What happened

On September 10, Shopify announced a new way to collect consent to WhatsApp marketing messages during checkout. A store enables it in checkout settings, gaining another subscription point for subsequent communications. [1 · Shopify]

What is known about effectiveness

The announcement contains no measurements of repeat purchases, conversion or revenue. Feature availability is confirmed, but the effectiveness of future messaging is unknown. Growth in subscriber numbers does not itself show stronger customer relationships. [1 · Shopify]

How to assess the result

The channel can be tested among buyers who have consented: some receive a new message sequence, while others continue with the previous approach. Repeat orders and profit should be compared over equal periods, while tracking unsubscribes and complaints. A separate check should establish whether the additional checkout element reduces completion of the first purchase. For relationship marketing, relevance and contact frequency matter, not just the number of messages sent. [1 · Shopify]

Expert commentary

I assess Shopify's feature as a convenient transition from a single transaction to possible continued communication. Collecting consent at purchase is technically easier than bringing someone back to a separate subscription form later. But consent means permission to make contact, not established loyalty. Value for the store will arise if subsequent messages help the buyer solve a real problem related to their previous choice or a justified next need. [1 · Shopify]

For the industry, this may lower the barrier between a small store's commerce infrastructure and communications. At the same time, relationships remain mediated by an external channel: the ability to contact customers depends on the messenger's operation and terms. A retention strategy is therefore better built around the history of customer needs and service quality than around a single way to deliver messages. If every store limits itself to identical discount mailings, the advantage of a new subscription point may quickly disappear. [1 · Shopify]

The customer's control over contact is relevant to the research. In Tucker's study, responses to personalized advertising strengthened after perceived privacy control increased. The study took place on a social network and does not prove the effectiveness of WhatsApp messages. It does, however, support a useful hypothesis: clearly explaining subscription content and providing convenient preference management may be part of the relationship's value. Formally obtained consent without clear expectations does not automatically create that value. [2 · Tucker, 2014]

From the customer's and society's perspective, commercial messages enter an environment used for everyday personal communication. Benefits are possible when contact is relevant; excessive frequency can turn convenience into a burden on attention. I would give people a clear choice of topics and frequency and test their responses to changes in settings. These are recommendations for future messaging, not descriptions of the new Shopify toggle's capabilities or claims that complaints have already occurred. [2 · Tucker, 2014]

A commercial risk arises when only subscriber numbers are optimized. An additional checkout element may affect purchase completion, while a new channel may take credit for orders that previously came through email or direct visits. I would therefore test the checkout change and the content of subsequent messages separately. Total customer purchases across all channels, communication costs and complaints matter; high activity within WhatsApp does not itself demonstrate business expansion. [1 · Shopify]

Long-term assessment should be segmented by customers' initial activity. Liu showed that the same relationship program may accompany different patterns among active and occasional customers. For Shopify, I would compare consenting participants with and without the new message sequence over equal observation periods. Additional repeat purchases and margin with acceptable unsubscribe rates would demonstrate value, rather than simply more messages or orders from an already regular audience. [3 · Liu, 2007]

Sources

  1. Shopify — consent to WhatsApp messages — September 10, 2026. Official changelog.
  2. Tucker, 2014 — personalization and perceived control over data — Primary research; the implication for Shopify is a testable hypothesis.
  3. Liu, 2007 — differences in long-term purchasing behavior — Primary longitudinal research; the proposed experiment concerns future Shopify messaging.