Nic Dunn, CEO, Charle Agency
Why Subscriptions Matter for Scaling Brands
The subscription economy continues to accelerate. Industry projections suggest the global subscription ecommerce market will surpass $450 billion by the end of 2026, with DTC brands leading much of that growth. But the real value of subscriptions for businesses goes beyond following a trend. Successful subscription businesses across the world are proving that recurring income transforms how merchants plan, invest, and scale.
For brands operating at scale, subscriptions solve fundamental business challenges. They create predictable cash flow that transforms financial planning, allowing you to forecast with confidence, improve inventory management, and make investment decisions based on reliable projections rather than hope. When 30% or more of your income arrives on a predictable schedule, the entire business operates differently. This advantage gives merchants the confidence to invest in growth.
The customer lifetime value impact is equally significant. Subscribers typically spend 60% more over their lifetime compared to one-time purchasers. They're also cheaper to retain than to acquire. With customer acquisition costs continuing to climb across paid channels, shifting more revenue to subscription models makes financial sense.
We've seen this play out across our client base. Brands that implement subscription programs effectively don't just add a revenue stream. They change the economics of their entire business. The question isn't whether subscriptions make sense for growing brands. It's how to implement them in a way that maximizes their potential.
How to Set Up Subscriptions on Shopify
Setting up product subscriptions on Shopify is straightforward once you understand the steps involved. Whether you're a merchant just starting your subscription business or an established brand adding recurring revenue streams, here's how to get subscriptions in place on your store.
Step 1: Choose Your Subscription App
Shopify doesn't include native subscription functionality beyond its basic Shopify Subscriptions app, so most subscription businesses rely on third-party subscription apps from the Shopify App Store. The main solutions available to merchants include Recharge, Skio, Loop Subscriptions, and Shopify's own offering. Each app has different advantages depending on your business model, reporting needs, and workflows.
When browsing the App Store, pay attention to reviews from other businesses, integration capabilities with your existing tech stack, and how the app handles billing cycles and payment methods. A free trial period can help you test the settings and features before committing.
Step 2: Configure Your Subscription Plans
Once your chosen app is installed, the next step is creating your subscription plans. You'll define the intervals at which shoppers receive deliveries (weekly, monthly, or custom schedules), any discounts for subscribing on a subscription basis, and shipping configurations. Most apps let you create multiple plans to give your audience flexibility.
Consider your inventory management and demand forecasting when setting up intervals. Predictable subscription schedules make it easier to manage cash flow and plan stock levels. Configure your settings to handle different billing cycles and payment methods based on what your shoppers prefer.
Step 3: Add Subscriptions to Products
With plans configured, you'll assign them to specific products. Most subscription apps add a widget to your product pages where shoppers can choose between one-time purchase and subscription basis options. The way this appears depends on your theme and the app's customization options.
For merchants on Shopify Plus, there's the advantage of deeper checkout customization, allowing subscription options to appear seamlessly throughout the purchase flow. This speed and consistency improves conversion rates.
Step 4: Set Up Customer Portal and Communications
Your subscription app will include a customer portal where subscribers manage their memberships, pause deliveries, swap products, or update payment methods. Configure this portal's settings to match your brand, and set up email notifications for order confirmations, upcoming renewals, and failed payments.
These communications are crucial for customer retention and customer loyalty. Proactive updates about shipping schedules and upcoming charges reduce support queries and build trust with your audience.
Step 5: Test and Launch
Before going live, run through the entire subscription flow yourself. Place a test order, check the customer portal, verify emails trigger correctly, and confirm reporting captures the data you need. Getting insights from this trial phase helps you refine the experience before real shoppers encounter it.
Once you're confident everything works, launch your subscription program and gather feedback from early subscribers. Use this input to make updates and improvements. Many successful subscription businesses share content about their programs on their blog, Instagram, and other channels to drive awareness and sales.
Subscription Models That Work
Not all subscription models suit all products. Choosing the right structure for your brand and your customers is the foundation of a successful program.
Replenishment Subscriptions
The most straightforward model. Customers receive regular deliveries of products they use consistently: coffee, supplements, skincare, pet food, household essentials. The value proposition is convenience and often a discount for committing to regular purchases. Replenishment works best when your product has a natural consumption cycle and customers would buy it repeatedly anyway. The subscription simply removes friction and ensures they buy from you rather than a competitor.
Curation Subscriptions
Here, the subscription itself is the product. Customers pay for the experience of receiving curated selections: beauty boxes, wine clubs, book subscriptions. Curation models can command premium pricing because the discovery element adds value beyond the products themselves. They also create natural opportunities for introducing customers to new products in your range.
