How Customer Tagging works
When a paid order includes a course with Customer Tagging turned on, Alva Courses adds that course's tag to the customer who placed the order. The tag sits on the customer record in Shopify alongside their other tags, ready for a customer segment, Shopify Flow or an email tool that syncs Shopify customer tags.
Each course has one tag, chosen by you. An order with several tagged courses adds each course's tag. Tagging runs in the background after payment, separately from enrolment, so a failed tag never holds up access.
Turn on Customer Tagging
1. Open the course's Customer tags tab
In the Shopify admin, open Alva Courses, click Courses, and open the course. Select the Settings tab, then the Customer tags tab. Customer Tagging is the first card.
2. Choose Enable tagging
Choose Enable tagging (the other option is Disable tagging) and the Tag to add field appears. The create-course page has the same Customer Tagging card, with Enable and Disable.
3. Enter the tag
Type the tag in Tag to add, for example watercolour-101-buyer: 40 characters or fewer, no commas. The field warns you if you break either rule but doesn't stop the save, so fix it first. Avoid tags beginning alva-, which progress tags use. A blank tag tags nobody.
4. Save your changes
Click Save in Shopify's save bar. Tagging starts with the next paid order; earlier buyers are not tagged, so add the tag to them yourself in Shopify if you need to.
Which orders add the tag
Only a paid Shopify order that includes the course adds the tag. Every paid order counts, including repeat purchases and subscription renewals, so a tag you delete by hand returns with that customer's next paid order for the course.
An order with no customer attached, such as some point-of-sale sales, adds no tag. If Shopify rejects the tag, the student is still enrolled but untagged; Alva Courses does not retry. These enrolments never add the purchase tag:
- Members you add with Add Member.
- CSV imports, which have their own option, Add tag to imported customers in Shopify.
- Access through membership tags.
- Students who enrol themselves in a Free or Free With Account course.
- The Shopify Flow action Enroll customer in course.
The tag is never removed
Alva Courses only ever adds a purchase tag; nothing in the app takes one off. The tag stays when you refund the order, remove the student from the course, turn tagging off, change the tag, or uninstall Alva Courses.
So the tag means "bought this course at some point", not "can open it now": a refund still removes access, but the tag stays. Remove old tags yourself in Shopify if you want them gone.
How it differs from progress tags and membership tags
Customer Tagging is the only Alva Courses tag feature that records a purchase. Progress tags follow how far a student has got; membership tags work the other way round, reading a tag already on the customer to grant access.
| Feature | What it does | Does Alva Courses remove the tag? |
|---|---|---|
| Customer Tagging | Adds your tag when a paid order includes the course | Never |
| Progress Tags | Keeps one of three alva- tags matching the student's progress | Yes — swapped as progress changes, removed on unenrolment |
| Membership Tags | Grants access to customers who already carry the tag | Never adds or removes them |
Don't list a purchase tag under Membership Tags on another course unless every buyer of this course should get into that one too. The purchase tag is never removed, so that access would outlast a refund.
Tag every enrolment with Shopify Flow
To tag students however they were enrolled, use Shopify Flow instead of Customer Tagging. Build a workflow on the Alva Courses trigger Course enrollment created and add Shopify's Add customer tags action. The trigger fires when a new enrolment is created by a purchase, by you, by CSV import, a membership tag, free self-enrolment or a Flow action.
Build it like Tag customers who complete a course, with a different trigger. Its fields are listed in Shopify Flow triggers and their fields.
What customers see
Nothing. Alva Courses writes the tag to the customer record in the Shopify admin. Checkout, the course player and enrolment emails are unchanged.
Common questions
Will customers who bought before I turned it on get the tag?
No. Tagging starts with the next paid order after you save. Earlier buyers are tagged only if they place another paid order for the course, so add the tag to them yourself in Shopify if you need them included.
Does a refund remove the tag?
No. A refund removes the student's access to the course, but the tag stays on the customer in Shopify. Alva Courses never removes a purchase tag, so remove it in Shopify yourself if you need to.
Are members I add by hand tagged?
No. Only a paid order adds the purchase tag. Members you add or import, students enrolled by a Flow action, and students who join through a membership tag or a free course don't get it. Use the Course enrollment created trigger in Shopify Flow to tag them.
What happens if I change the tag later?
New paid orders add the new tag. Customers who were already tagged keep the old one, because Alva Courses doesn't rename or remove tags. Remove the old tag in Shopify if you no longer want it.
Can two courses use the same tag?
Yes. A customer who buys either course gets the tag, and an order containing both adds it once. Duplicating a course copies its tag too, so change it on the copy if you want to tell the buyers apart.
See also
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Last updated 2026-10-12