Read below to stay in the know about subscription renewals.
Important Note: A guest cannot purchase a subscription due to the nature of subscription auto-renewals. Whether a member or not, they will need a record to link the subscription to.
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If Not an Auto-Renewal
If subscriptions are not set to auto-renew, the subscription will end on the "Subscription End" date and it will show in the canceled subscriptions list.
To view subscriptions:
Navigate to Ecommerce > Subscriptions
To include canceled subscriptions in the list, update the Filter for "Canceled" to "Yes" or "Any" (see screenshot below)
If a subscription is purchased as an auto-renewal, an admin can turn off the auto-renewal setting from the Subscriptions list by clicking on the green checkmark to change it to a red circle.
Subscription Auto-Renewals
There are several settings related to auto-renewing subscriptions. Below, we'll show you where you can find them!
Association Settings
For subscriptions that auto-renew, you can set when customers will be notified of their automatic renewal.
Navigate to Association Settings > Ecommerce > Subscriptions.
Select the number of days prior to renewal that customers should be notified of their upcoming renewal. The default is set to 5 days prior to renewal date.
The Subscription Renewal Notice email will contain:
Summary of the subscription purchase
Number of days until the subscription renews
A price adjustment notice if the price of the subscription has change since the last renewal
If a subscription product price is changed between the notification settings (X days prior to renewal) and the renewal date, a standalone email Price Adjustment Notice will be immediately sent to impacted customers
Price adjustment will only impact the next renewal date. For example, a subscription that is on annual renewal but is billed monthly will only see the new price take effect when the annual renewal date is passed
Sample Subscription Renewal Notice:
Product Settings
When creating a new product as a subscription, select how many days before the subscription expiration date the renewal should run.
When a product is set to be a subscription and Requires Fulfillment is checked, then admins will be notified upon renewal that the product requires fulfillment each time it renews.
Turning Auto-Renewal On or Off for a Subscription
This section shows how admins and users can turn auto-renewal on or off for a subscription, based on:
New Subscription Order
At the time a Subscription order is submitted, Auto-Renewal can be set as follows:
Admin Order on the Backend:
If the product order is entered on the backend by an admin they will need to check the Auto-Renew box in the "Add Order" modal.
User Order on the Frontend:
If the product is purchased on the frontend website the Auto-Renewal setting will be checked (i.e. ON) by default.
Existing Subscription
For Subscriptions that are already in the system, Auto-Renewal can be set as follows:
Admin on the Backend:
Admins can adjust auto-renewal settings on the backend in the Ecommerce > Subscriptions section. In the "Subscription Auto-Renew" column, click on the icon to change from on to off, or vice versa.
User on the Frontend:
The user can disable auto-renewal from their Member Compass (on the My Orders tab).
Subscription Renewal Process
When a subscription auto-renewal runs, two things will happen:
1) The subscription renewal will appear in the Orders list.
2) An Invoice or Sales Receipt will be generated for the subscription and will show in the Transactions list.
Transaction Types for Subscription Renewals:
An Invoice is generated if either of the following are true:
The subscription is not set to auto-pay (which is different than auto-renew).
The subscription is on auto-pay with ACH.
If the subscription is set to auto-pay with a credit card, a Sales Receipt will be created.
The one exception is if the credit card is declined during the auto-payment, then the system will create an invoice.
If not on auto-pay: Once the invoice is generated, admins will need to review and email the invoice to the member(s). (This is similar to how auto-renewals for dues invoicing works.)
If set to auto-pay on saved payment method:
The timing of the auto-renewal and auto-pay is determined in the Product Settings (see section above).
On the renewal date:
A sales receipt will be generated when the credit card is charged.
ORAn invoice will be created if the auto-pay is linked to an ACH payment method. Then, once the ACH payment is successful, it will be automatically applied to the invoice.
How to opt-in to Auto-Pay for a Subscription
NOTE: Admins are not able to set a subscription to auto-pay. The member must do so themselves from the frontend. Keep this in mind before adding an order on the backend. You may prefer to have the member purchase the subscription themselves.
During initial purchase of a subscription:
If the user buys a subscription from the frontend and pays with a credit card or ACH, the subscription will automatically be set to auto-pay in the future (their payment method will be saved to make this possible).
If they do not already have a saved payment method to use, they will need to enter a new payment method and save it during checkout.
During payment of an existing subscription's invoice:
If a subscription is not set to auto-pay, the user can opt-in when paying their next subscription renewal invoice on the frontend.
To do so, the user should follow these steps:
Login to the Member Compass
Navigate in the left sidebar to Account History
Find the open invoice for the subscription in the list and click the Pay button
On the payment screen, enter credit card or ACH information and check the box for "Auto-Pay Future Subscription Renewals" (see screenshot below)
Example of how a user can opt into Auto-Pay for an existing Subscription when paying a Subscription Invoice:
📌 Why are admins not able to set up auto-pay on behalf of users?
Updating the Price of an Existing Subscription
Updating the price of a subscription will only impact the next renewal date after an admin has updated the price. For example, a subscription that is on annual renewal but is billed monthly will only see the new price take effect when the annual renewal date is past.
Auto-Renewals for Free Subscriptions
When offering free subscriptions, there are a few different ways to manage this:
Option 1:
Create a free subscription and set it to auto-renew.
Option 2:
Create a promo code for an existing paid subscription.
Note: The promo code discount will only apply to the first purchase, so if the subscription is set to auto-renew it will create an invoice for the full amount at the time of renewal. To avoid the invoice creation during renewal, an admin can go to the Subscriptions list and uncheck the Auto-Renew setting for the ones that are free. Since they won't be auto-renewing then, the admin will need to manually update the expiration date after a year.
Option 3:
If the free subscription is only for a few members and everyone else must pay, consider creating a custom field for the free ones, rather than having them purchase the subscription with a promo code (#2 above). This way, there's no need to manage an auto-renewal because they will always be included (until the custom field value is changed). To be clear, this means the people who do not pay won't actually sign up for the subscription.
Note: If you choose this approach, be sure to add a condition (based on the custom field) to all subscription-related Groups, Event Tickets, etc. This way the group/ticket will include the subscribers AND the records with the appropriate custom field value.
Example custom field: "News Subscriber" with a set of options "Yes" or "No"
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