View Product Page

Simple product 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.

subscription creation

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.

Subscription product settings
  • 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

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
  • 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’.

Custom pausing rules
  • 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

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.

Renewal synchronization module

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.

Sync on a week day

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.

Sync

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.

Yearly sync

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.

Delivery schedules module

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.

Override delivery schedule

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.

Variable product 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, we’ll select the ‘variable product’ option, and as you can see the ‘subscription’ checkbox will disappear (no worries).

Create a variable product

Step 2. Adding attributes and variations

Create and add your attributes and variations as usual.

Create variations

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.

Upfront and monthly payment

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.

Variation subscription settings
  • 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.

Subscription options
  • 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 delivery settings
  • 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.

upgrade downgrade switch

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

variable subscription example

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

One-time shipping

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‘.

One time shipping

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

How to create a subscription from the backend

The plugin gives you also the possibility to create subscriptions from the backend. Go to WooCommerce > Orders > Add order. Select the customer from the related field, then the subscription-based product(s).

Create a subscription from the backend

Click on Add to add the subscription(s) to the order then click on Create to create the order. Now go to Order actions and select the subscription from the dropdown then click on Update.

Order actions to create new subscriptions

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.

Subscriptions manually created

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.

Dashboard

You can have complete and detailed reports of all the subscriptions and recurring payments in the Dashboard section of the plugin. Here, you will find reports related to the most popular subscriptions, total incomes, renewals, trials, etc.

Dashboard

To show reports, you can choose a date range from presets (today, yesterday, week to date, last week, month to date, last month, quarter to date, last quarter, year to date last year) or a custom date range and compare it to the previous period or previous year.

Date range presets

You can get the different reports listed below:

Total net sales

From the box Total net sales, you will be able to have a report of the net sales of your subscriptions based on the selected date range.

Total net sales

Under the graphic, the related list of all the subscriptions that produced sales will show. Each subscription will show the date, the subscription number (by clicking on it, you can access the subscription details), the status, end date, the customer who subscribed, the product linked to the subscription (by clicking on it, you can access the reports of that product), and the net income. This is how the Subscriptions list will show:

Total net sales subscription list

You will also have an overview of the most popular subscriptions sold in your store in the section Top subscription products.

Top subscription products

In addition to the subscription reports, you can also check which customers are the best subscribers, with the total amount they paid, and the lost subscribers, those with a canceled subscription. You can find this data in the Top subscribers and Latest lost subscribers sections.

Top and lost subscribers

Click on View all to access the details of the Subscriber dashboard.

Subscribers dashboard

New subscriptions

The New subscriptions box allows viewing all the new subscriptions sold in the selected date range. The same number of subscriptions shown in the box will be listed under the Subscriptions list under the graphic.

New subscriptions

Net sales of new subscriptions

The box Net sales of new subscriptions shows the net amount earned with the new subscriptions based on the selected date range. You will find the list of new subscriptions in the section Subscriptions list, under the graphic.

Net sales of new subscriptions

Renewed subscriptions

To check all the subscription renewals for a specific date range, refer to the box Renewed subscriptions. The Subscriptions list will reflect this data.

Renewed subscriptions

Net sales of renewed subscriptions

This box will show the net incomes coming from renewed subscriptions. As for the other reports, you will find the details in the Subscriptions list on the same page.

Net sales of renewed subscriptions

Cancelled subscriptions

You can check all the canceled subscriptions for a specific date range through the box Cancelled subscriptions. The data will reflect in the Subscriptions list that will show the subscription end date too.

Cancelled subscriptions
Canceled subscriptions in subscriptions list

New trials

If you offer a trial period for one or more of your subscriptions, the New trials box will show you the trials started in the selected date range. On the contrary, the Subscriptions list will include only the trials currently available.

New trials

Trial conversions

The report in the Trial conversions box shows the number of subscriptions including a trial period that was converted into an active subscription.

Trial conversions
Trial conversions in subscriptions list

MRR (Monthly Recurring Revenue)

To track the average incomes and know how much money your subscription plans and billing periods are bringing in month by month, you can take advantage of the data shown in the box MRR (Monthly Recurring Revenue). This data helps you measure the effects of any changes to products or pricing you apply also at different times of the year.

MRR

ARR (Annual Recurring Revenue)

Just like for the MRR, you can also check the metric about how much recurring revenue you can expect based on yearly subscriptions in the ARR (Annual Recurring Revenue) box. Based on ARR data, you will have a picture of your company incomes and plan business strategies in the future.

ARR

Additional options

Report graphic options

Based on the date range selected and the Previous period checkbox enabled or disabled, you will be able to show the graphic by day, week, month, or quarter and get a result like shown below.

You can also choose to show the graphic as a Line chart or Bar chart.

Line chart

Line chart

Bar chart

Bar chart

In the Subscriptions list, you have the option to show the Net column data in ascending or descending order.

Net data ordering

All subscriptions

You can find the complete list of all subscriptions of your site in YITH > Subscription > Subscriptions.

All subscriptions

This table consists of the following information for each subscription:

  • Subscription: Unique ID number of the subscription.
  • Started on: Start date of the subscription that is the same day on which the order has been paid.
  • Customer: Customer who purchased the subscription.
  • Recurring: Recurring amount per given period.
  • Payment due: Next payment date.
  • Ending on: End date of the subscription, only visible if one is set.
  • Expired on: When the end date is reached the date will change from ‘ending on’ column to this one.
  • Renewals: Times that the user has paid the recurring amount.
  • Payment method: Method that has been used to pay for the subscription.
  • Failed attempts: Failed renewal attempts.
  • Status: Current subscription status (active, paused, cancelled, pending, overdue, trial, expired, suspended).

