem for a long time that not only hurts conversions but costs Shopify customers a lot of money due to duplicate accounts being synced with email and support systems that charge based on the number of marketing contacts.

 

Being "LOOKED AT" probably means that someone is reading through the posts.

AndryeaNatkin
Tourist
3 0 32

Ok. I know this has been an ongoing topic of mind boggling frustration for all of us that depend on Shopify. I continue to ask myself WHY is merging customers such a difficult problem to solve? What is the sticky point???

 

Does anybody else but me wonder…

WHAT THE HECK ARE THEY WORKING ON???

Sheesh 🙄 

twls
Visitor
2 0 6

This has been a problem in Shopify forums since 2016 without any solution, I am wondering if there are any efforts being made at all to resolve this? It looks like over 20,000 users have the same concern, is there any explanation on progress or reason why there is no solution after 7 years?

Kevin_Hartman
Excursionist
22 0 45

It's software, it can be fixed.  No need to tear down the whole system, they can fix it, they know they can fix it, they just have not yet, and refuse to explain why. 

PaulNewton
Shopify Partner
6274 573 1319

@Kevin_Hartman wrote:

It's software, it can be fixed.  No need to tear down the whole system, they can fix it, they know they can fix it, they just have not yet, and refuse to explain why. 


It's easy to know why,  there are over 1 million stores using that platform.

Deep technical issues do not resolve easily in that situation vs the risk management of deploying a flawed new system to production.

 

Then there's the lack of merchant pressure itself, this threads commenters don't register as statistically significant when there's 1-2,000,000+ stores. (not counting an assumption that private support requests are MUCH higher).

 

Merchants should choose to be proactive in managing business processes like this and avoid the trap of a type of omission bias. I.e. Don't choose to be passive doing nothing now in the hopes of a wishful tomorrow instead of taking concrete action today.

Yes keep occasional pressure on support but don't assume a fix will come anytime soon or even when convenient. Manage the problem and operate as if it will never come by pursuing any available techniques to soften the situation until an actual fix arrives.

Save time & money ,Ask Questions The Smart Way


Confused? Busy? Get the solution you need paull.newton+shopifyforum@gmail.com


Problem Solved? ✔Accept and Like solutions to help future merchants

Answers powered by coffee Buy Paul a Coffee for more answers or donate to eff.org


Kevin_Hartman
Excursionist
22 0 45

But they can a least inform us why.  If you and so many other outsiders know about this inside working of shopify, then surely it's no secret to at least inform us all that it's impossible instead of wasting our time and supports time.   Really that makes no sense.    If what you say is true, then any responsible company would say sorry we cannot do that or the whole system would blow up.  Or we cannot do that because of this legal reason.  Or we cannot do that because its connected to Jim's auto-lung and he will die if we do. 

dannye770
Excursionist
20 1 9

 

Wow, @PaulNewton did you really call this group of your customers, expressing frustration and pain points due to your platform, “statistically insignificant”? Nearly every individual customer you have, sir, is statistically insignificant. Giving this as a reason for not responding to the needs of these customers is on par with giving them all a big “f you.” 

Your follow-up PSA giving advice to business owners to not rely on wishful thinking is not bad advice. But read the room, man. Get off your soapbox and tell folks what you CAN do for them, rather than chastising them for raising a concern.

Folks, I think what Paul meant to say is: “Sorry everyone. We hear you and know this issue impacts your businesses. However, this is a very complex issue that we are not able to prioritize at this time. It will be a long time before it will be addressed, if ever. We suggest you find alternative methods to manage this issue based on the needs of your unique businesses.”

dannye770
Excursionist
20 1 9

Sorry @PaulNewton — I thought that your role of Shopify Partner was equivalent to Shopify Staff. I thought you were responding on behalf of Shopify. My bad.

