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Anchored subscriptions

This is where the product setup can get a bit messy, but only if you don't know what you're doing. For previous reference, you can already see here how to build a general subscription product on Subbly and here how to build simple adhoc variations of the subscription product. In this article we'll explain what we mean when we say an anchored subscription. 

What are anchored subscriptions? 

To get you more in the Subbly subscription lingo, as anchored subscriptions we take whatever subscription setup that has set rebilling (renewal) date(s) and set shipping date(s), which are completely independent and does not in any way depend on the actual date of the customer's subscription. 

We'll try to simplify on an example. Let's say that you want to build a meal prep business that will rebill the customers every Monday, and delivery to customers every Saturday (based on Monday's charge). Now, regardless of the day of the week I initially subscribe to your product, customer will always be renewed on Monday. This is an anchored subscription as you're anchoring customer's renewals to every Monday.
Did you know the meal subscription business is a hot trend right now?

How to set this up on Subbly? 

Most importantly, the following switch makes a difference between the simple adhoc and an anchored type of subscription on Subbly:

For an example we had above for the meal prep delivery business, the setup on product builder should be as follows:

  • First order setup and
  • Cut off dates

In our particular case here, following options will do the following things:

Charge immediately and ship on the regular date - will run the charge immediately, regardless of the day of the week and will scheduled the shipment on the first next Saturday, with the next renewal set to the first Monday after that. 

Charge and ship immediately - will run a charge immediately and will schedule the next one next Monday, picking the usual Monday-Saturday billing/shipping cadence from there. 

Charge and ship on the regular date - will simply queue up the first payment for the first next Monday (no charge will  happen immediately after the checkout) and the regular cadence will pick up from there. 

It is also possible to define a specific billing/renewal time on the selected day as explained here.

Video tutorial

You can find the video explanation of how the anchored setup is working below:

What are cut-off dates and how they work? 

Cut-off date controls the first next renewal date, ie., it controls what is the latest day when the customer will be able to subscribe in order not to be late for the current period shipment. For an example on using the cut-offs and getting the anchored type of product setup, please see an example below:

  • Renewal date: 1st of the month
  • Cut off date: 15th of the month
  • Shipping date: 25th of the month

In this particular instance, if someone is to subscribe on the 14th of the month, customer will be on time and thus the next renewal will fall on the 1st of the after that. However, if customer is late and signs up beyond the cut off date (for example, 18th of the month) the first next renewal will be pushed for a month to the 1st of the month after the following (so the customer doesn't get charged twice in a short time period of 2-3 days). 

It might sound confusing, but the cut offs are indeed simple and very powerful as they will prevent you from billing customers in short time span twice. Thus it's essential for you to get them figured out as well. 

For additional information on how cut offs are working please refer to this article HERE.
When an account is on Advanced pricing plan it's possible to manually add the time of the day when the cut-off should end.
Please note that, if you choose to Ship and bill immediately in regards to the first order, the cut-off date becomes completely redundant as it doesn't play any part on scheduling the first shipping date and the next renewal date. 

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