Customer Groups allow you to create lists of customers who share similar characteristics. Thees groups can then be used for organizing customers, creating discounts specific to them, sending email batches, and more.
By default, the Search Customer Groups and Customer Group Editor pages are located in the Customers section of the store's Administration Area.
Customer Groups are dynamic. That means that after you create a set of rules, any new customers that come along that match those rules will automatically be added to that group. Inversely, any customers who no longer match the group's requirements will automatically be removed from it.
This article will provide examples of several different types of Customer Groups that can be created.
general customer group settings
Unless otherwise stated, all of the examples below will share the following general Customer Group Options:
Is this Customer Group active? Yes
Match Only Active Customers? Yes
How to apply the Customer Group rules? Match all the group's rules.
Example One: customers who have purchased a certain product
In this example, a Customer Group will be created that contains a list of customers who have purchased a specific product. The product in this example will be a laser printer with SID number 123.
In the section of the Customer Group Editor that's titled Add a Rule to this Customer Group, select a Rule Type of Order History.
In the three Rule Details fields, enter:
Product SID is 123
Click the Save Changes button at the bottom of the page to create the Customer Group. The group will now be created, and will contain any customers who have purchased product SID 123, the laser printer.
Example Two: customers with a subscription to a certain product
In this example, a Customer Group will be created that contains a list of customers who have a subscription to a specific product. The product in this example will be a subscription for Modular Magazine, which has the SID number 456.
In the section of the Customer Group Editor that's titled Add a Rule to this Customer Group, select a Rule Type of Subscriptions.
In the three Rule Details fields, enter:
Product SID is 456
Click the Save Changes button at the bottom of the page to create the Customer Group. The group will now be created, and will contain any customers who have a subscription that contains product SID 456.
Example Three: customers that bought product X, but don't have a subscription to product X
prerequisites
Must have groups described in Example One and Example Two created first.
In this example, a Customer Group will be created, that contains a list of customers who have purchased a specific product, but do not currently have a subscription to that product.
Step 1 (see Example One): Create a customer group of customers that have purchased Product SID 123.
In the section of the Customer Group Editor titled Add a Rule to this Customer Group, select:
Type: Order History
Details: Product SID is 123
Click the Save Changes button to create the Customer Group. The group will now be created, and will contain any customers who have purchased Product SID 123. Note the SID (System ID) number of the customer group after it is created. It will be needed in a later step.
Step 2 (see Example Two): Create a customer group of customers who have Product SID 123 in their subscription.
In the section of the Customer Group Editor titled Add a Rule to this Customer Group, select:
Type: Subscriptions
Details: Product SID is 123
Click the Save Changes button to create the Customer Group. The group will now be created, and will contain any customers who have purchased Product SID 123. Note the SID (System ID) number of the customer group after it is created. It will be needed in a later step.
Step 3: Create a customer group, where the customer is in Group 1, but not in Group 2.
In the section of the Customer Group Editor titled Add a Rule to this Customer Group, select:
Type: Customer Account
Details: Customer Group (SID) is 456
(replace "456" with the correct SID from Group 1)
Click the Save Changes button.
When the page reloads, locate Add a Rule to this Customer Group again, to add an additional rule:
Type: Customer Account
Details: Customer Group (SID) is not 789
(replace "789" with the correct SID from Group 2)
Click the Save Changes button.
Example Four: customers that bought product X, but not Y
In this example, a Customer Group will be created that contains a list of customers who have purchased a specific product, but have not purchased a specific second product. The product in this example that the customer did purchase will be a laser printer with SID number 123. The product in this example that the customer did not purchase will be laser paper with SID number 124.
Step 1: Create a customer group of customers that have purchased product #124 (laser paper):
In the section of the Customer Group Editor that's titled Add a Rule to this Customer Group, select a Rule Type of Order History.
In the three Rule Details fields, enter:
Product SID is 124
Click the Save Changes button at the bottom of the page to create the Customer Group. The group will now be created, and will contain any customers who have purchased product SID 124, laser paper. Note the SID (SystemID) number of the customer group after it is created. It will be needed in a later step.
Step 2: Create a customer group of customers that have purchased product #123 (laser printer), but not #124 (laser paper):
In the section of the Customer Group Editor that's titled Add a Rule to this Customer Group, select a Rule Type of Order History.
In the three Rule Details fields, enter:
Product SID is 123
Click the Save Changes button at the bottom of the page.
When the page reloads, scroll to the section of the Customer Group Editor that's titled Add a Rule to this Customer Group, select a Rule Type of Customer Account.
In the three Rule Details fields, enter:
Customer Group ID (SID) is not X
(replace X with the SID number of the customer group created above.)
Click the Save Changes button at the bottom of the page.
Example Five: A Customer Group containing all your store's customers
It is possible to create a group that contains all of your store's customers simply by creating a Customer Group that contains no rules.
To do this, simply leave the Rule Type menu set to Select Rule type... when creating the Customer Group. With no rules, there will be nothing to filter customers out of the group, so it will include them all.
Example Six: customers who placed at least one order during a specific date range
In this example, a Customer Group will be created that contains a list of customers who have placed at least one order between January 1st, 2013 and December 31st, 2013.
In the Customer Group Options section of the Customer Group Editor, set How to apply rules below to match ALL the rules below.
In the Add a Rule to this Customer Group section of the Customer Group Editor (or the Customer Group Rules section, if editing an existing customer group), set Rule Type to Order History.
In the three Rule Details fields, enter:
Order Date (MM/DD/YYYY) starts with 01/01/2013
Click the + (plus) button to the right of the Rule Details options, to add another set of details to the rule.
In the second set of Rule Details fields, enter:
Order Date (MM/DD/YYYY) ends with 12/31/2013
Click the Save Changes button at the bottom of the page to create the Customer Group. The group will now be created, and will contain any customers who have placed at least one order between January 1st, 2013 and December 31st, 2013.
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