Alquimista, based in Kyoto and led by CEO Kenichi Nakahara, has announced a significant update to its Shopify app, 'AL CustomerMetaSync.' The app now includes a feature to register member information upon the initial login, expanding solutions for Shopify's 'New Customer Accounts.' To commemorate this release, a campaign is being launched offering the app for free for three months to the first 30 participating stores.
Background: Developing the App Shopify is transitioning from traditional email-password logins to its 'New Customer Accounts' system, which uses one-time password (OTP) authentication. With an official announcement that traditional customer accounts will eventually be phased out, migration is inevitable for existing stores, while new stores are restricted to the new account system.
Previously, stores commonly collected marketing-essential data—such as birthdays, gender, phone numbers, and privacy policy consent—during a standard 'member registration' flow. However, the new customer account system lacks a built-in registration form concept. Since customer accounts are created instantly upon first login via email, the opportunity to collect additional information simultaneously is lost.
Because demographics like birthdays and gender are crucial for segmenting newsletters and providing birthday coupons, and privacy consent is often required for compliance, this change has a significant impact on merchants, particularly in Japan, where batch data collection during registration is standard practice.
Three Key Features of MetaSync MetaSync introduces 'Member Registration Forms' to the new customer account system, enabling businesses to grow based on customer data collected at multiple touchpoints.
Feature 1: Initial Login - Auto-display registration form immediately after OTP authentication. MetaSync automatically displays a registration form right after an OTP authentication is completed. It supports all login methods, including OTP, Shop login, Google, Facebook, and SSO. Merchants can collect information Shopify cannot natively capture—such as birthdays, phone numbers, gender, and privacy consent—seamlessly at the time of the first login.
Feature 2: Continuous collection via profile, thank-you, and order status pages. Information not captured during initial login can be continuously collected or updated through various touchpoints like profile, thank-you, and order status pages. The thank-you page, accessed right after a purchase, records a form submission rate more than three times higher than the profile page (internal data). By leveraging Shopify tags and metafield conditions, businesses can flexibly set collection criteria to gather personalized data for each customer.
Feature 3: Automation of customer data usage via Shopify Flow integration. Integration with Shopify Flow allows triggers to fire the moment a customer submits a form from any touchpoint. Flexible applications include automating campaigns triggered by birthday or anniversary registrations, or automatically sending surveys and interview requests. Furthermore, by using Flow, merchants can flexibly grant action points to VIP apps provided by Stack, which has a strong track record of adoption in Japan.
FACT BOX
- Source: PR TIMES
- Category: New Product
- Products / services: AL CustomerMetaSync