Getting started with the Shopify Checkout Integration
Recharge is the leading subscription payments solution to help launch and scale your subscription business on Shopify. This guide is part one of a three-part series, and provides resources to help you get started on the Shopify Checkout Integration, including the initial set-up of installing the app, configuring your store settings, and more.
Before you start
- For feature status, eligibility limitations and requirements, take a look at Shopify Checkout Integration feature status.
- Join our weekly onboarding webinar to help you get started with Recharge.
- Refer to the Shopify Checkout FAQ for answers to the most common questions.
- If you change your Shopify theme, it will override the Recharge code. This can result in the subscription widget disappearing from your product pages or working incorrectly. If you need to change the theme on your store, we recommend reaching out to the Recharge support team in advance to help with the Recharge code installation.
Install Recharge
To install Recharge, visit the listing in Shopify’s App Store. Click Add app and follow the installation instructions. This opens Recharge within your Shopify store. Complete your store details and click Continue to begin the set up.
Add a subscription product
Begin by adding a product to Recharge. Your subscription products require parameters to determine the length of the subscription, how frequently the product is delivered, reduced pricing, and more.
- Click Add product. You’ll be able to choose which of your existing Shopify products you want to offer as subscriptions:
- Click + next to the product you want to add.
- Determine if you want to offer this product as One-time & Subscription or Subscription only.
- If you would like to offer a discount to subscribers, click the checkbox and enter the discount percentage in the field.
- Determine your subscription product's frequency options. Use the dropdown to select days, weeks, or months, and specify the amount. If you would like to add additional frequency options, click + Add frequency.
- Click Next.
Publish your subscription widget
Now that you have set up your first subscription product, you can activate your subscription widget by clicking Publish. We'll go through previewing your customer's experience in the next section.
Preview your customer experience
Preview your product display
Preview your product and subscription widget by clicking Preview your subscription widget. If you would like to make changes to your subscription widget, click the wrench icon in your Recharge Dashboard and select Subscription widget. Refer to our guide Modifying the Subscription widget to learn more.
Run a test order
Experience the full shopping flow by running a test transaction. Review Shopify's guide for Placing a test order.
Customize your customer portal
Now that you have completed a test order, you can preview where your customers will manage their subscriptions in their customer portal. If you want to make any changes, click the wrench icon in your Recharge Dashboard and select Customer portal.
Refer to Customer accounts with the Shopify Checkout Integration to learn more about how customers use the customer portal to manage their subscriptions. You can also view the video below for a thorough overview of the Novum customer portal theme.
Review the sections below to continue enhancing your subscription business on Recharge.
Configure your store’s settings
Legal settings
To update or review your legal settings, click the wrench icon and select Legal settings.
In this section, you can update the subscription terms in the footer of your subscription activation email. Refer to Updating the legal settings to learn more.
You can add a legal disclaimer to your checkout through your Shopify Admin. Refer to Shopify's guide on Adding store policies for more information.
Notifications
Notification emails are the primary means of communication between your store and customer base. These emails go to your customers when they order subscription products, modify future orders, or cancel subscriptions.
To update or review your notifications, click the wrench icon and select Notifications.
We recommend taking some time to configure these notifications to include your preferred content and the tone and style that matches your store. Take a look at Notifications to learn more about enabling, disabling, and modifying notifications in your Recharge Dashboard.
You can also refer to Customer accounts with the Shopify Checkout Integration for a holistic overview of your customer’s journey, including the notifications they receive after purchasing a subscription.
Shipping
Shipping rates for the Shopify Checkout Integration are created and modified through your Shopify admin. For more information, visit Setting up shipping for the Shopify Checkout Integration.
Taxes
The Shopify Checkout Integration allows you to manage your tax settings directly in Shopify. See our guide Configuring tax settings with the Shopify Checkout Integration to learn more about how taxes work with Recharge.
When viewing upcoming orders in your Recharge Dashboard, you'll notice that the queued order always shows the tax rate as 0.00. The total tax amount is not added to a queued order until after the charge has been processed, as this is when we pull the charge data from the charge details in Shopify:
Once the order is charged, the tax amount will be correctly displayed. To track how much tax your store has been charging, refer to your Shopify tax reports.
Add additional products
You can add additional products in Recharge by clicking Products in your Recharge Dashboard. This will look a little different than when you added a subscription product above. Refer to the following guides to help you get started:
- Learn more about creating subscription rules and adding products in Recharge.
- Customize your rules further by setting a charge date or a cut-off date.
Enable a payment processor
All subscription orders are processed through the Shopify Checkout. To process orders, you must have one of Shopify’s eligible subscription payment processors enabled. At this time, you can use the following payment processors to accept payment from subscription customers:
Enroll in Shopify Payments
If you haven't already enabled Shopify Payments on your store, visit Shopify Payments for more information.
Enable PayPal Express
PayPal Express is a payment method that allows customers to use PayPal directly from your checkout and offers multiple payment options (i.e. the ability to pay via credit card or debit card). Shopify allows you to use PayPal Express as a form of payment for your subscription customers provided that you have:
Once enabled, Shopify contacts PayPal on your behalf to approve your account for Reference Transactions, which allows you to charge customers automatically. Refer to Shopify's article Using PayPal for automatic billing to learn more about this process.
Check your email after you’ve enabled PayPal Express and have added a product to Recharge, or contact Shopify Support for more information.
After your account is approved, PayPal is displayed as a Payment option at the checkout for your customers. Customers can access their customer portal to update their PayPal billing information directly in PayPal.
Enable Authorize.net
Authorize.net is an alternative payment method that can be used at checkout and to process recurring orders. To use Authorize.net as a payment gateway you must:
Once enabled, Shopify will process checkout and recurring orders using Authorize.net's gateway.
Your payment settings in Recharge
Access your payment settings in your Recharge Dashboard by clicking the wrench icon and selecting Payment (General). By default, this displays Shopify Checkout Integration Payment Gateway when using the Shopify Checkout Integration.
This setting informs Recharge that Shopify is handling the payment processing, and is shown even if you are using Shopify Payments, PayPal, or Authorize.net as your gateway.
Next steps
Once your store has processed three subscription charges, you will be prompted to accept the billing terms. Refer to Recharge billing and pricing for the Shopify Checkout Integration to learn more.
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