AlexanderKunz
Tourist
9 0 20

I felt a need to update everyone given the frustration we are all experiencing with this problem.  I just had the opportunity to speak with a number of folks at Shopify (senior management, dev team, etc).  The good news is the team at Shopify has listened and is working on this issue.  Based on my conversation this will more than likely be a phased approach over the course of this year leading into an ideal future state.  Here is what I see happening:

 

Phase 1 - fix the account login issue which will eliminate the creation of duplicate accounts.

Phase 2 - Implement a capability to merge accounts on the Shopify platform.

Phase 2a - I am hoping they will also improve API integration to allow external solutions like HubSpot and others to be able to also perform merge-operations.  After all, I don't think any of us want to have to provide access to numerous platforms that our employees interact with.

Phase 3 - Shopify moves to a customer self-service capability that will notify customers of potential duplicate accounts and allow them to perform merge operations.  We had the opportunity to speak about numerous scenarios on how this would work and I feel the Dev teams have a strong grasp on the problem and outcomes.

 

Please keep in mind this is my personal interpretation of the conversation and given the tasks at hand, the order and timing of features may vary.  Overall I am personally happy that the Shopify team is taking this issue very seriously and making it a priority for all of us.....

 

makers18
Excursionist
21 0 214

Thank you.  That is very different that the message left by the Shopify rep (Shay) on this thread a few days ago.  She basically said it was not important enough for them to focus on and that there was no one currently working on it. I am hoping you spoke with the right people and there is, in fact, a solution coming and currently being worked on.  

AlexanderKunz
Tourist
9 0 20

Hi @makers18  Yes - this is a Shopify rep leaving a response but quite frankly I would just ignore it.  I spoke with three folks that are directly responsible for addressing the issue; the Co-founder, the Chief of Staff, and the Product Director. 

 

I am confident that Shopify is taking this issue seriously and will prioritize addressing the issue.  My discussion was with the dev team directly and they have already proposed a number of solutions to which I had the opportunity to provide feedback.  The direction is set, it is just a matter of timing and Shopify expressed to me the sense of urgency to address the issue.

EstherDucks
Visitor
1 0 4

This is needed! Shopify needs to develop this function.

PTSFeminist
Visitor
1 0 2

Why is this taking YEARS to address? Shop owners need this now!

DWC
Visitor
1 0 2

This is desperately needed! Why hasn't Shopify addressed in over 5-6 years!? unacceptable, makes me want to jump ship

Simon_Cavill
Excursionist
19 0 61

Shopify has had this fundamental issue re merging accounts for at least SEVEN YEARS!!!  They clearly don't give a rats arse about their retail customers  and just keep spouting out this patronising nonsense about referring it to the development team year after year...

wilderland
Visitor
1 0 1

Hello? Yes, please. Shopify...fix this!

 

Wow! A 7-year-old problem is still unresolved. I feel terrible for the merchants out there who have been dealing with this headache for so long. This is crazy to me. It seems like such a basic function/feature to have, which would support us in keeping our customer data clean and provide better customer experiences. This is a minor coding update at worst. Shame on the decision-making team around this feature and the blatant lack of customer care in managing this request. (face_palm)

2faroffroad2
Tourist
6 0 15

Ya. They don't care. It serves them no use to spend time on this feature. Who cares what the shop owners want. 

Kevin_Hartman
Excursionist
22 0 45

12 years for me

LRBOUTIQUE
Visitor
2 0 4

Yes I believe it’s pretty ridiculous that you cannot merge records within Shopify. Merging customers, invoices, draft invoices, or any singular record is a standard function of almost all databases. This is lazy of Shopify, and disrespectful as you have 14 pages of complaints. It clearly is a function that is needed. Providing a workaround is a slap in the face. Does this mean Shopify has farmed out all of their resources and has no intention of improving their platform from the administration level. Sadly Wix has the ability and Wix is a far less superior product.

