Migrating customers to Shopify is straightforward, but how they log in afterward depends on your store's account settings. Since Shopify does not allow any migration app to transfer passwords, this is a platform-level security restriction, customers will need to log in using one of the methods below.
How do Customer Accounts Work After Migration?
When customers are migrated to Shopify, their customer information (name, email, address) and order history are transferred. However, because passwords cannot be migrated, customers will need to log in using one of the methods below, depending on your store's account settings.
Legacy vs New Customer Accounts
Shopify has two customer account systems. Which one your store uses determines how your customers log in after migration:
New Customer Accounts (Recommended by Shopify)
Customers log in using a 6-digit code sent to their email, no password is needed. This works seamlessly after migration since no password is required.
Legacy Customer Accounts (Deprecated)
Customers log in with email and password. Since passwords cannot be migrated, customers must reset their passwords or be invited to create a new account.
⚠️ Important: As of February 2026, Shopify has officially deprecated legacy customer accounts. They are no longer available to new stores and will eventually be sunset for existing stores. We strongly recommend upgrading to New Customer Accounts.
You can switch in your Shopify Admin under Settings → Customer Accounts.
How to Invite Customers to Create an Account (Legacy Accounts)?
If your store is on legacy customer accounts, you can invite customers to set up their account:
Go to the Customers page in your Shopify Admin Dashboard
Select the customer
Click "Send account invite" to send an account creation email
Some merchants add a note to their storefront to let customers know they need to register with the same email they used on the old site.
Until customers create an account, their details and order history are visible only in the Shopify Admin Dashboard.
Troubleshooting: Common Login Issues After Migration
Customer is not receiving password reset emails
If your store is using New Customer Accounts, there are no password reset emails, login works via a 6-digit code. If your store is on Legacy Customer Accounts, make sure the customer is using the exact email address that was migrated, and check the spam/junk folder.
Customer not found in admin search
In rare cases, Shopify's admin search index can become out of sync after a large data import. The customer data is there, but the search doesn't surface it. If this happens:
- Try searching by the customer's email in the Orders section
- Contact Shopify Support and ask them to reindex your customer data, this usually resolves within 48 hours
- Contact our support team, we can help escalate this with Shopify directly
This is a known Shopify platform issue and is not related to how the data was migrated.
Email has already been taken" when adding a customer
This means the customer record already exists in your Shopify store and was migrated successfully. The customer may just not be appearing in search due to the indexing issue above. Try searching in the Orders section or contact Shopify Support for a reindex.
Our Migrationpro Support Team is here to help!
Feel free to contact us via email at [email protected] or use the Live Chat available in the bottom-right corner of the page!