How does the Shopify integration work?
OuterSignal integrates with Shopify through a simple API connection that takes approximately 2-5 minutes to set up. Once connected, OuterSignal automatically receives new order notifications and customer data is enriched in real-time (within 5 minutes).
OuterSignal accesses customer order information including name, email, billing address, and order details of orders placed in the US and Australia. Due to privacy regulations, any orders placed on your store from other countries will not appear in your OuterSignal dashboard.
How do I send OuterSignal data over to Shopify?
OuterSignal can add tags, metafields, and notes to customers or orders in Shopify for any segment you create in the Signal Feed. Each action requires its own Playbook.
To set up a Shopify Playbook:
Go to Playbooks in the left sidebar and click + Create
2. Select the segment you want to use — if you haven't created one yet, head to your Signal Feed first and save a filtered view as a segment
3. Click Next and a panel will appear showing all available integrations for actions. Under Shopify, choose your action type: Shopify Tag, Shopify Metafield, or Shopify Note.
Shopify Tag
Adds a tag to a Shopify customer record or order when a customer enters your segment. Tags help you organize and filter customers in Shopify, instruct your 3PL, or trigger downstream automations.
Trigger — choose how the Playbook fires:
On Enter — fires once when a customer first matches the segment
Live Sync — fires on every matching order while the customer remains in the segment. Use this for fulfillment instructions you want applied to every order, not just the first
Target Object — choose Customer to tag the customer record persistently across all future orders, or Order to tag a specific transaction (e.g. for 3PL fulfillment instructions)
Customer Tag — enter your tag name using letters, numbers, hyphens, or underscores (max 50 characters). You can use dynamic variables like os-{{segment_name}} to auto-populate the tag with the segment name
Click Add Action
Shopify Metafield
Writes structured OuterSignal data to a custom field on the Shopify customer record. Metafields store richer, more structured data than tags — useful for personalizing the storefront, powering your CS platform, loyalty apps, or passing data to other Shopify-connected tools.
Target Object — choose Customer or Order
Namespace — pre-set to outersignal — leave this as is. The full metafield identifier will be outersignal.your_key
Key — the name of the metafield e.g. vip_status, persona, biography (max 64 characters)
Value — select a variable from the OuterSignal dropdown — this is the OuterSignal data that will be written to the field. A common use is writing the customer's OuterSignal biography to their Shopify record so it surfaces in your CS platform (e.g. Gorgias, Kustomer)
Click Add Action
Shopify Note
Writes a free-text note to a Shopify customer or order. Notes are visible in Shopify admin and to your 3PL — useful for fulfillment instructions, internal flags, or context for your team about why a customer is notable.
Target Object — choose Customer or Order
Note Template — free text up to 1,000 characters. Use dynamic variables to include customer-specific data e.g. VIP Alert: {{criteria_text}} — please include handwritten note and gift
Mode — determines how the note is added:
Append to existing note — adds your note to the end of any existing notes, preserving history and creating a running log. Highly recommended
Overwrite note — replaces any existing notes completely. Not recommended
Click Add Action
4. Once your action is configured, click Add Action
5. Click Review & Create
6. Click Create Playbook