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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. In this article we'll explain what an anchored subscription is.

What are anchored subscriptions? 

In Subbly's subscription lingo, anchored subscriptions have set rebilling and shipping dates that are independent of the customer's subscription date. In other words, your customers will be renewed and shipped on the days you selected even if they subscribed on a different date.

Let's simplify with an example. Imagine you have a meal prep business where customers are billed every Monday and delivery is scheduled for the following Saturday (based on the Monday charge). In this case, regardless of the day of the week a customer initially subscribes, their renewal will always happen on Monday. This type of subscription is called an anchored subscription because the renewals are anchored every Monday.
Did you know the meal subscription business is a hot trend right now?

How to set this up on Subbly? 

This switch is pivotal in distinguishing between the two subscription types (ad-hoc and anchored). By activating this switch, you indicate that you want to set up an anchored subscription, where renewals and shipping dates are tied to specific dates or intervals, regardless of the customer's initial subscription date.

To set up the product builder for a meal prep delivery business based on the example mentioned, you can follow these steps:

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

Charge immediately and ship on the regular date - will run the charge immediately, regardless of the day of the week, and will schedule the shipment on the 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 shipment for next Monday, picking the usual Monday-Saturday billing/shipping cadence from there. 

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

As explained here, it is also possible to define a specific billing/renewal time on the selected day

Video tutorial

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

What are cut-off dates and how do they work? 

The 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 of using the cut-offs and getting the anchored type of product setup, please see the 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 subscribes on the 14th of the month, the customer will be on time and thus the next renewal will fall on the 1st of the after that. However, if the customer is late and signs up beyond the cut-off date (for example, the 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 a 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 an 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 in scheduling the first shipping date and the next renewal date. 

Have any questions? Reach out to our customer support chat!

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