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Managing Customer and Customer Groups

Customers are the entities (individuals or organizations) that transact with your store — via one-time orders, subscriptions, or both. They serve as a central anchor that links orders and subscription contracts to real-world identities. You can store as little or as much information as you like, depending on your use cases.

There are three main customer entity types:

  • Individual - A single person (with name, email, address).
  • Organization - A company or legal entity (can include multiple users or contacts).
  • Group - A container or folder for organizing customers or sub-groups (useful for markets, project teams, internal segmentation).

You can nest Groups, Organizations, and Individuals in a hierarchical tree (up to 5 levels deep). This is especially useful in B2B contexts where companies have subsidiaries or multiple departments.

Customer List

The Customer List gives you a global view of all your customers and groups.

  • Hierarchy view on the left
    The sidebar shows your customer tree (Groups, Organizations, Individuals).
  • Spreadsheet style view
    When you click on a group or the top level, the right pane shows customers in a table.
  • Search and filtering
    Search by name, identifier, metadata, or other fields. Filters are preserved in the URL, so you can share filtered views.
  • Column customization
    Drag and drop columns to reorder them.

Actions and bulk operations
Add new customers or groups, edit, delete, or deep-link into the customer detail view.

Customer listing

Customer View

Clicking on an individual or organization opens the Customer Detail view. Here you will see:

  • Profile information
    Identifier, persona (name, contact), billing and shipping addresses.
  • Metadata and external references
    Custom fields or links to external systems (CRM, ERP).
  • Orders and Subscriptions
    A list of all orders and subscription contracts tied to this customer. Click to view details.
  • Actions
    Create a new order or subscription contract, edit or cancel subscriptions.
  • Deletion
    Deleting a customer removes associated subscriptions but not past orders.
Customer view

Customer Create and Edit

When you create a new customer or update an existing one, you can set:

  • Identifier (unique key) - can be auto-generated or supplied.
  • Persona (for Individuals) - first name, last name, email.
  • Addresses - shipping and billing, which may be the same or different.
  • Metadata and external references - custom fields for integrations or CRM needs.

Hierarchy and Groups

Customers in Crystallize can be organized into a hierarchical tree structure. This allows you to group individuals and organizations in a way that reflects your real-world business setup. The hierarchy makes it easy to manage complex B2B relationships, regional structures, or multi-brand setups in a clear and scalable way.

  • Customers and groups can be organized in a tree up to 5 levels deep.
  • Groups are containers without persona or address data.
  • Individuals or organizations can be created inside groups or sub-groups.
  • Useful for enterprise and B2B structures where you need divisions or subsidiaries.

Best Practices

  • Use meaningful identifiers (for example email, username, or external ID) so integrations are easier.
  • Leverage metadata fields to store system-specific data (CRM tags, external IDs).
  • Keep group hierarchies clean - do not over-nest unless necessary.
  • Always confirm before deletion to avoid data loss.
  • Use webhooks and APIs to keep customer data synced across systems.