As your business needs change, you may need to adjust your subscription order schedule to match your new structure better. The subscription rule can be updated for new customers; however, updating the existing subscriber base requires a different set of steps. This guide provides instructions on updating the charge and ship frequencies for an existing customer.

Before you start

In cases where both the order date and frequency need to be updated, update the frequency before updating the upcoming order date. If the date is updated before the frequency, the frequency action will override the date change.

Edit charge frequency

For subscriptions that charge and ship on the same day, the charge frequency is adjusted. 

Customer details page

1. Click Customers and select Customers from the dropdown. Search and select the customer. 
2. Locate the subscription product and click Actions
   
3. In the dropdown select Edit frequency.
4. Adjust the frequency value and interval.
5. Click Save when finished.
   

Subscriptions page

1. Click Customers and select Subscriptions from the dropdown. 
2. Search for the subscription to edit the frequency of.
3. Click the Actions dropdown and select Edit frequency.
   
4. Update the subscription frequency and optionally set the subscription to expire after a set number of charges. Click Update.
   
5. Any active subscriptions associated with the address will display as an option to be updated. Check the box for all subscriptions you’d like to change the order date for and click Update subscription to confirm.
   

Edit charge and ship frequency for prepaid subscriptions

Prepaid subscriptions charge and ship at different intervals. In these cases, you need to adjust the item properties.

1. 1. Click Customers and select Customers from the dropdown. Search and select the customer. 
   2. Locate the subscription product and click Actions.                                  
   3. In the dropdown select Edit frequency.
2. 5. Select This is a prepaid subscription and enter the shipping and charge intervals.
3. 6. Click Save.

Recalculate next shipment

Recharge can automatically recalculate a subscription's upcoming charge date when frequency is updated to prevent double-billing. With this setting enabled, the new charge date will get pushed back to the end of the new frequency.

To adjust this setting:

1. Click Settings and select Payment.
2. Check or uncheck Automatically recalculate next charge date when the subscription charge frequency is changed. When this setting is checked off, Recharge will automatically push out the next charge date of a subscription if the frequency is adjusted.

For example, if you change the customer's charge frequency from every 2 months to every 1 month with automatically recalculate enabled.

• The last charge processed was on September 30th.

• The upcoming charge date automatically recalculates to October 30th

With automatically recalculate disabled, the example looks a little different.

• The last charge processed was on September 30th.

• The upcoming charge is unchanged on November 30th, two months out.

• The charge after will be December 30th to reflect the new one-month frequency.

Changing frequency and intervals in bulk

There are two methods for updating the frequency and intervals in bulk. Review the methods below and select the method based on your needs and preference. 

Method 1 - Multi-select tool

You can use the Multi-select tool to update the order schedule for individual subscriptions on the Subscriptions page. To process the update search and select the subscriptions to be updated on the Subscriptions page and use Order interval frequency and Order interval unit in the Edit properties menu on the Actions dropdown.

Review the Multi-select tool guide for detailed instructions.

Method 2 - Bulk Managing Subscriptions tool

You can use the Bulk Managing Subscriptions tool to update the order frequency and intervals. To process this type of update you will need to complete the Importing subscriptions template with:

• subscription_id
• order_interval_frequency
• order_interval_unit
• charge_interval_frequency

Make changes to the numbers under columns order_interval_frequency and charge_interval_frequency. Set the unit as days, weeks, months, or configure for annually in order_interval_unit.

To make an update using the Import tool: 

1. Use the Export Builder to pull the Subscriptions - All or Subscriptions - Active export. 
2. Copy and paste the required fields noted above from the Subscriptions export into the template file. All other columns in the template can be removed.
3. Once your CSV file is ready to import, follow steps 2 and 3 in the Bulk update subscriptions with the Import tool documentation to complete the update.