How to Import Customers to Shopify

What you can and can't import

Shopify's customer CSV imports customer profiles: name, email, phone, address, tags and marketing consent. It can't carry passwords or order history.

Shopify only tracks order activity on your own store, so a customer's spend and order count start fresh after the move.

Step 1: Start from Shopify's customer template

Download the customer CSV template from Shopify's import help page. It comes with two sample profiles, Jane Doe and John Doe. Delete them before you import, or they get added to your store as real customers.

Step 2: Map your old platform's export

Export your customers from your old platform, then copy each of its columns under the matching template header.

• Headers go in the first row. They aren't case-sensitive, so email and Email both work.
• The Email column must be there, even if some customers have no email. The value can be blank, but a missing column stops the import.
• Save the file as UTF-8. It's the only CSV format Shopify imports, and it keeps names like José and Zoë intact.

Step 3: Set email marketing consent correctly

Accepts Email Marketing takes only yes or no. Enter no for anyone who unsubscribed, never opted in, marked your emails as spam, or whose address bounced. Importing people who opted out leads to spam complaints and bounces that hurt your sender reputation.

Step 4: Import in Shopify admin

1. 1
   In Shopify admin, go to Customers and click Import.
2. 2
   Click Add file and choose your CSV.
3. 3
   Optionally tick Add tags to customers in this csv and use these tags to create a segment.
4. 4
   Tick the overwrite option only if you mean to replace existing profiles (see below).
5. 5
   Click Import customers.

Tagging the batch, for example imported-2026, lets you build a segment of everyone in the file for a welcome email. Tags aren't case-sensitive. The file limit is 15 MB, so split bigger lists into several files and import them one after another.

Duplicates and overwriting

If two or more rows in your file share an email or phone number, Shopify skips the duplicates and imports only the last profile with that email or phone. Skipped profiles aren't tagged either. Remove duplicates before you import, then add or merge them afterwards.

Overwrite existing customers that have the same email or phone number replaces all of a matching customer's data with the row in your file, tags included. Leave it unticked unless that's what you want.

After the import: passwords and invites

Customer passwords can't be migrated from another store with a CSV. After the import, invite your customers to create new passwords so they can sign in to their accounts.

Can you import discount codes?

No. Shopify's help lists discounts as export only: you can export discounts from Shopify, but there's no discount import. Recreate the codes that are still active in your old store under Discounts in Shopify admin.

Moving your products too

Customers are one part of a move. Bring your catalog across with the Shopify CSV import guide, set stock with the inventory CSV, and follow a platform migration guide such as WooCommerce to Shopify.

If some of your products come from Amazon, AliExpress, eBay or another Shopify store you manage, 1Click imports them from a link instead of a spreadsheet.