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Email marketing preferences can be synchronized in two different ways between Engage and Shopify, depending on how the integration is configured: Webhook disabled: Preferences are only synced via order events Webhook enabled: Preferences synced continuously based on updates in both systems In the sections below you’ll see how each configuration affects data behavior.

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1: When webhook is disabled

Syncing with webhook disabled
If the marketing preference webhook in Engage is not enabled in the app configuration, email marketing preferences are only synced when the order/create payload comes from Shopify, such as when an order is placed. No real-time sync occurs outside of order events. There are three cases to consider here:
When:
  • A customer does not exist in Engage
  • And they place an order in Shopify
Then:
  • A contact will be automatically created in Engage
  • The acceptsEmail value will be set to the marketing preference value in the Shopify order
When:
  • A customer with marketing preference of “true” places an order in Shopify
  • And they already exists in Engage with acceptsEmail = “false”
Then:
  • The acceptsEmail value will be updated to “true” in Engage
When:
  • A customer with marketing preference of “false” places an order in Shopify
  • And they already exists in Engage with acceptsEmail = “true”
Then:
  • The acceptsEmail field is omitted in the update payload
  • The value in Engage remains “true” (meaning that no downgrade occurs)
So when the webhook is disabled, we will not automatically overwrite a positive opt-in with a negative value coming from an order.

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2: When webhook is enabled

Syncing with webhook enabled
If the Engage marketing preference webhook is enabled:
  • We listen to all email marketing preference updates
  • Changes are synchronized more dynamically between systems
  • Preference updates can override existing values depending on the event type
When:
  • The customer creates a new Shopify account with email marketing preference set to “false”
  • A contact already exists in Engage, having been created via another system, with acceptsEmail = “true”
Then:
  • We omit the acceptsEmail field when updating the contact in Engage
  • This means the acceptsEmail value will remain “true”
So we do not automatically downgrade acceptsEmail during contact creation when marketing preference is “false”.
When:
  • In Shopify the marketing preference is “false”
  • In Engage the acceptsEmail value is “true”
  • The customer updates billing information in Shopify
Then:
  • The update payload from Shopify will includes the marketing preference value (“false”)
  • This will override the value in Engage so that acceptsEmail will now be “false”
Because of this behavior, it is critical during onboarding to ensure that email marketing preferences are fully aligned between Shopify and Engage before going live.
So when the webhook is enabled:
  • We listen to all email marketing preference updates
  • Changes made in Shopify will update Engage
  • Changes made in Engage can be synchronized back to Shopify (if configured)

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Important exception

We always override an acceptsEmail value of “true” in Engage except when we receive the customer create webhook from Shopify with an email marketing preference value of “false” in the payload. In other words, a marketing preference value of “false” at customer creation will not downgrade an existing “true” value of acceptsEmail in Engage.

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Pre-selected opt-in setting

Voyado does not recommend enabling support for pre-selected opt-in in the Shopify app setup (or relying on Shopify’s pre-selected opt-in behavior).
Pre-selected opt-in setting
The reason is that in Shopify, once a customer has opted in, they may effectively remain opted in even if they actively deselect the checkbox in a later checkout. This can lead to inconsistent consent states across systems. For example, a customer can be unsubscribed in Engage based on an order event, but later be set back to opted-in when Shopify sends a customer update (e.g., after billing details are updated). Shopify’s region-based pre-selection adds further complexity and increases the risk of incorrect consent handling.
So do not enable the setting above and be sure to align the consent states between Shopify and Engage before go-live.

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Key recommendations

During onboarding, it is essential to:
  • Audit and align all email marketing preferences between systems
  • Decide whether the webhook should be enabled based on the desired source of truth
  • Clearly define whether Shopify or Engage should control opt-in logic going forward
Misalignment before go-live can result in unintended opt-in overrides.