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Migrating to Subbly

Binu Francis Updated by Binu Francis

Congratulations on deciding to make the switch to a subscriptions-first platform! This article will guide you through the process of migrating over regardless of what platform you're currently using.

Starting notes

The subscriber migration process from your legacy platform over to Subbly will depend on the state of your subscribers' payment data, and where its stored.

Out of all, the easiest, most seamless path to migrating the subscribers requires you to have your customers' payment methods stored within Stripe customer profiles, with a valid Customer ID field and Payment method for each customer on Stripe. If you're already using Stripe to process payments for your subscribers with your current platform, chances are you already have this! You can follow the steps outlined below to check and confirm if that's indeed the case.

Checking if customer's payment methods are stored on Stripe

Step 1: Log into your Stripe account, within the merchant profile you're using to accept payments from your eCommerce/Subscription billing app.

Step 2: Navigate to the Customers menu on the left-sided panel of your Stripe dashboard. You can try clicking this link to directly navigate to the menu.

Step 3: You should see a list of customers who you're charging through Stripe. Click on any one of the customers you're actively billing/renewing through your existing platform. This will open the specific customers' profile on Stripe.

Step 4: Within the profile, look for a Customer ID field. A valid Customer ID starts with "cus_" followed by an alphanumeric string. For example, cus_MyxHvOXV1SxV3Wkd0. Alternatively, you can check the URL of the current page you're on through your browser, and the last part of the URL should also represent the Customer ID, as shown below.

Step 5: Look for a Payment methods section within the customer profile, check if there's a registered Credit/Debit card with the card network (Visa/MasterCard/Amex/Discover) and last 4 digits of the card number displayed.

If you're able to see a Customer ID for every paying customer, and registered Payment methods within their profiles, this means you have your customers' payment data on Stripe.

If you don't see a list of all your paying customers within the Customers menu on Stripe, or if you don't see a Customer ID for these customers within their profiles, that would mean you don't have your customers' payment data stored on Stripe, it's stored with your current eCommerce platform.

Migration options and paths with Subbly

If you haven't already, please check separate guides on how to migrate subscriptions from Stripe or PayPal.

Based on where your customers' payment data is stored, following are the options to migrate them over on Subbly.

Option 1) I have my customers payment methods stored on Stripe/PayPal(through Braintree)

So a migration in this case will be split into two parts:

  • Part 1: Setup and go live. This involves you setting up products, billing options, shipping, taxes and storefront on Subbly - something we can assist you with as well! Once the setup is complete, you can go live with the new store and products through Subbly.
  • Part 2: Moving existing subscribers over from legacy platform over on Subbly. This is the easy part - you just need to send over a CSV sheet filled with your subscribers’ information, so we can import your subscribers onto Subbly. We’ll validate the data and process the import, and once that’s done, you can cancel these customers’ subscriptions off your legacy platform, and continue billing them on Subbly. They’ll be able to access their account through Subbly’s portal using the same email they signed up with, just that they’ll have to use the “Forgot password” option to create a new password on Subbly, after which they’ll be able to log in and access their account.

Option 2) My current platform stores my customers payment methods, but they can transfer it to Stripe

In this case you’ll first have to reach out to your platform, and ask them to copy your customers’ payment data to your Stripe Standard account. After which, the process would be the same as detailed in Option 1.

Option 3) I don’t have my customers' payment methods stored on Stripe, and my Platform won’t transfer them.

If you don’t have access to your customers’ payment methods, you won’t be able to get them to start renewing/billing through Subbly just yet. 

For this scenario, we’ll use Subscription Switch on Subbly to swiftly move your subscribers over from your legacy platform

Firstly, we’ll be following steps as outlined in Part 1 listed in Option 1.

Once that’s covered, we’ll proceed to importing your customers' profiles into Subbly without any payment data linked(same steps as Part 2 listed under Option 1), so customers and their accounts are created within your store.

For the next bit, we’ll help your customers to update their payment data with you on Subbly as part of a frictionless, low effort campaign where customers would simply need to click on a tokenised link they’ll receive on their email, and add their card details, without any login/checkout needed. We’ll set this up for you with minor inputs needed from your end.

Once a customer updates their cards through this campaign - they’ll start renewing though Subbly! 

Subscription Switch is a proven proprietary technology that has yielded up to 84% in conversions(and counting) within just 11 days, and is the most effective way to migrate your subscribers without payment data.

I’m not sure

That’s okay! Don’t worry, we’ll help you figure it all out! Just reach out to our support team through the chat box, let us know you’re looking to migrate and someone from our migration team will join you.

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