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Shopping Cart Software Online Manual
Customer Group Editor
Ban Rule Editor Introduction to Customer Groups
Location Home > Shopping Cart Software Components > Administration Area > Customers

Customer Group Editor

Customer groups are lists of customers.  Customer groups can be used with Modular Mailer to send out emails, the Event Engine, and much more.  The Customer Group Editor is used create and edit customer groups for the store.
 
To create a new customer group:
  1. Go to Customers > Search Customer Groups > .
  2. In the Customer Group Options section of the Customer Group Editor, input a Group Name. Required.
  3. Complete the various fields to configure the group.  Those fields are discussed in detail below.
  4. Click the Save Changes button.
 
To edit an existing customer group:
  1. Go to Customers > Search Customer Groups.
  2. Click the SID number or icon associated with the customer group.
  3. Make the desired edits to the customer group.
  4. Click Save Changes when finished.
 
Customer Group Options

SID (System ID)
Once the customer group has been created, the shopping cart will automatically assign the next available customer group SID number, and the number will be displayed in the first row of the Customer Group Options section.

Group Name
Input a name for the customer group. (This field is required.)

Is this Customer Group Active?
Select whether or not the customer group is active.  Inactive groups will not be eligible for use with Modular Mailer, the Event Engine, or other store functions.

Only Active Customers
Use this selection to determine if active customers only are eligible for the group, or whether inactive customers will also be eligible.

Description
A description for store administrators can be optionally added to the customer group.

How to apply rules below
Select match ALL of the rules below to designate that all of the group rules must all be met for customers to be added to the group.  Select match ANY of the rules below to designate that customers will be added to the group if any of the rules are met.

 
Customer Group Rules

"customer group rules" section and "add a rule to this customer group" section
Once the customer group has been created, its rules will be displayed in the Customer Group Rules section, and the Add a Rule to this Customer Group section will be displayed below. However, when the Customer Group Editor is showing a new customer group that has not yet been saved for the first time, the Customer Group Rules section will be hidden.

Rule Type
For each of the customer group's rules, a Rule Type must first be specified, indicating which general category of information the rule is based on. Once the Rule Type has been selected, additional options relevant to that category of information will be displayed in the Rule Details section.
  • Customer Account
    Select Customer Account if the rule will be based on information typically found in the Customer Editor, such as the customer's billing address, shipping address, email address, customer attributes, customer fields, etc.
  • Order History
    Select Order History if the rule will be based on information typically found on the Search Orders page, the Order Editor, or the Recent Orders section of the Customer Editor. Order related information includes order SID numbers, order dates, SID numbers of purchased products, coupon codes, etc.
  • Subscriptions
    Select Subscriptions if the rule will be based on information typically found on the Search Subscriptions page, the Subscription Editor, or the Subscriptions section of the Customer Editor. Subscription related information includes next scheduled bill date, name and/or SID number of products in the subscription, subscription hold status, the number of times the subscription has been invoiced, etc.

Rule Details
Once the Rule Type has been selected, the Rule Details fields are used to fill in the exact requirements of the rule.
  • Information Type
    The first Rule Details field is a dropdown menu to select the exact type of information used by the rule, such as email address, order date, or hold status.
  • Compare Type
    The second Rule Details field is a dropdown menu to select how to compare each customer's information to a target value.
  • Target Value
    The third Rule Details field is a text field to enter the target value for comparisons.
     
  • and
    The fourth Rule Details options are a set of plus and minus buttons. There is a minus button next to each row of Rule Details fields, to delete that row. And there is one plus button to add a new row of Rule Details fields. Multiple rows of Rule Details fields may be used to set additional requirements for that rule. For instance, if the rule needs to specify customers who have placed an order between one date and another date, the first row of Rule Details options would be used to enter the first date, and the second row of Rule Details options would be used to enter the second date.

Delete Rule
If a rule is no longer needed, it may be deleted by selecting the checkbox corresponding to that rule in the  column, then clicking the blue Save Changes button at the bottom of the page. The selected rule and all of its details will be deleted from the customer group.
 
