ReCharge Workflows tool is a set of conditions and actions that are triggered after the first checkout order has been placed for a subscription product. This allows you to configure trial subscription products with attributes that will change based on your specified parameters.
Before you start
- Workflows should not be used with prepaid subscriptions.
- This tool won't work with any apps that disrupt the checkout flow like CartHook Checkout Funnel and OneClickUpsell.
How workflows work
Workflows are set up based on 4 components:
- Trigger – this is the event that occurs that prompts the workflow. By default, the trigger is the initial checkout order.
- Conditions – These are the parameters that must be met by the product to be included in the workflow. For example, if you include the condition product title and specify Free Trial, the workflow will only impact the products with Free Trial in the title.
- Search – This is the search function that is performed to find all products that will be actioned by the workflow. It is often the same or similar to Condition.
- Actions - These are the changes that will be made to the subscriptions found through the search. For example, if you set the recurring price in the action to $10, this will ensure that the subscriptions new ongoing price is $10 following the checkout order.
Though there can be some variations depending on the type of workflow, this is the general process of the workflow in action:
- The Customer adds a subscription product to their cart and proceeds to checkout.
- Customer enters their shipping and payment information which will be used for future recurring orders.
- ReCharge will pass this order information to Shopify to create the order in their system.
- ReCharge will then reference the workflow settings and create a subscription based on the actions you have set.
Step 1 - Setting up the product and ruleset
Add a Shopify product to a Subscription Only or One-Time and Subscription ruleset with the desired price and title. For example, if you are setting up a free trial, you may want to use a distinctive word in the product title such as free or sample.
You can set price using either of the two following methods:
- Setting the desired subscription price in the original product, not the hidden auto-renew product.
- Alternatively, setting the desired free trial price of the product/variant in the hidden product, which is created after saving your ruleset.
The ruleset needs to have the conditions desired for the subscription when the free trial ends. Configure the ruleset based on how the recurring subscription should be set.
When you sync this product to a ruleset on ReCharge, we automatically create a hidden duplicate of that product. The hidden, auto-renew product is used to create the initial checkout order. If you’re creating a free trial workflow, you’ll want to make adjustments to the auto-renew product to the following attributes:
- Set the price to match your trial offer, $0 if it’s free.
- Choose the appropriate weight to match the shipping rate you want to be applied, if any.
Step 2 - Create a new workflow
In the ReCharge Workflows app, click the Create new workflow button and enter in the name of the workflow and a brief description of your workflow. When finished, click Next.
On the following page, you will see the New Workflow settings page. By default, the trigger for the workflow to start is the initial checkout order.
Step 3 - Set the conditions
Set the Condition for the trial in the workflow you've just created. These are the parameters that must be met by the product for the workflow to come into effect. For example, if you are creating a free trial, you may choose to use the product title.
If you click Edit, the Conditions would look like this:
Step 4 - Search and actions
Search
The search function identifies the object(s) that will be changed by the action. For the free trial example, the search can be the same as the conditions. This is because we still need to find the subscription product title to be changed.
Search
Actions
Actions will depend on how the subscription product should change. For example, when creating a free trial, you may want to change the Product title, Price, and the SKU for the recurring subscription product following the free trial.
Note: The product that you're switching to in Actions must be in a ReCharge ruleset.
Step 5 - Test your workflow
When your workflow is finished, return to the main ReCharge workflows page and temporarily enable your workflow:
On your storefront, select the product that will trigger the workflow and add it to the cart. In this example, we are testing a free trial workflow.
Once you've checked out, go to the ReCharge Dashboard and look under your customer account and click See Details to check the order.
The first order is $0 and has $5.00 shipping. It has queued the recurring charge to be one month later and will switch to the price of $100.00.
Common use cases
For information on setting up a free trial or swapping products, visit Common use cases for ReCharge Workflows.
Next steps
For more information about ReCharge Workflows, visit: