Changing/updating a subscription by the customer

Setup and configuration

Plugin functionalities can be enabled or disabled from the back-end by the administrator. To do this, go to WooCommerce – Settings – Self-Service Dash tab and here you can enable/disable the following options:

  • Allow the next payment date to change
  • Allow subscription frequency change
  • Allow shipping method change
  • Allow shipping method update
  • Allow subscription pause
  • Allow adding a new product
  • Allow item removal
  • Allow Quantity change
  • Allow Item Switching
  • Define subscription frequencies for the change subscription frequency option

Once you’ve selected the options you want to use on your website click Save changes

Self-service dashboard features

In order to change/update a subscription, customers will need to go to My Account - Subscriptions and open/view the subscription they want to change. From the subscription page they can take the following options:

Change the product quantity

In order to change the quantity of a product, users need to:

  1. Go to My Account - Subscriptions - view subscription
  2. Press the [Change quantity] button, under the product title.

  1. Enter/select a new quantity and press [Save] 
  2. The new value will be saved and the Subscription total adjusted.
  3. If users press [Cancel], the change quantity window will close without saving.

After the subscription has been changed a notice will be displayed and the customer will receive an email notification and a subscription note will be added to the back-end to record the change.

Note: The quantity cannot be changed to 0. If you enter 0 in the numeric field and click Save the value will not be saved.

Limitations

New subscription plans generated with Self-service Dashboard for WooCommerce Subscriptions do not support Sign-Up Fees and the [Change quantity] button will not be displayed for products that have a sign-up fee. 

If the “Sold individually” option in the Inventory tab is checked the Admin can limit the quantity for a certain product on a subscription to 1. With this setting, the [Change quantity] button will not be displayed for that product.

Item removal

Customers can also remove products from a subscription by clicking on the ‘x’ symbol placed on the right side of the product.

Note: Products can be removed from a subscription only if the subscription contains minimum 2 products

Switch between product variations

If users have purchased a variable subscription product, they will be able to switch between the product variations. To do so, the user will have to:

  1. Go to My Account - Subscriptions - view subscription
  2. Press the [Switch item] button, under the product title. A form will appear below the current table row, where the user can change variations using the drop-down menus.

  1. After the [Save] button is pressed, the current product variation is replaced with the one chosen by the user.
  2. If users press [Cancel], the switch item window will close without saving.

Note: If users choose a variation for a product with a different subscription frequency, the  Subscription frequency will NOT be changed.

After the subscription has been changed a notice will be displayed and the customer will receive an email notification and a subscription note will be added to the back end to record the change.

Limitations

New subscription plans generated with Self-service Dashboard for WooCommerce Subscriptions do not support Sign-Up Fees and the [Switch item] button will not be displayed for products that have a sign-up fee. 

The subscription frequency will not be changed if customers switch to another variation with a different frequency.

Add a new product to an active subscription

In order to add a new product to a subscription, the user will need to:

  1. Go to My Account - Subscriptions - view subscription
  2. Press the [Add new product] button. A list of subscription products will appear in a modal from which the user can choose a product. The list will contain the product types that have been enabled in the back-end settings for this functionality. The products that are already on the subscription will be excluded. The list will be loaded with the first 30 (ordered alphabetically) but customers can use the search bar to find any simple/variable subscription product.

  1. Press the [Add to Subscription] button to add the product to the current Subscription. In the case of a Variable subscription product, a variation must first be selected before the product can be added to the subscription.

  1. If you press [Close], the Add new product modal will close.

After the subscription has been changed the customer will receive an email notification and a subscription note will be added to the back-end to record the change.

By default, only simple and variable subscriptions and Simple and Variable products that can be bought on a subscription basis using the plugin's buy once or subscribe functionality are displayed. If you wish to add more product types to this functionality, please read the  Filter “Add new product” query arguments section in the Hooks article

Limitations

Although only simple/variable subscriptions and simple/variable products that can be bought as subscriptions using the plugin's buy once or subscribe functionality will be loaded in the 'Add new product' window, other products might be excluded from this feature if:

  • The “Limit to one active subscription” option is selected in the back-end Advanced tab and the product is present on an active subscription.
  • The “Limit to one of any status” option is selected in the back-end Advanced tab and the product is present on a subscription with any status. The customer cannot purchase that subscription product again unless the existing subscription is trashed or permanently deleted by a store manager.
  • The “Sold individually” option is checked in the back-end Inventory tab and the product is already on the subscription that's being viewed by the customer.
  • The catalog visibility option is set to "Hidden".
  • The product is out of stock

Add a new product to an active subscription for the next shipment only

In order to add a new product to a subscription, the user will need to:

  1. Go to My account - Subscriptions - view subscription
  2. Press the [Add new product] button. A list of subscription products will appear below the current table row from which the user can choose a product. The list will contain both Simple and Variable Subscription products and Simple and Variable products that can be bought on a subscription basis.
  3. Press the [Add to Next Shipment] button to add the product to the current Subscription. In the case of a Variable subscription product, a variation must first be selected before the product can be added to the subscription.

