This guide walks through the customizer the way your shopper experiences it. You will see each screen, in order, from opening the product to landing on the cart with a finished design. It is for merchants who want to understand the buyer side before they set up their own products.
What your customer sees
The customizer has two areas. On one side is a live preview of the product. On the other side is a panel of personalization controls.
The product name shows at the top of the controls panel, so the shopper always knows what they are personalizing.
The layout adapts to the screen. On a desktop, the preview and the controls sit side by side. On a phone, they stack, with the preview on top and the controls below.
The customizer can show up in two places. It can appear right on the product page, or it can open as a full editor. Which one your shopper sees depends on how you placed it. See make Composerie visible on your store for the difference.
The personalize-and-buy flow
Here is the full path a shopper takes, from the product page to the cart.
Open the customizer from the product page
The shopper starts on your product page and begins customizing. The product loads with your design and its personalization fields ready.
Fill in the personalization fields
The shopper enters their details into the fields you set up: text, a photo, a color, a font, and so on. Each field has its own control. For more on the field types, see personalization form fields.
Watch the live preview update
Every change the shopper makes updates the preview right away. They can read their text, check their photo, and see their colors before they buy. There is no separate refresh step. Read more in the live preview.
Choose a variant, option, or add-on
If the product has variants or options (like a size or a frame), the shopper picks them here. If you offer add-ons, they choose those too. When the heading needs a name and you have not set one, it reads “Choose your option”.
Press Add to Cart
A bar stays pinned at the bottom of the controls. It holds a Back arrow and the main button. On a normal Shopify store that button reads Add to Cart. When the shopper presses it, Composerie saves their design and sends them to the cart.
What happens after Add to Cart
When the shopper presses Add to Cart, a few things happen behind the scenes.
Composerie saves the customer’s design and clears the in-progress draft it was keeping for that product. The draft is the autosaved copy that lets a shopper come back later without losing their work. Once the design is saved for real, that draft is no longer needed.
Composerie also captures a small 200 by 200 pixel preview image of the design and attaches it to the cart line. That thumbnail travels with the order, so you and your shopper can see what was customized.
Composerie then posts the line to Shopify and redirects the browser to the cart. The shopper lands on your normal Shopify cart with the personalized item already added. From there, checkout is the usual Shopify checkout.
If something is missing, the shopper does not move to the cart. When a required field is empty, the customizer blocks the add and shows a message like “Please fill in: Name”, naming the field that needs attention. The shopper stays on the customizer, fixes the field, and tries again.
What if a required field is left empty?
The customizer blocks the add and shows a message naming the field, such as Please fill in: Name. The shopper stays on the customizer until they fill it in.
Does the customer leave Composerie to check out?
Yes. After Add to Cart they land on the standard Shopify cart, then check out through Shopify as normal.
Is the customized preview saved with the order?
Yes. Composerie captures a small preview image and attaches it to the cart line so the design is visible on the order.
Next
Learn how the controls panel works field by field in personalization form fields.