Install & onboard
Why getting started here matters
Most merchant onboarding flows are friction-laden, multi-day processes — connect this, configure that, paste a code here, upload a CSV there. By the time the merchant sees value, the trial period is half over and the team's commitment to the new tool is shaky.
Sumeru Systems is built differently: value within day one. The moment the app is installed, customer profiles start building automatically. Within 24 hours, the platform has backfilled your full Shopify customer history, identified your at-risk customers, surfaced cart-recovery opportunities, and made the highest-leverage built-in journeys (cart recovery, welcome series, post-purchase) one-click activatable.
Most stores go from install to "first recovered cart sale" in under 48 hours. This page walks you through the path that gets you there reliably.
What success looks like in your first week
| Day | Milestone | Typical outcome |
|---|---|---|
| Day 0 | Install + OAuth | Backfill begins; profiles populating |
| Day 1 | Onboarding complete | First customer profiles visible |
| Day 2 | Built-in cart recovery on | First abandoned cart recovered |
| Day 3 | First segment built | First targeted campaign sent |
| Day 7 | Welcome series + post-purchase live | First repeat-order driven by journey |
| Day 14 | Attribution starts producing data | First multi-touch revenue picture |
| Day 30 | First A/B test result | First validated lift |
Prerequisites
You'll need:
| Item | Why |
|---|---|
| A Shopify store (Basic / Shopify / Plus) | The platform connects via Shopify's official app framework |
| Admin access to the store | OAuth approval and webhook setup |
| A storefront theme you can edit (or theme team access) | To install the storefront pixel — drives engagement signals |
| 30 minutes of focused time | Walking through the onboarding wizard end-to-end |
You don't need:
- A separate ESP/marketing tool to migrate from (we can pull from your existing one as part of onboarding, or skip it)
- A developer (every step is no-code in the admin)
- Marketing data prepped (we backfill from Shopify automatically)
How install works (without the technical bits)
Step 1 — Install from the Shopify App Store
Click "Install" on the Sumeru Systems App Store listing. Shopify will show you the requested permissions:
| Scope | What it does |
|---|---|
read_customers, write_customers | Read your customer base, update profile fields |
read_orders, write_orders | Read order history (for analytics + attribution); write cancellations / refunds when journey logic dictates |
read_products, write_products | Read product catalog (for AI / recommendations); write product updates if you opt-in to bulk operations |
read_marketing_events, write_marketing_events | Track campaigns + journeys for Shopify reporting |
read_orders (extended retention) | Look at multi-year history for predictive LTV |
read_themes | Check pixel install status |
Approve the install. Shopify redirects you back to the platform.
Step 2 — OAuth + initial backfill (~5 minutes)
The platform begins importing your Shopify data:
| Data | Pull duration (typical) |
|---|---|
| Customers | ~1 minute per 10K customers |
| Orders (12-month history) | ~30 seconds per 10K orders |
| Products | ~10 seconds per 1K SKUs |
| Discount codes | ~5 seconds |
You'll see the progress in real time. For shops with > 100K customers, the backfill runs in the background and you can proceed with onboarding while it completes.
Step 3 — Onboarding wizard (~10–15 minutes)
A 7-step wizard:
- Brand basics — name, URL, brand colors, logo (used for email templates)
- Region & currency — primary market, ISO currency, timezone (for time-zone-aware sends)
- Plan selection — Free / Starter / Pro / Agency / Enterprise (start with Free; upgrade anytime)
- WhatsApp connection (if Starter+) — paste in WA Business Manager API key, verify display name, send test message
- Email connection — connect Resend / SendGrid / your own ESP via SMTP (Free includes 1K sends/month on shared infra)
- Storefront pixel — copy/paste a 1-line script tag into theme.liquid (or send it to your theme team)
- Compliance defaults — your default consent text, quiet hours, regional rules
Each step has sensible defaults; the wizard takes ~10 minutes if you accept defaults, ~30 minutes if you customize everything.
