Use the Ongoing sequence Automate template to offer a unique product series, where you set a sequence of variants for customers to progress through. The series automatically resets once customers receive all of the products in the series, ensuring a continuous engagement cycle.

This guide explains how to set up an Ongoing sequence automated experience to create a seamless, repeating sequence that improves customer satisfaction and fosters long-term engagement.

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

Use the Ongoing sequence automated experience to design a tailored shopping journey and create a sequence of unique products for customers to receive with each order. Once a customer completes the sequence, it automatically restarts from the beginning, providing a continuous and engaging experience.

The Ongoing sequence automated experience uses the Conditional Branch node to create different branches in the experience depending on the line items on a customer’s order. You must create separate branches for each product in your sequence.

For example, if you have a three-sequence experience, you need four branches, three for each product in the sequence, and one for orders that do not contain any selected products.

Each branch is assigned a Subscription node, which defines the action to be executed on the customer’s next order. Use the Subscription node to swap the existing product to the next item in the sequence.

In the three-sequence example, Branch A corresponds to the first product in the sequence. When configuring the Subscription node for Branch A, you must select the product assigned to Branch B as the next item in the sequence. This ensures the customer progresses smoothly to the next product after receiving the previous one.

Example

A candle company offers a scented candle subscription for their ten different scented candles. To reduce customer churn and product fatigue, the company uses the Ongoing sequence automated experience to send customers a different scented candle each month over ten months. After ten months, the subscription resets and the customer starts the series again, receiving the same scent they received at the beginning of the sequence.

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

Make sure all products in the sequence exist in Shopify and are added to Recharge before building the Ongoing sequence automated experience:

1. Review your existing products in your Shopify admin, or add a new product.
2. Navigate to your Recharge merchant admin and select Products from the Products menu.
3. Confirm that you have assigned subscription plans to the products, or add a subscription plan if necessary.

Step 2 - Create the automated experience

Create the Ongoing sequence automated experience in your Recharge merchant portal:

1. From the merchant portal, click Products and select Automate.
2. Select Create from template under Ongoing sequence, 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 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

Use the Conditional Branch node to create multiple branches within the automation. This node assigns customers to specific branches, customizing the action based on the products customers received in their previous order.

The default template has three branches, Branch 1, Branch 2, and Else:

• Branch 1: Targets orders that contain the initial product that starts the looping experience. Use the Line item condition to determine if the customer’s order contains a specific product. If the customer is subscribed to the specified product, they enter this branch, and the experience is automatically applied.
• Branch 2: Targets orders that contain the next product in the sequence.
• Else: If the customer’s order does not contain the specified products, they enter the Else branch, and the experience is not applied.

You can use the default template and only configure Branch 1, and Branch 2 or add additional branches to include more products in your sequence:

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. This is the product that starts the sequence. Search for the product, select it, and click Apply.
8. Repeat these steps for Branch 2, selecting the next product in the sequence as the order condition.
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 three branches configured on the template:

• One branch for orders containing the initial product in the sequence
• One branch for orders containing the second product in the sequence
• One branch for orders that do not contain either product

Step 4 - Configure the Subscription node

The Subscription node swaps the product a customer is subscribed to for their next upcoming order.

Update the Subscription node to set the automated actions:

1. Select the Subscription node on the flow canvas.
2. Choose the Swap action to swap to the next product in the sequence.
3. Click +Add product to select the new 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. Repeat these steps for all of your branches. When configuring the Subscription node for your last branch, use the product from Branch A to restart the sequence.
6. Click Apply to save your node setup.

Configuring multiple Subscription nodes ensures that customers enter a successful ongoing sequence. When customers purchase the first product in the series, the automated experience begins, delivering each product in order. Once they reach the end of the sequence, it automatically restarts from the beginning.

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

Make sure your products are available for purchase:

1. Set the product status to Active for all products available in the sequence.
2. Set the initial product in the sequence to be available on your online store. Make sure to keep all other products set to unavailable on your storefront to prevent customers from entering the sequence midway.

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 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 a Starter pack to refill swap 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