Access and Membership Models
Customers pay for perks rather than products: exclusive pricing, early access to launches, members-only content, or premium services. Memberships work particularly well for brands with loyal customer bases and can be combined with other subscription types. A membership fee might unlock discounted subscription plans on replenishment products, giving shoppers multiple ways to engage with your brand.
Build-a-Box and Hybrid Models
Giving customers control over what they receive in each delivery combines the predictability of subscriptions with the flexibility customers want. Build-a-box functionality lets subscribers customize their orders while maintaining the recurring relationship. We've implemented complex build-a-box systems for brands like Bio&Me, where customers can mix and match products within their subscription.
The most successful subscription programs often blend elements from multiple models. A replenishment subscription might include membership benefits. A curation box might allow some customization. The key is understanding what your customers actually want and designing around that, not forcing them into a rigid structure.
Choosing Your Subscription Platform
Your choice of subscription platform shapes what's possible. The right platform for a brand doing $500k in subscription revenue looks different from one doing $5m. Here's how the main options compare for serious Shopify brands.
Shopify Native Subscriptions
Shopify's built-in subscription functionality is free and integrates seamlessly with your store. For brands just testing subscriptions or running simple replenishment models, it can be sufficient. The limitations become apparent as you scale: basic analytics, limited customization options, and minimal tools for reducing churn. If you're serious about subscriptions as a growth channel, you'll likely outgrow native functionality quickly.
Recharge
One of the most established subscription platforms on Shopify, Recharge offers enterprise-grade features and extensive customization options. It handles complex subscription logic well and integrates with most of the tools growing brands use. The trade-off is complexity. Recharge can do almost anything, but that power comes with a steeper learning curve and higher implementation costs. Pricing starts at $99 per month plus transaction fees.
Skio
Built specifically for high-growth DTC brands, Skio focuses on retention and subscriber experience. Features like passwordless login, modern customer portals, and sophisticated cancellation flows are designed to reduce churn. Brands that have migrated from Recharge to Skio often cite the improved customer experience and more intuitive management. Skio is particularly strong for brands prioritizing subscriber retention over raw feature count.
Loop Subscriptions
Loop positions itself as a retention-focused platform with strong analytics and customer engagement tools. Its gamification features and loyalty integrations can help increase subscriber lifetime value and customer loyalty. Loop works well for merchants that want to create more engaging subscription experiences beyond simple replenishment, with strong reporting and insights.
Making the Decision
For brands processing significant subscription volume on Shopify Plus, we typically recommend Skio or Recharge depending on specific requirements. The decision often comes down to whether you need Recharge's extensive customization options or prefer Skio's more streamlined, retention-focused approach. Either platform can support serious subscription operations. What matters is choosing based on your actual needs, not feature lists you'll never use.
Growing Your Subscriber Base
Having a subscription option isn't enough. Actively growing your subscriber base requires intentional strategy across multiple touchpoints.
Converting One-Time Buyers
Your existing customers are your best subscription prospects. They've already bought from you, which means they trust your brand and like your products. Post-purchase flows that introduce subscription options to one-time buyers consistently outperform trying to convert cold traffic directly to subscriptions.
The timing matters. Introduce subscriptions when customers are most likely to be receptive: after they've received and used their first order, when they're about to run out, or when they return to repurchase. A well-timed email suggesting they "never run out" of a product they've bought twice converts significantly better than a generic subscription pitch.
Subscription Landing Pages
Dedicated landing pages for your subscription program let you tell the full story: what subscribers get, why it's valuable, how it works, and what others say about it. These pages should address common objections directly. Can I pause? What if I want to change products? How do I cancel? Removing uncertainty removes friction.
The best subscription landing pages we've built include clear value propositions, transparent pricing, social proof from existing subscribers, and straightforward explanations of how the subscription works. These pages should be optimized for maximum conversion. They treat the subscription as a product worth selling, not just an option to tick on a product page.
Incentive Structures That Work
Discounts drive subscription sign-ups, but the structure matters. A percentage off each order (10-15% is typical) provides ongoing value. A larger first-order discount (20-25% off) can boost initial conversions but may attract subscribers who cancel quickly. Free gifts at milestones (a bonus product at 3 months, 6 months, 12 months) reward loyalty and give subscribers reasons to stay.
We've seen brands damage their subscription economics with overly aggressive discounting. If your only selling point is the discount, you'll attract price-sensitive subscribers who leave the moment something cheaper appears. The discount should be part of the value proposition, not the entire thing.
Email and SMS for Acquisition
Dedicated flows for subscription acquisition should be part of your retention marketing strategy. These aren't the same as your standard promotional emails. Share content about the advantages of subscribing and use updates to keep your audience engaged. Subscription-focused flows educate, address objections, and build the case for recurring purchases over time.
