[intro] Before you begin this guide, you need to ensure that you have installed the Import/Export System feature on your EKM online shop, which will allow you to upload and download your shop data onto spreadsheets. You will also need to install the Customer Login feature, which allows customers to make accounts on your EKM online shop. [/intro]

[summary]

• Creating a Spreadsheet
• Uploading your Spreadsheet to your EKM online shop
• What your Customers will need to do

[/summary]

If you have had an online shop on a different platform where customers could create their own accounts, you can import their details into your EKM online shop and create accounts for them. Once the accounts are created, all you need to do is ask the customers to do is to visit your EKM online shop and reset the default password to a password of their choice.

Creating a Spreadsheet

1. Before you begin, you need to create a spreadsheet which is compatible with the Import/Export System. To do this, create a spreadsheet with the following columns and ensure that the wording is copied exactly:

1. Action
2. EmailAddress
3. FirstName
4. LastName
5. CompanyName
6. Address1
7. Address2
8. Town
9. County
10. Country
11. PostCode
12. Telephone
13. SignUpDate

2. When you have completed it, you should have a spreadsheet which looks like this:

3. Your next step is to cut and paste the data onto it. If your previous online shop supplier has been able to provide you with a spreadsheet of your customer's account details, this part should simply be a case of cutting and pasting one column of information from one spreadsheet to another. In the Action column, you need to add the command ‘AddCustomer’:

4. When you have completed cutting and pasting your data into the relevant columns, your spreadsheet should look like this:

Uploading your Spreadsheet to your EKM online shop

1. Save your spreadsheet, and log into your EKM online shop. From the dashboard, click the Features tab:

2. Then you need to click the Import/Export System icon:

3. Click Import From File:

4. Click the Choose File button, and using the window that opens up, select your spreadsheet from where it is stored on your computer and click Open.

5. You will now see the name of the file that you selected listed next to the Choose File button:

6. Click the Upload button:

7. You’ll now see the file listed on your EKM online shop. Click the file’s name:

8. Click Test For Errors:

9. If there are any errors, these will be highlighted in pink and red:

10. Click the Warnings & Errors header:

You’ll see the system automatically notes down where the error is on your spreadsheet. If you do have any errors, you cannot import the spreadsheet into your EKM online shop, or it may cause issues. Instead, return to the original spreadsheet on your computer, and amend the error before saving your changes.

11. When you are ready to upload the amended spreadsheet, click Import/Export system to the left to begin steps 3 - 8 again:

12. When you have uploaded your amended spreadsheet and tested it for errors, you should see this (as long as you have amended the errors correctly!):

13. Click the Start Import Process button:

14. Click the green Done button:

15. To see the customers that you have just uploaded, click the Orders tab:

16. Click View Customers:

17. Dependent on the number of customer accounts on your EKM online shop, you may be able to see your new customers on this first screen. However, if you can’t, simply use the search bar toward the top of the page and search for your new customers using their name or email address:

What your Customers will need to do

When you have created accounts for all of your existing customers, the next step is for them to change the default password on the new account to something that they know and recognise. In order to remain GDPR compliant, you should not choose a password for them or select their password; this is something that the customer needs to do themselves.

1. When your customers visit your EKM online shop, they need to click on the Customer Login symbol (which will vary according to the Theme that you have used):

2. They will then be offered a login screen. They need to click the forgotten password link:

3. This will offer a form where they can add in their email address and click Request Password:

4. When they have clicked Request Password and added the correct email address - as in the one they normally used for their account on your previous shop platform - they should see this:

5. The email that they receive within a few minutes from your EKM online shop will be similar to this:

6. Clicking the link within the email will take them to a page similar to this on your EKM online shop:

7. The customer just needs to add a password into the field provided and click the Next button:

8. If the password is too short, they will see this message and will need to click Back and add in a longer password, before clicking Next again:

9. When the customers have reset their passwords, they will see this message:

10. Clicking Continue will return them to the homepage of your EKM online shop and they will be logged in with their new password.

How you inform the customers that they need to do this depends on how you plan to switch from one platform to another. If you are currently constructing your EKM online shop before you point your domain name to it and close down your shop on the other platform, then you could promote this action using a Design Image or some text on the homepage, which describes what they need to do.

[more]

• Import/Export System
• Adding Products without Variants
• Adding Products with Variants
• Import/Export System - Editing Existing Products
• Import/Export System - Editing Existing Products with Variants

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