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Customers Overview

A map of the Customers area and which article covers each part of it, from the list page and its table to a single record, tags, segments, merging duplicates, store credit, export and privacy requests. The list is covered by two articles rather than one, and this says which takes which half. It also separates the two pairs people most often confuse, views against segments and tags against notes.

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The Customers area holds everyone who has an account with your store or has bought from it. This article is the map: what lives there, and which article covers each part.

Opening Customers in the sidebar needs the View customers permission. Changing anything needs the permission for that particular action, such as Edit customers, Export customers or Manage store credit.

The customer list, where most work starts

The top of the Customers list: the segment bar reading 11 customers and 100% of your customer base, the tabs All Customers 11, New Customers 3, Returning 4, Accepts Marketing 4, Has Orders 8 and No Orders 3 with a plus at the end, the search box beside Manage columns, and the first rows of the table. (opens full size)

Almost everything begins here. You open one person to see their record, search to jump to someone by name, narrow to a group with the tabs, or tick several rows and change them together.

The page is covered by two articles rather than one, because it does two jobs: choosing which customers you are looking at, and choosing what you see about each of them. The first two rows of the table below are those two articles, and The Customers Page sets the two apart if you are not sure which you want.

What lives in the Customers area

Each row says what the part is for, where it is in the admin, and which article covers it. Only some of them are on the list page; the rest are on a customer's own record or on a page of their own.

Part What you do there Where it is Where it is covered
The list page Narrow with the tabs, search, save a view, act on a selection Customers in the sidebar Viewing the Customer List
The table Choose which of the twenty columns show, reorder them, sort The same page, under the search box The Customers Table
Search Find one person by name, email or phone The box above the table Search the Customer List
Views Save the filters you use often as a tab of your own The plus at the end of the tabs Customer List Views
A customer's record Contact details, orders, addresses, notes, tags, store credit Select a row in the list Customer Detail Page
Adding one Create a record by hand, for an order taken over the phone Add Customer, top right of the list Adding a Customer
Editing one Change a name, contact details or address Edit on the record's Customer card Edit a Customer Record
Tags Label a customer so a group has a name The Tags section of the record Customer Tags
Segments Save a question about your customers that answers itself as they change Customers > Segments in the sidebar Customer Segments
Acting on several Tick rows and edit, tag or merge them together The bar that appears when you tick a row Bulk Edit Customers
Merging duplicates Fold two records for the same person into one Merge Customers on that same bar Merge Customers
Store credit Give a customer a balance to spend with you The Store credit section of the record Store Credit
Export Take the list, or a filtered version of it, out as a file Export, top right of the list Exporting Customer Data
Privacy Handle a request to see or erase someone's personal data Settings > Customer privacy Customer Privacy

Import sits beside Export at the top of the list and brings customers in from a file. It has no article of its own yet.

Two pairs worth telling apart

Views and segments. A view is a tab on the customer list, for getting back to a list you look at often. A segment is a group picked out by conditions you set, which keeps answering as your customers change, and it has its own page away from the list. If you only want to stop rebuilding the same filter, a view is the lighter answer.

Tags and notes. A tag is a label meant to be shared across many customers so a group has a name. A note is for something true of one person. Reach for a tag when you will want the group later, and a note when you will not.

Next steps

Still stuck?

More in Customers

  • Customer Account Settings

    The Customer accounts page has no Save button, so nothing tells you when you are finished with it. This walks its three parts in the order that avoids setting anything twice, starting with the account type, which the switches below it depend on.

  • Customer Accounts

    Customer accounts turn a one-off buyer into someone who can sign in, see what they have ordered, start their own return, and spend a store credit balance. One settings page decides how much of that your store offers, and this explains what each part of it decides and which article covers it.

  • Customer Notes

    What belongs in a customer note and what does not, with examples of four kinds of context worth saving. It also sets the Notes card, which holds one standing description of the customer, against the Timeline below it, which is a dated feed of comments and activity, and walks through writing a note from the record.

  • Delete a Customer

    Deleting a customer removes the record and everything personal on it, and keeps their orders with the personal information stripped out. The dialog will not let you through until you tick a box confirming you understand, and there is no undo afterwards. This covers what survives the delete, why Erase personal data is usually the right tool instead, and the one thing to do before you confirm.

All 49 articles in Customers

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