Segment your approach based on customer behavior. Someone who has purchased the same product three times is a different prospect than someone who bought once six months ago. Your messaging and offers should reflect that difference.
Increasing Subscriber AOV
Growing subscriber numbers is only part of the equation. Increasing how much each subscriber spends per order directly impacts your subscription revenue without requiring more customers.
Upselling Within Subscriptions
Subscribers who trust you enough to commit to recurring purchases are often receptive to product upgrades. A subscriber on your standard coffee blend might upgrade to a premium single-origin. Someone receiving a basic skincare subscription might add a serum or treatment product. The key is making these upgrades easy to add without disrupting the existing subscription.
Present upsell opportunities at natural moments: when subscribers log in to manage their subscription, in order confirmation emails, or through dedicated "upgrade your subscription" campaigns. Frame upgrades around the benefit to the customer, not just the price increase.
Cross-Selling and Add-Ons
One-time add-ons to subscription orders let customers try new products without committing to another recurring purchase. Product bundles work particularly well here. This is particularly effective for launching new products to your most engaged customer segment. A subscriber ordering their regular delivery might add a new flavor or format to try, with no ongoing commitment.
Some subscription platforms handle add-ons better than others. Look for functionality that lets customers easily add products to their next delivery without creating a separate order or subscription.
Tiered Subscription Offerings
Multiple subscription tiers at different price points let customers self-select based on their needs and budget. A three-tier structure (good, better, best) is common: a basic option for price-conscious subscribers, a mid-tier that represents the best value, and a premium tier for your most committed customers.
Design tiers so the middle option is genuinely the best choice for most customers. This anchors value perception and makes the decision easier. The premium tier exists for those who want everything, while the basic tier prevents you from losing customers who would subscribe but can't justify the higher price.
Flexibility That Drives Value
Counterintuitively, giving subscribers more control can increase AOV. When customers can easily adjust quantities, swap products, or change delivery frequency, they're more likely to order what they actually want rather than pausing or canceling because the fixed option doesn't fit their current needs. A subscriber who can increase their order when they're running low spends more than one stuck with a fixed quantity.
Subscription Retention at Scale
Acquisition gets attention, but retention determines subscription profitability. Reducing churn by even a few percentage points has an outsized impact on lifetime value and program economics.
Understanding Why Subscribers Leave
Before you can fix churn, you need to understand it. The reasons subscribers cancel typically fall into a few categories: they have too much product, they want to try something different, the price is too high, or their circumstances have changed. Each requires a different response.
Build cancellation flows that capture this information. When someone clicks cancel, don't just let them go. Ask why, and offer relevant alternatives. Someone with too much product might pause instead of cancel. Someone who wants variety might switch to a different product or a build-a-box option. Someone concerned about price might accept a discount to stay.
Dunning and Payment Recovery
Failed payments cause involuntary churn that's entirely preventable with the right solutions. Cards expire, banks flag unusual charges, and temporary insufficient funds happen. Without proper dunning sequences and automated workflows, these failed payments become lost subscribers.
Effective dunning includes automated retry logic (trying the card again after a few days often succeeds), customer notifications that make updating payment details easy, and escalating urgency in communications as the delivery date approaches. The best subscription platforms handle much of this automatically, but you should configure the sequences thoughtfully rather than accepting defaults.
Cancellation Flow Optimization
Your cancellation flow is your last chance to retain a subscriber who has decided to leave. This isn't about making cancellation difficult or hiding the option. That damages trust and often just delays the inevitable. Instead, it's about ensuring subscribers know their options before they go.
A well-designed cancellation flow presents alternatives based on the stated reason for leaving. Too much product? Offer to reduce frequency or quantity. Price concerns? Offer a discount or a smaller subscription tier. Want to pause? Make that easy. Need to cancel anyway? Let them go gracefully, leaving the door open for return.
Win-Back Strategies
Not every churned subscriber is lost forever. Win-back campaigns targeting former subscribers can reactivate a meaningful percentage, especially if you address the reason they left. Someone who canceled due to having too much product six months ago might be ready to restart. Someone who left for a competitor might return if their experience was disappointing.
Time your win-back efforts strategically. A campaign at 30 days post-cancellation catches people who may have acted impulsively. Another at 90 days reaches those who might have exhausted their remaining product. Offers should be compelling but not so aggressive that they train subscribers to cancel and wait for the win-back discount.
The Metrics That Matter
Track churn rate by cohort, not just overall. A 5% monthly churn rate means something different if it's consistent across cohorts versus concentrated in the first few months. Understanding when and why subscribers leave lets you focus retention efforts where they'll have the most impact.
