When launching a new subscription product, we recommend reviewing this checklist to ensure you have all your bases covered.
💻 Check Email Templates
Ongoing automatically sends out emails on your behalf to your customers when they:
purchase a subscription product for the first time with a link to Subscriber Portal
have a declined payment with a link to fix their payment details
request a one-time magic link to access Subscriber Portal
These emails are white-labeled already as you shop with your information (your email, your shop name, etc).
Take a look at these email templates, and make any edits you'd like!
🛍 Know How The Subscriber Portal Works
One of the most beneficial aspects of subscriptions (besides the recurring revenue) is the self-serving nature.
Your customers can manage their subscriptions through the customer portal, so they don't need to email you to make changes.
Your subscription customers will gain instant access to the Subscriber Portal.
Learn how by reading our 1-minute guide: How the Subscriber Portal Works.
If you'd like to link to our Powered By Ongoing page, you're more than welcome to.
🚀 Add the Subscriber Portal Link to your Website
It's always a good idea to add the subscriber portal link to your website, so your customers can easily click on it to manage their subscriptions.
We recommend adding the link to your top navigation bar, and footer area.
This will help reduce the amount of customer service requests you receive.
Need help with this? Feel free to reach out if you'd like for us to do this for you.😉
🚚 Check Shipping Rates
Pretend you're the customer shopping on your site, add a subscription product to the cart, and checkout.
What shipping rates are appearing?
test out just 1 subscription product on its own
test out a "mixed cart" of subscription products & one-time purchases
If you have a minimum order $ amount for free shipping OR minimum weight for specific rates, test that out too!
If your shipping rates look off, you can adjust it 👉🏼Shopify --> Settings --> Shiping & Delivery)
Shopify will use your general Shopify Shipping Rates to calculate shipping for one-time purchases AND subscriptions.
Shopify Known Limitations: Shopify defaults to the cheapest shipping rate option for subscriptions (Shopify limitation)
Shopify only shows one shipping option for subscriptions (Shopify limitation)
Shopify Delivery Profiles lets you create shipping rates & rules
Ongoing has advanced shipping controls in the app under Settings if you need to create DIFFERENT shipping rates for JUST subscription products
WE DO NOT RECOMMEND USING the Ongoing Shipping & Delivery feature, if you just want to keep your shipping the same...99% of the time, you will not need to create a new delivery profile with Ongoing. You can just use your regular shipping and delivery settings AS IS on ShopifyWhen to use Ongoing's Shipping & Delivery feature:
Ideal for merchants who want to offer DIFFERENT SHIPPING RATES for their subscription products than they offer on one-time purchases.
When should I use Ongoing's Shipping & Delivery feature?
If you want to offer free shipping for specific subscription products or flat rate shipping on specific subscription products.
Local delivery/pickup is not available on Shopify. Try this workaround to bypass this Shopify limitation.
Test shipping rates before going live with your subscriptions!
🛒 Place a Test Order ( Highly Recommended )
We always recommend you place a "test order" for a subscription product to ensure everything works properly with your other apps, shipping costs, etc.
Placing a test order lets you experience the Subscriber portal and email notifications first-hand.
If you have any questions or need any help, send us a message at Ongoing!