Use the Starter pack to refill swap Automate template to offer customers an introductory starter pack. After the initial order, seamlessly transition customers’ subscriptions so that they only receive product refills.

This guide explains how to use the Starter pack to refill swap template, ensuring a streamlined and convenient subscription experience.

Before you start

• Automate is available to merchants on Recharge Pro or Custom plans. To learn more about eligibility and pricing, visit the Recharge Pricing page or contact a Recharge sales representative.

How it works

Offer customers a Starter pack containing the essential products they need to get started with their subscription. The Starter pack to refill swap experience automatically swaps the customer’s subscription from the Starter pack to a different product so customers only receive refill products on future recurring orders.

The Starter pack to refill swap template uses the Conditional Branch node, so that you select the product customers must purchase to trigger the automated experience.

Each branch added to the template is assigned a Subscription node, which specifies the action associated with the branch. For this automated experience, the action is to swap the starter product to the subscription product on recurring orders. Customers receive the recurring subscription product on every order until they cancel their subscription.

Example

A cleaning product company offers a Starter pack that includes cleaning detergent, and a reusable mixing container for convenient storage. They enable the Starter kit automated experience to ensure customers receive both the container and detergent with their initial order, followed by automatic deliveries of detergent refills for future orders.

Recharge designed the Starter pack to refill swap experience to set your customers up for success, providing them everything they need to get started while streamlining the process for ongoing orders.

Step 1 - Create your products in Shopify and add subscription plans

Create the starter kit product, plus the product customers will receive on all future orders in Shopify, and add subscription plans in Recharge so that customers can purchase the product:

1. Log in to your Shopify admin and add the Kit product. Make sure to set the kit’s product price to reflect the cost to purchase all included products. Create the individual products included in the kit if they don't already exist in Shopify. 
   • Tip: To prevent customer confusion, Recharge recommends keeping the kit product unpublished in Shopify until you’ve activated the automated experience.
2. After creating the product in Shopify, navigate to your Recharge merchant admin and select Products from the Products menu.
3. Locate the new kit product from the list of products, and add a subscription plan.
4. Add subscription plans to all individual products available as part of the starter kit if you haven't already.

You should now have your kit product, and the individual products, configured in both Shopify and Recharge.

When creating the initial kit product in Shopify, it’s important to provide customer details about their upcoming subscriptions. For example, you may want to dedicate space in the Product Description section to explaining how the individual subscriptions work, including the recurring price and frequency for each product.

Step 2 - Create the automated experience

Create the Starter pack to refill swap automated experience in your Recharge merchant portal:

1. From the merchant portal, click Products and select Automate.
2. Select Create from template under Starter pack to refill swaps, and click Get started!
3. Select Manage settings to add a title and a description.

You can now access the flow canvas and build the Starter pack to refill swap automated experience. This experience uses a standard template designed by Recharge. By default, you cannot change the Trigger and Smart loop nodes. See Flow nodes for more information on each node.

Step 3 - Configure the Conditional Branch node

Create multiple branches within the template using the Conditional Branch node, and assign customers to specific branches based on the product they’re subscribed to. The default Starter pack to refill swap template has two branches, Branch 1 and Else:

• Branch 1: Uses the Line item condition to determine if the customer’s order contains a specific product. If customers subscribe to the specified product, they enter this branch, and Recharge applies the automated action.
• Else: If the customer’s order does not contain the specified product, they enter the Else branch, and Recharge does not apply the automated action.

You can use the default template and only configure Branch 1, or add additional branches if you offer multiple kits:

1. Select the Conditional Branch node on the flow canvas.
2. Click on the pencil icon next to Branch 1 to edit the branch.
3. Add a Branch name.
4. Select Line Item from the object dropdown menu.
5. Select Variant from the attribute dropdown menu.
6. Select Equals, Doesn’t equal, or Only equals from the operator dropdown menu.
7. Click + Add product to select the product that Recharge needs to look for when processing the order.
8. Search for the product, select it, and click Apply.
9. Click +Add branch and repeat the steps to add additional branches, or click Apply to save your configuration.

You should now have at least two branches configured on the template, one for customers who purchase the starter kit, and one branch for customers who do not.

Step 4 - Add and configure the Subscription node

The Subscription node determines what happens after Recharge processes the kit order. Update the Subscription node to set the action for the experience:

1. Select the Subscription node on the flow canvas.
2. Choose the Swap action to swap the kit product to the refill product. This ensures that the customer no longer receives the Starter pack to refill swap on recurring orders, but the refills instead.
3. Click +Add product to select the new refill subscription product.
4. Set the subscription properties, such as the order frequency, product price, quantity, and product and variant title. You can also add a frequency, order, or date-based delay to delay the charge date for the next recurring order, where the customer receives the new product for the first time.
5. Click Apply to save your node setup.

After configuring the Subscription node, Recharge will now swap the Starter kit product to the subscription product on the customer's order when you activate the experience.

Optional - Add additional Subscription nodes

If you have multiple branches or multiple products in your kit that need unpacking, you may need to add additional subscription nodes to the canvas.

Use the Canvas actions menu to add additional Subscription nodes:

1. Select Show to open the Canvas actions menu.
2. Click on the Subscription node and drag it onto the canvas.
3. Click the Subscription node to make changes.
4. Choose the Add action.
5. Click +Add product to select the new subscription product.
6. Set the subscription properties.
7. Click Apply to save your node setup.

Repeat these steps to add multiple Subscription nodes to the canvas.

Optional - Add additional actions to the canvas

Review the list of additional nodes under Canvas actions to see how you can further customize the experience. For example, you can use the A/B test node to compare different products and determine which is most effective in reducing customer churn.

While these actions are not required, they can be beneficial. For example, using the Segment node and segmenting customers who enter a specific branch can help you monitor customer behavior and determine the effectiveness of the automated experience.

Step 5 - Set your products to active in Shopify

Update your products in Shopify so that customers can purchase the kit, and receive individual subscription products on future orders:

1. Set the product status to Active.
2. Set the product to available on your online store.

Step 6 - Save and test the automated experience

You can test the automated experience before activating it to ensure it works as intended:

1. Click Save in the top-right corner.
2. Click the three vertical dot menu and select Test flow.
3. Select your test customer from the Target customer menu. This customer must already be subscribed to the initial kit.
4. Click Run flow and confirm that the flow performs as expected.

Step 7 - Activate the experience

Select Activate in the top right corner to enable the experience.

Once you activate the experience, Recharge will review all orders and apply the automated experience to eligible orders.

Considerations

Consider the following when using Automate:

Resources

Getting started

• Getting started with Automate

Additional template set-up instructions

• How to set up a Kit unpacking automated experience
• How to set up an Ongoing sequence automated experience
• How to set up a Fixed sequence automated experience
• How to set up a Trial to subscription automated experience
• How to set up a Welcome offer automated experience
• How to set up a Scheduled quarterly shipments experience