Also track subscriber lifetime value, not just average order value. A subscriber who stays for 18 months at a lower AOV may be worth more than one who spends more but churns after three months. Design your program to optimize for total value, not just initial conversion.
Custom Implementation vs Out-of-the-Box
Every subscription platform offers default widgets and customer portals that you can install and launch quickly. For some brands, these defaults are fine. For brands where experience matters, custom implementation makes a significant difference.
When Default Widgets Hurt Your Brand
Out-of-the-box subscription widgets are designed to work for everyone, which means they're optimized for no one in particular. They sit on your product pages looking like what they are: third-party add-ons that don't match your store's design language. For brands that have invested in distinctive visual identity and user experience, these generic elements undermine the premium feel you've worked to create.
The customer portal is often worse. Default subscription management interfaces look nothing like your store. Subscribers click through to manage their subscription and land in what feels like a completely different website. The disconnect erodes brand consistency and can create confusion.
Custom Subscription UX
Custom implementation means building subscription touchpoints that feel native to your brand. Product page widgets that match your design system. Customer portals that extend your store's look and feel. Checkout experiences that flow naturally rather than jarring subscribers with unfamiliar interfaces.
Beyond aesthetics, custom implementation lets you optimize the subscriber journey based on your specific business logic. You can create unique subscription flows, build custom build-a-box experiences, and implement features that the default widgets don't support. Our work with brands like Candy Kittens and 111Skin involved building subscription experiences that felt completely native to their stores.
API-Driven Approaches
Modern subscription platforms like Skio and Recharge offer robust APIs that let developers build custom front-end experiences while leveraging the platform's back-end infrastructure. This approach gives you the reliability and features of an established platform with the flexibility to create exactly the experience you want.
API-driven implementation requires development expertise, but for brands at scale, the investment pays off in subscriber experience and program performance. The best implementations feel like subscriptions were built specifically for your store, because in a sense, they were.
Migration: Moving Platforms Without Losing Subscribers
If you've outgrown your current subscription platform or need capabilities it doesn't offer, migration becomes necessary. Done well, subscribers barely notice. Done poorly, you lose subscribers and revenue during the transition.
When to Switch Platforms
Consider migration when your current platform limits your growth: you need features it doesn't support, the customer experience is hurting retention, costs have become prohibitive relative to alternatives, or integration limitations are blocking other initiatives. Migration is disruptive enough that it should solve real problems, not just chase shiny new features.
Migration Best Practices
Successful migrations start with comprehensive data mapping. Every subscriber, their subscription details, payment information, upcoming orders, and history need to transfer accurately. Work with both platforms to understand their migration processes and any limitations.
Test extensively before the full migration. Move a small cohort first and verify everything works as expected: orders process correctly, customers can manage their subscriptions, payment processing functions properly. Identify and fix issues at small scale before they affect your entire subscriber base.
Communicate proactively with subscribers. Let them know about the change, when it's happening, and whether they need to do anything. Most migrations don't require customer action, but transparency builds trust and reduces support queries.
Minimizing Subscriber Disruption
Time the migration to minimize impact. Avoid migrating just before a major billing cycle. Ensure customer portals are ready and functioning before you switch so subscribers don't try to manage their subscriptions during the transition and hit errors.
Have support ready for the immediate post-migration period. Even smooth migrations generate questions. A brief spike in support volume is normal and manageable with preparation.
Common Subscription Mistakes to Avoid
After implementing subscriptions for dozens of brands, we've seen the same mistakes derail subscription programs repeatedly. Avoiding these pitfalls will save you revenue and subscriber relationships.
Over-Discounting to Drive Sign-Ups
Offering 30% or 40% off to attract subscribers feels like a growth hack, but it backfires. You attract price-sensitive shoppers who cancel the moment a better deal appears elsewhere. Worse, you train your audience to expect deep discounts, making it harder to maintain margins. A 10-15% subscription discount is typically the sweet spot, enough to provide value without destroying your economics.
Making Cancellation Difficult
Hiding the cancel button or forcing subscribers to call customer service might reduce churn temporarily, but it destroys trust and generates negative reviews. Modern shoppers expect easy self-service cancellation. Instead of making it hard to leave, focus on presenting alternatives during the cancellation flow: pause options, frequency changes, product swaps, or a discount to stay.
Ignoring Failed Payments
Failed payments cause significant involuntary churn, yet many brands rely on default dunning settings without optimization. Cards expire, banks flag unusual charges, temporary insufficient funds happen. Without proper retry logic and proactive customer communications, these become lost subscribers. Review your dunning sequences quarterly and test that payment update flows work smoothly.
