Creating subscription rules for the Shopify Checkout Integration

Creating subscription rules for your products is the first step to offering subscription purchase options for your customers. You can set rules to allow products to be purchased as a one-time order or subscribe and save, or as a subscription-only purchase. This guide will walk you through creating your first subscription ruleset and detail the general functionality of recurring subscription products with Recharge and the Shopify Checkout integration.

Before you begin

You must have at least one product available in your Shopify store to create a subscription. 

Step 1 - Select products

To add a subscription option to your existing Shopify products, you will need to create a subscription rule in Recharge. These rules will control the frequency and functionality of your subscription plan. 

1. In the Recharge Dashboard, click Products in the top toolbar.
2. Click Add product.
3. In the Add a product pop-up, search and select the product(s) you would like to offer on subscription.

Select multiple products

If you select multiple products in this step, they will be added as inactive products in Recharge. To activate your products, you will need to add subscription rules:

• To add different subscription rules for each product, continue to Step 2
• To bulk apply the same subscriptions rules, visit Updating product rules in bulk

Step 2 - Subscription type

Select one of the following two subscription type options. This will determine how customers can purchase a specific product. 

• One-time and subscription: This option is used for products where you want the customer to have a choice between purchasing the item on a one-off basis or subscribing to it on a recurring basis.
• Subscription Only: This option only allows customers to subscribe to the product without being given a choice to purchase it as a one-off.
• Pre-paid subscription: This option allows customers to pay for multiple shipments upfront. For example, if you offer a 6-month prepaid subscription option, a customer would pay for six months upfront and receive $0 shipment orders every month for six months.

Optional - Discount settings 

If you set the product's subscription type to one-time and subscription, the option to Set up a discount is available.  

While optional, you may consider offering a discount as an incentive for customers to subscribe and save. This gives your customers the option on the product page to purchase products as a one-time order or subscribe with a discount incentive. 

1. Under Set up a discount, Check Yes, I'd like to offer a discount. 
2. Add a percentage amount in the % off box. 

Step 3 - Set order schedule

Set the order frequency available to your customers. You can select days, weeks, or months. Offer a single frequency or multiple frequencies.

1. Under Set order schedule, select Add frequency. 
2. From the frequency dropdown, select your frequency unit of days, weeks, or months. 
3. In the text box, add the number amount. For example, if you charge and ship once a month, enter 1. 
4. Optionally, repeat step 2-3 to add additional frequencies.
5. Click Save. 

Shopify Product page 

Alternatively, you can configure subscription rules for a product directly in the Shopify admin. Shopify has released a new feature that integrates Recharge directly into the Product page for a specific product. If you are using Recharge with your Shopify store, a Subscriptions card is available on the Product page of each product.

This feature only works when adding or editing products that are available as One-time and subscription, or subscription-only. This feature is not available for prepaid products at this time.

Add option

You can add a product to Recharge from the Shopify Product page.

1. Select Add option.
2. Select Add new option.
3. Configure your subscription settings.
   • Subscription type: Choose between offering the product as both One-time and subscription, or as a subscription only.
   • Set order schedule: Confirm the amount of time between orders using the Delivery Frequency dropdown. Confirm if orders should be sent on a daily, weekly, or monthly frequency using the Period option.
     • If you are offering a One-time and subscription product you can use the Discount option to set an incentive discount for customers to purchase the product on subscription at a lower cost.
4. Use the Add frequency button if you’d like to create additional subscription frequency options for the product.
5. Select Create plan once you are ready to publish the product as a subscription.

Edit

Select Edit beside a specific subscription frequency option to update the subscription order schedule for the product.

You can edit the subscription to add additional subscription frequencies to the product at any time.

Remove

Select Remove to delete the subscription option for a product. If all subscription delivery options are removed, the product is deleted from Recharge.

Only allow the purchase of this product as a subscription option

Once a product has had subscription properties assigned to it in Shopify, the delivery options display on the product in Shopify. You can also access the product from the Products list in Recharge.

The option to “Only allow the purchase of this product as a subscription” can be toggled on or off. When enabled, the product will only be available for purchase on the Shopify storefront as a subscription.

By default, this setting is automatically enabled if you configure a product as Subscription only in Recharge. When enabled, customers are only able to purchase the product as a subscription.

If the subscription widget is disabled, and this setting is enabled, customers trying to check out with this product will be met with an error message saying "Variant can only be purchased with a selling plan error". This error message will prevent customers from completing their orders. 

If you disable this option on the product page in Shopify, the subscription type for the product automatically swaps to One-time & subscription in Recharge.

Test your subscription setup

Before you start marketing your new subscription products, we strongly suggest going through your storefront and testing the new subscription product to ensure everything works as expected.

If you run into any issues or have any questions, please reach out to our support team and we'll be happy to help.

Troubleshooting and FAQ

I set my product to subscription-only in Recharge, why are customers still able to purchase it as a one-time product?

You must set the option to only allow purchase of this product as a subscription on the product page in Shopify to ensure that a product can only be purchased as a subscription.

If this option is left unchecked, the subscription rule configured in Recharge for that product is automatically set to both One-time and subscription.

I am trying to set a 1-day interval but it is not working

It is not possible to create 1-day intervals in the Recharge system. This is done as a precaution to avoid customers being charged daily accidentally.

I want to offer months and weeks as charge intervals - is this possible?

You cannot set multiple frequency unit types on your subscription rules. However, you can select one frequency type and approximate the length of another. For example, if you want to offer 1-week intervals and 1-month intervals, you can add a frequency for 1 week and 4 weeks. However, note that when a monthly interval is set in weeks, it will not observe the calendar start or end date of the month.