Step 4 — Built-in journey activation
After the wizard, you'll see 7 built-in journeys with "Activate" buttons:
| Journey | Recommended activation? |
|---|---|
| Cart recovery | Day 1 — highest single-click ROI |
| Welcome series | Day 1 — converts new sign-ups |
| Post-purchase upsell | Day 1 — drives 2nd-order rate |
| Review request | Day 7 — needs first orders to fulfill first |
| Win-back | Day 14 — needs lifecycle stages to populate |
| VIP upgrade (Pro) | Day 30 — needs LTV data |
| Churn prevention (Pro) | Day 30 — needs behavioural baseline |
Activating each is one click. They use sensible defaults for copy + timing — you can tune later.
Step 5 — Storefront pixel install
The single most important install step. Without the pixel, profiles are limited to order data; with it, they capture the full browsing journey.
Two install methods:
Easy (theme.liquid). Copy the script tag from the admin's
"Install pixel" page. Paste it into your theme.liquid just
before </head>. Save. Done.
Cleanest (Shopify pixel API). For Plus stores, register the pixel via Shopify's pixel API for sandboxed loading. Slightly more work, slightly better performance.
After install, the admin shows "Pixel events received in last hour" in real time. You should see events arrive within 60 seconds of installing.
Real merchant scenarios
Scenario A — Founder-led brand, install in 18 minutes
Setup. Single-founder beauty brand, 2,400 customers, ~$8K/month revenue. Wants to add automated marketing without extra hours.
Timeline.
| Time | Step | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 09:00 | Click install | OAuth in 30 sec |
| 09:01 | Backfill begins | Import 2,400 customers in 14 sec |
| 09:02 | Wizard step 1 | Brand basics — used Shopify defaults |
| 09:05 | Wizard step 5 | Email connection — paste Resend API key |
| 09:09 | Wizard step 6 | Asked theme dev to install pixel |
| 09:12 | Wizard step 7 | Accepted compliance defaults |
| 09:14 | Activate cart recovery | 1 click |
| 09:15 | Activate welcome | 1 click |
| 09:16 | Activate post-purchase | 1 click |
| 09:18 | Done — first profile reviewed | (reviewed in Customer 360) |
| 11:30 | First abandoned cart triggered | Customer received email |
| 14:50 | Second profile abandoned cart triggered | Customer recovered ($87 order) |
Day 1 result: $87 in recovered revenue, 3 minutes of work after the wizard. The platform paid for the first month's subscription before lunch.
Scenario B — Mid-market brand migrating from Klaviyo
Setup. $15M/year DTC brand. Current stack: Klaviyo (email + SMS) + a separate WhatsApp tool + a CSV-based segment process. Wants to consolidate to one platform.
Approach. 2-week parallel-run migration.
| Week | Activity |
|---|---|
| 1 | Install Sumeru Systems, run wizard, import Klaviyo profiles via CSV (one-click). Both platforms running parallel — Klaviyo still sending. |
| 1 (later) | Build first segments, draft journeys (don't activate yet). |
| 2 | Activate the new journeys; pause matching Klaviyo flows. |
| 2 (later) | Final consent + suppression list reconciliation. Cancel Klaviyo. |
Cost savings. Klaviyo: $4,800/month for that scale. WhatsApp tool: $1,200/month. SMS tool: $400/month. Total $6,400/month → Sumeru Systems Pro tier: $1,200/month. Net savings: $5,200/month.
Performance change. Initial 30 days post-migration:
| Metric | Before | After |
|---|---|---|
| Email open rate | 18% | 24% (better targeting) |
| Cross-channel attribution accuracy | 60% (UTM only) | 95% (multi-touch) |
| Hours/week on segments | 6 | 0.5 |
| Cross-tool unsubscribe leakage tickets | 4-6/week | 0 |
Scenario C — Agency onboarding 12 brands
Setup. Agency with 12 client brands; each on Shopify Plus. Wants to standardize on Sumeru Systems across all of them.
Approach. Develop a "playbook" install flow:
- Install on each brand's Shopify (delegated install via Plus Partner permissions).