Launching Without Flexibility
Rigid subscriptions that only offer one frequency or don't allow product swaps frustrate subscribers. Life circumstances change, and subscription needs change with them. If a subscriber has too much product but can't reduce frequency, they'll cancel entirely. Build flexibility into your program from day one: multiple intervals, easy pausing, product customization where possible.
Not Testing the Full Subscriber Journey
Many brands test the sign-up flow but never experience their subscription as a real subscriber would. Place a test order, receive the confirmation emails, try to modify the subscription in the customer portal, attempt to pause and resume, update payment details, and yes, try to cancel. Issues that seem minor in isolation compound into poor experiences that drive churn.
Treating Subscriptions as Set and Forget
Launching subscriptions is the beginning, not the end. Successful subscription businesses continuously analyze performance, test new approaches, and optimize based on data. Monitor your metrics monthly, gather feedback from subscribers, and iterate. The brands that win at subscriptions treat their program as a product that requires ongoing attention and improvement.
Subscription Metrics and KPIs to Track
You can't improve what you don't measure. These are the metrics that matter most for subscription businesses on Shopify, and what good performance looks like.
Monthly Recurring Revenue (MRR)
Your predictable monthly income from active subscriptions. Track MRR growth over time and break it down by new subscriptions, expansions (upgrades and add-ons), and contractions (downgrades). Healthy subscription programs show steady MRR growth with new subscriptions outpacing churn.
Subscriber Churn Rate
The percentage of subscribers who cancel in a given period. Calculate monthly churn by dividing cancellations by total subscribers at the start of the month. For ecommerce subscriptions, 5-7% monthly churn is typical, though replenishment models often achieve 3-5%. Track churn by cohort to understand if newer subscribers retain better or worse than earlier ones.
Subscriber Lifetime Value (LTV)
The total revenue a subscriber generates before churning. Calculate by multiplying average order value by average subscription lifespan in orders. Compare subscriber LTV to one-time purchaser LTV to quantify the value of your subscription program. Subscribers should deliver significantly higher lifetime value, often 2-3x or more.
LTV to CAC Ratio
Subscriber lifetime value divided by the cost to acquire that subscriber. A healthy ratio is 3:1 or higher, meaning you earn three dollars for every dollar spent acquiring a subscriber. If your ratio is below 3:1, either your acquisition costs are too high or your retention needs work.
Average Subscription Lifespan
How long subscribers stay active before canceling, measured in months or number of orders. This metric directly impacts LTV. If your average lifespan is 4 orders but competitors achieve 8, you have a retention problem worth solving. Analyze what happens at common drop-off points to identify improvement opportunities.
Subscription Conversion Rate
The percentage of eligible product views or carts that convert to subscription rather than one-time purchase. Track this alongside your overall conversion rate. If subscription conversion is significantly lower, investigate whether your subscription offer is compelling enough or if friction in the sign-up process is deterring shoppers.
Expansion Revenue
Revenue from existing subscribers upgrading, adding products, or increasing frequency. Expansion revenue indicates a healthy program where subscribers find ongoing value. If subscribers only ever maintain or reduce their subscriptions, it suggests opportunities to improve upselling and cross-selling within the subscriber base.
When to Bring in Experts
Subscription implementation ranges from straightforward to highly complex. Understanding when internal resources are sufficient versus when expert support makes sense helps you allocate resources effectively.
DIY Can Work When:
You're testing subscriptions with a simple replenishment model, your team has Shopify development experience, you're comfortable with default platform functionality, and you have time to learn through iteration. Many brands successfully launch subscriptions with internal resources and platform documentation.
Expert Support Makes Sense When:
You need custom implementation beyond default widgets. You're migrating from another platform with significant subscriber volume. Your subscription model involves complexity like build-a-box, tiered pricing, or custom logic. You're on Shopify Plus and want to leverage platform capabilities fully. Or you simply want to get it right the first time without the learning curve.
What to Look for in a Partner
Subscription implementation is specialized work. Look for partners with demonstrable experience building subscriptions specifically on Shopify, relationships with the major subscription platforms (Skio, Recharge, Loop), and a portfolio showing custom implementations, not just default installs. Ask about their process, how they handle migration, and how they approach ongoing optimization.
At Charle, subscriptions are a core part of what we do. We've implemented subscription systems for brands across food and beverage, beauty, wellness, and consumer goods. We have direct partnerships with Skio and Recharge that give us insight into platform capabilities and roadmaps. If your subscription program is strategic to your business, we'd welcome the opportunity to discuss how we can help. Get in touch to start the conversation.
