Article · Subscriptions
What should I ask a Shopify subscription app before I install it?
Twelve questions cover most of what goes wrong later: how bundles and subscriptions work together, what renewals cost the customer, what subscribers can do themselves, what happens when a payment fails, and how you get out. Each one below says why it matters and where to find the answer in an app's own documentation. The last column shows how Supr answers it.
Who this is for: For any Shopify merchant choosing or switching a subscription app, whatever the product.
The twelve questions
| # | Ask | Why it matters | In Supr |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Can a bundle be sold on subscription in the same offer, in the same app? | Two apps that work together mean two setups, two portals and two places to look when a price is wrong. | Yes: a Bundle + Subscription offer type, one app. |
| 2 | What does a subscribed bundle cost on the second and later orders, and can you choose? | A bundle discount that disappears after order 1 surprises customers and support. | Kept on every order by default; limit it to the first orders if you want. |
| 3 | Which of skip, pause, swap, change frequency and change date can subscribers do themselves? | Every action they cannot do becomes a support ticket or a cancellation. | Each is a customer portal setting you switch on or off. |
| 4 | What happens when a renewal payment fails: how many retries, how far apart, which emails, what final status? | Failed payments are lost revenue you can recover. | 1 to 10 retries, an interval you set, then fail, pause or retry next cycle. |
| 5 | Can you make a different offer for each cancellation reason, and cap how often it is used? | A single discount for everyone teaches customers to threaten to cancel. | A counter-offer per reason, with a cooldown (30 days by default). |
| 6 | Can you choose the days or dates renewals are charged and shipped? | A club or a box often needs one date for everyone. | Renew on specific days, and Renew on specific dates per option. |
| 7 | What happens to existing subscribers' prices when you change a product's price? | Fixed prices protect customers; automatic updates protect margin. You want the choice. | Fixed at purchase by default, or updated automatically as prices change. |
| 8 | What does moving from your current app involve, and do saved payment methods stay with your store? | Customers asked to re-enter cards leave. | Importers for some apps and a migration done by the team for others; in most migrations saved payment methods stay with your store. |
| 9 | Which tools can it feed: Klaviyo, Shopify Flow, an API, webhooks? | Retention emails and your own systems need the events. | Klaviyo, Omnisend, Shopify Flow, a REST API and signed webhooks. |
| 10 | What reporting is built in: revenue, churn, lifetime value, bundle revenue? | You cannot fix a leak you cannot see. | MRR, churn, lifetime value and bundle revenue, by offer. |
| 11 | Is it Built for Shopify, and does it work with your checkout and customer accounts? | It decides how well it behaves in the places you do not control. | Built for Shopify. |
| 12 | Is every setting documented, and can you reach a person? | You will need both in your first week. | A help center article per feature, and live chat. |
How to use the list
- Open each app's Shopify App Store listing and its help center, and search for the words in the question (for example "failed payment" or "renew on specific dates"). If you cannot find an answer in the docs, ask the app's support before you rely on it.
- Weight the questions by your store: a subscription box lives on questions 3, 5 and 6; a supplements store on 2, 4 and 7; a store moving from another app on 8.
- Run the one test that settles most of them: build your real offer on a development store before you install on your live one.
Questions
Do I need a subscription app and a separate bundle app?
Only if you choose two apps. In Supr a bundle can be sold one-time or on subscription from the same offer, so there is one app to set up.
How do I test a subscription app before going live?
Install it on a development store, build your real offer and place a test order. Check the product page, the cart and checkout totals, and the customer portal as a customer.
What should I check before moving subscribers from another app?
That schedules and prices carry over, and whether saved payment methods stay with your store, so customers do not have to enter their cards again.
Every setting is covered in the help center: A Beginner's Guide to Subscription Offers.
Install on ShopifyRelated
- How do I add subscribe and save to my Shopify products?
- How do I stop subscribers cancelling on Shopify?
- How do I sell bundles on subscription on Shopify?
- What should a coffee roaster charge on repeat orders of a subscribed bundle?
- How do I run a monthly art supplies club on Shopify?
- How do I stop subscription box members cancelling on Shopify?
- How do I run a craft kit club on Shopify with themed boxes that end after 6 or 12?
- How do I sell a mystery box subscription on Shopify without spoiling the surprise?