---
title: "Customer tag and customer order count"
description: "VIP, wholesale and returning-customer discounts, and why guests behave differently."
url: https://rmewfqxya.us.gleap.help/en/articles/19-customer-tag-and-customer-order-count
collection: "Conditions"
updated: 2026-11-08
language: en
---

# Customer tag and customer order count

VIP, wholesale and returning-customer discounts, and why guests behave differently.

Both conditions need Shopify to know who the customer is, so **they only work for customers signed in to their account at checkout**. Guest checkouts behave differently, as described below.

For groups of customers, including guests, **Customers → Specific customer segments** is often the better tool. Shopify matches segments by the email or phone number entered at checkout.

## Customer tag

Matches tags on the customer's Shopify profile, such as VIP or Wholesale.

-   **Contains**: the customer has at least one of the tags.
    
-   **Does not contain**: the customer has none of the tags.
    
-   **Is exactly**: currently works the same as Contains.
    

Type a tag and press Enter, or pick from the suggestions.

**Guests:** a guest has no tags, so **Contains** never matches a guest and **Does not contain** always does. "Everyone except Wholesale" therefore includes guests, and a wholesale customer who checks out with a different email gets the discount.

**Combining tags:** each Customer tag condition checks only its own tags. For "VIP but not Blocked", add **Contains** VIP and **Does not contain** Blocked to the same rule group.

## Customer order count

How many orders the customer has placed before. Operators: **Is equal to**, **Is less than**, **Is greater than**, **Is at most**, **Is at least**.

-   **Returning customers**: **Is at least 1**.
    
-   **Loyal customers**: **Is at least 5**.
    

**Guests never match an order count condition**, whatever the number. Test orders don't count toward it either.

## First-order free shipping (works for guests)

Don't use Customer order count for this. Use a Shopify customer segment instead:

1.  In the discount, go to **Customers** and choose **Specific customer segments**.
    
2.  Select **Customers who haven't purchased** (Shopify creates this segment for you).
    
3.  Save.
    

![The Customers card with Specific customer segments chosen and Customers who haven't purchased selected](https://staticfiles.us.gleap.ai/p6ad4251a43e13d5e6030fd91/hs4Q3F1GxF4buMAjMGSE5NczRj30rudTWaTqoJKZfV5D4xpacDJqK5JfA2pfithugHls10wp3gk.png)

Shopify checks segments using the email or phone number entered at checkout, so this works for guests as well as signed-in customers. A shopper whose email already has an order won't get it.

## Testing

Sign in to a test customer account at checkout, and use ABC123 as the first name if the discount is in Test mode.