Managing products in RechargeSMS

RechargeSMS allows customers to receive updates and interact with their subscriptions directly through SMS notifications. This includes swapping their subscription products or adding additional one-time items to their upcoming orders.

Once enabled, you can import your products directly into RechargeSMS, allowing you to configure your products before customers interact with them via SMS.

This guide explains how to manage your products directly through RechargeSMS.

Before you start

• See Managing customers in RechargeSMS to learn more about how your customers are handled in RechargeSMS. 
• A standard SMS message is configured for each SMS option available through RechargeSMS. See Managing SMS messages in RechargeSMS for more information. 
• Due to US laws and legislation, RechargeSMS cannot support stores selling products containing cannabidiol (CBD).

Import products

Your products must be imported from Shopify into RechargeSMS to be included in any SMS notifications you send.

1. Navigate to the RechargeSMS Dashboard and select the Product tab.
2. Select Import Product(s).
   
3. Choose between importing all of your products into RechargeSMS, or specifying which products to import.
4. Select Import to import products into RechargeSMS.

It may take a few moments for all of your products to import into RechargeSMS depending on the size of your catalog.

Pre-paid products

Pre-paid products have limited functionality with RechargeSMS. Only the following messages can be sent for pre-paid products:

• Shipment tracking
• Order processed
• Upcoming charge reminder
• Add one-time item

RechargeSMS only sends messages for pre-paid charge renewals. If you have the Shipment Tracking message enabled, RechargeSMS also sends a message when a pre-paid order has shipped.

Rename products

Optimize the text messages you send by updating the titles of your products using our Product title best practices. These updates only affect how the product is labeled in an SMS message, and the product title remains the same in Shopify.

1. Open the RechargeSMS app.
2. Select the Products icon from the navigation menu.
3. Click on the pencil icon next to the product that needs to be updated.
4. Enter the product title in the text box that appears.
5. Press Enter to save your changes.

Product title best practices

• When configuring your product titles, it is important to keep product titles short to fit within the context of SMS messages. For example, replacing written numbers with a figure, like three to 3.
• Product variants may be imported with both product variant title and frequency availability, such as 1 Bottle (2 Month Supply). It is best to normalize the products with a shorter naming convention that works within SMS.
• Product variants may be imported with the name Default Title. To update, select the product to access the Product Variant data screen and copy the Shopify Product title. Click Edit Product Variant in the upper-right corner and paste the Shopify Product title.
• CBD and THC must not be present in product titles, otherwise your store’s toll free number will be banned.

Sync Shopify product updates

A product is not automatically updated when you update a product in your Shopify admin. Use the Sync button to update the product and ensure that it matches the information saved in your Shopify settings.

Archive products

Use the Archive button to completely remove a product from RechargeSMS. Customers will no longer have the option to interact with this product, and you will not be able to include it in any swap groups.

You can import the product back into RechargeSMS if you wish to use offer it to customers at a later date.

Ignore products

You can use the Ignore button to temporarily prevent customers from interacting with a specific product through SMS text messages.

For example, you could use the Ignore button if you are limited on inventory for a specific product and would like to prevent customers from purchasing it via SMS.

Swap products

Customers can swap to different products directly through an SMS message. You can enable individual products as swap options, or use a swap group to create a group of swappable products.

Swap individual products

You can manually set a product as swappable through your RechargeSMS product settings. This is recommended if you only have a few products in your store and don’t require a swap group, or if you’d only like to offer a handful of products as swappable.

1. Select Products in the RechargeSMS Dashboard. 
2. Select Edit for the specific product.
3. Toggle Available for Product Swap.
   • Toggle Available for Add One-time item if the product can also be added as a one-time purchase.
4. Select Update to save your changes.

Enable a product as a one-time option

You can offer products as a one-time option as a way to increase your store’s overall Average Order Value (AOV).

1. Select Products in the RechargeSMS Dashboard. 
2. Select Edit next to the product you wish to update.
3. Toggle Available for Add One-time item option to allow customers to purchase the product as a one-time item.
4. Select Update to save your changes.

Note: A product must be set to purchase as a one-time product or a subscription in Recharge before it can be made available for purchase as a one-time item in RechargeSMS.

Swap groups

Swap groups allow you to set up groups of products that are offered as swappable to customers. A product can only belong in one swap group at one time. 

The easiest way to implement swap groups in your store is through the automatic Best Sellers swap group. If necessary, you can also manually create a swap group.

You can enable and manage your Best Seller swap group within the RechargeSMS Dashboard. 

