Creating a subscription

Step 1. Creating a subscription product

First step, we’ll go to the products page to create a new product, that we wish to sell as a subscription, by simply selecting the ‘subscription’ checkbox.

Here you set a price for the plan, enter the amount in Regular price (and sale price), the price entered here is the recurring fee.

For our example we put in a high price aiming for an annual subscription.

Step 2. Duration and end date

In the next step we will focus on the subscription settings of the product.

• Users will pay every: xx days, weeks, months, years.
• Subscription ends: decide if the subscription will have an end date or not

We have already set a price, now it is time to decide the period and if it has an end date or not, in our example we don’t want to set an end date.

3. Free trial and sign-up fee

• Offer a free trial of: xx days, weeks, months, years.
• Sign-up fee: Extra fee that user has to pay when purchasing the subscription.

For our example we choose a free trial of 10 days and a sign up fee of 9,99$.

4. Limit subscription

• Limit subscription: Decide if user can purchase multiple subscriptions for the same product or if there is a limit:
  • Limit user to allow only one active subscription: While the subscription for this product is still active, the user cannot purchase the same subscription again. Once the subscription is cancelled/ended the user can purchase it again.
  • Limit user to allow only one subscription of any status, either active or not: The user will never be able to purchase this subscription product again, regardless of the active/inactive status. If the user wishes to activate the subscription again, they can use the ‘resubscribe’ button in his My account page.

Since we have added a trial period in our example, we choose the last option. A good choice in our case, because a user can never abuse the free trial period; once he placed the order, he cannot purchase it again (and use the free trial period, cancel before payment, use free trial, cancel again etc.).

5. Custom pausing rules

By enabling the ‘Set custom pausing rules’ a new set of options appear. These settings will override the pausing rules set in the ‘General settings’.

• Allow users to pause this subscription set more specific pausing rules for this product:
  • No never: No pausing option available for this product.
  • Yes, user can pause without limits: The user can pause and reactivate the subscription without limitations.
  • Yes, user can pause with certain limits: Decide how many times the user can pause, and the duration in days of pausing period.

For our example we choose to not have a pause period.

6. Cancellation settings

• Override the cancellation settings: Override the general cancellation settings, to make it more specific for this product > a new option will appear.
• Allow users to cancel this subscription: Users will be able to cancel this subscription.

For our example, we will allow cancellation by the user.

7. Synchronize payments

From the product settings you will be able to override the synchronization global options for recurring payments when it renews weekly, monthly or yearly.

Just make sure you have first enabled the Renewal synchronization from the section Modules.

Then, you will be able to set a specific day for synchronizing payments.

Please note – The synchronization settings can only apply to new subscriptions (so subscriptions started after the settings are saved) and it does not apply to ongoing subscriptions.

If the product recurrence is set in days, you will not be able to set a synchronization day.

If the product recurrence is set in weeks, you will be able to choose the day of the week. Please, note that if the billing cycle is 2 weeks and Monday, it will always be the first Monday every two weeks.

If the product recurrence is set in months, you will be able to choose the day of the month, from day 1 to day 28, or end of month, which may vary from month to month. For some months, it can be the 28, others 30th or 31st.

If the product recurrence is set in years, you will be able to choose month and day, for example January 1st or June 30th every year.

This information will be displayed accordingly on the frontend, so customers will be able to see when and how much the first and later payments will be. The first payment will include the cost of the sign-up fee, if set.

Please, note: if the product includes a trial period, no prorated amount will be charged, so the next payment date will be automatically set as the first renewal date.

8. Delivery schedules

From the product settings you will be able to override also the delivery schedules options for this subscription and synchronize, if necessary, all deliveries on the same day.

Just make sure you have first enabled the Delivery schedules from the section Modules.

Click on Override the delivery schedule settings if you want this product to have a different configuration. Please, refer to the Delivery Schedules sections on this page for more information about the configuration.

Once your users start subscribing products with specific delivery schedule options, you will be able to manage the deliveries from the section Delivery Schedules in the plugin panel. Please, refer to this page for more information.

Step 1. Creating a subscription product

First step, we’ll go to the products page to create a new product, that we wish to sell as a subscription, we’ll select the ‘variable product’ option, and as you can see the ‘subscription’ checkbox will disappear (no worries).

