Importing Multichannel Customer Information to SHOPLINE

When you authorize a channel store to Multichannel Connect and synchronize channel orders, the channel customer information included in the order is stored within Multichannel Connect. If you want to add the channel customer information to SHOPLINE's Customers module for a centralized view of cross-channel customer information, you can choose to import customer information during the channel order import process.

Once imported, channel customer information cannot be deleted from SHOPLINE's Customers module. Carefully consider this before enabling import, especially if you use the email subscription and EDM marketing features provided by SHOPLINE that rely on customer data management.

What Channel Customer Information Does Multichannel Connect Retrieve?

When syncing channel orders, the Multichannel Connect app only retrieves the customer ID, customer name, email address, and phone number for the customer information.

Impacts of Importing Channel Customer Information

When setting up the rules for importing channel orders into SHOPLINE, you can choose whether to import channel customer information into SHOPLINE's Customers module. During import, the system attempts to match the channel customer’s email address, phone number, and customer ID with existing SHOPLINE customer profiles. The matching priority is email address > phone number > customer ID. If there is a match, the customer profiles are merged.

To Import Channel Customer Information

• If any of the information matches (the information is identical): The system automatically recognizes the channel customer as an existing SHOPLINE customer and won’t update their information in SHOPLINE. For example, if a SHOPLINE customer has email address “A” and phone number “B”, and the imported channel order has "A" for email address and "C" for phone number, the system know they are the same customer. The phone number in SHOPLINE will remain "B" and not be updated to "C".
• If none of the information can be matched: a new customer profile will be automatically created in SHOPLINE's  Customers module using the customer information included in the channel order. The source channel (e.g., "Amazon" or "eBay") will be identified and labeled on the customer profile.
  New customers created by importing channel orders do not subscribe to email and SMS services by default. This means that they won't receive notification emails about order updates or other relevant events within SHOPLINE. For specific notification scenarios, go to your SHOPLINE admin panel > Settings > Notifications page to learn more.
  
  
  

Once successfully imported, you can view and manage the customer information in SHOPLINE's Customers module, including tracking the customer's total orders and purchase amount. In the order details page in SHOPLINE, you can also view the customer's historical order count and jump to the customer information details page when clicking on it.

Not to Import Channel Customer Information

If you choose not to import customer information, the customer information will not be available in SHOPLINE's Customers module when channel orders are imported into SHOPLINE's Orders module. You'll only see the customer name in the Customer section of the order details page. The historical order count is not available.

Sending Notification Emails to Channel Customers

The channel customer information typically is subject to the privacy policy or agreement unique to that channel. To avoid violating the channel’s rules or user privacy agreements, refrain from subscribing channel customers to the email service unless you have their explicit consent.

Creating Customer Segments

If you use other services or software that leverage SHOPLINE customer information, such as SHOPLINE's Member System and Smartpush, the best practice is to create customer segments for them and then send emails to the segments. Follow the steps below:

1. From your SHOPLINE admin panel, go to Customers > Segments and click Create segment in the upper right corner.
   
   
2. Click Segment template.
   
   
3. Find the default Visited without placing an order template and click Create Segment.
   
   
4. Define the conditions for the segment based on your needs. For example, if you want to create a segment specific for channel customers, first add the Customer's join channel condition from the Condition List to the template editor on the right, and select Marketplace as the value.
   
   
5. Next add the Platform where customers join condition to the template, and select applicable channels (e.g., “Amazon” and “eBay”) as the value. Remember to define the relationship between conditions (i.e., the “And”, “Or”, and “Not” operators) based on your requirements.
   
   
6. Click Create once finished.

For more information about customer segments, refer to Creating Customer Segments.