Subscriptions are an excellent way to offer your customers a custom-tailored solution for ordering their favorite products while also serving to build repeat business. Unlike traditional wine club memberships, where the winery chooses the wines that will be shipped to members, the Subscription feature allows a subscribing member to conveniently select the specific wines that they want to receive on a recurring basis. Additionally, an automated email will remind the customer three days before the subscription renewal that they are going to be charged. This email will have a link to log in to change or pause the subscription. This extra step avoids unnecessary credit card disputes for customers who forget about their subscriptions.
Watch the Subscription Video Explainer
Subscriptions Overview
You can set a minimum order quantity, as well as a percentage discount. At checkout, subscribers will be presented with the option to Subscribe for each product in the Cart. A preview of the total savings is displayed based on the number of bottles that have been added. Provided the customer has met the minimum order quantity, they can select their desired shipping frequency, and then complete their subscription sign-up through the normal checkout process.
Customers who have not entered the minimum order quantity required for the Subscription are prompted to adjust the quantity to the minimum.
Based on the subscription, the order will be auto-created and charged, and ready for fulfillment.
Subscribers can pause or modify their subscriptions anytime, giving them control and freedom.
You can set up an additional, separate option to offer "Shipping Included" for one year for a recurring annual fee.
Additionally, the admin can add new Subscribers and optionally choose to 'Send Now', so that the new Subscriber receives their first shipment immediately.
Subscription status in invoice and order details
When a subscription order is placed, the invoice and order details will display 'Subscription' as the order type.
From the Orders page, you can select 'Subscription Orders' from the Order Type filter to search for and display a list of your Subscription Orders.
Subscription Renewals
When the subscription is renewed, it will also be clearly defined on the invoice, order details, member records, and receipts as shown below.
Renewal displayed on the invoice:
Renewal displayed on order details:
Renewal displayed on member records:
Renewal displayed on member receipts:
Subscription Settings
If you don't see the 'Subscriptions' link listed under the 'Settings' link in the sidebar, please reach out to VinesOS to request to have this module installed. Once enabled, please follow the steps below to configure the options:
1. Minimum items for subscription. Set the minimum number of items required for a subscription order. You probably don't want the hassle and shipping cost of sending just one bottle every month, so the minimum is usually greater than one bottle. For example, you may want to require that the customer subscribes to receiving 3 bottles in each shipment.
Ship Now Options for Existing Members
There is a 'Ship Now' option that shows up when you are adding a new subscription for a member. This option will allow you to ship out the first shipment release on the same day instead of waiting to do so at the next shipment interval.
Go to Customers > CRM > Click 'Add Subscription' in the member's record.
On the next page, you can configure the subscription and you will see an option to 'Ship Now'. Just follow the steps below:
Free Shipping Club
2. Annual club charge. If you want to optionally offer something similar to Amazon Prime, where customers can get shipping included as a benefit of membership for an annual fee, then choose a club from the dropdown list.
Important: You must already have a specific club set up in the Clubs section first so that you can then select it from this dropdown. For example, you might call that club 'Subscription Ship & Save' or something similar. Be sure to set the Annual Club Charge (i.e., your shipping included club) price, as this is what your customer will be charged annually for the shipping included benefit.
Also, be sure that your shipping-included club has zero discounts set in Wine > Settings, or your members will receive a discount AND get free shipping. Also, if you set a special wine-level sale price, this price will be applied to anyone in the club selected here. This price will be applied to any wine orders, as well as on all subscription orders.
3. Subscribe and Save discount %. Set the percent discount for the wine that the customer will receive when they subscribe.
4. Members Subscribe and Save discount %. If a customer adds wine to the cart and solely selects the 'Subscribe and Save discount' option, they would enjoy the discount (e.g., 10% ) that you have set there. However, if a customer selects the 'Subscribe and Save discount' option AND also is either a current club member or joins a club at checkout, they would instead get this 'Members Subscribe and Save discount' (e.g., 20% ) that you have set in this field for the wine that they are subscribing to. So the 'Members Subscribe and Save discount' field overrides the discount from the standard 'Subscribe and Save discount' for qualifying club members, if you use that field.
5. Debug Mode. IMPORTANT: Use Debug Mode with caution!! This will immediately begin creating new subscription orders EVERY 5 minutes! This is so that you can confirm that your subscription program works and see the notifications, etc. without having to wait for the full subscription period to elapse (for example, 3 months) after signup. Debug Mode must be turned off right after your testing so that you don't exceed your monthly server space allocation. This is because a new order will be created every 5 minutes and will flood your account. Plus, this will be an obvious nuisance for you to deal with having to clean out the test orders and restore your inventory! Please note, that additional charges will apply for hosting, so PLEASE remember to turn OFF this option immediately after testing.
6. SAVE your subscription settings.
Exclude an item from subscription eligibility.
On the wine page, you can check the box on the field 'Exclude from subscription,' and this item will not have a Subscription option on checkout.
Customize the Annual free shipping club text
Add custom text by updating the Snippet '-annual-free-shipping-note'. From the VinesOS sidebar, go to Web Updates > Web pages > and then select 'Snippet' in the Article Type dropdown field at the top of the page.
If it does not exist, add the new snippet following these directions.