Step 2. Adding attributes and variations

Create and add your attributes and variations as usual.

In our example we wish to sell a mobile phone with the option to either purchase it at once, or pay a smaller amount each month.

Step 3. Subscription checkbox

If you were wondering where to find the ‘Subscription‘ checkbox, well, its located within the variations. So you can decide for each variation if you wish to sell it as a subscription or as a regular product.

In our example, we will sell one variation as a regular product, and one as a subscription. So for the first option we don’t select the ‘subscription’ checkbox, and for the second one we do. For both we set a price.

Step 4. Subscription settings

In the next step we will focus on the subscription settings of the product, since one variation is a ‘regular’ product, we will only focus on the variation with subscription.

• Users will pay every: xx days, weeks, months, years.
• Offer a free trial period: xx days, weeks, months, years.
• Subscription ends: decide if the subscription will have an end date or not.
• Request a signup fee: Extra fee that user has to pay when purchasing the subscription.

We have already set a price, now it is time to decide the period and if it has an end date or not, in our example we don’t want to set an end date, we don’t want a free trial and we don’t want a sign-up fee.

• Override global pausing settings: set more specific pausing rules for this product:
  • No never: No pausing option available for this product.
  • Yes, user can pause without limits: The user can pause and reactivate the subscription without limitations.
  • Yes, user can pause with certain limits: Decide how many times the user can pause, and the duration in days of pausing period.
• Override global cancellation settings: Override the general cancellation settings, to make it more specific for this product > a new option will appear.
• Apply subscription limits: Decide if user can purchase multiple subscriptions for the same product or if there is a limit:
  • Limit user to allow only one active subscription: While the subscription for this product is still active, the user cannot purchase the same subscription again. Once the subscription is cancelled/ended the user can purchase it again.
  • Limit user to allow only one subscription of any status, either active or not: The user will never be able to purchase this subscription product again, regardless of the active/inactive state. If the user wishes to activate the subscription again, he can use the  ‘resubscribe’ button in his My account page.

In our example we don’t want to override the general pausing options, the cancellation options, or apply limitations.

Step 5. Delivery schedules settings

Here, you can configure the delivery settings of the product.

• Override the delivery schedule settings: set more specific delivery rules for this product:
  • Deliver the subscription product every: choose how frequently the subscription product has to be delivered.
• Synchronize delivery schedules: enable this option if you want to ship the product on a specific day, for example, every 1st of the month or every Monday.

In our example we don’t want to override the general delivery schedule options.

Step 6. Upgrade/Switch/downgrade settings

Here you can decide if the user will be able to switch from one variation to another, and what will happen to the payment.

In our example we will ignore these settings as these are not applicable in this case.

For more information about the upgrade/switch/downgrade settings check this page here.

Product example

The user can now decide to purchase the mobile phone directly, or to spread it out in monthly payments.

Step 1. Creating a subscription product

First step, we’ll go to the Products page to create a product box that we wish to sell as a subscription. Once we select the ‘subscription box’ option, two new tabs under ‘subscription options’ will appear.

Note: the Subscription box module should be enabled from the plugin settings > Modules to have this new product type.

Step 2. Subscription settings

In this step we will focus on the subscription settings of the box.

• Box price method: define the price of the box; you would be able to use the product prices or set a fixed price for the total.
• Offer discount: by enabling this option, you can offer a fixed or percentage discount for the box.
• Users will pay every: xx days, weeks, months, years.
• Subscription ends: decide if the subscription will have an end date or not.
• Request a signup fee: this is an extra fee that users have to pay when purchasing the subscription.

• Apply subscription limits: Decide if the user can purchase multiple subscriptions for the same product or if there is a limit:
  • Limit user to allow only one active subscription: While the subscription for this product is still active, the user cannot purchase the same subscription again. Once the subscription is cancelled/ended the user can purchase it again.
  • Limit user to allow only one subscription of any status, either active or not: The user will never be able to purchase this subscription product again, regardless of the active/inactive state. If users wish to activate the subscription again, they can use the  ‘re-subscribe’ button in My account page.
• Override global pausing settings: set more specific pausing rules for this product:
  • No never: No pausing option available for this product.
  • Yes, user can pause without limits: The user can pause and reactivate the subscription without limitations.
  • Yes, user can pause with certain limits: Decide how many times the user can pause, and the duration in days of pausing period.

