Support your first subscribers
Watching your first few customers complete a full subscription cycle can be greatly informative for identifying areas of growth in the subscriber journey. Are customers reaching out to support for help managing their subscriptions? Enable self-serve subscription management tools and answer frequently asked questions with a subscription landing page. Are subscribers sticking to the same products and never trying anything new? Try out a different customer portal designed for cross-selling and upselling.
Three steps for a smooth subscriber experience
Make sure you check off these key steps to better support your first subscribers.
- Customize how subscriptions appear on your site by adjusting the theme of your subscription widget. Adjust the appearance of the widget to fit your theme and site styles.
- Brand your notifications. Choose the notifications you would like your customers to receive and adjust their language.
- Customize the customer portal. You can adjust the theme of the customer portal , as well as the actions customers can take within it to manage their subscriptions.
Additional features to empower your subscribers Looking for even more ways to allow customers to modify their subscriptions without your help? Eligible merchants should launch RechargeSMS for free to enable subscription updates via text, and integrate with Klaviyo to incorporate subscription management links in your existing branded emails.
Ensuring a successful launch
Once your store itself is subscriber-ready, you’ll want to train your support team on how to answer common customer questions. The last step to launch? Tell your customers ! Be sure to check out our launch email templates for examples on how you might celebrate your subscription launch.
Common questions when supporting your first subscribers Expand all
How do my customers modify their subscriptions?
Subscribers can update their subscriptions from the customer portal. By default, the customer portal is linked in subscription reminder notification emails and the customer’s Shopify or Bigcommerce account. Update settings to make accessing the customer portal easier with passwordless login, or limit available self-serve options from your Customer Portal settings within the Merchant Portal. If your store has implemented RechargeSMS or Klaviyo Quick Actions, your customers will have even more options to make their own updates. Resources Editing subscriber notifications Accessing the customer portal Enabling passwordless login Changing the customer portal options Launching RechargeSMS Integrating with Klaviyo
Can I customize how Recharge looks and feels for my customers?
Yes! You can use Recharge’s out-of-the-box tools to customize the appearance of your subscription widget and customer portal. If you’re working with a developer, you can build your own subscription widget and customer portal. Resources Customize your subscription widget Updating the customer portal Create your own subscription widget Build your own customer portal
What are the best practices for launching a subscription product for the first time?
There are a number of tried and true strategies successful businesses use to ensure the success and growth of their subscription launch. Resources Review the Succeed with Subscriptions guide
What instructions should I make available for subscribers?
Make it easy for customers to learn how to access the customer portal and manage their own subscriptions. Include FAQs in your notification emails and on your subscription landing page so that customers can easily find answers without reaching out to support. Resources Instructions for your customers
Can I disable a customer’s ability to modify certain aspects of their subscription, such as swapping a product or canceling their subscription?
You can change the self-serve features available to a subscriber in their customer portal while allowing your support team to still update those features. Note that a self-serve cancellation option is a legal requirement in some regions, so Recharge does not recommend disabling this feature. Resources Update your customer portal settings
How do I build discounts to incentivize new subscribers?
If your product is intended to keep customers stocked over time, you might try an automated 5-10% subscribe-and-save discount. In addition to this model, you might explore discount codes for price or shipping costs, volume discounts, and subscriber loyalty perks. Resources Add a subscribe-and-save discount on the product page Create discount codes Offer volume discounts with Bundles Build automated discounts or add-ons with workflows
How can I customize the notifications my customers receive about their subscriptions?
Email notifications can be updated from the Settings section of your merchant portal, while the copy for transactional text messages, if enabled, can be updated from RechargeSMS. Any notifications you build with Recharge’s Klaviyo integration can be updated in Klaviyo. Resources Edit subscriber email notifications Update RechargeSMS messages Explore the Klaviyo integration
Where do I go to manage shipping and tax details?
Shipping and tax details are managed within your primary ecommerce platform (e.g. Shopify). While beyond most use cases, Recharge does have advanced shipping settings available if you need to configure shipping options manually or import them through a third-party shipping app. Merchants with more advanced tax needs typically integrate with a tax compliance solution such as Avalara. Resources Shipping in Shopify Shipping in BigCommerce and other platforms Advanced shipping settings Configuring free shipping for subscribers Taxes in Recharge Avalara integration
How do I modify a customer’s subscription for them?
Update subscription details from your merchant portal under the “Customers” tab. Resources Manage your customers
How do I integrate Recharge with my existing marketing and customer support platforms?
Each of our 50+ integrations can be quickly connected to Recharge through the Apps section of your merchant portal. Resources Integrations directory