Merge duplicate customer profiles in Shopify
One customer, two profiles: it happens when an order comes in under a second email address, or a guest checkout never matches the account. Shopify lets you merge the two profiles into one, combining orders, addresses, notes, and tags. This tutorial merges Maya Chen's two profiles, and checks the combined totals before confirming.
Written · Edited · Shopify admin, desktop steps · 4 minutes read
The worked example
| Profile A orders | 3 |
| Profile A total spent | $203.25 |
| Profile B orders | 1 |
| Profile B total spent | $45.00 |
| Merged orders | 4 |
| Merged total spent | $248.25 |
| Merged note characters | 205 |
| Merged tags | 5 |
Download the merge review checklist: merge-review-checklist.csv (131 bytes, md5 a02cd8cb93295bdfbc7d023ee18939c7).
A checklist for the merge in this tutorial: each item on the two profiles and the combined figure on the merged profile. Every merged figure is the sum of the two profiles.
1Open the profile you want to start from
From your Shopify admin, go to Customers and open one of the two duplicate profiles. You can also select both profiles on the customer list, click the menu next to the Edit customers button, and select Merge customers.
2Start the merge
On the profile, click More actions, then select Merge customer.
3Find the duplicate profile
Under Find a customer to merge with, search for the duplicate by first or last name, email address, phone number, or credit card number, then select it from the results.
4Review the merged customer and choose what to keep
Before you confirm the merge, review the Merged customer section and choose which contact details the merged profile will keep. The profile that remains depends on the contact information kept: if both profiles have email addresses, the profile tied to the email address kept on the merged profile remains.
5Confirm and check the result
Click Merge, then click Confirm. Open the remaining profile and check it: orders, draft orders, addresses, email address, phone number, name, notes, and tags are merged into one profile. In the worked example the merged profile shows 4 orders and $248.25 spent.
The arithmetic
Maya Chen's two profiles, and the merged result.
| Item | Profile A | Profile B | Merged |
|---|---|---|---|
| Orders | 3 | 1 | 4 |
| Total spent | $203.25 | $45.00 | $248.25 |
| Note characters | 120 | 85 | 205 |
| Tags | 3 | 2 | 5 |
| Addresses | 1 | 1 | 2 |
3 plus 1 equals 4 orders. $203.25 plus $45.00 equals $248.25. 120 plus 85 equals 205 note characters, and 3 plus 2 equals 5 tags. The merged profile holds 2 addresses, one from each profile.
Held at the counter
A merge cannot be undone. Once the profiles are combined there is no way to split them again. Export both profiles to CSV first, and read the Merged customer section line by line before you click Merge.
The surviving profile follows the email you keep. If both profiles have email addresses, the profile tied to the email address kept on the merged profile remains. Pick the email the customer actually uses, or the wrong profile survives.
Not every profile can be merged. Shopify blocks the merge outright when either profile has a vaulted credit card, a store credit account, a multipass login, a B2B company link, or a past or present subscription contract. If the Merge customer option is missing, check the help page linked below for the full list of limits before assuming the profiles are fine to leave split.
Sources
- Managing customers — Shopify's help pages: the merge steps from a profile and from the list, the worked example with two email addresses, the merged information list, and which profile remains.