Everything you need to know about Shopify’s new customer accounts

Shopify’s customer accounts have undergone a major transformation, and though legacy customer accounts are still available, Shopify has confirmed that they will eventually be phased out. 

Though Shopify hasn’t released a timeline for phasing out legacy accounts yet, delaying the switch for too long could mean disruptions for your customers when the time comes. Since the new customer accounts can unlock additional benefits for merchants and their customers, brands on Shopify should prioritize exploring the upgrade sooner rather than later. 

Though customer accounts aren’t mandatory for Shopify stores, they help merchants create a more personalized shopping experience and a smoother checkout process. Customers log into their accounts to review their order history and save personal info to their profile. When they make purchases, logging in autofills their saved information for fast, easy checkout. 

Let’s explore the difference between new and legacy customer accounts and help you assess whether it’s the right time for your store to use the latest version.

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Customer accounts vs legacy customer accounts

Customer accounts and legacy customer accounts both provide access to customer order history and the ability to save multiple shipping addresses.

Here’s a breakdown of the key differences in their features and functionality:

Account creation

• Customer accounts are automatically created using the customer’s email. 
• Legacy accounts are manually created from the login page or through an account invite, using an email and password.
  

Log in

• Customer accounts send a unique verification code to the customer's email each time they log in. Alternatively, users can sign in with Shop, which is automatically enabled for stores with Shop Pay as a payment method.
• Legacy accounts use traditional password logins or sign in with Shop if it’s enabled. They can support Single Sign-On (SSO) or SAML, as well as Multipass for external authentication systems such as forum accounts.
  

B2B compatibility

• Customer accounts are required to use Shopify’s native B2B features such as catalogs, company information, and company locations. This ensures that only authorized users can log in to see your wholesale products. You can support both B2B and DTC customers using this account type.
• Legacy accounts only natively support the DTC model. You can access B2B features through a Shopify B2B app on the marketplace.
  

Self-serve returns

• Customer accounts allow customers to process their own returns.
• Legacy accounts require the customers to contact customer support.

Branding

• Customer accounts match a merchant’s checkout styling, but don’t allow for significant branding customization. The login page doesn’t allow for any branding. 
• Legacy accounts will match the store’s theme settings. 

Customization

• With customer accounts, no Liquid customization is currently available. A number of UI customizations are available through Customer Account Extensions (similar to Checkout UI Extensions), and more could be coming in the future. 
• Legacy accounts are fully customizable using Liquid, allowing for extensive structural and stylistic modifications.
  

Third-party apps

• Customer account APIs recently came out of developer preview, so not many apps have been upgraded to support the new accounts yet.
• With legacy accounts, merchants can rely on many available third-party extensions to enhance store functionality.
  

Other features

• Saved payment methods and reordering are newly available with customer accounts. 
• In customer accounts, customer profile name changes are reflected in their customer profile in Shopify admin. With legacy accounts, the changes aren’t reflected.
• Customer accounts have no support for pixel tracking login events for analytics, while legacy accounts can support it with the use of custom code. 

Migrating to Shopify is the perfect time to use customer accounts

If you’re planning a migration to Shopify, it’s forward-thinking to consider using the latest customer accounts right off the bat. Logging in with one-time codes may be a simpler transition for your customers, rather than having to transfer their old passwords or make new passwords. This also avoids having to make the transition later, once legacy customer accounts are deprecated. 

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How Shopify merchants benefit from customer accounts

Some of the biggest benefits to upgrading to customer accounts are: 

Login experience

Merchants looking to provide a user-friendly experience might prefer the simplified login on customer accounts. The one-time codes are also great for fast logins on mobile, especially if users have automatic code retrieval via iOS and Android. 

Reliability 

A major new benefit of customer accounts is their resilience against disruptions in the user journey. Legacy accounts can break due to theme code or third-party apps, while new accounts function independently, ensuring a seamless experience when customers register, log in, or manage their accounts. Think of it as a sandboxed approach that protects critical account functionality from external code conflicts.