  1. If you press [Close], the Add new product modal will close.

The product will appear on the subscription with the text ‘Product added to next shipment only’. After the first renewal order, the product will automatically be removed from the subscription.

After the subscription has been changed the customer will receive an email notification and a subscription note will be added to the back-end to record the change.

Change the next payment date for the subscription

In order to change the next payment date for a subscription, the user will need to:

  1. Go to My Account - Subscriptions - view subscription
  2. Click on the [Change payment date] button.  

  1. Choose a date you want for the new payment date. The date picker will only allow the user to select a date within the next 30 days of the current date.
  2. Click [Save] to change the new payment date for the subscription

  1. If you press [Cancel], the window will close without saving.

After the new payment date has been saved, the subscription will be renewed on the selected date.

After the subscription has been changed the customer will receive an email notification and a subscription note will be added to the back-end to record the change.

Change the subscription frequency

In order for customers to change the frequency of their subscription, the permitted subscription frequencies must be defined in the back end. To define a subscription frequency the admin must go through the following steps:

  1. Go to WooCommerce - Settings - Subscription Force 
  2. Under ‘Available frequencies for customers’ new frequencies can be defined by selecting the frequency and clicking on the [Add] button. The list of added frequencies will be displayed below.
  3. Click the [Save] button to save the new frequency list.

After a frequency list has been defined, the customer can change a subscription frequency to any defined frequency from the defined list by:

  1. Going to My account - Subscriptions - view subscription 
  2. Click on the [Change frequency] button. A dropdown list with the defined frequencies will be displayed.

  1. lick [Save] to change the new subscription frequency.
  2. If you press [Cancel], the window will close without saving.

The new subscription frequency will take effect after the subscription’s next payment date.

After the subscription has been changed the customer will receive an email notification and a subscription note will be added to the back-end to record the change.

Limitations

The order in which the available frequencies are displayed in the front-end dropdown field is the same order they are saved in the back end. If you wish to change the order of available frequencies, the saved frequencies must be deleted and added in the correct order.

Pause a subscription until a specific date

In order to pause a subscription, the user will need to:

  1. Go to My account - Subscriptions - view subscription.
  2. Press the [Pause] button. 

  1. Choose a date until you want the subscription to be paused from the date picker window.
  2. After the [Save] button is pressed, the subscription status will be changed to On-hold.
  3. If you press [Cancel], the window will close without pausing the subscription.

While the subscription is on hold until a specific date, that date can be seen in the Status field.

On the specific date set for renewal, the subscription will automatically change its status to Active.

After the subscription has been changed the customer will receive an email notification and a subscription note will be added to the back-end to record the change.

Important note: Pausing a subscription does not change the payment schedule. When a subscription is reactivated, the payment schedule will continue as it did before the subscription was paused. For example, if a subscription is renewed every month on the 15th, it will continue to renew every month on the 15th after it is paused and reactivated, regardless of the amount of time the subscription has been suspended.

Change the shipping method

In order to change the shipping method for the subscription, users need to:

  1. Go to My account – Subscriptions – view subscription
  2. Press the [Change shipping] button, in the Actions row from the subscription details table.

  1. Select the desired shipping method and press [Save]. The shipping methods loaded in the modal depend on the content of the user’s subscription and the delivery address. 

  1. If users press [Cancel], the Change shipping window will close without saving.

Note: Shipping methods are displayed in the order they are set in the WooCommerce shipping settings.

Update shipping method

If this feature is enabled, the users will be prompted to confirm their shipping method when they make changes to their subscription which can affect the subscription value. The shipping methods loaded in the modal depend on the content of the user’s subscription and the delivery address. The actions that prompt the shipping method update window are:

  • Change subscription frequency
  • Change quantity
  • Switch item
  • Add new product

Note: If the user does not confirm the shipping method, the shipping method set before the change will be saved if it is present among the shipping methods loaded in the window. If the shipping method set before the change is not present among the shipping methods loaded in the window, the first shipping method in the list will be saved.

Note: Shipping methods are displayed in the order they are set in the WooCommerce shipping settings.

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