Best Seller swap groups

You can leverage your best-selling products as swap options for your customers with RechargeSMS and increase the chances of customers swapping while reducing the time that it takes you to configure swap groups.

Creating a Best Sellers group with RechargeSMS is currently in open beta. Contact the Recharge Support team if you are interested in participating in this beta. As this feature is in beta, bugs may arise, however, we are committed to addressing issues as they appear. For more information, visit Recharge Beta Program.

Recharge generates a list of the top five best-selling product variants in your store and groups them together in a smart swap group called the "Best Sellers" group. This is done on the variant level, meaning only the best-selling variant is included if the product has multiple variants.

The products featured in this swap group are based completely on your store analytics, ensuring that the products offered as swap options are most likely to convert. Customers are then shown the Best Sellers group upon submitting a request to swap to a different product.

As this is a smart swap group, products cannot be added. The contents of the swap group are refreshed daily to ensure that the best-selling products are always included. We recommend creating a custom swap group if you are looking for more control over the products included in a group.

Enable Best Sellers swap group

Once the beta feature is enabled, the Best Sellers swap group is populated with subscription products provided that you have:

• Store sales recorded within Recharge Analytics
• Published your best selling products on your storefront

You can enable the Best Sellers swap group by setting the activity status in your RechargeSMS dashboard. Only subscription products are included in the Best Sellers group.

1. Select Products from the RechargeSMS Dashboard. 
2. Select Swap Groups from the top menu bar.
3. Toggle the Best Sellers swap group to Active to enable the swap group.
4. Manage the Best Sellers group

The top five best-selling variants are automatically added to the Best Sellers group once it is created. All products are considered Best Sellers if you have five products or less in your store.

You can "ignore" a product listed in the Best Sellers group, however, the next best-selling item will be included in the list. You will need to ignore multiple products to display less than five products to your customers.

Manual swap groups

You may want to create your own swap groups depending on the products you wish to offer to customers via RechargeSMS.

1. Select Products from the RechargeSMS Dashboard.
2. Click the Swap Groups tab.
3. Select Add new Swap Group.
4. Enter the title of your swap group in the Name textbox. 
5. Search and select the products you would like to include in the swap group under Select Product Variants. Products will automatically appear in the right panel to indicate their inclusion in the swap group.
6. Click Save when finished.

Quantity groups

Some stores create multiple versions of the same product to offer different product quantities. These items exist as different products in Shopify and are assigned separate SKUs.

You may want to configure a Quantity Group in RechargeSMS to allow customers looking to change their product quantity to swap to a different SKU. With Quantity Groups you can group products that are essentially the same but have different SKUs due to the quantities offered. Customers can select the product quantity that they wish to switch to, and the SKU on their subscription is updated, ensuring the customer is subscribed to the right quantity amount.

Create a Quantity Group

1. Access RechargeSMS from the Apps tab in your Recharge merchant portal.
2. Select Products from the navigation menu in RechargeSMS.
3. Select Quantity Groups from the nested menu.
4. Select the + icon to create a Quantity Group
5. Use the search menu to select the products that belong in the Quantity Group.
6. Add a Swap Group Name to the group of products you created.
7. Select Save & Exit to create the Quantity Group.

Once enabled, customers subscribed to a product in the Quantity Group are put in a separate flow if they request to change the product quantity for one of these items via SMS. Customers are prompted to reply with the new quantity and are not aware that the product SKUs on their subscriptions are changing. 

Edit or delete a Quantity Group

1. Access RechargeSMS from the Apps tab in your Recharge merchant portal.
2. Select Products from the navigation menu in RechargeSMS.
3. Select Quantity Groups from the nested menu.
   • Use the pencil icon to make changes to an existing Quantity Group.
   • Select the trash can icon to delete an existing Quantity Group.

Bundled subscriptions

If your store bundles products together into one complete package, you can enable bundling in RechargeSMS. This is only recommended if you already offer products through bundling, as you lose access to some features.

1. Click the gear icon in the RechargeSMS Dashboard.
2. Select Features and click Messaging.
3. Click Batch Actions to enable product bundling. 

This limits functionality so that SMS messaging does not break bundles. Customers are limited to viewing subscription information, skipping, delaying, or updating the next charge date.

Only stores that sell bundles should enable this setting. Bundled products, sometimes referred to as box subscriptions, are subscriptions that are structured in a way that multiple individual pieces make up one whole subscription and a customer should not be able to swap or remove individual parts.

One example of a bundle is a box subscription where five individual product SKUs are all individual subscriptions, but customers cannot swap the individual products.