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Renew subscriptions

About subscription renewals and payment reminders​

Cleverbridge automates several processes related to renewing subscriptions.

Online payment options​

The Cleverbridge platform manages automated rebilling for online payment options, such as credit or debit cards. For online payment options that allow for a fully-automated renewal, reminder email messages are sent by default. These email messages must be set up by Client Experience. You can determine the time frame and applicable products for payment options. For more information, contact Client Experience.

Offline payment options​

For automatic-renewal subscriptions with offline payment options, such as wire transfer and check, reminder email messages are automatically sent to the customer seven days in advance with instructions on how to complete the payment. The time frame for the email messages can be adjusted by contacting Client Experience.

For manual-renewal subscriptions with offline payment options, no reminder email messages are sent.

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In the Subscription Options tab in the Product portal, you will find the option Override default client settings under Reminder Settings. You must select this option and define the time frame in days if you want to set up renewal payment reminders for customers who subscribe to a particular product. Otherwise, the general settings previously configured on the client account will determine when the customer receives the reminder email message.

Payment Reminder On Product Level

For example, if the option is not selected and the time frame for payment reminders is set to 15 days for the client account, then a customer who subscribes to a product that renews yearly, will receive a reminder email message 15 days prior to the renewal date of the subscription.

For more information on the configuration of payment reminders on product level, contact Client Experience.

Purchase orders​

The Cleverbridge platform manages automated rebilling for purchase orders. Cleverbridge automatically sends an invoice on the renewal date with the instructions for payment. Reminder email messages before the renewal date are not sent by default. These emails must be set up by Client Experience.

Credit card expiration​

Reminder email messages are sent to customers with credit cards that will expire before the time of subscription renewal. The email is sent seven days before payment is due and includes a link to update the payment details. The time frame for the email messages can be adjusted by contacting Client Experience.

Renewal not processed​

Some renewals are not processed because either the payment is declined or the customer has not actively paid. The customer receives a reminder email that allows for updating payment details or choosing a different payment option.

About subscription billing intervals​

Important

You can filter the content on this page by subscription management version. For more information, see Subscription Management 1.0 and 2.0. If you are unsure which version you are on, contact Client Experience.

Subscription billing intervals determine the frequency of the subscription renewals in the subscription commerce platform. Based on the defined subscription billing intervals, you can configure subscriptions to renew automatically or manually It is also possible to give customers a grace period if their payment information is out-of-date. The following describes these options.

Automatic renewal​

This is a type of renewal in which the subscription automatically renews at the end of the subscription contract unless the customer explicitly deactivates it. Auto-renewal is the default for subscription products, and it requires no additional work for you or cleverbridge. On the checkout page for the subscription, a text informs customers that they will be automatically billed at regular intervals. They must confirm this by selecting a check box next to the text.

Subscription Checkout Page Confirm Subscription Checked

For auto-renewal subscriptions, the subscription status is Active and the subscription item status is Active. For more information, see Subscription Statuses in Combination.

Manual renewal​

This is a type of renewal in which the customer must initiate the renewal of the subscription contract. There are two ways to set up this type of product:

  • Normal product - In this case, you set the license key term to the desired renewal date. You are responsible for the renewal process and must notify the customer at time of the manual renewal.
  • Subscription product - This requires development work, and it can only be set at a product level. This frees you from additional work because customers can manually renew and are automatically notified to do so. However, once renewed, the subscription cannot go back to the status AwaitingReinstate, unless this is done manually in the Cleverbridge platform. The renewal, therefore, only applies to the first interval of the subscription. For manual-renewal subscriptions, the subscription status is Deactivated, and the subscription item status is AwaitingReinstate. For more information, see Subscription Statuses in Combination.

Subscription Checkout Page Confirm Subscription Unchecked

When the customer signs up with the check box unselected, the subscription gets the Manual renewal type. In this case, the subscription expires, unless the customer explicitly decides to renew the subscription during the billing interval. For information on how to let customers renew their subscription manually, see Renew a Manual-Renewal Subscription Ahead of Schedule.

Grace period​

The grace period occurs when Cleverbridge does not receive payment for a subscription but the customer may still use the product. It allows you to set a certain number of days for the customer to update their payment information (in the case of online payment options) or make a payment (in the case of offline payment options) before the subscription goes into the status Hold.

By default, subscriptions in the Cleverbridge platform do not go into a "Grace" period. This is a request that must be submitted to Client Experience.

About subscription renewal​

The Cleverbridge platform supports different ways to renew subscriptions. The components of the Cleverbridge platform that support renewals, along with renewal-related use cases they support, are identified below.

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When setting up a subscription product in the Cleverbridge platform, the default renewal setting is auto-renewal. Under auto-renewal, a customer’s subscription is renewed automatically by the platform, unless a customer proactively cancels it. Most use cases involving subscription renewal discussed here assume auto-renewal.

Platform functions​

FunctionDescription
Online payment option
  • Auto-renewal subscriptions
    • Automatically bill the customer for every subscription renewal.
    • If a payment is declined, automatically email the customer with a link to a page to update payment details or select another payment method.
  • Manual renewal subscriptions
    • If a payment is declined, automatically email the customer with a link to a page to update payment details or select another payment method.
Offline payment option

For Auto-renewal subscriptions, automatically email the customer with a payment reminder before every billing date.

Commerce Assistant

Change the status of a customer's subscription to Awaiting Reinstate. For more information, see Set up a fixed-price or a variable-price subscription.

Subscription API

For more information on how to renew subscriptions using our Subscription API, see Use Cases for Subscription Renewal.

Optional Features

For manual-renewal subscriptions (all payment methods), email the customer with a payment reminder before every billing date, and include a link to renew the subscription and bill the payment method. For more details, see Subscription Management URLs.

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This is an optional feature that uses Message Direct.

Database Settings​

The following database settings can be defined and at the client account level:

SettingDescription
Payment Reminder for Auto-Renewal subscriptions

This setting controls whether customers who purchased an auto-renewal subscription using an online payment option receive a notification, before the renewal date, that a credit/debit card will be charged. The default is not to send it because the customer consented to recurring billing in the checkout process.

Deactivate/Reactivate Automatic Billing for a Subscription Product

Auto-renewal is a default setting for subscription products. If you want to set up products with Manual Renewal (using the Awaiting Reinstate status), you must request this capability.
This can only be set at the product level and only applies to interval 0 of the subscription. Once active, the subscription cannot go back to the Awaiting Reinstate.
When setting up a product that begins with the status Awaiting Reinstate, you can choose to show or hide the "I Agree" checkbox in the checkout process.

  • Hiding the "I Agree" checkbox means that all subscriptions will be set to manual renewal (Awaiting Reinstate) at the time of the purchase.
  • Displaying the "I Agree" checkbox requires the customer to check it, which sets the customer's subscription to the Active status. This means that it will renew automatically.
  • You can later decide to show or hide the "I Agree" checkbox.
Set All subscriptions to the Manual-Renewal Type

This setting assigns a manual renewal type to all subscriptions created with an offline payment option even if the customer confirms automatic renewal during signup.
This can be useful if you want to send subscription renewal reminders as part of an email campaign and not through the Cleverbridge platform.

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These are database settings at the client account level. They are maintained by our Technical Support team. For more information, contact Client Experience.


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