OFFICE: Subscription Plans

What is a Subscription Plan?

A Subscription Plan is a model of automatic payments billed on a schedule. There is no action required of the Client, with the exception of the initial payment.

When you apply a  Subscription Plan to an Invoice it will initiate an auto-charge after the initial payment. Their credit card or bank account will be automatically charged based on the amount and time period you have assigned. It works just as if you have their credit card on file, much like subscription services like Netflix or Hulu.

You can issue an Invoice to a Client that contains both static One-Time Items and Subscription Plan Items. For example: in a website design business, you include a one-time Design Fee. In addition, you include a subscription payment Annual Hosting Fee. The Client pays that Invoice with a credit card via the Client Portal. The payment you receive consists of both fees, but the Annual Hosting Fee will be charged yearly going forward.

You can also add a Subscription Plan to an Estimate.

IMPORTANT: To use the Subscription Plans functionality, you will need to have either Stripe, Stripe ACH, Authorize.net, or Braintree configured as one of your Payment Gateways.

CLICK HERE for more information on setting up Payment Gateways

How do I set up a Subscription Plan?

Stripe, Stripe ACH, Braintree, and Authorize.net can be used for Subscription Plans.

Navigate to Office > Invoices.

Hover over the Subscriptions dropdown menu, and select Plans.

Click the +Add Plan button. This will bring up a window where you can enter all of the necessary information.

Plan Details

Title: The title of the subscription.  This is the subscription name that is shown on the initial invoice.

Reference Title: This is a friendly name (For Staff only).

Summary: The subscription description shown on the invoice.

Price: How much the Client will be charged on each billing cycle.

Category: If you assigning categories, you can select the category from the dropdown list of pre-created categories.

Picture: Optionally you can override the default Subscription picture by adding your own Picture/Image.

Include Trial Period: The Subscription Plan charges will not occur until after the number of days you input here.

Billing Cycle

Choose how often the Subscription Plan is charged to the Client by entering a number in the field. You can then choose Days, Weeks, Months, or Years from the dropdown menu.

The first invoice that is sent out in a Subscription Plan does not count toward the Billing Cycle. For instance, if you set up a Subscription to send out once a month for 4 months it will send out an initial Invoice and then the Subscription will automatically charge the customer for the next 4 months. The customer will be billed 5 times in this case. If you want the first charge to count as the first month then you would set up the subscription to send out once a month for 3 months. This way the customer would only be charged 4 times (initial Invoice + 3 months of the subscription).

By default, the Subscription Plan will not be set to expire. If you need to limit the number of cycles, toggle Never Expires to OFF. You can then choose the number of cycles the Plan will be active for.

CLICK HERE to learn more about creating Invoices

Automation Options

Created/Paid Subscriptions: These Automations will be fired when a Target pays for and starts a Subscription.

Expired Subscriptions: These Automations will be fired when the Subscription expires on the Expire Date. 

Canceled Subscriptions: These Automations will be fired when the Subscription is canceled by Staff or the Target.

Unpaid Subscriptions: These Automations will be fired when the Subscription payment was attempted but was unable to be paid.

How do I add a Subscription Plan to an Invoice or Estimate?

For Invoices, navigate to Office > Invoices, and click the +Create Invoice button.

CLICK HERE to learn about Invoices

For Estimates, navigate to Office > Estimates and click the +Create Estimate button.

CLICK HERE to learn about Estimates

Choose your Plan from the Subscription Plans dropdown menu. You can also click the +Add New Plan button to quickly create a new one.

Once added, you will see the Subscription Plan appear in the Summary module. You can make manual changes to its Name, Description, Quantity, and Rate.

You can also add a Discount and/or Tax to the Subscription plan using the respective columns.

CLICK HERE to learn about Discounts and Taxes

At the bottom of the Summary screen, you'll see a breakdown of the Subscription charges that are included in the Invoice. The Subtotal includes Taxes and Discounts applied.

If you included a  trial period in your Subscription Plan, the total amount of the first billing charge will be discounted. This is because the Invoice only charges for what is immediately owed at the time it is created.

The Total shows the amount for the Subscription that will be charged for this Invoice. This is the amount that will be charged for each billing cycle that was specified during the creation of the Subscription Plan.

The Grand Total is the final billing amount of the Invoice with One-Time Charges and Subscription Charges combined.

IMPORTANT: If you have chosen Stripe ACH as your Payment Gateway, the billing cycle must be monthly or higher for Subscription Plans.

How do I keep track of Subscription Payments?

Once your Client completes payment for the Invoice, they will be set up for Subscription Plans.

To view the payments for each Subscription Plan, navigate to Office > Payments. The navigation is the same for both the Admin-side and Client-side.

Click the Receipt button to view the PDF receipt for the payment, in the form of an Invoice.

To view the Subscription itself, navigate to Office > Payments, then click the Subscriptions tab.

On the Admin side, click the Options menu button to view the Transaction History or to Cancel the Subscription.

On the Client-side, the Options menu will show Manage Account, Transaction History, and an option to Cancel the Subscription.

The Client can change the payment method at any time during the Subscription by selecting Manage Account. When this option is selected, a modal will appear in which they can input their updated credit card and/or bank information.

TIP: While a Subscription is active, it is not necessary to send Invoices for further payment. Instead, the Client's card will be automatically charged after the interval specified.

How do I configure additional Subscription Settings?

You can configure settings for emails regarding failed payments and Free Trial reminders in The Subscriptions tab of your Office Settings.

CLICK HERE to learn about Subscription Settings