Personalize the Subscription Experience with Subscriptions as Pending Orders
Do customers cancel their subscription because they wanted to change their subscription to a different item? Or have customers contacted you wanting to change their next order date, add a new item to their auto-ship order, adjust the frequency of their subscription, or the quantity of an item they receive in their subscription? If you’ve experienced any of these then offering Subscriptions as Pending Orders will give your customers the ability to personalize and manage their subscription preferences at their convenience.
It is easy to offer Subscriptions as Pending Orders. Simply visit the Subscriptions section of your Order Management System. Click on the Preference button at the top then check the ‘Auto Pending’ checkbox at the bottom of the first column. The Auto Pending’ option determines whether or not the subscription’s next scheduled order is placed as a pending order. If you choose to use Auto Pending, you must use Auto Activate Interval, which automatically activates a Pending Order provided no intervening status change (such as cancellation) occurs.
Then visit the Orders section > Preferences button to make sure the “Allow Edit” box is checked in the “Pending Order Preferences section”. Additionally, you may elect to use the Subscription Pending Order E-Mail Addendum (Settings/Edit Policies, Addenda, and Disclaimers), which appears on e-mails that are the result of scheduled Subscriptions, to notify customers of the time frame they have to customize their upcoming subscription order.
Subscriptions as Pending Orders increase customer engagement, drive customer loyalty, and help you personalize the online shopping experience. If you are not currently offering an auto-ship option consider the recurring revenue opportunities that can be tapped into by offering a highly customizable auto-delivery / replenishment program the future.
Bobby Cintolo is a Senior Account Executive at Nexternal. Bobby is passionate about wine and he specializes in helping merchants increase their brand awareness using social media and mobile marketing tools.
