Swapping between recurring and prepaid subscriptions
Platform: Cross-platform
Before you start
Customers may start off subscribed to one subscription type, either a recurring or prepaid subscription, and want to swap to another type.
To accommodate this request, you must add a new subscription to the customer’s order and cancel the existing subscription. Completing the steps in the outlined order prevents incorrect customer churn data.
Step 1 - Add the new product
- Click Customers and select Customers from the dropdown. Search and select the customer.
- Click Add product and select the new product to add.
- Click Next to proceed.
- Confirm that the product and subscription details are correct. You can keep the original next order date set, or set a custom date.
- Click Add Product to add the new product to the subscription.
Step 2 - Cancel or delete the existing product
Depending on your desired outcome, you can either cancel or delete the original subscription product.
- Cancelling ensures that the customer does not receive any additional charges for the original product. The product is still visible through the merchant and customer portals, and the subscription can be reactivated, either by you or the customer, depending on your portal settings.
- Deleting the product completely removes the product from the merchant and customer portals. You cannot reactivate the subscription after deleting it.
To learn more, see Pause, cancel, or delete a subscription.
Cancel the subscription for the original product
- Click Actions next to the original subscription product from the customer details page.
- Click Cancel subscription.
- A pop-up menu will display, asking for the cancellation reason. It’s recommended to add a message about swapping In the “Other” field for tracking purposes.
- Click Cancel subscription.
The original product is visible in the merchant portal, after cancelling the subscription, but will no longer appear on any upcoming charges.
Prepaid subscriptions
When customers purchase a prepaid subscription, they pay upfront for multiple products. To ensure customers receive the correct product at the right frequency, Recharge creates and queues upcoming orders with a $0.00 amount. When processed, these orders are then sent to Shopify for fulfillment. Queued orders in a prepaid subscription are not automatically cancelled when you cancel the subscription, as the customer has already prepaid for those products.
You can cancel the remaining queued orders, and issue the customer a refund for any products they will not receive. See Cancelling a prepaid subscription for more information.
Optional - Delete the original subscription product
- Click Actions next to the cancelled subscription product on the customer details page.
- Click Delete.
- A pop-up message will appear, confirming that you wish to cancel. Select Delete to confirm that you wish to delete the subscription product completely.