A Complete Guide to Shopify Customer Import
To migrate customers to Shopify, export your customer list from your old platform, then bring it in with Shopify’s customer CSV import, the free Store Migration app, a third-party import app or a migration service. Names, emails, phone numbers, addresses, marketing consent, tags and notes can move, while passwords can’t, and order history needs its own import after customers are in place.
Your customer list is the foundation for order history, email marketing and repeat sales on your new store. Cleaning and mapping it carefully keeps profiles accurate, avoids duplicates and respects the consent customers gave you.
How to Migrate Customers to Shopify
The best method depends on how many customers you have and what data comes with them. These are the main options:
| Method | How it works | Best for | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shopify customer CSV import | Upload a CSV file built on Shopify’s template in the Customers section of the admin | Small to medium lists with simple data | One default address per customer, and no order history |
| Store Migration app | Shopify’s free app imports products and customers from supported platforms | Stores moving from platforms such as Square, WooCommerce, Etsy, Wix, Amazon, eBay, Clover or Lightspeed | Doesn’t move orders, so you’ll need another method for order history |
| Import and export apps | Apps such as Matrixify import customers from spreadsheet files, often alongside products and orders | Large lists, extra fields or customers moving with orders | Each app has its own template and pricing |
| Migration services | Services such as Cart2Cart and LitExtension connect your old store and Shopify, then move customers with products and orders | Full store migrations | Check how they handle custom fields, groups and consent |
| Shopify API | Custom scripts create customers through Shopify’s Admin API | Complex data or custom systems | Needs a developer |
| Manual entry | Add customers one by one in the admin | A handful of customers | Slow and error-prone |
If you’re moving orders too, choose a method that handles both or plan for a second tool. Shopify recommends importing products, then customers, then historical orders, so that orders connect to the right customer profiles.
What Customer Data Moves to Shopify
Most core customer details carry over, but a few things work differently on Shopify. This overview shows what to expect from Shopify’s own CSV import:
| Customer data | Migrates with Shopify’s CSV? | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Name, email and phone | Yes | Each email address and phone number must be unique |
| Default address | Yes | Uses ISO codes for country and province or state |
| Additional saved addresses | No | Need an app, migration service or the API |
| Email, SMS and WhatsApp marketing consent | Yes | Accepts only yes or no |
| Tags and notes | Yes | Useful for carrying over customer groups or segments |
| Tax exemption | Yes | Accepts only yes or no |
| Custom fields | Partly | Supported as metafields of certain types, if the metafield already exists |
| Total spent and total orders | No | These columns aren’t imported and can’t be edited |
| Order history | No | Import separately with an app, migration service or the API |
| Passwords | No | Can’t be migrated with any method |
Gift cards and store credit can usually move as well, but they often need a specific app or the API. If loyalty points or rewards matter to your customers, check whether your loyalty app supports importing balances before you launch.
How to Import Customers With a CSV File
Shopify’s CSV import is the simplest route for many stores. Start with Shopify’s customer CSV template so your headers match what Shopify expects:
- Export customers from your old platform. Download names, emails, phones, addresses, marketing consent and any groups or notes.
- Copy the data into Shopify’s template. Map each column to Shopify’s headers, such as First Name, Last Name, Email, Phone, Default Address Address1, Default Address City, Default Address Province Code, Default Address Country Code and Default Address Zip.
- Add consent, tags and notes. Fill Accepts Email Marketing, Accepts SMS Marketing and Accepts WhatsApp Marketing with yes or no, and list tags separated by commas.
- Add custom fields if needed. Create customer metafield definitions in Shopify first, then add columns like
customer.metafields.namespace.key. - Save as UTF-8 CSV. Keep each file at 15 MB or smaller, and split large lists across several files.
- Import the file. In the Customers section of your admin, choose Import, upload the file and decide whether to overwrite existing customers with the same email or phone number.
- Tag the import. Add a tag to imported customers during the import, which also lets you create a segment from them.
- Review the results. Check skipped rows and spot-check a sample of profiles against your old store.
Be careful with the overwrite option. It replaces all of a matching customer’s data, including tags, so use it only when your file holds the complete, correct record for each customer.
Clean Your Customer Data Before Importing
A tidy file prevents most import errors and gives you a cleaner list on day one. Work through these checks before you upload:
- Remove duplicates. Shopify skips customers with duplicate emails or phone numbers and imports only the last one, so merge or remove duplicates first.
- Drop outdated records. Leave out test accounts, bounced emails and customers you no longer need to keep.
- Standardize phones and addresses. Add country codes to phone numbers, use two-letter ISO country codes and use the correct province or state codes.
- Check marketing consent. Mark only customers who opted in as accepting marketing, since importing contacts who didn’t can hurt your email deliverability.
- Carry over customer groups. Convert groups such as wholesale, VIP or loyalty tiers into tags so you can build segments and automations on Shopify.
- Keep a backup. Save an untouched export from your old platform in case you need to re-import.
Help Customers Access Their Accounts
Customer passwords can’t be migrated to Shopify, so returning customers need a new way to sign in. How much effort that takes depends on the type of customer accounts your store uses.
With Shopify’s current customer accounts, customers sign in with their email address and a one-time code instead of a password. Imported customer profiles are reached through their email address, so returning customers can sign in with the email they used before and find their profile and any imported orders.
Stores still on legacy customer accounts, which Shopify lists as deprecated, need customers to set a new password. That usually means sending account invites, either one at a time or in bulk with an app or the API, and telling customers about the change before launch so the emails don’t look suspicious.
Migrating B2B Customers
If you sell wholesale, Shopify’s B2B features organize buyers into companies with locations and contacts. You can migrate your customers as regular profiles first, then move them into B2B companies from within Shopify.
From the Customers page, you can select up to 250 customers and add them to companies, which creates one company with one location per customer. During this setup you can bring over past orders, certain tax exemptions and payment terms, though only direct-to-consumer orders move, and canceled or deleted orders can’t be migrated.
Check Your Customer Migration
After importing, compare your customer count with your old platform, then open a sample of profiles to check names, addresses, consent status, tags and custom fields. Watch for these common problems while you check:
- Missing customers. Duplicate emails or phone numbers caused Shopify to skip some rows.
- Wrong addresses. Full country or state names were used instead of the codes Shopify expects.
- Incorrect consent. Values other than yes or no, or customers marked as subscribed when they hadn’t opted in.
- Lost custom fields. Metafield columns didn’t match an existing definition or used an unsupported type.
- Broken characters. The file wasn’t saved as UTF-8, so accented names display incorrectly.
- Orders not linked. Orders were imported before customers or used different emails, creating duplicate profiles.
Once customers look right, import your order history and test signing in as a returning customer. Then review your customer notification emails so the first messages customers receive from your new store are the ones you intended.
Conclusion
To migrate customers to Shopify smoothly, choose the import method that fits your list, clean and map your data and bring customers in before your orders. Careful handling of consent, duplicates and account access gives your new store a reliable customer base from the start. We hope this guide helps you migrate customers to Shopify with confidence.
