Surprise and Delight Flows
Surprise and Delight allows you to add a free gift or discount on an order and optimize customer incentives using A/B testing. Make customers feel valued or generate interest in a specific product.
This guide provides an overview of Surprise and Delight, how to configure this template, analytics, and common questions.
- Recharge Checkout on Shopify
- Shopify Checkout Integration
Before you start
- This feature is in Early Adopter status. To request access to this feature, fill out the Surprise and Delight interest form. For more information on the Early Adopter Program, previously known as the Recharge Beta Program, see Early Adopter Program.
- If you are a first time Flows user, and looking for an overall introduction, see Flows Training: Surprise and Delight.
- When a gift is added, Recharge does not recalculate shipping or taxes.
- Free gifts will not follow inventory rules configured in Recharge. Orders with free gifts will always process even if they’re out of stock.
- Ensure you do not have duplicate experiences set up using SKU swap and gifting.
- There are some limitations to consider when using Surprise and Delight:
- Prepaid subscriptions order number is based on the actual prepaid charge not the free prepaid orders. The free gift is added to the next charge, and is a not free order.
- Free gifts can be added to Bundles, though Customizable bundles shouldn’t be used as the free gift. Preset bundles can be a free gift.
- Multi-currency is not currently supported, but we are actively working towards compatibility.
- The free gift banner is fully supported using the Affinity customer portal theme. Stores using Prima can can see the free gift on the order now side banner and stores using Novum can see the banner on the subscriptions page.
- Free gifts do not appear in RechargeSMS.
Surprise and Delight overview
Surprise and Delight helps you to provide proactive gifts for your customers to increase retention. You can A/B test gift flows that have been configured to determine which gifts are the most effective. Set coherent criteria based on product and customer data while getting insight on the data using operational or flow analytics. Incentives to the right customer at the right time improve retention and the ability to test these incentives at different points in the customer journey allows you to optimize customer retention.
Triggers
The Trigger component of Flows functions on the prior completed charge. A webhook evaluates components of the next queued charge and if that queued charge fulfills the Trigger and Condition of your flow (including Conditional Split or A/B testing), the action of the Flow is then applied. The gift notification is sent afterwards. There are currently two Triggers available, order processed number and streak order number:
- Order processed number: Calculated by the customer’s global order number in Recharge. The order number will not reset when a Flow is activated and will include orders previously placed. The order processed number is set at the customer level rather than the subscription level.
- Streak order number: A streak of orders that must be reached in order to qualify for the gift or discount offer. The streak is set at the customer level rather than the subscription level. If a subscription is cancelled for any reason by customer or store admin, this will break the customers streak, even if they have other active subscriptions. The streak order number is backfilled.
Order processed number examples
To send the free gift or provide a discount on the 4th order, set the order processed number to 3.
The following table covers scenarios for how a free gift is added depending on the order processed number set.
Order processed number |
Flow triggers after |
Incentive is added to order |
| 1 | Checkout | First recurring order, 2nd global order including checkout. |
| 2 | First recurring order |
Second recurring order, 3rd global order including checkout. |
| 3 | Second recurring order |
Third recurring order, 4th global order during checkout. |
Free gift banner
Customers who fulfill the trigger and condition of a Flow will see a banner in their customer portal stating they received a free gift or discount with their order. At this time, previewing or editing the banner is not available.
Depending on the customer portal theme your store is using, this banner will display in different location:
- Affinity: View your next order page
- Prima: Order now side banner
- Novum: Subscriptions page
Configure Surprise and Delight
To create a Surprise and Delight Flow:
- Click Flows in your merchant portal.
- Click the Create New dropdown and choose one of the available Flow types. Optionally update the name of the Flow by clicking the pencil icon next to the title.
- Click Get started!
- Choose the Trigger filter and add conditions based on customer, order, and product data. The flow will start when these conditions are met. You can also create custom customer segments.
- Choose your Incentive offer by clicking Add Incentive. Choose the type of incentive to offer and add the incentive. Note that free gifts are considered a one-time product and will not add a free subscription.
- Configure the notification for this Flow and click Apply.
- You can delete the notifications node by clicking the trash icon and confirming deletion by clicking Yes.
- Click Save to save changes and once you’re ready to use the Flow, click Activate Flow.
- Flows can be deactivated at any time but cannot be edited once activated.
- Select Save & activate. Additionally, you can test the Flow prior to activating.
FAQs
Is Surprise and Delight the same as gifting?
Yes, Surprise and Delight is gifting though it’s important to note that Surprise and Delight is gifting from the merchant to the customer on their recurring orders (excluding checkout). Customer to customer gifting is not a part of Flows and the Surprise & Delight template.
