Move Shopify customer records to Kit after a permission review

Before you start: two ways to move people

Use a one-time export when you need records outside the app's completed-purchase sync. Add the app only if you need its ongoing features. Review statuses and automation entry points before either route.

Steps

1. Review existing subscribers first. If you already use Kit, identify currently consenting, confirmed subscribers before applying an Existing Subscribers tag. An older tag is not evidence that someone remains subscribed. Keep later opt-outs and suppression records excluded; do not let the tag override them.
2. Export from Shopify. In your Shopify admin go to Customers, click Export, and choose All customers (or customers matching your filters if you've already filtered to email subscribers). Under Fields included, check Customer tags. Pick CSV for Excel, Numbers, and other spreadsheet programs, then Export customers. Over 50 customers, Shopify emails you the file instead of downloading it.
3. Review conflicting statuses before filtering. Follow the export review at the filter before you run it. That section is the full limit for this step.
4. Pause automations that could fire. In Kit, adding imported people to a Tag or Form can trigger Visual Automations or Rules that start from that Tag or Form, and adding them to a Sequence starts it. Pause anything you don't want firing for hundreds of people at once.
5. Import into Kit. Go to Subscribers, click Add Subscribers, then Import CSV. Upload only the separately reviewed file and map only fields you intend to change.
6. Map the columns. Map Email and only the additional fields you intend to change, after reviewing blanks in each mapped column. Map the tags column to "Comma-separated list of tags". Columns you don't map aren't imported.
7. Label the import. Kit offers to add a new tag named "Imported [date and time]". Rename it to something like Imported from Shopify so you can reconcile this import separately later. Click Start import. Kit emails you when it finishes.
8. (Optional) Connect the Kit Shopify app for future buyers. In Kit, go to Apps, find Shopify, click Install, enter your store domain, approve in Shopify, click Link with Kit, and choose whether to import past buyers.
9. Review exclusions before sending. Check Kit's current Shopify: no marketing and existing-subscriber instructions. The existing-subscriber exception assumes currently consenting, confirmed subscribers. Keep later opt-outs and suppression records excluded; never use an older Existing Subscribers tag to override them.

Look up a field

Shopify customer CSV fields, Kit app tags and suggested mappings for this workflow

Field	Type	Meaning	Maps to in Kit	Blank can overwrite	Source and date
Email	text	The customer email address. The column every Kit import needs.	Email	Check vendor docs	Field: help.shopify.com, read 8 Nov 2026 Mapping: help.kit.com, read 8 Nov 2026
First Name	text	Customer first name as stored in Shopify. Split blank rows into a file without this column.	Check vendor docs	Yes	Field: help.shopify.com, read 8 Nov 2026 Mapping: help.kit.com, read 8 Nov 2026
Last Name	text	Customer last name as stored in Shopify. Leave the column out unless every row has a value you mean to write.	Check vendor docs	Yes	Field: help.shopify.com, read 8 Nov 2026 Mapping: help.kit.com, read 8 Nov 2026
Tags	text, comma-separated	A comma-separated list of customer tags. Select Customer tags under Fields included to include the Tags column in the export. Kit keeps existing tags and adds imported ones. Adding a tag can start a Visual Automation or Rule, so pause those first.	Comma-separated list of tags	No	Field: help.shopify.com, read 8 Nov 2026 Mapping: help.kit.com, read 8 Nov 2026
Accepts Email Marketing	yes or no	Shopify's yes/no email-marketing status. A yes value alone does not establish current permission; reconcile later opt-outs, suppression and conflicting records before preparing an import. Check unsubscribes and suppression in Shopify before you send; a later opt-out outranks a yes. A yes and a no for the same address is a conflict to resolve by hand, and deduplication never settles it.	Leave unmapped in this workflow; review permission separately	No	Field: help.shopify.com, read 8 Nov 2026 Mapping: help.kit.com, read 8 Nov 2026
Shopify: no marketing (Kit label)	Kit tag	Kit app tag, not a Shopify CSV column. The tag Kit's Shopify app adds to buyers who left marketing unchecked. Exclude tagged subscribers from marketing sends. An older Existing Subscribers tag never overrides it.	Shopify: no marketing	No	help.kit.com, read 8 Nov 2026
Any column you leave unmapped (Kit label)	any	Every other column in the export. Kit imports only mapped columns.	Not imported	No	help.kit.com, read 8 Nov 2026
Opens, clicks, bounces	absent	The customer CSV has no engagement-event columns. Summaries kept as tags travel as tags only.	Not imported	No	help.shopify.com, read 8 Nov 2026

Know the export limits

• Customer exports are capped at 15 MB; big stores export by segment in several files. Read 8 Nov 2026.
• Over 50 customers, Shopify emails the file instead of downloading it. Read 8 Nov 2026.

Import a few rows first and check them in Kit before you send the full file.

Open Kit vendor link

Review the export before the filter

Review the full original export for repeated addresses and conflicting statuses, and check later opt-outs and suppression records in the source platform before running this filter. A yes value is a source label, not proof of current permission. This filter ignores non-yes rows before duplicate removal, so it does not flag a yes/no conflict. Its output is a draft mapping CSV for manual review, not approval to import or send. For a separate report that flags conflicting status labels, use the migration checker; that report does not approve permission either.

What breaks (and how to avoid it)

• Separate app features. Completed-purchase sync brings over customers who bought a product. Kit also documents a separate abandoned-checkout path; review its conditions rather than assuming every Shopify newsletter signup is included. Check the current no-marketing tag and exclusion instructions before sending.
• File limits. Shopify exports are capped at 15 MB. Big stores may need to export by segment in several files.
• Customer fields are not event history. Shopify's customer CSV does not contain engagement-event columns such as past opens, clicks or bounces. Its documentation describes preserving engagement summaries as tags when moving data into Shopify. Such labels do not transfer the underlying event history or guarantee deliverability in Kit.
• Do not use purchased lists for this workflow. Shopify warns that unsolicited purchased addresses can harm deliverability. Check applicable law and the vendors' policies; this filter is not legal advice or permission to send.

Check it worked

• Reconcile the draft file and Kit import results, including existing subscribers and rejected records. A matching row count does not establish permission to send. Check mapped fields, tags, suppression and relevant automation settings separately.
• Open a few imported subscribers and confirm their Shopify tags came through.
• Your paused automations are still paused. Turn them back on deliberately, not by accident.
• If you connected the app, a test order with marketing unchecked gets the Shopify: no marketing tag.

Sources

• Shopify Help Center: Importing and exporting customer lists (checked Nov 8, 2026)
• Kit Help Center: How to import a subscriber list (updated June 26, 2026; checked Nov 8, 2026)
• Kit Help Center: Kit + Shopify (updated July 17, 2026; checked Nov 8, 2026)

Published November 7, 2026. Sources last read November 8, 2026. Send a correction.