• Override global cancellation settings: Override the general cancellation settings, to make it more specific for this product:
  • No, never
  • Yes, user can cancel without limits
  • Yes, user can cancel with certain limits: the users can cancel the subscription xx day after the creation of the subscription and within xx days before the renewal.

• Send email related to next box content: there will be a dedicated email to users of a subscription box so you can send an email xx days before the renewal date.
• Allow box editing up until: you can set how many days before the renewal date the users will be able to edit the products that are part of the subscription box.

Note: this option will be only available if you have enabled the ”Allow customers to edit box content” option from plugin settings Subscription box > Subscription box edition.

Step 3. Delivery schedules

From the product settings you will be able to override also the delivery schedules options for this subscription and synchronize, if necessary, all deliveries on the same day.

Just make sure you have first enabled the Delivery schedules from the section Modules.

Then, go back to the product settings and click on Override the delivery schedule settings if you want this product to have a different configuration. Please, refer to the Delivery Schedules sections on this page for more information about the configuration.

Once your users start subscribing products with specific delivery schedule options, you will be able to manage the deliveries from the section Delivery Schedules in the plugin panel. Please, refer to this page for more details.

Step 4. Box creation

In this step we can determine the products that can be added, some extra rules as well as a step by step system to add the products to the subscription box.

The plugin creates a ”Step 1” box by default, click ”Edit” to open the options. You can create as many steps as needed.

• In this step show: determine what products will be shown in this step ”All products”, ”Specific products” or ”Specific categories”.
• Set min/max rules for product selection: set the min/max number of products as well as the maximum units of the same products that can be added.
• Step label: each step can have a label to show above the product listing.
• Step text: set the the text to show in this step below the step label text.

• Set min/max values for the box: Set the min/max amount required to either go to checkout or go further with any other step created.

User view

Let’s take a look at the appearance of the product page and the product box listing page.

When the product is published a regular WooCommerce product page is created, the users will need to click ”Create your box” button to be redirected to the box configuration page.

This would be how the product listing page look like, in which the users can edit the quantity of the products added to the cart.

By clicking the product image or product name there will be a quick view window with the description, the buttons to edit the quantity, the price and any discount if applies.

There will also be a mini cart that will display the products added, price as well as the buttons for editing the quantity and the “Edit step” button to move back to the previous step if you want to apply any changes.

If any minimum value rule has been set, a message in the mini-cart footer informing the user will be displayed.

But if a maximum value rule was set, the users would not be able to add more products, the button will be grayed out and a message will be prompted.

Once the users reach the cart they would be able to change the products previously added by clicking the ”edit’‘ button, this will take them back to the corresponding product listing page so users can change the products selection.

Note: this is a dedicated cart that will not use the default WooCommerce cart (if you have items in the cart, these will not be mixed with the box, it’s a separate process).

It is possible to purchase several boxes in a single order. In order to do so, the user must click on the button “Proceed to checkout” and then return to the shop and create the next box. Once all the boxes have been added, the user can proceed to complete the order.

Checkout with multiple subscription boxes

Once your customers have completed the checkout, they will be able to see their next box shipping from My Account, and edit the content of the next box if this option has been enabled. For more details about what they can do from My account page, please, refer to this page.

You only want to charge shipping costs on the initial payment, and not on renewals? No worries, you can easily turn off that option from the product editing page.

Select the ‘Shipping‘ tab and check the option ‘One time shipping‘.

The customer only has to pay shipping fee on the first payment, and not on renewal payments.

The plugin gives you also the possibility to create subscriptions from the backend. Go to WooCommerce > Orders > Add order:

1. Select the customer from the related field, then the subscription-based product(s).

2.Click on Add to add the subscription(s) to the order then go to ”order actions” and create the order.

3.Only when you have created the order you can go to ”Order actions” and you will see the option to create the subscription from the dropdown then click on Update.

Please note: if you are creating an order with 2 or more subscriptions, you must select them one by one (click on Update after each selection) in the Order actions. In this way, all the subscriptions added will be activated.

After creating the order with subscriptions, users can make the payment directly from their My account page or through the link sent with the email. The payment method selected for the payment will be used to pay the next renewals. To correctly register the gateway for recurring payments, it is essential that users pay also for those orders with €0 as the total amount.