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Upgrade subscriptions

Offering customers the flexibility to switch between subscription plans and enhance their subscription capabilities is a strategic approach that can boost your revenue growth and drive your customer lifetime value (CLV).

You can manage your upgrades by one of these two methods on the Cleverbridge platform:

  1. Our Subscription API and its functions, which:

    • is applied selectively to each subscription purchase

    • is applicable to one or more items within a subscription

    • enables "one-click" upgrades, minimizing abandonment

    • is easily trackable under an unchanged subscription ID

    • is versatile, supporting functionalities such as usage billing, quantity changes, and changes to the next billing date

      note

      You are legally required to have the consent of the customer when an upgrade is done using the Subscription API. This can be done on the same client-hosted page that displays the pro-rated price for the upgrade.

  2. The Cancellation product list option when setting up your products on our platform, which:

    • showcases limited flexibility, as it applies to the purchase of all products in the cancellation product list

    • lacks precision, as it applies to all items in a subscription

    • all checkout steps must be completed, resulting in higher potential for abandonment

    • is difficult to track, as each upgrade transaction is associated with its individual subscription ID

    • is limited in scope, as it applies to one subscription item at a time and to immediate upgrades only

      note

      Subscription products set up for the cancellation product list are considered to be substitutes for each other. When a customer purchases a particular subscription product, the products set up in the cancellation product list are canceled.

For additional information, guidance, and a personalized recommendation, contact Client Experience.

How subscription upgrades work​

Upgrade accounts for your customers expanding their subscription by prompting them to switch to a higher pricing plan. The following represents the plan expansion routes available to customers when interacting with a subscription enabled by our Subscription API:

Interval Extension​

The customer signs up for a monthly subscription and chooses later on to subscribe annually to the product. The change translates in an annual billing cycle, instead of the original monthly billing cycle. For more details, see Combine Longer Billing Interval with Early Renewal (Monthly to Yearly).

Item Addition​

The customer adds to the number of items in their subscription by going from a single-item subscription to a multi-item subscription, or merely adding up to multi-item subscription.

Product Upgrade​

The customer is prompted to switch from a standard product to a premium product to benefit from premium-exclusive features. You can achieve this scenario by suggesting cross-cells or up-sells.

Read through the following use case Combine Upgrade with Early Renewal (Basic to Premium) for more details and Manage Recommendations

to learn how to set up cross-cells or up-sells.

Quantity Increase​

The customer decides to either increase the number of product licenses attached to the item, or the usage data related to the subscription.

For more details, see Combine a Usage Data Upgrade with an Early Full-Price Renewal and Increase License Quantity.

note

A combination of the above-mentioned scenarios can occur based on the customer journey and your campaigns strategy. A customer can:

  • increase the license quantity and extend the subscription interval for an attractive price,
  • increase the subscription items and license quantity for each item as part of a package deal, or
  • upgrade the product and extend the subscription interval based on seasonal recommendations. For more information on the use cases, see Upgrade subscriptions.

Upgrade Funnels​

These are the upgrade funnels supported by the Cleverbridge platform:

Trial-to-Paid Upgrade​

The Trial-to-Paid upgrade reflects the conversion from a free trial user to a paying customer, which occurs with the upcoming billing interval. The customer either goes from a time-limited access to the full product, receives the license key for the full product after testing the free version, or switches from freemium to a paid product. Free trials are easily set up on our platform, read the following article to learn how: Set up a free promotional period for a subscription.

To learn more about this significant step in the customer journey, read through the following use case: Customer Converts from Freemium to Paid Subscription.

Here are the supported funnels for Trial-to-Paid upgrades:

Trial Upgrade Funnels

Signup Upgrade​

The Signup upgrade consists of the steps taken by the subscriber to upgrade to a higher plan during the initial interval of the subscription shortly after signup. You can execute the upgrade in one of two ways: either effective immediately where prorated billing is applied, or once the subscription interval reaches full term.

Read through the following use case Upgrade a Subscription Immediately for more details about prorated Signup upgrades.

Here are the supported funnels for Signup upgrades:

Signup Upgrade Funnels

Early Upgrade​

The Early upgrade occurs when the subscription renewal happens before the scheduled renewal date. This opportunity arises when a subscriber is inclined to add a new item, upgrade the product version, increase the number of licenses, or extend the interval length of their existing subscription. You can incentivize customers to upgrade ahead of time and execute the upgrade effectively by applying prorated billing. For more information about how this works, see Understand Subscription Alignment, Pro-rated Billing, and Preview Prices.

Read through the following use cases to understand more about prorated billing:

Early Upgrade Funnels

On Time Upgrade​

The On Time Upgrade refers to increasing and extending the subscription capabilities beyond the current subscription parameters. The upgrade is synchronized with the scheduled renewal date and extends the subscription offering to meet the evolving subscriber needs, which may include extending usage data or adding new and complementary products to the subscription, for example. Read through the following use cases for more details:

On Time Upgrade Funnels


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