Private Communities
Unlike free or public communities, customers do not have access to private communities by default, nor can they purchase access as they would for paid communities. Private communities allow customer access to be granted in two ways:
Tag-based access
Manual invitations
To enable tag-based access, follow these steps:
Create a private community and open it for editing.
Scroll down to the Tags section and enter the tag(s) in the Tag-based access text field.
Save the community.
Assign the tag(s) you specified earlier to the customer(s) you want to grant access to the community.
All customers with the specified tag(s) will then automatically gain access to this private community.
To manually invite customers to a community, follow these steps:
Create a private community.
On the communities page, use the actions dropdown to select the Invites option, or open the community for editing and click More actions > Invite members in the top-right corner.
On the Invites page, click the Invite members button. If no members have been invited, this button will appear at the center of the page; otherwise, it will be located in the top-right corner.
Enter the required email addresses, separated by commas or spaces (you can copy and paste them from Excel or Google Sheets), and click Invite to start the import process.
The import process will run in the background, allowing you to perform other actions within the admin panel or storefront.
The merchant can monitor the progress of the import process. If necessary, click Cancel to stop the import. Already imported members will remain listed in the table.
Invites page includes a table with all manually invited community members. You can:
- Sort by invite date.
- Search for members by first/last name (if available) or email.
To revoke access for specific members:
Select members in table.
Click "three dots" icon.
Choose Revoke access option.
This action will immediately remove selected members' access to the community.
- If provided emails do not correspond to existing shop customers, app will automatically create a customer record for them and send an email invite to join shop.
- Disabled customer accounts will still receive an invitation.
- Only one import process can run at a time. While importing members to one community, you cannot start an import for another.
Tag-based access
Manual invitations
Setting Up Tag-Based Access
To enable tag-based access, follow these steps:
Create a private community and open it for editing.
Scroll down to the Tags section and enter the tag(s) in the Tag-based access text field.
Save the community.
Assign the tag(s) you specified earlier to the customer(s) you want to grant access to the community.
All customers with the specified tag(s) will then automatically gain access to this private community.
Setting Up Manual Invitations
To manually invite customers to a community, follow these steps:
Create a private community.
On the communities page, use the actions dropdown to select the Invites option, or open the community for editing and click More actions > Invite members in the top-right corner.
On the Invites page, click the Invite members button. If no members have been invited, this button will appear at the center of the page; otherwise, it will be located in the top-right corner.
Enter the required email addresses, separated by commas or spaces (you can copy and paste them from Excel or Google Sheets), and click Invite to start the import process.
The import process will run in the background, allowing you to perform other actions within the admin panel or storefront.
The merchant can monitor the progress of the import process. If necessary, click Cancel to stop the import. Already imported members will remain listed in the table.
Managing Members
Invites page includes a table with all manually invited community members. You can:
- Sort by invite date.
- Search for members by first/last name (if available) or email.
To revoke access for specific members:
Select members in table.
Click "three dots" icon.
Choose Revoke access option.
This action will immediately remove selected members' access to the community.
Important Notes
- If provided emails do not correspond to existing shop customers, app will automatically create a customer record for them and send an email invite to join shop.
- Disabled customer accounts will still receive an invitation.
- Only one import process can run at a time. While importing members to one community, you cannot start an import for another.
Updated on: 19/11/2024
Thank you!