Security

New accounts offer increased security with one-time codes, reducing risks from reused and compromised passwords.

Advanced features‍

Developers can create full-page extensions to integrate loyalty programs, wishlists, quoting tools, subscriptions, bulk ordering, invoicing, returns, and exchanges into customer accounts. Customer account extension apps are easy for merchants to implement and integrate with your checkout for a seamless customer experience. 

Enhanced APIs

Now that APIs are out of developer preview, customer accounts can take the same enhancements to store functionality as legacy accounts. Developers may even discover new or alternative approaches so that apps can be integrated more consistently and intuitively into customer accounts. 

Self-serve B2B options

While all customers can benefit from managing their own profiles and returns in customer accounts, there are extra benefits to be found for B2B customers looking for self-serve purchasing, especially if merchants leverage customer account extensions.

B2B customers can manage their own wholesale orders, invoices, and payments, freeing up your sales team who might otherwise have to process their orders by phone or email. If a B2B customer has multiple locations, their employees can be assigned permissions to switch between company locations when placing orders.

Future-proofing‍

Stay ahead of the curve — Shopify hasn’t announced an end date for legacy customer accounts yet, but it will happen eventually. You should expect plenty of notice before they do, but it could be a good time to get the transition out of the way.

Why merchants might not be ready to switch to customer accounts

It’s smart to get ahead on incoming changes to the platform, but if making the switch too soon will cause major problems for your customers, you might consider holding off until new accounts are developed further. Here’s a few reasons to stick with legacy customer accounts for now: 

• Customization: Currently, Liquid customizations won’t carry over and you’re limited to the new features available in customer account extensibility.
  
• Apps: You should make sure your existing third-party apps or custom code are updated for the new accounts so you don’t lose functionality when you switch.
  
• Pixel tracking: You can lose your microconversion or event tracking in the account area.
  
• Login preferences: If your customers prefer traditional login methods or need to log in via Multipass.
  
• International compatibility: Customer accounts aren’t currently compatible with Shopify’s International sales tools.
  
• Automations: Any existing workflow triggers and automations in Shopify Flow are not supported at this time and may stop working
• Spam risk: Customer accounts are created automatically upon email input, meaning bot-generated accounts could inflate user data (though the one-time code helps prevent bot accounts from being verified). Shopify uses Cloudflare and other methods to detect and block spam traffic. Merchants can also review and delete any suspicious accounts, or use third-party apps for further protection.

How to make the switch to customer accounts

If you’ve decided that customer accounts are right for your business, make sure you consider how the transition will affect your customers: What friction could they face? What UX changes will come with the switch? How can you make the process easier on them?

Here’s a couple tips to help you make the transition smoother: 

• Test the switch in a changing environment before going live
  This way you can test and make sure everything is running as expected. You can also see what your customers will experience so you can better prepare them for the transition. 
• Communicate with your customers ahead of the switch
  Make sure you manage the change by communicating it to customers ahead of time and emphasizing the benefits they will see from the upgrade. Provide an avenue for them to contact your team with any questions or troubleshooting once the update has been made. 

Once you’re ready, here’s how to upgrade from legacy customer accounts to customer accounts: 

1. Go to Settings in Shopify Admin and click the “Customer accounts” section.  
2. To display the login link on your store, turn on the “Show login links” option. 
3. Under “Choose which version of customer accounts to link to,” select “Customer accounts.” 
4. Click “Switch to customer accounts.”
5. If you’d like customers to be able to save credit card information to their accounts, turn on the “Saved payment methods” option. 

If you’d like to require all customers to login before checkout: 

1. Go to Settings in Shopify Admin and click the “Checkout” section. 
2. To set the customer account login requirement, select “Require customers to log in to their account before checkout.” 
3. Click “Save.” 

If you change your mind, you can switch back to legacy customer accounts at any time.

Looking for support from a Shopify partner? 

As Shopify Platinum Partners, we specialize in launching best-in-class consumer and business experiences, navigating custom builds and integrations, and seamlessly designing connected commerce solutions.

Questions about customer accounts and their benefits? Send us a message.