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How customer profile sync works between Shopify and Wati

Summary

Keep your customer data accurate, consistent, and ready for action with bi-directional Shopify integration in Wati. This feature automatically syncs new customers, profile updates, tags, and consent preferences between both platforms in real time. With everything aligned, you can build precise WhatsApp audiences, reduce manual data entry, prevent duplicate profiles, and ensure your engagement campaigns are always powered by up-to-date customer information.

Note: The Shopify customer profile sync feature is available to Wati customers on all Growth, Pro and Business plans.

Instructions

What’s new?

Wati now supports bi-directional customer profile synchronization with Shopify.

This includes:

  • Automatic Shopify → Wati sync
    New Shopify customers and profile updates are automatically reflected in Wati.

  • Automatic Wati → Shopify sync
    New inbound WhatsApp contacts in Wati are checked against Shopify and created or updated when needed.

  • Historical customer import
    You can run a one-time import of existing Shopify customers.

Why integrate Shopify with Wati?

Bi-directional sync helps you:

  • Keep customer profiles and consent data aligned across platforms

  • Build accurate WhatsApp campaign audiences using Shopify attributes

  • Automatically capture WhatsApp-first customers inside Shopify

  • Reduce manual data entry and avoid duplicate profiles

What does customer sync do?

Customer sync keeps key profile attributes synchronized between Shopify and Wati in real time.

If a customer is created or updated in one platform, the changes are reflected in the other (based on the defined mapping rules).

Shopify → Wati customer sync

When bi-directional customer profile sync is enabled, Shopify customers are synced to Wati only when Wati can resolve a valid phone number from the customer's profile.

Wati checks for the phone number in the following order:

  1. customer.phone

  2. If customer.phone is empty, customer.defaultAddress.phone

  3. If customer.defaultAddress.phone is also empty, the first address in the customer's address list

Billing and shipping address phone fields from orders or checkout are not used for customer synchronization because they are order or checkout fields, not customer profile fields.

Is consent required for Shopify customers to sync?

No. A Shopify customer does not need email consent, SMS consent, or WhatsApp consent to be synced to Wati. A valid phone number is required for the customer to be synced.

Attribute mapping

Shopify property

Wati attribute

phone

Phone number

email

Email

email_marketing_consent

Allow campaign

tags

Boolean attributes (one per tag)

How tags work

  • Each Shopify tag becomes a boolean attribute in Wati.

  • If a tag is added → the attribute is set to true.

  • If a tag is removed → the attribute is set to false or left empty.

This allows you to segment contacts in Wati using Shopify tag logic.

When Shopify customer tags are synced to Wati, the shopify_ prefix is automatically added to the contact attribute name.

Example:

  • Shopify customer tag: abc

  • Synced to Wati as contact attribute: shopify_abc

Historical customer import

You can perform a one-time import of existing Shopify customers into Wati.

Available options:

  • Import all customers

  • Import customers created in the last 1 month

  • Import customers created in the last 3 months

  • Import customers created in the last 6 months

This is useful when enabling the integration for the first time and you want past customer data available in Wati.

Wati → Shopify customer sync

When a new inbound WhatsApp message is received from a contact that is not yet synced:

  1. Wati checks Shopify using the phone number.

  2. If not found, it checks using the email address.

  3. If a match is found → the Shopify profile is enriched with missing data.

  4. If no match is found → a new Shopify customer is created.

Wati contact attributes to Shopify customer tags

To sync a Wati contact attribute to Shopify as a customer tag, the contact attribute must begin with the shopify_ prefix.

Example:

  • Wati contact attribute: shopify_def

  • Synced to Shopify customer tag: def

Note: The shopify_ prefix is used only within Wati and is automatically removed when the value is synced back to Shopify as a customer tag.

Additional behavior

  • Newly created Shopify customers from Wati are marked as emailSubscribed = true.

  • Updates to synced attributes are reflected back in Shopify.

  • Duplicate profiles are prevented by checking both phone number and email before creation.

Customer eligibility for recovery messages

Customer profile sync and recovery messages have different eligibility requirements.

