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Switch Customer Account Type

Account type decides which account system your store runs on, and the page states that only the recommended one enables store credit in full. This covers what each option says on screen, how to tell which you are on, and why leaving it alone is usually the right answer.

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Every store runs on one of two customer account systems, and Account type is where that is decided. It sits near the top of the Customer accounts settings, above the switches for self-serve returns and store credit. That position is not accidental. The features underneath behave differently depending on which type is selected, so this is the choice to settle before you touch anything else on the page.

Most stores never need to come here. A store created recently is already on the recommended system, and the reason to read this section is usually the opposite of switching: to confirm which type you are on before you rely on a feature that depends on it.

The two options

The section shows both types side by side, with the one your store is using shaded to mark it as selected.

Option What the page says about it
Customer accounts "Recommended - Allows customers to create and sign in to new customer accounts. This enables full Store credit functionality."
Legacy "Classic customer account system"

Read the first description closely, because it carries the only concrete difference the page states. Customer accounts is described as enabling full store credit. Nothing on the page says what Legacy does differently beyond being the classic system, so treat store credit as the one dependency you can rely on and check anything else against your own store.

The Account type setting with two options: Customer accounts, described as Recommended, which allows customers to create and sign in to new customer accounts and enables full Store credit functionality, and Legacy, the classic customer account system. (opens full size)

Before you begin

  • Your role includes Customer settings, which is what opens the page.
  • You know what depends on the type before you change it. Customer accounts is what enables store credit in full, so a store already issuing credit has something to lose by moving to Legacy.
  • You have a reason to change it. Confirming which type you are on is a safe read, but switching changes the account system your customers already use, and nothing on the page offers to undo it.

Steps

1. Check which type your store is on

Open the section and look at which of the two cards is shaded. That shading is the only indication of the current type; there is no label reading "current" and no summary of it anywhere else in settings.

Do this before you go looking for a fault elsewhere, because a store credit balance that does not behave as described is far more often a store sitting on Legacy than a broken feature, and this is the fastest place to rule that out. Skip the check and you can spend a long time on the store credit page looking for a problem that is not there.

2. Decide whether the choice is worth changing

If your store is already on Customer accounts, there is nothing to do. That is the recommended system and the one the rest of the page is written for, so the safest action here is usually none.

Change it only when you have a specific reason for the classic system, because switching moves every customer to a different account system rather than adding a second one alongside. Leaving it alone is the right answer for most stores, and it costs nothing: a store on the recommended type gets the current sign-in experience and store credit in full without anyone touching this section.

3. Select the type you want

Select the card for the type you want. The page carries no Save button, so nothing at the foot is waiting to collect this choice along with the rest of your changes. If you open the section and select nothing, the store stays on the type it is already using.

Switching a store that already has customers changes the system those customers sign in with, so check the result yourself rather than assuming it is instant and silent.

With the type settled, the rest of the Customer accounts page can be set with confidence, since the switches under Account features now sit on a system you have chosen rather than one you inherited. Customer Account Settings walks the whole page from here.

What the choice changes for your store

The page makes one promise and no others: the recommended type is what enables store credit in full. That is enough to decide by, because store credit is the feature most likely to be quietly diminished on the classic system, and the one your customers notice when it does not work.

Everything else about the choice is about your customers rather than your admin. The account system decides how they sign in and what their account area offers, so a switch is felt by people outside your team rather than by you. That is the reason to treat it as a deliberate decision rather than a setting to try.

If something goes wrong

  • Store credit does not do what the documentation describes. Check this section first. Full store credit functionality is tied to the Customer accounts type.
  • You cannot tell which type is selected. The current one is shaded rather than labelled. Compare the two cards side by side.
  • You cannot change the type. Your role may not include Customer settings. Ask an owner or admin.

Next steps

Still stuck?

More in Customers

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  • Customer Segments

    A segment is a saved question about your customers rather than a saved list, so its members change as they do. Tanqory gives you two ways to write that question, a query builder and a form of Field, Operator and Value filters, and this article covers both, plus the panel that starts closed, the AI Refine field and what to do when it answers with nothing, the forty-nine fields you can filter on, and everything the row menu lets you do to a segment afterwards.

  • Adding a Customer

    Creating a customer record by hand, from the Add Customer button to the saved record. Three fields are required and everything else can wait, the three marketing consents start unticked and are a record of what the customer agreed to rather than a way to opt them in, and the Save bar is on the form from the moment it opens.

  • Search the Customer List

    Finding one customer and finding a group are different jobs with different tools. The search box matches name, email and phone and nothing else, it searches inside the tab you are standing on rather than the whole store, and the thing people most often type into it, a tag, comes back as No customers found rather than as an error.

All 49 articles in Customers

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