So You’re Launching a Subscription Program…
Launching a subscription program kicks off a lot of new opportunities for your business, but with all of these new opportunities come new features & challenges that your business now has to support.
Here are all of the things that merchants have to consider after putting a “subscribe” offer on their product page.
What Happens When Someone…
Subscribes to a Product Subscription
- Customer selects “Subscribe and Save” option on the product page, OR
- Customer selects “Subscribe and Save” option in the cart
- Customer selects their desired frequency from preset options
- Customer completes checkout
What happens for the merchant: Order goes into merchant’s order management system for normal processing. Any items with subscriptions selected will create an order on QPilot with the customer’s information and frequencies. QPilot holds the order – which is available for editing by the merchant or customer – until it comes time to process. The Subscription Order is then processed and an order is created inside the order management system and is fulfilled as normal.
Contacts You for a Change to Their Subscription Order
- Customer contacts support about an issue with their subscription
- Support can edit the subscription directly to make the change
- Changes are reflected immediately on the merchant and customer side
What happens for the merchant: QPilot makes every element of the subscription order available for the merchant to see and edit. QPilot revalidates payment, inventory, and shipping whenever an order is changed.
Wants to Change Their Subscription Order Themselves
- Customer logins into My Account
- Customer navigates to Subscription Orders
- Customer makes the change (See additional use cases for specific things that can change)
- Subscription order revalidates
What happens for the merchant: QPilot hosts a Subscription Portal on the merchant’s website under “My Account” for the customer to access their subscription orders. QPilot revalidates payment, inventory, and shipping whenever an order is changed.
Has a Wholesale Account
- Customer registers as a wholesaler on the website
- After login, customer sees wholesale pricing on applicable products
- When customer purchases a product on a subscription, the wholesale pricing is passed through to the subscription order
- Customer can manage every aspect of their repeat order through the customer portal
What happens for the merchant: wholesale access is managed by the merchant’s website, but any custom pricing that results from this is passed directly to QPilot’s system. Any ongoing orders on the QPilot platform with wholesale pricing will be reflected accurately.
Quantity Based Discounts on Subscriptions
- When a customer buys X quantity, they receive Y discount
- When a customer purchases a product on a subscription, the quantity-based discount pricing is applied to the subscription product
- On an existing subscription, if a quantity discount threshold is reached, the pricing changes dynamically
What happens for the merchant: quantity based discounts are managed by the merchant’s website, but any custom pricing that results from this is passed directly to QPilot’s system. Any ongoing orders on the QPilot platform with discount pricing will be updated dynamically as conditions change.
Needs Delivery Date Expectations on Subscription Orders
- Customer can see live shipping rates and expected delivery dates on a subscription order
- If the customer makes changes to the order in any way, shipping is recalculated and delivery dates are requoted
What happens for the merchant: QPilot uses shipping integrations to make delivery dates and live rates available on the Subscription Order. If the merchant has shipping rules in place (such as free shipping for orders over $50), those are taken into account. The merchant gets accurate shipping rates quoted on the order, regardless of who is paying for the shipping.
Changes Their Delivery Method
- Customer can change the shipping method on a subscription order;
- When available, customer can select in-store pickup
- When available, customer can select local delivery
- Based on the new selection, shipping or delivery price is updated automatically
What happens for the merchant: QPilot ensures that the delivery method is actually available for that particular item before allowing the change. When the order is processed, QPilot attaches the correct delivery method to the order, so the order can be fulfilled as normal.
Changes Order Before the Process Date
- Customer receives notification(s) X days beforehand about upcoming order and is prompted how to make changes if they need them
- Customer can click link to access Subscription Portal to make changes (see other use cases for specific examples on what can change)
- Any changes made are immediately validated before the order processes (for example, customer can only add items that are currently in stock)
- Subscription order revalidates
What happens for the merchant: QPilot revalidates payment, inventory, and shipping whenever an order is changed. When it comes time to process the order, QPilot creates an order in the merchant’s order management system and the order is fulfilled as normal.
Wants to Pause Their Order
- Customer logins into My Account
- Customer navigates to Subscription Orders, and chooses the Order in question
- Customer clicks the “Pause” button
- Customer receives email confirming the Pause
What happens for the merchant: They see a Paused order in their reports. Customer can be passed into a “Paused” email workflow for outreach. QPilot holds the paused order.
Wants to Cancel Their Order
- Customer logins into My Account
- Customer navigates to Subscription Orders, and chooses the Order in question
- Customer clicks the “Cancel” button
- Customer receives email confirming the Cancellation
What happens for the merchant: They see a Cancelled order in their reports. Customer can be passed into a “Cancelled” email workflow for outreach. QPilot holds the cancelled order.
Wants to Add an Item (using the Subscription Portal)
- Customer logins into My Account
- Customer navigates to Subscription Orders, and chooses the Order in question
- Customer uses the drop-down to find the product they want to add
- Customer updates the order
- Subscription order revalidates
What happens for the merchant: QPilot syncs with the merchant’s inventory to show items that are in stock or available for subscription orders. QPilot revalidates payment, inventory, and shipping whenever an order is changed.
Adds an Item to Subscription Order From a Marketing Campaign
- Customer clicks QPilot-generated product link from a marketing campaign
- Product is automatically added to their next Subscription Order
What happens for the merchant: QPilot creates a link tied to a product with different subscription options. Once clicked, the link creates a webhook in QPilot to add the item to the order. QPilot revalidates payment, inventory, and shipping whenever an order is changed.
Wants to Change an Item
- Customer logins into My Account
- Customer navigates to Subscription Orders, and chooses the Order in question
- Customer clicks the X next to the item they want to remove
- Customer uses the drop-down to find the product they want to add
- Customer updates the order
- Subscription order revalidates
What happens for the merchant: QPilot syncs with the merchant’s inventory to show items that are in stock or available for subscription orders. QPilot revalidates payment, inventory, and shipping whenever an order is changed.
Wants to Change Their Shipping Address
- Customer logins into My Account
- Customer navigates to Subscription Orders, and chooses the Order in question
- Customer changes their shipping address
- Subscription order revalidates
What happens for the merchant: QPilot uses shipping integrations to make live rates available on the Subscription Order. If the merchant has shipping rules in place (such as free shipping for orders over $50), those are taken into account. The merchant gets accurate shipping rates quoted on the order, regardless of who is paying for the shipping.
“Build a Box” Experience
- Customer starts by selecting the box size they want
- Customer adds products to their box
- Customer selects from upsell options
- Customer selects frequency
- Customer completes checkout
- Subscription Box is then available for changes in the Subscription Portal on the merchant’s website
What happens for the merchant: Each item inside the box is managed as a separate item for inventory purposes, but QPilot manages them all as a bundle. When it comes time for a Subscription Order to process, QPilot creates an order with the included items inside the merchant’s order management system. The order is then fulfilled as normal.