 

I would almost guarantee that there are high sea level positions within Shopify that have no idea that you can’t merge files and that these post go absolutely nowhere. Hopefully there’s some algorithm that picks up this complaint as this is truly disappointing and a burden using the Shopify platform.

 

 

Torrance_Miller
Tourist
5 0 3

Yes, we NEED this ASAP.

MorrisMir
Tourist
3 0 0

Huge downside of Shopify. Really hard to understand why Shopify is not providing such a basic functionality. I'm currently looking into other solutions because this is starting to becoming a deal breaker. 

LeFoCo
Tourist
8 0 12

Keeping this very important subject alive.

LEFoCo, a Squishmallow and plush only extension of learningexpress.com/foco.

meganatmetro
Excursionist
28 4 5

What everybody else said

MichelPlante
Excursionist
12 0 40

WOW ! 15 pages asking for a VERY BASIC feature, and Shopify hasn't responded yet ! I'm Flabbergasted!

 

The scenarios are endless..

Customers places 1 st order with own/home email

Same customer comes back few weeks later and place another order same name but Work email

Worst Same customer place another order with a typo in the email (Ex Yafoo! ... )

 ... Undeliverable order confirmation, time spent with client to resend confirmation, etc..

This also creates duplicates in Shipstation (shipping) and Klavio (emails)

10% rebate for 1st order given twice...

The list of bad things NOT having the merge can go on and on and on....

 

Klavio has this simple merge account ; In a nutshell, you select the 'bad one' then click merge and enter the 'good' email of the account you want to merge in... It then merge all the data form the 'bad' into the 'good' one...

 

Mr. Shopify, you REALLY NEED to listen to this one, looks like that's feature is important for your clients.... Hopefully, you care about your clients as much as we care about ours...

 

MP.

 

 

BossBee
Tourist
10 0 2

Try doppleganger

Thank me later

LRBOUTIQUE
Visitor
2 0 4
Nope not paying $5 a month for such an easy function that Shopify could implement. Plus for every app you use that is one more possibility for a data breach.

I want to be able to merge draft orders!
If there is a box in the data line I can use for other functions, then there should be a merge function.
Kevin_Hartman
Excursionist
22 0 45

Thank you for what?  Another subscription, no thanks.  This is an issue Shopify needs to fix.   Add on are for enhancing your site, not fixing system wide issues. 

Tough_Traveler
Excursionist
17 0 72

Hey everybody, Shopify has, in fact, finally fixed this situation (mostly).  To merge customers, open an order with the "wrong" customer on it.  Click "Remove Customer."  This will not take away any of the data on the order.  Then add the "correct" customer.  None of the info on the order changes, but now the customers are merged under the same account. 

 

This solution is great, but not 100% perfect, as you have to detect duplicate accounts yourself (I used an Excel spreadsheet), and manually merging potentially thousands of customers is pretty time consuming.  I talked to the creator of Doppelganger, and he is working on developing a solution that will detect potential duplicates, and possibly automate the merging.  He's really responsive and thoughtful, so I recommend any app he offers!  I'm hoping for a solution to product exchanges next.

WDSAdmin
Tourist
4 0 6

Tough_Traveler - I would not consider that merging accounts...what happens when there's 30+ orders under one account that need to be merged with a newer address...30+ separate orders must be altered to make that happen for a single customer? That's ridiculous and completely unacceptable.  Additionally, I have tried the process another person shared a link to and it was not successful so even if this was the best they have, it is a non-working solution.

 

I am using Doppelganger regularly to identify duplicate accounts (and I have hundreds of them in my database)...it is a good interim solution, as it flags duplicates which can be seen when an account is viewed. I can also use Segmentation to run queries on duplicate accounts to generate reports, etc.  So, not everything I need - but it is a step. And Paul is actually DOING something, as opposed to Shopify's continued ignoring of this major problem.

Paul_vd_Dool
Shopify Partner
107 6 95

Thanks for the shoutout @BossBee.


