Customer portal themes FAQ

Customer portal themes were built to supercharge your business through churn reduction and improve the experience of your customers on any device. This article goes through common questions we've received. Review Using the Prima customer portal theme or Using the Novum customer portal theme for further information on each specific theme:

Sections

• What’s the difference between the Theme Editor and the Customer portal themes?
• Should I use Novum on Customer portal themes or Novum on Pro Theme Engine?
• Can I add or remove features from Novum or Prima?
• Can I translate content in the Themes customer portal?
• When I click "Preview theme", the customer used is not the one I want to test with. Can I select a different customer?
• I just switched my customer portal theme and now the manage subscriptions link is not working.
• Why isn’t my discount code working in the customer portal?
• Which products can I display in the "Try something new" section on Novum?
• What's the difference between one-time products and add-on products?

• What does the Order now button do?

• Why can't the customer change their order date in the customer portal?

What’s the difference between the Theme Editor and the customer portal themes?

The Theme Editor, powered by the Theme Engine, is a feature available to all Pro merchants. It gives users the ability to completely customize the customer portal experience including new functionality using custom coding.

The Theme Editor is not required to access or activate the customer portal themes. However, if you do have access to the Theme Editor, you can select and customize the theme files by clicking Create new theme in the Theme Editor.

Should I use Novum on Themes or Novum on Pro Theme Engine?

The Pro Theme Engine is available for Recharge Pro customers. Here's a quick comparison between Novum on Themes and Novum on Theme Engine so you know which option is better suited for your business needs.

If you want to heavily customize your theme with the way it looks and feels, integrations, or custom flows then Pro Theme Engine is the answer for you. If light customization is all you need, themes is the way to go. Themes are ready for action right out of the box.

Can I add or remove features from Novum or Prima?

Customer portal themes use a standard font and color scheme across all stores. All merchants have the ability to adjust the styling through CSS to match their existing eCommerce theme.

In order to change the functionality or layout of the theme, you will need to be on the Recharge Pro plan and enrolled in the Theme Editor.

Can I translate content in the Themes customer portal?

Yes. To update language, click Storefront and then Translations in your merchant portal and select the Customer Portal - Themes tab. For more information on the various translation settings, reference the translations guide.

When I click "Preview theme", the customer used is not the one I want to test with. Can I select a different customer?

Each time you preview the customer portal theme, it displays a random subscriber of your store to use as an example. You can preview a specific customer by opening up the theme then copying the customer hash and token into the URL.

1. Click Storefront and select Customer Portal in the merchant portal.
2. Use the radio buttons available under Themes to select the theme you would like to preview and click Preview theme. This will load a preview of a random customer with the URL: https://STORE_URL/tools/recurring/portal/CUSTOMER_HASH/subscriptions?token=CUSTOMER_TOKEN&preview_standard_theme=2.

You will need to replaceCUSTOMER_HASHand CUSTOMER_TOKEN in the URL with the relevant customer information: 

1. Access Recharge through a new tab on your browser while you keep the Theme preview open.
2. Click on Customers in the header menu and search for the customer you want to use for the test.
3. Click on the test customer's name. The Customer_Hash will be in the URL, right after /customers/. In the example link: https://STORE_URL/admin/customers/94dce2d6b50ecebc/subscriptions/, 94dce2d6b50ecebc is the hash. Leave both tabs open, copy the Customer_Hash and replace it in the theme preview URL.
4. You can find the Customer_Token on the customer page as well. Hover over the hyperlink icon next to the customer name to view their tokenized customer portal link.
   
5. Copy that URL and paste it into a new tab or a word processor. Copy the Customer_Token from the URL located after ?token= and replace the Customer_Token in the theme preview tab. Hit Enter on your keyboard and it should refresh the theme preview with your chosen customer.

I just switched my customer portal theme and now the manage subscriptions link is not working.

You must update any hard-coded links to direct to the correct portal URL if you previously used the legacy portal themes. The following URL is the URL structure used to access customer portal themes:

/portal/CUSTOMER_HASH/subscriptions?token=CUSTOMER_TOKEN

If you are using the Recharge Checkout on Shopify, we also recommend ensuring your Manage Subscription link is up to date in your theme code by following our Manage Subscription guide.

Why isn’t my discount code working in the customer portal?

Discounts must exist in Recharge to be used for subscriptions. You can create discounts by following our Creating discount codes guide.

You'll also want to be sure that the ability to add discounts is enabled in your customer portal settings. 

Which products can I display in the "Try something new" section on Novum?

Allow customers to add products to their subscription through the customer portal by adjusting your portal settings. The following options are available:

• All products: This option allows the customer to add every product you have available in your eCommerce store, regardless of whether they are part of a Recharge subscription rule. If the product is only available on the eCommerce platform, the customer will only be able to purchase it as a one-time add-on item.
• Recharge products: Your customer portal will offer subscription products that are attached to Recharge subscription rules.
• Recharge collections: Your customer portal will offer a specific selection of products that have been created as a Recharge collection. 

What's the difference between one-time products and add-on products?

Both one-time products and add-on products are single purchases instead of recurring subscriptions. 

• One-time products are independent of any subscriptions and can form their own order.
• Add-on products are dependant or attached to a subscription. They are additional items that customers can add onto an existing order.

What does the Order now button do?

Customers can select the Order now button in their customer portal to request their subscription product immediately. When selected, Recharge updates the charge date and processes the customer's next upcoming order right away.

The queued charge that is created after this order uses the same order frequency as is set on the subscription. For example, if the subscription is scheduled every two months and the customer clicks order now on November 4th, the next queued order will be generated for January 4th.

Why can't the customer change their order date in the customer portal?

The customer portal settings need to be configured to allow customers to edit their shipment frequency. This can be adjusted by selecting Storefront and clicking Customer Portal.