You may have heard of Shopify’s new customer accounts, which is an update that simplifies your store’s account registration and login process. Unlike legacy customer accounts which require shoppers to fully register for an account with a password, new customer accounts do not require account registration and allows users to sign in with a one-time-password (OTP). What’s exciting about New Customer Accounts is that it also provides logged-in shoppers with an account hub that you can customize with apps to enable additional features!
Although the new OTP sign in process is a welcome update, many store owners who use Shopify customer accounts are grappling with the challenge of collecting customer details to learn more about their shoppers for targeted marketing strategies. Unlike legacy customer accounts, it’s not possible to ask shoppers to provide information such as their name, birthday, or phone number before they can access a store account on new customer accounts.
So how do you collect information such as birthday or shopper interests, when the sign up process no longer exists? We recommend using a third party app such as Customer Accounts Pro, which is Shopify’s featured app for collecting customer information using New Customer Accounts.
How to collect customer information with Customer Account Pro
Step 1: Choose what you want to collect from your customers.
Some popular fields to collect are:
- Birthday month
- Birthday year
- Age range
- Interests
However, you can also collect information that’s specific to your store or industry. For example, you could collect the following if you sell in these verticals:
- Makeup or skincare: skin type, skin tone, skin concerns
- Kids products: number of children, children’s age ranges, children’s interests
- Fashion and apparel: preferred sizes, preferred colors
Step 2: Create customer metafields
Now that you’ve chosen what you want to collect, it’s time to create your fields! Go to your store settings > Custom data > Customer > Add definition to create your first Shopify customer metafield.
The add definition page will ask you for the following:
- Metafield name
- Metafield namespace and key: this is how Shopify will identify the metafield. It will not be shown to customers.
- Metafield type: this is the format that you will collect your answers in. Customer Account Pro supports the following:
- Type: date, decimal, integer, multi-line text, and single-line text.
- Options: "One value"
You can also customize further to decide how your members can fill in the field:
- Add validation with minimum value, maximum value, and number of decimal places
- Make it a multiple choice question with “Limit to preset choices”
To make sure the metafield works with Customer Account Pro:
- Choose "Read and write" for customer accounts access, and "Read" for Storefronts access.
Lastly, press "Save."
Step 3: Add the metafields to the Customer Account Pro app
If you haven’t downloaded the app yet, you can do so here:
Add your metafields in our set up flow by pressing “Add field.” Once added, you can also further customize the field’s label, and if it’s required for customers to fill in.
Step 4: Add the app block and extension to your account hub
This can also be accessed in the set up flow.
Once you save your theme, any shopper that logs in to their account will be able to share their information with you by pressing on the Customer Account Pro app block!
Conclusion
Understanding your customers on a deeper level empowers you to deliver tailored shopping experiences that drive customer satisfaction and loyalty. By collecting data such as birthdays, interests, and purchase history, you can create hyper-targeted marketing strategies and campaigns that speak directly to your customers' preferences and behaviors.
Get started by downloading Customer Account Pro here.