Customer Accounts & Login
How shoppers create an account and sign in to your storefront, and which parts of it you control as the store owner.
This is the customer-facing login. Your own dashboard login is covered in Signing In.
A customer account is created for your store only. The same shopper visiting another Ecomplify store signs up again there. Their order history, wishlist and saved addresses are per store.
An account is required to buy
There is no guest checkout. A shopper must be signed in to reach checkout — visiting checkout while signed out sends them to the login page. Adding to cart from a product page prompts them to sign in or register.
Order history and order tracking also require signing in. There is no "track my order with an order number and email" page for signed-out visitors.
Ways shoppers can sign in
You choose which of these your store offers:
| Method | Where | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Email and password | /login | On by default. Can be switched off. |
| Phone by SMS | /otp/login | Off until you configure an SMS provider. |
| Phone by WhatsApp | /otp/login | Off until you configure WhatsApp. |
| Button on the login page | Appears only once you add Google credentials. |
If you turn email/password login off, /login sends shoppers to the phone login page instead. If no phone method is enabled, phone login sends them back to email login.
Signing up with email
The shopper enters full name, email, password, ticks your terms, and completes the anti-bot check.
Rules they must satisfy:
- Password: at least 8 characters. No capitals/numbers/symbols required.
- The name field must not contain numbers. A shopper typing "House 12" into the name box gets "Fullname must not contain numbers." This is a common source of confusion.
- The terms box must be ticked.
- The email must not already be registered on your store.
Whether new customers must verify their email
By default, new accounts are verified automatically — the shopper is signed in immediately after signing up, with no code to enter. This is the smoothest path and is what most stores use.
If you switch automatic verification off, new shoppers instead receive a 4-digit code by email (sent using your store's own email settings) and must enter it before they can sign in.
If you use that mode, know these limitations:
- The code does not expire on a timer; it stays valid until a newer one is sent.
- There is no working "resend code" button on the verification page. A shopper who loses the email must go through Forgot password to be sent a fresh code.
Signing in by phone (SMS or WhatsApp)
- The shopper picks SMS or WhatsApp, enters their number, and completes the anti-bot check. The check is required here and cannot be skipped — it protects you from paying for junk messages.
- A 4-digit code is sent.
- They enter the code and are signed in.
Details worth knowing:
- The code is valid for 10 minutes.
- Resend is available after 55 seconds.
- A number may request 6 codes per 24 hours, and make 10 attempts per 24 hours.
- Codes are single use.
- If they wait too long on the first screen, the flow expires after 15 minutes and returns them to the start.
Phone login doubles as sign-up. A shopper whose number isn't known to your store gets an account created automatically on first successful code — no separate registration step, and no email address on file.
A shopper who signs in by phone and later signs up with an email address on the same store ends up with two separate accounts, each with its own order history. There's no way for them to merge these.
Signing in with Google
Google sign-in uses your own Google credentials, configured in your dashboard, so the consent screen shows your store.
- Existing customers with the same email are signed in to their existing account.
- New emails get an account created, already verified.
- You can restrict sign-in to specific email domains — useful for a wholesale or staff-only store. A shopper outside those domains is refused.
Forgotten passwords
The Reset link on the login page asks for the shopper's email, then emails them a 4-digit code and takes them to the verification screen.
Entering that code signs them in. It does not show a "choose a new password" form. To actually change the password they go to My Profile and enter a new one.
So the recovery path a shopper experiences is: request code → enter code → you're in → change password in the profile page if you want to.
How long shoppers stay signed in
| Stays signed in | |
|---|---|
| Normal sign-in | 24 hours |
| With Remember me | 7 days |
| Google sign-in | 24 hours (Remember me does not apply) |
Signing out ends the session on that device only, and also clears the cart held in that browser. Signing back in restores the shopper's saved cart and wishlist.
What you control as the store owner
These settings all live in your dashboard:
- Which login methods appear — email/password on or off, SMS on or off, WhatsApp on or off.
- Your SMS or WhatsApp provider and its credentials.
- Google login credentials, and any email-domain restriction.
- Whether new email signups are auto-verified or must enter a code.
- Which anti-bot check protects your login and signup forms.
- Your email sending settings, which determine whether verification emails actually arrive.
Common questions
A customer says they never received their verification code. Check spam first. Confirm your store's email settings are configured and working — verification mail is sent using your own email setup, so if that is misconfigured, no codes go out. Remember there is no working resend button on the verify page; send them through Reset instead.
A customer can't sign up because of their name. The name field rejects digits. Ask them to put building numbers in the address at checkout instead.
A customer has two accounts. Most often they signed in by phone once and registered with email another time. These are separate accounts with separate history and cannot be merged.
"Email/password login is disabled for this store." You turned email login off. The shopper must use phone or Google. Turn it back on if that was unintentional.
"Turnstile not configured. Please contact site admin." You selected Cloudflare Turnstile as your anti-bot check but didn't save a secret key. Add the key or switch to another option.
A customer can browse but not add to cart. That's expected while signed out — the store prompts them to sign in first.
Can I let customers check out without an account? Not currently. An account is required to reach checkout.