Managing paid memberships

Offering a paid membership program is a creative way to keep customers engaged and loyal.

This guide covers how to manage existing paid membership programs as both an admin and a customer.

Before you start

• Memberships are compatible with the Affinity and Standard Prima customer portal themes though Affinity has a few limitations to consider. See Paid membership program limitations for more information.
• A membership will remain active if the process now, reschedule, skip, or pause actions are performed on a qualifying subscription. The expiration and renewal date on the membership will be updated to reflect the new next charge date on the subscription.

Managing paid memberships as an admin 

Manually create a membership

Create a manual membership in the merchant portal to provide a free membership to a customer. These memberships do not have an associated subscription, and the customer is not charged for their enrollment in a membership program.

To manually create a membership:

1. Add a new customer profile in Shopify if the customer doesn’t already exist in Shopify.
2. Click Loyalty, then select Members. Click Add membership in the top right-hand corner.
3. Search for the customer by name, email, or Shopify ID, select the customer you’d like to add, and click Next.
4. Select the membership program from the dropdown list.
5. Optional: Set an expiration date for the membership. If no expiration date is set, the membership will remain active indefinitely.
6. Click Add membership.

Update an existing membership

You can edit some elements of a customer’s membership from the membership details page.

1. Click Loyalty then select Members in the side navbar.
2. Search for the customer by name or email address.
   • You can also filter the memberships list by program, membership status, member since, and renewal date.
3. Select the corresponding Membership ID.

Change the renewal date

You may want to provide a customer with an extension on their membership at no charge. Update the renewal date of an individual membership to any day after the existing renewal date to do so. This ensures that a customer isn’t double-charged for the period that was already paid for.

To update the renewal date:

1. Select Change renewal date in the Renewal schedule section of the membership details page.
2. Choose any date after the existing renewal date.
3. Save.

Change renewal frequency

Any updates to the frequency will take effect after the next charge is processed. This is not applicable to memberships created manually.

To update how often a customer is charged for their membership:

1. Select Change schedule in the Renewal schedule section.
2. Select a new frequency.
3. Save.

Cancel membership

To cancel a customer’s membership:

1. Click Actions then select Cancel membership in the top right corner.
2. Choose whether you’d like the membership to be canceled immediately or on the expiration date.
   • Cancel immediately
     • Both the upcoming charge and the membership will be canceled immediately.
     • Note this does not automatically refund the customer for any prorated membership fee. To also refund members, follow the instructions in this guide.
   • Cancel at the end of the cycle
     • The upcoming charge will be canceled immediately, but the membership will remain active until the end of the current membership cycle.
3. Click Cancel membership.
4. Select the applicable cancellation reason and notes.
5. Click Cancel membership.

Reactivate membership

To reactivate a canceled membership, select Actions then Reactivate membership in the top right corner.

If the membership is still active, the next charge will take place at the end of the current membership billing cycle. If the membership is expired, the customer will be charged immediately and the next charge will be scheduled based on the charge frequency. Reactivating a membership will remove the previous cancellation date, cancellation reason, and cancellation reason comments from the membership.

Swap payment method

If the customer has more than one payment method on file, the payment method can be swapped. The new payment method selected will be used for the subsequent recurring charges.

1. Select Update payment method on the right side of the page under PAYMENT METHOD.
2. Choose a different payment method.
3. Click Update.

Swap a membership program

If you offer multiple membership programs, you can swap a customer's existing membership for one of your other membership offerings. You can also choose to only swap the membership product and not the program itself. For example, if you offer your customers a monthly or annual membership option, you can swap a monthly membership for a yearly membership or vice versa.

When a membership program is swapped, the member is charged for the swapped membership and/or product immediately. If you make a swap in the middle of a member's membership renewal cycle, you may need to manage prorating or refunds manually in Shopify.

Use the following steps to swap membership programs or products:

1. From the Recharge merchant portal, click Customers and select a customer.
2. Expand the Memberships section of the Subscription details page and click the ellipsis.
3. Click Swap membership program.
   • If you want to swap only the membership product and not the program itself, select Swap membership product instead.
4. In the pop-up modal, select the membership program you wish to swap to.
   • If you are swapping a membership product and not the program itself, select the membership product to swap to instead.

Managing paid memberships as a customer

Customers can view and edit their memberships through the customer portal.

Accessing the customer portal

Customers can access their customer portal via a direct link included in email notifications as well as by logging into their Shopify account on the storefront.

• Direct portal link
  • A direct link to the memberships customer portal will be included in membership email notifications.
  • This link will expire after 12 hours.
• Shopify account
  • A Manage memberships button will be included on the member’s Shopify customer account page.
  • After purchasing a membership, customers will receive a Shopify notification prompting them to create an account.

View memberships

Upon logging into the customer portal, customers will see a list of all of their active and inactive memberships on the Memberships page. Customers can view detailed information by clicking into each membership card.

If your store is using the Affinity customer portal theme, customers can only see their memberships from previous and upcoming orders.

Memberships cannot be purchased in Affinity and subscriptions purchased will not receive member pricing discounts

Cancel membership

Customers can cancel a membership by selecting Cancel membership at the bottom of the membership details page. Customers will then be prompted to select a cancellation reason and will be shown any configured retention strategies prior to canceling their membership. After canceling, the membership status will remain active through the remaining membership cycle.

If your store is using the Affinity customer portal theme, cancellations will only support the Add discount incentive as product swap is not currently supported. 

Reactivate membership

Customers can reactivate any canceled memberships by selecting Reactivate from the memberships page in the customer portal. The customer will be charged immediately and the next charge will be scheduled based on the membership’s charge frequency.

Update payment method

Customers can update their payment method used for the recurring membership charges by navigating to the Payment methods tab, clicking Edit under the applicable payment method, and selecting Send update email. Shopify will then send an email to the customer with a link to update their payment information.

Reach out to earlyadopterprogram@rechargeapps.com if you run into questions or need support with Recharge memberships.