How to Implement Subscription Management in Wix Native Checkout Pages

Wix is a smart website-building solution that lets merchants establish seamless online stores. It enables easy setup of product catalogs and a checkout that powers smooth transactions. What it lacks though is the support for subscription management. Merchants using Wix’s native checkout don’t have direct access to features for managing their subscriptions.

But that’s the reason why Wix has apps like SubscriptionFlow in its app market. These apps specialize in handling subscription workflows, and remove the need for manual processes. Best part? Now merchants can access subscription management while staying in their native checkout system.

Let’s explore in detail how subscription management in Wix native checkout pages becomes possible.

Wix Native Checkout Limits Subscription-Based Stores

Wix offers support for recurring payments so that subscription-based stores can bill customers automatically. However, good subscription management goes well beyond just supporting recurring payments. These are the ways in which Wix native checkout can be limiting:

• No Custom Cycles

Merchants can only access monthly and yearly cycles, and in special cases weekly cycles too. No other cycles are supported so customers have to stick to either monthly or annual subscriptions. Customized cycles such as bi-monthly or quarterly cannot be set up at all.

• Only the Standard Billing Model

Customers cannot be billed on the basis of their usage, and cannot be offered tiered pricing and discounts. Merchants have to make do with the standard subscription payment model where their customers are charged fixed amounts only. This also limits their choice of subscription offering, as they cannot offer services that require usage-based or metered billing.

• No Trial or Proration Support

eCommerce stores cannot enable free or discounted trials for products and services. Trial billing is also not supported, meaning customers must commit to the subscription service as it is. Moreover, Wix native checkout doesn’t carry out the proration of customer charges itself. So, if there is any billing adjustment that needs to be made, it has to be done manually.

• No Mid-Cycle Subscription Changes

Customers don’t have access to any self-service features through which they can modify their subscription plan. Upgrading and downgrading are two major ways to change plans if there are various plans to choose from. Your customers can only switch plans at the end of their ongoing subscription cycle, not in between.

• Lack of Dunning Features

If a customer’s payment fails, then the merchant has to employ manual recovery tactics. That’s because Wix doesn’t offer dunning tools such as payment retries or payment reminders. Lack of dunning features makes payment recovery difficult, and this in turn hinders customers’ renewals.

SubscriptionFlow Couples Native Checkout with Subscription Management

SubscriptionFlow, available as a Wix app, activates subscription management for online stores. With this app, merchants can smoothly manage their subscriptions behind the scenes, while keeping their Wix storefront as seamless as ever.

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SubscriptionFlow’s billing engine easily integrates with your native checkout, and fetches customer data from there. This facilitates:

• Automatic Subscription Creation

When customer data is transferred from native checkout to SubscriptionFlow, the app creates a subscription out of it. This means that merchants don’t have to create subscriptions manually. They also don’t have to integrate with any third-party checkout, as they can simply activate subscriptions through their default one.

• Billing According to Multiple Cycles & Models

Merchants can also access more than just the standard billing cycles. They can set up custom cycles too, according to the preferences of their customer base. SubscriptionFlow does the billing automatically, and also adjusts customer charges where necessary.

Additionally, merchants are able to select from a number of billing models present including usage-based, tiered, volume-based, etc. This allows them to bill their customers as they desire.

• Automatic and One-Click Renewal

Wix merchants can benefit from two types of renewals: automatic and one-click. In automatic renewal, the app collects customer’s payment automatically to renew their subscription. In one-click renewal, customers renew their subscriptions on their own by clicking on a special link generated for them.

• Payment Retries

Payment retries are undoubtedly a significant part of subscription management. They are also offered by SubscriptionFlow. This feature ensures that failed payments are retried from time to time, or based on a custom schedule. It increases the chances of payment recovery.

Merchants can also automate all payment related notifications with SubscriptionFlow. These include payment reminders, confirmation emails, receipts, payment method update notifications, etc.

• Mid-Cycle Subscription Changes

Customers don’t have to wait till the end of their subscription cycle to change their plan. They can switch plans midway too. This gives them more control over their subscription as they don’t have to stick with plans they no longer need. If they choose to downgrade midway, they can save their unused payment which is refunded to them efficiently.

• Trial and Grace Period Support

Wix merchants can offer free trials so customers can explore their services before committing. They can also enable discounted trials where customers pay a reduced fee for a specific number of cycles, before getting charged the full amount.

Grace periods can also be assigned and managed in SubscriptionFlow. This feature allows customers some extra days to pay their pending dues. If payments remain pending, then their subscriptions are cancelled automatically.

• Wallet-based Loyalty Programs

Merchants can now enable wallets in SubscriptionFlow too. Customers can access these wallets in their self-service portals, and use them to collect loyalty points. Merchants can also monitor each customer’s wallet and even manually add points in there on special occasions.

SubscriptionFlow allows billing according to wallet points too. For instance, if a customer has enough points to avail a 5% discount, the software can automatically apply this discount to their total charge upon confirmation.

Why Choose Wix Native Checkout over Third-Party Checkout?

Integrating subscription management with native checkout, or using it via third-party checkout, both approaches have their own benefits. A Wix store’s choice between the two depends entirely upon its needs. But when it comes to what’s more convenient for merchants, native checkout is the way to go.

These are some major advantages of choosing subscription management with native checkout:

• Unified Customer Experience

Customer experience remains unified as all of their needs are taken care of in the store. They purchase a subscription, opt for checkout, and pay while staying on the same page. This way, their buying and payment processes flow smoothly one after another, creating a seamless experience.

• Lower Cart Abandonment Chances

Since customers are not redirected to any outside domain, they can complete their payment process more quickly. This option is also great for customers subscribing to a product for the first time, as they stay inside the familiar space of the store.

Moreover, offering native checkout prevents external page crashes that happen due to unstable internet connection. All these factors help in lowering the cart abandonment rate.

• Faster Time-to-Market

Merchants don’t have to invest extra time and money in setting up a custom checkout. They don’t have to get involved in any integration complications. Instead, they can simply use Wix’s readily available checkout as soon as they set up their store.

With the native checkout, they can begin selling immediately, and start onboarding customers faster. Hence, native checkout pages not only add convenience for customers, but for the merchants as well.

• Built-in Security Features

There are some security features that are incorporated into Wix’s native checkout. The checkout is PCI DSS compliant as it keeps customer payment information secure. It offers security through data tokenization.

Due to that, merchants cannot view their customers’ card information, preventing the risk of unauthorized access. It makes this feature a must-have for building trust with customers.

If merchants use this checkout for their operations, they can avail its top-notch security. They don’t have to look for other solutions that offer the same level of compliance.

• Easy Subscription Management

Wix native checkout smoothly integrates with its supported apps like SubscriptionFlow. Therefore, merchants can access subscription management without requiring developer support. All checkout information is auto-synced to SubscriptionFlow, and subscription lifecycles are managed in there smoothly.

Why move to a different checkout when you can access subscription management in your native one? Get the SubscriptionFlow app from Wix’s app market today, and start managing subscriptions the smart way.