In this article, we'll discuss subscription best practices during a sales period. The tips and advice are eCommerce platform-agnostic and applicable to all merchants.
We'll cover:
- Understanding How Ordergroove Promotions Work
- Initial vs Recurring Orders
- Initial Order Incentive for Shopify Merchants
- Subscription/Sale Best Practices
- Leveraging Ordergroove’s Best Deal Guarantee
How Ordergroove Applies Discounts
When placing a recurring order, Ordergroove will look at the price that is sent in the product feed and apply the program-wide discount that is configured in the Promotions tab of the Ordergroove dashboard.
If a product’s price is changed, Ordergroove will receive that update in the next product sync. Customers will not be locked into any specific pricing, and all subscription orders for that product will place with the updated price.
While customers cannot be locked into specific pricing, it is possible to lock subscribers into specific promotions that are configured in the Ordergroove dashboard. You can read more about promotions in Ordergroove Promotions Page.
The Ordergroove promotion is configured to apply to recurring orders. The incentive that is applied to the initial order at checkout will be hosted downstream of Ordergroove in the merchant’s eCommerce platform.
Initial Order Incentive
Shopify merchants can leverage Ordergroove’s initial order incentive (IOI), which can be set up in the Promotions tab of Ordergroove’s dashboard along with the recurring order incentive. If configured, Ordergroove’s initial order incentive will apply to all subscription-eligible products at checkout. If any additional discounts or coupons are configured to apply at checkout, Ordergroove’s IOI will stack on top of that discount. The Ordergroove app does not have the functionality to block additional discounts at checkout.
Recommended Best Practices
We view subscribers as your most loyal customers, and always recommend that they receive the best discount available. To make sure subscribers are not receiving less of a discount than one-time customers, you can update your recurring discount in the Ordergroove dashboard to match the promotional incentive on your site.
Note: If you send a discounted price in your product feed during a sale period, Ordergroove will apply the program-wide discount on top of that price.
Ordergroove’s Best Deal Guarantee feature will allow you to offer subscribers the best price on a product within a specified lookback window and can be set up in the Ordergroove dashboard under the Promotions tab. You can read more about Best Deal Guarantee here.
Example Scenarios
Site Wide Promotion Should Replace IOI
This process changes a little based on your settings:
If you set up your Initial Offer in Ordergroove:
- IOI needs to be set to 0%
- If you use flex incentives: please reach out and we'll set your IOI to 0%
- If you use standard promotions: Open up Ordergroove and create a new promotion with a 0% initial discount. Or if one already exists, activate it.
- On Shopify, ensure any sitewide promotions are set up to include subscription purchases, applicable only for the first payment.
- Using automatic discounts in Shopify will apply the discount automatically to the cart / checkout. The PDP will not show a discount.
- When promo period ends, go back to the default offer profile (if solutions edited flex incentives, they will need to edit it back)
If you set up your Initial Offer via functions:
- Update the function to remove the IOI for the duration of the promotion period.
- Revert back to default after promotion period ends.
This is possible as a setting via BigCommerce’s promotion functionality.
When making the promotion, set the promotion to ignore other promotions, using the builder to set “This promotion cannot be used in conjunction with other promotions."
Site Wide Promotion Should Stack On Top Of IOI
If you set up your Initial Offer in Ordergroove, or use functions:
- Ordergroove's default behavior is that discount codes stack with IOI. No further action is needed to support this.
This is possible as a setting via BigCommerce’s promotion functionality.
When making the promotion, set the promotion to stack with other promotions, using the builder to set “This promotion can be used in conjunction with other promotions."
Existing Subscribers' Recurring Orders Should Benefit From Site Wide Promotions
This is the same for all platforms: Ordergroove reccomends Recommend leaving recurring discounts as is, and finding other ways to keep current subscribers engaged during the promotion period.
Set A New IOI That Is Different From The Standard One
If you set up your Initial Offer in Ordergroove:
- Create a new Ordergroove automatic discount, set the Initial discount to the intended discount for the promo period; and set whatever ROI is desired during this period. Set this profile to active during the promotion period.
- After the promotion period, set the normal/standard discount profile back to active.
If you set up your Initial Offer via functions:
- Update the function to the new IOI discount you want to use for the duration of the promotion period.
- Revert back to default after promotion period ends.
IOI is controlled by BigCommerce’s product interface on a per product level:
- Within products, there is a customizations section.
- Add a rule, change the incentive.
- When the promo period ends, set the incentive(s) back to the default.