What You Can Change, and What Only Your Customer Can Do (Essential Subscriptions app)
Some subscription changes are yours to make in the app. Others can only be done by the customer in the customer portal. This page lists both, so you know where a request has to go.
What You Can Do in the App
Open Subscriptions in the sidebar and click a row to open a subscription.
| You want to | Where |
|---|---|
| Change how often it is delivered or billed | Detail page, Edit policy |
| Change the charge day, expiry, or minimum payments before cancelling | Detail page, Edit policy |
| Change the discount | Detail page, Edit policy |
| Skip or unskip an upcoming order | Detail page, Orders card, Upcoming tab |
| Fix a delivery address | Detail page, Customer card, edit icon |
| Help with an expired card | Detail page, Send link to update card |
| Create a subscription from scratch | Subscriptions, Create subscription |
| See why a subscription failed | Subscriptions list, Failed last payment tab, then the Timeline |
Edit policy is not offered on prepaid subscriptions, or on subscriptions that are cancelled or expired. A prepaid customer has already paid for deliveries they have not had, so the plan is fixed.
What Only the Customer Can Do
These have no button in the app. The customer does them in the customer portal.
- Pause a subscription
- Resume a paused subscription
- Cancel a subscription
- Change the delivery frequency themselves
- Update the payment method
There is no pause, cancel or reactivate button for merchants anywhere in the app. This is the single most common support question about the app, so it is worth being direct with your customers about it: point them to the portal.
If a customer cannot or will not do it, contact support and we can make the change for you.
Make Sure Your Customers Can Reach the Portal
None of the above works if the portal is not set up. Check Customer portal in the sidebar: both setup steps should be done, and the Customer portal link should be visible.
Add that link to your store menu or footer, and remember the app's own emails carry a Manage your subscription button, so a subscriber can always get there from an email. See How to setup Customer Portal.
What the Customer Can Do in the Portal
- See all their subscriptions
- Skip and unskip the next order
- Pause and resume
- Cancel, unless you require a minimum number of payments first
- Update their delivery address
- Update their payment method
- See past orders
Changing the delivery frequency and swapping a product are only offered as part of the cancellation and pause flow, not as buttons of their own. If you want a customer to be offered a slower frequency instead of cancelling, set that up in Cancellation and Pause Surveys with Retention Offers.
Editing quantities is not available in the portal.
"Why Can't My Customer Cancel?"
If a customer says the cancel button shows Can't cancel yet, the subscription has a minimum number of payments set. The message tells them how many are required.
That comes from Customers can cancel after on the campaign's subscription option, or from Edit policy on an individual subscription. Clear the setting and the customer can cancel straight away.
Editing the Products on a Subscription
Changing which products are on an existing subscription is not switched on for every store yet. If you need it, contact support.
Adding a product to an existing subscription is otherwise not possible. The customer subscribes to it separately.