CRM Data Entry Checklist

Search by email and phone before creating a new profile — Shopify allows duplicate customers when one was created via guest checkout and another via account signup. Verify the legal name spelling against the order's billing record, not the shipping label (recipients are often a household member, not the buyer).

Run the address through ShipStation's or Shopify's USPS/UPS validator. Apartment numbers in Address Line 2, missing ZIP+4, and PO box flags for carriers that don't deliver there (UPS Ground) are the usual fails. An unvalidated address is the leading cause of address-correction surcharges from UPS and FedEx.

Check the Klaviyo profile for the consent timestamp and source. CAN-SPAM doesn't require opt-in, but Klaviyo deliverability and GDPR/UK GDPR do — if the consent source is blank, treat the profile as transactional-only until reconfirmed.

TCPA requires express written consent for marketing SMS — checkbox at checkout, keyword opt-in, or a written form. Transactional shipping notifications don't require it, but anything promotional does. Record E.164 format with country code (+1 for US/CA).

Push the consent timestamp, source URL, and IP to Postscript so the audit trail survives a TCPA dispute. Confirm the subscriber appears under the correct list (welcome series, abandoned-cart, VIP) and not the catch-all.

Channel drives downstream tax and reporting logic. Marketplace-facilitator orders (Amazon, eBay, Walmart, Etsy) have sales tax collected by the marketplace; Shopify direct orders accumulate seller nexus. Tag the channel before the order routes to fulfillment.

Use the parent SKU and variant (size/color) — not the public product title. Cross-check against the OMS (Cin7, SkuVault, or Shopify) so the allocation reflects sellable stock, not on-hand. Mismatches here cause oversells across channels.

Ship-by promise is what the storefront committed (e.g., 'ships in 1-2 business days'). For Amazon FBM/SFP, late shipment rate (LSR) above 4% triggers account-health warnings, so the promised date drives the queue priority.

Stripe charge IDs (ch_…) and PayPal transaction IDs are required for chargeback defense. For Shop Pay Installments and Affirm orders, capture the loan ID separately — refund flow differs from a standard card charge.

Use the interaction's actual UTC timestamp, not the ticket-creation time — agents often work tickets hours after the customer's message arrived. Accurate timestamps drive first-response-time SLAs and AHT reporting.

Two sentences: what the customer wanted and what was done. Avoid copy-pasting the macro response — that defeats the point of the summary. The summary feeds the monthly contact-reason trend review and surfaces emerging product issues (sizing, defect patterns, shipping delays).

Use the controlled tag taxonomy (where-is-my-order, return, exchange, sizing, damaged, missing-item, billing, subscription-cancel). Free-text tags fragment reporting and make trend analysis impossible. New themes go to the CX lead for taxonomy review, not into a one-off tag.

Confirm the consent source, IP, and timestamp are stored on the Klaviyo and Shopify profiles. For EU/UK customers, missing lawful basis turns a marketing send into a regulatory exposure. For California customers, ensure the 'Do Not Sell or Share' status from the OneTrust/Termly CMP synced through.

Pick the master profile by oldest creation date and most order history. Merge in Shopify first (admin → Customers → merge), then in Klaviyo (suppress the duplicate, transfer subscription state), then Gorgias (link tickets to surviving customer ID). Order history is unrecoverable if you merge the wrong direction.