Manage customer subscriptions

Feed tracking for subscriptions

If you want better visibility of staff and customer interactions with a subscription product, we recommend adding Feed Tracking to the Subscription object. This logs a history of what changes are made for selected fields, when and by who.

1. Go to the Salesforce Setup.
2. Search for Feed Tracking.
3. Select the Subscription object in the list (there might be more than one).
4. Switch on the enable tracking option and select the fields you want to track.
5. Select Save.

Allow customers to self-manage subscriptions

You can allow customers to manage their own subscriptions, for example, from their profile page when they sign in to their account.

For users to be able to view payment history, change billing details, etc. they need to be authenticated first. To allow unauthenticated users to manage their subscription, you can add a store variable, but it gives limited access to subscription details.

Manage via store variable (for unauthenticated users)

• Key: guest_subscriptions_enabled
• Value: true

Manage via subscription URL (for authenticated users)

You can provide or embed a link for users to access subscription details. This is the recommended URL format:

https://[your-domain.com]/account/subscriptions/[sc-id]

sc-id is the StoreConnect External ID for the subscription record and can be added as a merge field to an email template and emailed to the customer.

Customer self-service: update payment details

Customers can update their own card or payment details from their subscription page on the store. This is useful when a card has expired, been replaced, or the customer wants to switch to a different card.

1. Log in and go to Account > Subscriptions.
2. Select View on the subscription.
3. Scroll to the Payment Details section at the bottom of the page.
4. Select Update Payment Details.
5. Enter the new card details and save.

This updates the payment token stored against the subscription. Future automatic renewals will use the new card details.

:::note Updating payment details does not clear any existing delinquent status on the subscription. If the subscription has a failed payment, the customer will also need to make a payment to clear the delinquency and resume the renewal cycle. See Manage delinquent subscription payments for more information. :::

View the payment method linked to a subscription

When a customer vaults their card during subscription signup, StoreConnect links the saved Payment Method record to the subscription. Admins can view this from the Subscription record in Salesforce — the Payment Method field shows a link to the vaulted card record, which displays the card’s last 4 digits, brand, and expiry date.

This is informational only. Renewal billing continues to use the payment token stored on the subscription — updating the Payment Method lookup does not change which card is charged.

Manage a customer’s subscription in StoreConnect

There are a number of ways to update and manage subscriptions. You might need to do this to update someone’s payment schedule, answer billing queries, change subscription details, etc. You can do this via the:

• Subscription record - the record created when the original order was processed.
• Contact record - look up the customer’s contact record and manage via their account.
• Order record (evergreen) - where a new order is created each month, attached to the original subscription product purchase.

Temporarily cancel a payment, suspend, or end a subscription

Three date fields on the Subscription record stop it from being processed. StoreConnect only processes a subscription while all three are blank or set to a future date, so setting any one of them to a future date lets payments continue until that date arrives.

• End Date — the date the subscription finishes. Use this to close a subscription off at the end of a term or at the end of a period the customer has already paid for.
• Cancelled Date — records that the subscription was cancelled. This is the field the store sets when a customer cancels from their account page.
• Suspended Date — pauses the subscription.

Blanking one of these dates, or moving it to a future date, puts the subscription back into the normal billing cycle. None of them change the payment details stored on the record, so a subscription you restore keeps billing the same card.

:::note End Date and Cancelled Date both stop future billing, but they behave differently on the storefront. A cancelled subscription hides the customer’s Pay Now button. An ended subscription does not, so if it still has an unpaid renewal or delinquent order attached, the customer can still pay it after the end date has passed. :::

End a subscription that already has a renewal order

If the subscription product has Renewal Order Days set, StoreConnect creates the next renewal order ahead of the billing date. Ending the subscription does not remove that order. It stays in place, unpaid, and nothing collects it automatically.

Decide which outcome you want before you set the date.

• To let the existing renewal order be paid as normal, set the End Date a few days after the Next Billing Date. The subscription is still active on the billing date, so the renewal is charged, and the subscription ends shortly afterward. Keep the gap under one billing period so a second renewal is not charged.
• To finish the subscription straight away, set the End Date to today, then close out the outstanding renewal order yourself.

Setting the End Date to the Next Billing Date itself is not reliable. The daily job compares the billing date against the time it runs, so a subscription can end just before its final renewal is charged.

If the subscription is already delinquent, see Manage delinquent subscription payments before you set an end date. Its Next Billing Date is already in the past, so the guidance above does not apply.

Update a subscription billing date

If you have authorization, you can manually change the Next Billing Date and Next Renewal Date for subscriptions. You do this on the order record. Note the following limitations.

• If updating the Next Billing Date, make sure you update the Next Renewal Date also.
• If the Next Renewal date is in the past, the Next Billing Date may also end up in the past.
• If you suspend a One-time subscription, you may need to extend the End Date to ensure all payments get made.
• All payments added to an order contribute to the total paid if the payment status is set to Success.

Related topics

• Subscription products
• Add a subscription product
• Subscription processing, payments and renewals
• Manage delinquent subscription payments