Add a customer manually in Shopify
Some customers never order online. They buy at a market stall, phone in an order, or walk into a pop-up, and their details live on paper until someone types them in. This tutorial adds one customer by hand in Shopify, then repeats the same entry for three walk-in customers from a Saturday market stall.
Written · Shopify admin, desktop steps · 4 minutes read
The worked example
| Customer 1 | Amara Diallo, first order $28.00 |
| Customer 2 | Ben Kowalski, first order $89.50 |
| Customer 3 | Cate Nguyen, first order $25.50 |
| Customers added | 3 |
| First-order total | $143.00 |
| Average first order | $47.67 |
Download the intake sheet: new-customer-intake.csv (236 bytes, md5 55c66416015f77b364a84782b2182da2).
A one-row-per-customer intake sheet for manually added customers, with the three market stall examples filled in. The first-order totals add to $143.00.
1Open Customers and start a new profile
From your Shopify admin, go to Customers, then click Add customer. A blank customer form opens. A customer profile is also created on its own when someone places an order, signs up for a mailing list, or starts a checkout and leaves. So only add a profile by hand for a customer Shopify has not seen yet.
2Enter the contact details
Enter the first name, last name, email address, and phone number. Each profile can hold only one email address, but you can change that address later by editing the profile. If the customer has no email address, leave it blank and add a phone number instead, so the profile can still be found.
3Add the address
In the address section, enter the street, city, province, and postal code. This becomes the default address, the one Shopify uses first for new orders and shipping. A second address can be added later from the profile.
4Set marketing consent only if the customer agreed
If the customer agreed to receive marketing emails and you entered an email address, check Customer agreed to receive marketing emails in the Customer overview section. Leave it unchecked unless the customer said yes; consent is the customer's choice, not a default.
5Set the tax settings
In the Tax settings section, pick whether to collect tax: Collect tax, Don't collect tax, or Collect tax unless exemptions apply. A VAT number entered here is validated automatically. For most walk-in customers, Collect tax is the right choice.
6Save the profile
Click Save. The customer appears in the customer list with zero orders and $0.00 spent until they buy something. Open the profile again to check the details saved as you typed them.
The arithmetic
The three market stall customers each bought one item on their first visit.
| Customer | First order | Line total |
|---|---|---|
| Amara Diallo | 1 × Trail Crew Tee $28.00 | $28.00 |
| Ben Kowalski | 1 × Ridge Backpack $89.50 | $89.50 |
| Cate Nguyen | 2 × Camp Mug $12.75 | $25.50 |
| Total | 3 customers | $143.00 |
The average first order is $143.00 divided by 3, which is $47.67. The profile for each customer starts at $0.00 spent before that first order is recorded.
Held at the counter
One email, one profile. A customer who gives a different email address at the stall than the one on their online order ends up with two profiles. That is a merge job later, not a fix now, so ask for the email they already use with your store before you type a new one.
Do not tick marketing consent on a guess. The box means the customer agreed to marketing email. Ticking it for a customer who only gave an email for a receipt puts mail they never agreed to in their inbox and hurts your sender reputation.
A hand-added customer has no order history. The profile shows zero orders until the customer buys. If the customer already ordered online, search for their profile first instead of adding a second one.
Sources
- Managing customers — Shopify's help pages: the add-customer steps, the one-email rule, the marketing consent checkbox, and the tax settings.