Guides

How to set up subscriptions on Shopify

What you need, the decisions to make first, and how to launch without surprises.

What you need before you start

• A subscription app. Shopify handles subscription checkout and billing, but you add subscriptions to your store with an app. Shopify offers a free one, and there are many others, including ours. How to choose one →
• A payment provider that supports subscriptions. Shopify Payments does. If you use another provider, check Shopify's help center for the current list, since subscriptions need a provider that can store a card for future charges.
• Products you can ship on a schedule, with inventory you can plan around.

Decide your offer first

The app setup is quick once these are settled, and most of a program's success is decided here:

• What subscribers get. A single replenishable product (coffee, vitamins, pet food), a choice from a set of products, or a curated box. If customers would enjoy variety, consider a subscription queue, where each subscriber picks what comes next.
• How often. Offer the frequencies that match how fast people use the product. Too frequent leads to stockpiles and cancellations; a choice of two or three intervals covers most customers.
• The incentive. A modest subscriber discount or perk (free shipping, a gift with the first order) is common. Make sure the margin still works at that price on every renewal.
• Pay-as-you-go or prepaid. Prepaid plans (for example three months charged up front) improve cash flow and retention but are a bigger commitment for the customer. Many stores offer both.

Set up subscription options

1. Install your subscription app and approve its permissions in Shopify.
2. Create your plans: which products, which frequencies, and the discount for each. In Shopify these become the purchase options shown on the product page.
3. Add the subscription options to your product pages. Most apps add a theme app block you place in the theme editor, above the Add to cart button.
4. Give subscribers a place to manage their subscription. Customers need to skip, pause, reschedule, and update their details without emailing you. Link it from your store menu and the customer account menu.
5. Set up failed-payment handling: how many retries, which notices customers get, and what happens if payment never succeeds.

Test before you launch

• Place a real subscription order, then check the subscription appears in the app and on the customer's account.
• Skip, pause, and reschedule it as the customer would, and confirm the next charge date changes.
• Check your order confirmation and shipping emails read sensibly for a subscription order.
• Cancel the test subscription and refund the order.

After launch

Watch three numbers from the first month: how many new subscribers you add, how many cancel, and how many renewals fail on payment. Cancellations and failed payments are where most subscription revenue is lost, and both respond to specific fixes. Ten ideas for keeping subscribers →