For Abandonment Checkout recovery automated messages, the customer must have:

  • A valid email address

  • Email consent enabled in Shopify

  • A valid phone number

For both Add to Cart and Abandonment Checkout recovery automated messages, eligibility is based on the customer's email consent in Shopify. SMS or WhatsApp consent settings are not used for this eligibility check.

How to enable bi-directional sync

Follow these steps in Wati:

  • Go to Connectors → Integration → Shopify.

  • Select Customer Profile Sync from the left menu.

  • Click Enable customer profile sync.

  • Toggle Enable Bi-Directional Sync of Customer Profiles to ON.

  • (Optional) Click Sync now to import historical customer profiles.

    • Select the desired time range from the dropdown.

    • By default, it is set to all customer profiles.

Once the sync is complete, you can view imported and synced contacts under Contacts.

What happens when sync is disabled?

If you turn off bi-directional sync:

  • No new customers will be created across platforms.

  • Existing synced data remains unchanged.

  • Historical import cannot be triggered while sync is disabled.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

General

1. What is bi-directional customer profile sync between Shopify and Wati?

Bi-directional customer profile sync keeps supported customer data aligned between Shopify and Wati. Shopify customers and profile updates are synced to Wati, while new inbound WhatsApp contacts in Wati are checked against Shopify and created or updated when needed.

2. Which Wati plans support Shopify customer profile sync?

The Shopify customer profile sync feature is available on Growth, Pro, and Business plans.

Shopify to Wati Sync

3. What information is required to sync a Shopify customer to Wati?

A Shopify customer must have a valid phone number to be synced to Wati. Email consent, SMS consent, and WhatsApp consent are not required for customer profile synchronization.

Wati checks for the phone number in this order:

  1. customer.phone

  2. customer.defaultAddress.phone

  3. The phone number in the first address in the customer's address list

Billing and shipping address phone numbers from orders or checkout are not used for customer synchronization.

Wati to Shopify Sync

4. How does Wati sync new WhatsApp contacts to Shopify?

When Wati receives an inbound WhatsApp message from a contact who has not been synced, Wati checks Shopify using the contact's phone number. If no match is found, Wati checks the email address.

  • If a match is found, the Shopify profile is enriched with missing data.

  • If no match is found, Wati creates a new Shopify customer.

  • Wati checks both phone number and email address before creating a customer to prevent duplicate profiles.

5. How can I sync Wati contact attributes to Shopify customer tags?

A Wati contact attribute must start with the shopify_ prefix to be synced to Shopify as a customer tag. For example, shopify_def in Wati is synced as the def customer tag in Shopify.

The shopify_ prefix is used only in Wati and is automatically removed when the attribute is synced to Shopify.

Historical Import

6. Can I import existing Shopify customers into Wati?

Yes. You can perform a one-time import of existing Shopify customers and choose to import:

  • All customers

  • Customers created in the last 1 month

  • Customers created in the last 3 months

  • Customers created in the last 6 months

Recovery Message Eligibility

7. What are the eligibility requirements for Add to Cart and Abandonment Checkout recovery automated messages?

For Abandonment Checkout recovery automated messages, the customer must have:

  • A valid email address

  • Email consent enabled in Shopify

  • A valid phone number

For both Add to Cart and Abandonment Checkout recovery automated messages, eligibility is based on the customer's email consent in Shopify. SMS and WhatsApp consent settings are not used for this eligibility check.

Sync Management

8. How do I enable bi-directional customer profile sync in Wati?

Go to Connectors → Integration → Shopify, select Customer Profile Sync, and click Enable customer profile sync. Then turn on Enable Bi-Directional Sync of Customer Profiles.

To import existing Shopify customers, click Sync now and select the desired time range. After the sync is complete, imported and synced contacts are available under Contacts.

9. What happens when bi-directional customer profile sync is disabled?

When bi-directional sync is turned off:

  • No new customers are created across Shopify and Wati.

  • Existing synced data remains unchanged.

  • Historical customer import cannot be triggered while sync is disabled.

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