@WDSAdmin, I have been working on automating the process of moving orders by changing the customer on them but Shopify has still not moved the option to the Public API so I can't automate it completely yet. I've had contact with a developer relations person at Shopify about it and he was pushing the case for me but I haven't heard back in like 2 months.

 

I'm close to releasing an interim feature though that might be of interest to some of you here. If all goes well, I'm hoping to release an App Extension this weekend. If you have a 2.0 theme that supports sections and app blocks, you can add an app block to your account page that will display the orders from accounts you've linked with Doppelganger.
I've added a little sneak peek screenshot below. 

doppelganger-app-extension-sneak.png

Once launched, I'll work on features that will help with detecting duplicate customers.

Checking if newly created accounts are possible duplicates and an option to scan the existing customer base for potential duplicates.

And to ease the frustration a lot of merchants here seem to have, Shopify is in fact working on the issue of duplicate accounts. They've got a team working on it at the moment. I don't know exactly what they're working on as I didn't have direct contact with the team and I guess they also don't want to raise any expectations they won't be able to deliver on. I also don't know or can't even guess at a timeframe; on when to expect any updates on this from Shopify.

Will it potentially make my app obsolete? Definitely. There might still be gaps I can fill in with Doppelganger or even do better, but we'll have to see.

Doppelganger - Managing duplicate user accounts
Kevin_Hartman
Excursionist
22 0 45

That solution is not new, we have been able to do this for some time.  But many of us have so many customers, it would be too much work to go through and individually fix those orders,  which we do. 

Paul_vd_Dool
Shopify Partner
107 6 95

I've been told the option to change the customer on an order has been part of the POS since 2016 (I've never verified it) and it has been added to the web Admin by Shopify's Orders team somewhere last January, not really aware it is super helpful for moving orders made on duplicate account, albeit a bit cumbersome when you have a lot of orders. It was a (for them) relatively insignificant part of a bigger update and never really communicated.

 

Doppelganger - Managing duplicate user accounts
CVT
Excursionist
20 0 8

I'm not able to find an option to "Remove Customer" either in Admin or in POS. Would you provide more description about where to open the order and where to find the option? Thanks!

Tough_Traveler
Excursionist
17 0 72

On a mobile device, go to admin, open the order, scroll down to “Customer” and click on the three dots on the right.  Remove pops up as an option.  Then click “Add” & select the customer you want to merge with.

 

On a desktop or laptop, in admin, open the order, locate “Customer” on the right above the billing and shipping address, and I believe the option to remove customer is right there (it might just be an X - I’m not looking at it now).

 

Not sure if you can do it in POS.

MichelPlante
Excursionist
12 0 40

I have a case this morning! ...  Someone reorder, but made a typo in the email address, so logical move now is "Oh I will simply correct the email for the good one..."  NOPE ! Email already taken... 😞

Steve-RtBS
Visitor
1 0 6

Bump.

 

This 'feature' was just added to Wix.  WIX and not shopify???  C'mon Shopify

Asimov, Heinlen, Rodenberry. Think, challenge, question.

nb11
Tourist
4 0 4

Still waiting on the 'simple' feature to be added, so I don't have to buy another freaking app....

AlexaGJemima
Tourist
3 0 11

I don't know if anyone has discovered this yet. It's not merging, but today I realized that from the back end I can delete a customer from an order and assign a new one. A little bit longer than doing a "simple" merge, but it definitely solves the problem of having multiple accounts. You can just delete whatever order went under the wrong name, or alternate name, and reassign to the one you'd like to use. 

I hope this helps, I got so excited when I realized this!

BrandyFS
Tourist
4 0 3

Thanks @AlexaGJemima ! It took a while, but I deleted and added the correct customer file to all of the past orders for one of my customers, and now I have to hope Shopify will catch up and show he has no orders instead of 8 tied to the wrong account so I can delete it eventually. Crossing my fingers it works!