Articles on: Subscription Plans

A Beginner’s Guide to Subscription Plans

A Beginner’s Guide to Subscription Plans


Summary


Learn what subscription plans are, how they work in Super Subscriptions, and how to set them up to start offering recurring purchases to your customers.



When to Use This Guide

Use this guide if you are just getting started with subscriptions in your store and want to understand how subscription plans are created and how they affect your customers’ purchasing and billing experience.



What Are Subscription Plans?


Subscription plans define the rules of a recurring purchase. Each plan includes:


  • Name: A public facing name
  • Subscription options: 1 or more recurring purchase options. These can include subscription discounts, specific durations and more.
  • Products: A selection of your store products which will be available for subscription purchase


How to Create a Subscription Plan


  1. Go to the Plans Page

Navigate to Super Subscriptions > Plans in your Shopify admin dashboard.


  1. Click Create subscription plan

This opens the plan builder interface.


  1. Add a plan name and description


  • Plan Name: This will appear directly to customers in your store (e.g., “Subscribe & Save”). Choose a clear and meaningful name.
  • Plan Description: This is for internal use only. Customers will not see this description. Use it to help you identify or manage plans behind the scenes.


  1. Add a subscription option


  • Plan Name: This will appear directly to customers in your store (e.g., “Monthly Refill – 10% Off”). Choose a clear and meaningful name.
  • Plan Description: This will appear directly to customers in your store. Use it to help your customers understand the terms and benefits of your subscription option in detail.


  • Prepaid Option (optional): Let customers pay upfront for multiple upcoming deliveries.
  • Delivery Frequency: Choose how often the customer is charged and receives the product.
  • Number of prepaid deliveries: (only available for Prepaid options) Choose the number of orders the customer will pay at a time. E.g. if Delivery frequency is every month and there are 3 prepaid deliveries, the customer will pay once every 3 months and receive an order every month.


🧠 More Options Available After Saving

Once you save the plan, more advanced settings (e.g., cancellation rules, retry logic) will become available.

📘 See the subscription option guide →



  1. Assign Products to the Plan

You can choose which products this subscription plan applies to. There are three assignment modes:


All Products

  • The plan will automatically apply to all current and future products in your store.


Specific Collections

  • Choose one or more collections.
  • Manual collections update automatically.
  • Automated collections require you to click “Sync Collection” manually after changes.


Specific Products

  • Choose individual products.
  • You can also assign the plan to specific variants within each product.


  1. Save your plan

Click the Save button on the top to finish creating your plan. You can now edit subscription options in detail. If your subscription widget is enabled, your plan will be available for purchase for the selected products.



Widget preview


After saving your plan, you will see a widget preview on the right side of the plan editor.


🖼️ Understanding the Widget Preview


  • The preview only displays the currently selected plan, even if the product has multiple plans.
  • On the live storefront, customers will be able to choose between all plans assigned to the product.
  • Widget colors or styles may differ from the live version, depending on your store’s theme.


🧰 Customize Your Widget

You can change how the widget looks and behaves from the Widget Settings page →

🌍 You can also translate widget text via the Translation Settings guide →



FAQs and Troubleshooting


Q: Can I offer multiple plans for one product?

Yes, a product can have multiple plans with different frequencies or discounts. The storefront widget will allow the customer to choose.


Q: What happens if I edit a plan later?

Existing subscribers will stay on their original version of the plan unless you manually migrate them.


Q: Can I offer both one-time and subscription purchases?

Yes. You can allow both on a product, or make it subscription-only.


Tips and Best Practices


  • Use descriptive plan names that clearly reflect the benefit (e.g., “Quarterly Restock – Save 15%”).
  • Start with a simple monthly plan, then expand as you learn what customers prefer.
  • Consider enabling “Subscription Only” for products that are part of ongoing services.




AI Training Notes (Hidden)

[AI-TAG]
- Feature: Subscription Plans
- Key Concepts: Frequency, Discount, Commitment, Prepaid, Product assignment, Widget preview
- Key Actions: Create plan, Assign products, Configure widget, Save plan
- UI Elements: Plans tab, + Add Plan button, Sync Collection, Save Plan, Preview Widget
- Phrases to reinforce: “only the current plan is shown in preview”, “plan name is customer-visible”, “plan description is for internal use”
- Related Guides: Widgets, Translations, Advanced settings
[/AI-TAG]

Updated on: 07/09/2025

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