Passwords rarely survive a move to new shop software, because each system scrambles them its own way. Import accounts and order history on purpose, tell customers before launch, and send a plain reset email from your usual address.

Returning customers locked out

A customer who has ordered from the same online shop for years comes back for something new. Her usual password, the site says, is wrong.

The reset link leads her to an account with no past orders, no saved address and none of the points she had collected.

Nothing is broken in the usual sense. The shop has moved to new software, and the accounts arrived without the parts customers rely on.

Some customers phone to ask what happened. Others decide the shop has been compromised, and quietly order somewhere else.

Why old passwords cannot come across

A well-built shop never stores a password as typed. It scrambles the password one way, a process called hashing, and keeps only the result.

At each login it scrambles what the customer types the same way and compares the results. Nobody, the owner included, can turn the stored result back into the password.

Each system scrambles in its own way, so the new software cannot check the results it imported. Every old password fails, however carefully it is typed.

Some systems can be taught to check the old format once, at the next login, and then store the password their own way. That takes development work, and many platforms cannot do it.

What else stays behind

Passwords are only the most visible loss. A move that treats customers as an afterthought can also leave behind:

Email preferences are easy to overlook. A customer who unsubscribed on the old system and starts getting the newsletter again has a fair complaint.

Moving accounts on purpose

Most shop software can export customers to a spreadsheet file and import one. The work is deciding which column goes where, and checking the result before launch.

Customers are usually matched by email address, so clean that column first. Duplicates, typing errors and stray spaces can split one customer into two accounts.

Gift card and store credit balances are money owed. Export them with their codes, import them, then compare a sample against the old records.

Order history follows the customer

Past orders are often left out because they import awkwardly. Many systems take them only as a separate import, after the customers exist, so each order finds its owner.

Where full orders cannot come across, a simpler record can: date, items, sizes and total, attached to the account where the customer sees it.

A few years of orders covers most lookups. Older ones can stay in an archive the shop can search when someone phones.

A worked example

A rainwear shop in a coastal town sells jackets, boots, umbrellas and children's rain suits, in the shop and online. Many customers reorder each fall, often the next size up.

Its online shop had run on the same software for eight years. When updates stopped, a developer moved it to a new system over a quiet weekend in February.

Products and prices came across well. Customers came across as names and email addresses only, and the reset email went out from the new system's default sender, in its default wording.

Within days the shop was taking calls from customers who could not log in, and several forwarded the reset email asking whether it was genuine.

The developer then imported three years of orders, matched to accounts by email, along with the gift card balances. The reset email was rewritten in the owner's voice and sent from the shop's usual address.

A note on the login page explains the move. Customers see their past orders again, so reordering the next size up works as it always did.

Telling customers before launch

Customers accept a forced password reset calmly when they expect it. About a week before the move, email them: what is changing, on what date, and what they will need to do.

Explain that passwords must be reset because of how they are protected. Say what comes across, such as orders and balances, and what does not, such as saved cards.

Repeat the same words on the login page for the first few months, for customers who missed the email.

A reset email that does not look like phishing

Phishing emails imitate this very message: your account has changed, click here to log in. A reset email from an unfamiliar sender in generic wording looks just like one.

Send it from the address customers know, with the shop's name in the sender line and subject, and mention the announcement so the reset arrives as the expected next step.

Link only to the shop's own domain, and add that customers can instead type the shop's address and use the forgotten password link. Never ask for the old password, and leave out urgency.

Testing as a returning customer

Before launch, set up test accounts on the old system with orders, a gift card and a newsletter opt-out. After the import, log in as each and check everything arrived.

Then reset a password from a phone and an office computer, and read the email as a customer would: who sent it, what it says, where the link goes.

The counter-case

A shop where most orders go through guest checkout loses little when accounts reset. A clear notice and a well-written reset email may be all its move needs.

Some owners even welcome a clean start without years of accounts used once.

But gift card balances and email preferences still have to come across in any shop, because one is money owed and the other is a request the customer made. Plan both with whoever runs the move.

Before the shop changes software

  1. List what customers keep in their accounts today.
  2. Ask the developer whether old passwords can be recognised.
  3. Clean the email addresses before exporting customers.
  4. Import orders and balances, then check them against the old records.
  5. Email customers a week ahead with the date and what changes.
  6. Rewrite the reset email in your own voice, from your usual address.
  7. Test as a returning customer on a phone and a computer.

Step five is where trust is won. A reset email that follows a clear announcement reads as the next step in something the customer knows about, not a stranger asking them to click.

Telling regular customers about a different kind of change, a new owner behind the counter, is covered in telling customers the business has a new owner.

Frequently asked questions

Why do customers' old passwords fail after the move?

Shops store passwords scrambled one way, and each system scrambles differently. The new software cannot check results made by the old one, so every imported password fails.

Can old passwords ever be carried across?

Sometimes. Some systems can be set to check the old format once at the next login, then store the password their own way. It takes development work.

What should move along with customer accounts?

Order history, saved addresses, gift card and store credit balances, loyalty points and email preferences. Saved payment cards sit with the payment processor and usually need entering again.

When should customers hear about the move?

About a week before launch, by email, with the date, what changes and what they will need to do. Repeat the same words on the login page.

How do I keep the reset email from looking like phishing?

Send it from your usual address with the shop's name, refer to the announcement, link only to your own domain, and never ask for the old password.

How do I check the import worked?

Before the move, set up test accounts with orders, a gift card and a newsletter opt-out, then log in as each afterwards and confirm everything arrived.

West Coast Media Solutions Inc. provides web design, web development, hosting, digital marketing, and business consulting to organisations across Canada, drawing on more than twenty-five years in the field.

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