From this screen you will also be able to download all the subscriptions (with all subscription details) into a CSV file, by simply clicking on the Export button that you find next to the page title:

Export subscriptions

Actions on subscriptions

By clicking on the subscription ID you can enter the specific subscription and see its details and possible actions you can apply.

Subscription actions

Administrators can change the subscription status whenever they want. Based on the current status, there will be different options within the ‘actions’ dropdown menu:

  • Activate subscription: The subscription will become active.
  • Suspend subscription: The active subscription will be suspended.
  • Cancel subscription: The subscription gets the status ‘Cancelled’ but will not expire directly, it expires on the day when the renewal is due (in the meantime it remains active).
  • Cancel subscription now: It will expire directly. This is particularly important if the subscription is linked to any other tool that will grant access to content as long as the subscription is active.
  • Create a Renew Order Manually: A new order for the same subscription will be created and will have the Pending payment status.

The administrators will be able to edit both the billing and shipping details or to load the ones saved by the user.

Edit billing and shipping details

If users have previously updated the address from the subscription settings on My Account page, the updated information will be loaded.

On the right side, there is a box in which all activities of the subscription are recorded.

Subscription activities

Subscription activities

Within the Subscriptions section, you can find the ‘Subscriptions activities‘ tab, where you’ll be able to see all recent activities related to all subscriptions, the Subscription ID, the order linked to the subscription, a brief description, and the date when the activity was executed.

Subscription activities

You can search for a specific subscription by entering the subscription ID or order number in the dedicated search box.

Search for subscription

Subscription statuses

The status of a subscription depends on certain conditions; for example, payment complete, expiration date or users who paused a subscription plan. These are the statuses that a subscription can have:

  • Trial: Status during the trial period and subscription can be cancelled.
  • Active: Subscription is active and can be cancelled or paused (if pause is set).
  • Paused: Subscription is paused and it can be cancelled or reactivated
  • Pending: Subscription will have this status only during the purchase. The order has been completed, but payment is still in pending on administrator side.
  • Overdue: The recurring fee has not been paid and users can benefit of the grace period offered by administrators. During this time, the subscription remains active and users have the possibility to make the payment, but the subscription can still be cancelled.

In the plugin General settings, the admin can decide what the status the subscription will get if the recurring payment has not been received.

Suspended status
Suspended
Overdue
Overdue
Cancelled
Cancelled

The Subscription will get the following status after xx hours (counting from time of purchase):

  1. Suspended: The subscription is no longer active, but the user will have xx days to make the payment, before it switches to ‘cancelled’ status.
  2. Overdue: The subscription will remain ‘active’ for an xx number of days. If still no payment has been received after those days, the status will either switch to ‘suspended’ for an xx number of days followed by ‘cancelled’ status or switch to ‘cancelled’ directly.
  3. Cancelled: The subscription is no longer active and the user can no longer pay.

General settings

From this section, you can set all the general options managed by the plugin.

General settings
  • User can add to cart: decide if the user can add multiple subscription products to the cart or only one. If you select ‘Only one subscription product‘, the user cannot add more than one subscription to the cart, even though the payment method would allow it.
  • Allow users to manually renew a subscription: decide whether the user can pay for a subscription renewal manually or not. If you select “No, only use the supported gateways enabled for automatic payments”, the checkout page will only show payment methods that support automatic payments. You can find a list of supported gateways here.
  • Stock management with recurring payments: decide if renewal orders affect the stock count of subscription products.
  • Force account registration when purchasing a subscription: decide if the user must create an account when purchasing a subscription product.
  • If a recurring payment is not paid: Decide what will happen when a recurring order does not get paid, you can choose from 3 different statuses: Overdue, Suspended, and Cancelled.
  • Delete subscription if the main order is cancelled: enable this option if you want the subscription to be deleted when the main order is cancelled.

User permissions

Through the following options, you can decide whether users can pause and/or cancel their subscriptions or not.

Pause and Cancel options
  • Allow the user to pause subscriptions: This lets you decide whether users can pause the subscriptions or not. By choosing Yes, user can pause with certain limits, you will be able to define how many times they can pause it and the maximum duration of each pause. When these limits are reached, the subscription will be automatically reactivated.
    • Allow the user to pause subscriptions: This lets you decide whether users can cancel the subscriptions or not. By choosing Yes, user can cancel with certain limits, you will be able to define how many days after the creation and before the renewal date they can cancel it.

These are global settings that can be overridden from the subscription product edit page.

Extra settings

Extra settings
  • Shop manager can control subscription settings: Allow the shop manager to edit the subscription setting options.
  • Staging mode: Enable this option if you need to clone your site to make some tests. This option will be automatically enabled on the cloned site to avoid double charges on your users’ accounts. If you are sure the cloned site is not in staging mode (and so payments can be regularly charged), then, disable this option.
  • Enable log:  This allows enabling the plugin logs.

GPDR & Privacy

GDPR & Privacy
  • Delete personal information after account deletion requests: Any personal information will be deleted if a request is made by the customer.
  • Delete pending and cancelled subscriptions: Subscriptions will be trashed after a set duration, choosing from days, weeks, months, years.

Product page

In the section Customization, you can manage the style of subscription product pages, cart and checkout, and My account page by setting custom labels and colors that better fit your needs. You can also set the colors for the different statuses of the subscriptions.

Check the available options of the different sections:

Product page

Product page customization
  • “Add to cart” label in subscription products: Change label in shop- and product page.
  • Show trial period: Show trial period on the shop- and product page
  • Enter a text: Where {{trialtime}} is eg. ’10 days’.
  • Choose a color: Choose the color of the text.
  • Show fee information: Show sign-up fee information on the product page.
  • Enter a text: Where {{feeprice}} is eg. ‘$9,99’.
  • Choose a color: Choose the color of the text.
Product page example