Explainer
Which profile does Shopify keep when you merge customers?
In Shopify’s admin, the email you keep decides which profile remains: if only one profile has an email, it stays; if both do, the profile tied to the kept email stays; if neither does, the profile you selected stays. The API gives no guarantee about the first customer ID, and MergeGuard’s recommendation is a separate rule.
By MergeGuard team
Last updated
3 min read
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People often assume Shopify keeps the profile with the most orders, or the oldest one. Neither is in the rules Shopify publishes. The rule follows the email address.
Key insight
The kept email, not the order count, decides which profile survives in Shopify.
The admin rule
Shopify’s help page for merging customers gives three cases:
Only one has an email
That profile remains.
Both have an email
The profile tied to the email address kept on the merged record remains.
Neither has an email
The profile you selected under “Find a customer to merge with” remains.
Example: Profile A has a phone number and no email address. Profile B has an email address. Only one profile has an email, so profile B stays. Worked example (made up) The order counts do not enter into it.
What happens to the other profile’s data
Shopify combines the listed information into one profile: orders, draft orders, addresses, email address, phone number, name, notes, tags, tax settings, timeline events, credit cards, customer accounts, gift cards and discounts. The “Merged customer” section shows what will be merged and what will be discarded, and you can adjust the contact information before you confirm.
Orders do not move one by one. Shopify says “Orders are permanently associated with the customer account that placed them”, so the merge is the only way the orders of two profiles come together. After the merge, “you can’t reverse the process”.
The API rule ladder
Developers who merge through Shopify’s Admin GraphQL API meet a different description. The customerMerge mutation needs the write_customer_merge access scope. Its customerOneId argument is described as “isn’t guaranteed to be kept”. Its customerTwoId is kept when neither customer has an email address.
The page lists the rules in order:
- If an override email to keep is given and valid, that customer is kept.
- If exactly one customer has an email address, that customer is kept.
- If both have an email address, account state and email marketing consent decide, with an enabled account winning over other account states. If none of these prefers either customer, customerTwoId is kept.
- If neither customer has an email address, customerTwoId is kept.
The admin rule and the API ladder agree on the first and second cases. In the third case the API adds account state and consent. The page also recommends a merge preview before you merge, and describes the resulting customer ID as authoritative.
Choosing the email on purpose
Because the kept email decides the survivor, make the choice a step in every merge:
- Pick the address the person uses. Usually that is the one with recent orders or opens.
- Fix a typo first. If the typo address stays, it can be the one you keep. See email typos in Shopify.
- Check consent. If either profile is subscribed to email or SMS marketing, the merged profile is subscribed.
The safe merge checklist puts these in order. For the whole procedure, read how to merge customers in Shopify.
Sources
Related
- How to merge customers in Shopify: the complete rulesShopify merges two profiles at a time, combines their data, keeps the profile tied to the email you choose and can’t reverse it. The rules and choices.
- Kept profileThe kept profile is the one that remains after you merge duplicate customers. Learn how Shopify decides it and how you choose the details to keep.
- Email typos in Shopify: how a mistake becomes a second customerA mistyped email can leave a shopper on a second Shopify profile and out of your sends. See how typos form, what they cost and the right order to fix them.
- Safe merge checklist for Shopify customer profilesShopify customer merges are permanent. Run these 8 checks first: the match, shared emails, kept details, subscriptions, blockers, limits and automation.
- Merge rulesSet the merge rule MergeGuard uses to recommend which duplicate Shopify customer to keep: email, phone or both. You choose every detail in each group’s review.
- What happens when you merge customer profiles in ShopifyWhen Shopify customer profiles merge, orders, addresses, notes and tags move to one profile, a subscribed profile keeps it subscribed, and it can’t be undone.
- Delete or merge a duplicate customer in Shopify?Shopify can’t undo a deleted customer and blocks deleting any profile with orders. See when to delete a duplicate, when to merge it and when to leave it alone.