- Apply a saved configuration template — brand colors plug in per brand, all other defaults pre-set.
- Activate the standard 5-journey baseline (cart recovery, welcome, post-purchase, review request, win-back).
- Roll out per-brand customizations week 2.
Per-brand install time: ~25 minutes. Total fleet onboarded: 12 brands in 5 working days.
Scenario D — Plus brand with custom OAuth flow
Setup. $80M brand with strict security review. Won't approve standard Shopify OAuth without extra controls.
Approach. Used the Enterprise SSO path:
- SSO via the brand's Okta IDP (Sumeru Systems has built-in SAML support on Enterprise tier).
- SCIM provisioning for the marketing team's user accounts.
- IP-restricted admin access (admin only available from corporate VPN).
- Audit log streaming to the brand's SIEM (Splunk).
Onboarding time: 5 weeks (most of it in security review, not implementation). Compliance review: approved with no findings.
Best practices
✅ Install the pixel on day 1. It's the difference between profile data and complete profile data. Even if you wait on journeys, get the pixel installed.
✅ Activate cart recovery first, before any other journey. Highest immediate ROI; learn how the platform works on its output.
✅ Don't customize copy on day 1. Defaults are good. Run them for 2 weeks, see what works, customize from data.
✅ Set quiet hours per region if you have international customers. The single biggest one-time setup win.
✅ Connect WhatsApp before SMS. Higher engagement, lower fatigue cost; gets you better immediate ROI than SMS.
✅ Backfill from your old ESP if you have one. The CSV import preserves opt-in records and adds them to the audit chain.
❌ Don't migrate everything in week 1. Run the new platform in parallel with the old for 2 weeks. Verify. Then cut over.
❌ Don't skip the consent text customization. Generic "sign up for our newsletter" hurts opt-in rates by 30–40% vs. brand- specific copy.
❌ Don't activate all 7 journeys on day 1. Cart recovery + welcome + post-purchase first; layer in review-request and win-back after a week of data.
Frequently asked
How long does the Shopify backfill take? For typical shops (< 50K customers): under 2 minutes. For larger (50K–500K): 10–60 minutes, runs in background. For very large (> 500K): a few hours; you'll see real-time progress.
Will installing affect my store's load time? The pixel adds ~6 KB compressed; loads asynchronously after page content. No measurable impact on Lighthouse scores.
Can I uninstall and reinstall later? Yes. On uninstall, customer data is retained for 30 days — if you reinstall within that window, picks up exactly where it left off. After 30 days, data is permanently deleted.
What happens if Shopify rate-limits us? The platform self-throttles to stay well within Shopify's API quotas. You won't see your store affected.
Can I install on multiple stores at once? Yes (Agency tier+). Multi-store install via the agency dashboard; each store has its own data scoped to its shop ID.
How do I migrate my Klaviyo / Mailchimp / etc. data?
CSV upload during onboarding. The system will preserve email-
opt-in records, mapping them into Sumeru Systems OptInRecords.
Detailed import guide in the wizard.
Do I need approval from Shopify for the install? No — Sumeru Systems is a Shopify-approved app available in the Shopify App Store. Install is one click from the listing.
What if I have a custom storefront (not a Liquid theme)?
The pixel is a standard JavaScript snippet that works on any
storefront. For Hydrogen stores, paste it into your <head> in
the layout component. For headless / Next.js, paste it into your
Layout component.
What if my pixel is already installed (Klaviyo, Meta, etc.)? Sumeru Systems's pixel is independent of others. They coexist; you don't need to remove the others. Each pixel measures only its own touchpoints — Sumeru Systems uses first-party Shopify data and its own pixel for the unified profile.
See also
- Customer 360 — what gets populated after install
- Journeys & automations — built-in journeys, activate after install
- Sales engine overview — the features you've just unlocked
- GDPR & consent — defaults set during onboarding
- Billing & plans — when to upgrade
- Storefront widgets — opt-in capture surfaces to install next