IMPORT MODEL: CREATING CUSTOMERS

Importing customer information is a very quick way to get a list of customers into your website. This is especially useful if you have an existing website with customers.

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Overview

The data that you are going to use to create customers can come from multiple areas. It can be data that is built from scratch as described below or it can be data from an existing database. 

Steps

When using the customers module you will need to first create a spreadsheet indicating all of the values that you would like to display for each customer. Once you have created your spreadsheet and saved it as a CSV file, you can import into WSM. Importing locations is a four step process, 1) Create customer spreadsheet, 2) Save the file as a CSV 3) Copy the global profile and customize if needed, 4) Import the file.

Form Fields Defined

  • Default:The value which is automatically displayed if you have not designated a value on your import file.
  • Values:Indicates how you must enter the text for that particular field category.
  • Delimited: Indicates what you must use for your Multi-Value Delimiter when having multiple cells load into one profile field. This feature is most commonly used when loading product images, as many times clients wish to show multiple product images for each item. If the MVD was a - your VALUES would read as the following: ${column header1}-${column header2}-${column header3}
  • Force Update:Indicates whether a force update must be clicked to have the new data load over the existing data. A force update is needed when an existing field’s information does not automatically update with the new csv file’s data.
  • Character: Either a restriction or recommendation for this field.
  • Special Notes:See special notes section for any additional details that may need to be referenced.

 

Field Names Defined:
Account Status Default: Active
Values: 
active, hold, probation
Delimited: N/A
Force Update: No
Special Notes: Must use one of the provided values. Active: Customer can add to cart and checkout. Probation: Customer can add to cart and checkout. Account Status Message will appear, if provided. Hold: Customer can add to cart but not checkout. Account Status Message will appear, if provided. If they attempt to checkout an additional message will appear.
Active Default: No
Values: 0 or 1
Delimited: N/A
Force Update: No
Character Limit: 
Special Notes: 1=Yes, 0=No.  When set to No the account is set as inactive and the customer will not be able to sign in to their account from the front end of the site. 
Account Number Default: Blank
Values: 
Text, No HTML
Delimited: 
N/A
Force Update: 
No
Character Limit: 
255 
Special Notes: 
This number is typically assigned by the client and cannot be changed by the Customer.
Admin Notes Default: Blank
Values: 
Text, No HTML
Delimited: 
N/A
Force Update: 
No
Character Limit: 2,000,000
Special Notes: Admin-only customer reference material. This information is never displayed to customers.
 Balance Due Default: 0.00
Values:
 Numberic, two decimal
Delimited:
 N/A
Force Update:
 No
Special Notes: 
Balance due for this customer. When the value is greater than 0.00 the balance due will be displayed on the the My Account screen, when customer is logged into the site.
Birthdate Default: Blank
Values: Date
Delimited: N/A
Force Update: No
Character Limit: 8
Special Notes: This is not a required field but can be helpful if you want to run a promotion for birthdays or if you require a certain age for someone to access your data.
Created Default: Today's Date
Values: Date & Time, format 2012-01-01 01:01:01
Delimited: N/A
Force Update: No
Character Limit: N/A
Special Notes: Indicate when the customer was created. Non importable, assigned by the data base.
Customer Notes Default: Blank
Values: Text, HTML
Delimited:
 N/A
Force Update:
 No
Character Limit: 2,000,000
Special Notes: 
When entered, the information will be displayed to the client on the My Account, Cart and Checkout screen.
First Name Default: Required
Values: Text, No HTML
Delimited: N/A
Force Update: No
Character Limit: 255
Special Notes: The first name of the Customer.
Access Group(s) Default: Blank
Values: Access group ID
Delimited: ;
Force Update: No
Character Limit: N/A
Special Notes: A customer can be assigned to more then one access group. When assigning the CSV file should contain the access group ID.  
Invoice Payment Default: No
Values: 0 or 1
Delimited: N/A
Force Update: No 
Character Limit: 
Special Notes: 1=Yes, 0=No. When enabled the only payment option available.
Last Attempt Default: Blank
Values: A Date & Time, format 2012-01-01 01:01:01
Delimited:
 N/A
Force Update:
 No
Character Limit: 
N/A
Special Notes:
 Typically not import. Last Attempt is logged when a customer failed during log in.
Last Login Default: Blank
Values: A Date & Time, format 2012-01-01 01:01:01
Delimited:
 N/A
Force Update:
 No
Character Limit: 
N/A
Special Notes: It will list the last date and time the customer successfully logged in. 
Last Name Default: Required
Values: Text, No HTML
Delimited: N/A
Force Update: No
Character Limit: 255
Special Notes: The last name of the Customer.
Newsletter Default: No
Values: 0 or 1
Delimited: N/A
Force Update: No
Character Limit: 1
Special Notes: 1=Yes, 0=No. When set to yes the customers email will be apart of your newsletter data feed.
Block Free Shipping Default: No
Values: 0 or 1
Delimited: N/A
Force Update: No 
Character Limit: 
Special Notes: 1=Yes, 0=No. When enabled the customer will not be able to use the free shipping methid during checkout. This only applies to the free shipping method set in the system configuration, not the free ground shipping at the product level.
No Tax Default: No
Values: 0 or 1
Delimited: N/A
Force Update: No 
Character Limit: 
Special Notes: 1=Yes, 0=No. When set to yes the customer will not be charged sales tax during the checkout process. 
Password Default: Required
Values: Text, No HTML
Delimited: N/A
Force Update: No
Character Limit: Minimum of 5 characters
Special Notes: The password must include one upper case and one numeric value, must be a minimum of 5 characters.
Price Group Default: Blank
Values: Access group name
Delimited: N/A
Force Update: No
Character Limit: N/A
Special Notes: A customer can only be assigned to one price group. When assigning the CSV file should contain the price group name
Email Default: Required
Values: 
Text, No HTML
Delimited: 
N/A
Force Update: 
No
Character Limit: 
255
Special Notes: 
Email address for customer. This is also the username to login. It is required and must be unique accross all customers.

Summary

Once you've successfully imported customers and your site is live, you can email them the new site information with login instructions.

For additional assistance with importing please complete our support request form.

🔎Note: Due to different password requirements from different systems we are not able to import passwords from different sources. Instead we recommend you reset all passwords for your customers and notify them of the change.