Add a Rule to this Customer Group

 

Rule Type
After the Rule Type has been selected, additional options will be available in the Rule Details section.

Customer Account
This option uses the customer account as the evaluation criteria.

Order History
This option uses the customers' order histories as the evaluation criteria.

Subscriptions
This option uses the customers' subscriptions as the evaluation criteria.

Rule Details
Once one of the 3 options above is selected in the Rule Type menu, additional choices to complete the customer group will be available.

 
Customer Group Notes

Notes

Notes are hidden and displayed to store administrators only.
 

 
Multiple Rules vs Multiple Rule Details

The Customer Group Editor may be used to create and edit customer groups. Each customer group may have multiple rules, and each rule may have multiple details.



Multiple different rules should be used when the customer group is based on the values of several different types of information.
example 1
A group of customers who have placed an order after January 1st, 2012, and have a subscription that is currently on hold, and have at least 100 reward points.

In this example, each of the three requirements is based on different types of information... the first requirement is based on the dates of the customer's orders, the second requirement is based on the customer's subscription status, and the third requirement is based the customer's reward point total in their customer account. Since each of the three requirements is based on different types of information, three different customer group rules should be created.

Using the options in the Add a Rule to this Customer Group section, the first rule would be entered as follows:
Rule Type Order History
Rule Details Order Date (MM/DD/YYYY) is greater than 01/01/2012

Then clicking the blue Save Changes button will save that rule and move it to the Customer Group Rules section, and add a new set of blank options in the Add a Rule to this Customer Group section.

Using the new options in the Add a Rule to this Customer Group section, the second rule would be entered as follows:
Rule Type Subscriptions
Rule Details Hold status (Yes/No) is Yes

Clicking the blue Save Changes button will save the second rule and move it to the Customer Group Rules section, and add a new set of blank options in the Add a Rule to this Customer Group section.

Using the new options in the Add a Rule to this Customer Group section, the third rule would be entered as follows:
Rule Type Customer Account
Rule Details Reward Points is greater than 99

Clicking the blue Save Changes button will save the third rule and move it to the Customer Group Rules section.

Finally, the How to apply rules below option in the Customer Group Options section must be set to match ALL the rules below.

The result will be a customer group containing all customers who have placed an order after January 1st, 2012, AND have a subscription that is currently on hold, AND have at least 100 reward points.


Multiple rule details should be used when the customer group is based on several requirements regarding the value of one specific bit of information.

example 2
A group of customers who have placed an order between January 1st, 2012 and January 31st, 2012.

In this example, a customer must have one order that meets two requirements: the order must have been placed on or after January 1st, 2012, and that same order must also have been placed on or before January 31st, 2012. Since both requirements apply to the same bit of information, one rule with multiple details should be created.

Using the options in the Add a Rule to this Customer Group section, the rule's first set of details would be entered as follows:
Rule Type Order History
Rule Details Order Date (MM/DD/YYYY) starts with 01/01/2012

Clicking the blue  button to the right of the Rule Details fields will add a second row of Rule Details fields.

Using the second row of Rule Details fields, the second set of details would be entered as follows:
Rule Details Order Date(MM/DD/YYYY) ends with 01/31/2012

Clicking the blue Save Changes button will save the rule with both sets of details, and move it to the Customer Group Rules section.

The result will be a customer group containing all customers who have placed an order between January 1st, 2012 and January 31st, 2012.

 
Conclusion

The Customer Group Editor may be used to create and edit rules that the shopping cart will follow to generate lists of customers. Store admins may use customer groups to quickly locate all customers who meet those predefined rules. Customer groups may also be used in the Event Editor (to create discounts and coupon batches for the customers in the group), Modular Mailer (to send an email to the customers in the group), and more.

The following Knowledge Base article provides several examples of customer groups:
Customer Group Examples



— Last Edited - 01/3/2014 4:24pm PST
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