Subscription Upgrades

Documentation Index

Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.aftersell.com/llms.txt

Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

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Which feature do you need?

There are three separate subscription features in Aftersell. Make sure you’re in the right guide:

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What is Subscription Upgrades?

Subscription Upgrades lets you offer existing subscribers the ability to modify their active subscription right after checkout. You can change their delivery frequency, swap them to a different product, or both - using a single post-purchase offer. The feature connects natively with Recharge, Skio, and Loop to modify the subscription in real time via each platform’s API. Unlike the Replacement Upsells feature, no refund or new charge is issued for the subscription itself - the customer’s existing subscription is updated in place through Recharge, Skio, or Loop.

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How it works: the two-step process

When a customer accepts a subscription upgrade offer, two separate things happen: Step 1 - Shopify changeset An “offer product” which is NOT a subscription is added to the customer’s order as a one-time line item. This is required by Shopify: the post-purchase API cannot add a subscription to an order that already contains one. The offer product is just a order-level record of the accepted upgrade. Step 2 - Provider API call Aftersell calls your subscription provider (Recharge, Skio, or Loop) to modify the customer’s actual subscription - changing the frequency, swapping the product, or both. These two steps are independent. The offer product in the order is NOT the subscription change. The subscription change happens in your provider’s system.

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What your customer sees

The customer’s Shopify order confirmation will show the offer product as a line item. This is expected. The subscription modification is a separate event in your provider and will not appear on the Shopify order itself. To avoid customer confusion:

• Name the offer product clearly, such as “Subscription Upgrade” or “Plan Change - [Your Brand]”
• Set the price to $0 if the upgrade is free, or to the exact upgrade fee if charging
• Optionally add a short description: “This item represents your subscription upgrade. Your recurring plan has been updated - no additional charges will occur.”

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Prerequisites: API Configuration

Before Subscription Upgrades appear in your funnel editor, you need to connect your subscription platform via API. Select your provider below for setup instructions and supported features.

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Recharge

Supported features: All upgrade types (frequency, replacement, both) · Prepaid and postpaid frequencies To generate your API token:

1. Log in to your Recharge merchant portal.
2. Navigate to Tools & Apps and click API Tokens.
3. Click Create an API Token.
4. Enter a name and contact email for the token.
5. Set the following permissions to Read and Write: Orders, Products, Subscriptions, Plans.
6. Click Save and copy the API key.

For more details, see Recharge’s API documentation.

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Skio

Supported features: All upgrade types (frequency, replacement, both) · Prepaid and postpaid frequencies To generate your API token:

1. In your Skio dashboard, go to API & Integrations > API.
2. Enter a name for your new API key and click Generate API key.
3. Copy the key immediately - it will only be shown once.
4. Make sure to grant all necessary scopes: edit, delete, and create subscription.

For more details, see Skio’s API documentation.

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Loop

Supported features: All upgrade types (frequency, replacement, both) · Postpaid frequencies only Limitations to know before setup:

• No prepaid support. Billing frequency is automatically synced to delivery frequency, and prepaid upgrade attempts will be rejected.
• Selling plans must be pre-configured. Loop requires a matching selling plan to already exist in your Loop dashboard for the target frequency. Aftersell cannot create selling plans programmatically.
• Multi-line subscriptions are handled in two steps: the target product line is split into a new subscription with the desired frequency, then removed from the original. This involves multiple API calls and may require checking your Loop dashboard if something looks off.

To generate your API token:

1. Open the Loop app and navigate to Settings in the bottom left corner.
2. Under Admin, click API Tokens.
3. Set the following permissions to Read and Write: Subscription contracts, Orders, Selling plans.
4. Click Generate New Token.
5. Provide a name, select the appropriate scopes, and click Generate Token.
6. Click Show Token to view and copy your key. Treat it like a password and store it somewhere safe.

For more details, see Loop’s API documentation.

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Setup in Aftersell

1. In Aftersell, go to Settings > Subscription Upgrades.
2. Select your subscription provider from the dropdown.
3. Paste your API token and click Save.

If the token is missing or lacks the required permissions, the Subscription Upgrades offer type will not appear in the Post-Purchase funnel editor.

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Creating a Subscription Upgrade Offer

Once your API token is configured, Subscription Upgrade will appear as its own offer type in the funnel editor.

1. In your Aftersell dashboard, go to Post-Purchase Funnels.
2. Open an existing funnel or create a new one.
3. Click Add Upsell and select Subscription upgrade from the offer type dropdown.

This opens the Set up a subscription upgrade wizard, which walks you through three steps.

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Subscription Upgrade Wizard

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Step 1: Trigger Product

Select the subscription product the customer must have purchased for the upgrade offer to appear. This is what they are upgrading from.

• Click Choose subscription product and select the product from your catalog.
• The customer journey shown at the bottom of the modal walks through what the customer experiences: Buys subscription > Sees upgrade offer > One-click accept > Plan updates.

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Step 2: Offer Product

Choose what the customer sees in the upsell offer. This is a placeholder product used to work around Shopify’s limitation on adding subscriptions to orders that already contain one. You can either create a new placeholder product or pick an existing one from your catalog.

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Create new (recommended for most stores)

If you don’t already have a dedicated placeholder product, use the Create new tab. Enter a title, price, and image, and Aftersell creates an active product in your Shopify catalog on your behalf. The product is created as active so it can be sold through the post-purchase flow, but it is not published to your Online Store storefront.

• Title - the name shown in the upgrade offer card (e.g., “Premium upgrade”)
• Image - the image shown in the offer card; upload directly from the wizard
• One-time upgrade price - the amount charged when the customer accepts the offer; this is a one-time charge and does not affect the ongoing subscription price

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Pick existing

If you already have a suitable product in your catalog, use the Pick existing tab to select it. The trigger product is hidden from the picker to prevent invalid selections. Common approaches:

• A dedicated “upgrade” product - a low-cost or $0 product that acts as the order-level record
• The same product (if it supports both one-time and subscription purchase) - it will be added as a one-time line item while the subscription is modified separately
• A complementary add-on - a sample or bonus product that pairs with the upgrade

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Step 3: Configure Upgrade

Choose the type of upgrade to offer and configure the frequency, plan, and optional discount. Frequency Upgrade Move the customer to a different delivery or billing interval - for example, upgrading a monthly subscriber to a prepaid plan.

• Delivery Frequency is how often the product is shipped.
• Billing Frequency is how often the customer is charged. This must be equal to or greater than the delivery frequency.

Example prepaid setup (charged every 6 months, delivered monthly):

• Billing Frequency: Every 6 months
• Delivery Frequency: Every 1 month

Recharge / Skio only: A selling plan picker dropdown will appear to select the exact selling plan from your provider. If the dropdown is empty, confirm that selling plans are configured in your provider dashboard. Recharge / Skio only: The Apply at end of current cycle checkbox delays the frequency change to the end of the customer’s current billing cycle instead of applying immediately. Replacement Replace the subscribed item with a different product - for example, upgrading a single bottle to a bundle. The replacement applies to all future recurring orders, not just the next shipment. Both Change both the delivery frequency and the subscribed product in a single offer. Recharge / Skio only: The Apply at end of current cycle checkbox is available here as well. Subscription Upgrade Discount You can offer a discount as an incentive for accepting the upgrade.

• Discount type: Choose between Percentage or Fixed Amount.
• Discount value: Enter the amount. Percentage discounts have a maximum of 100%.

The discount is applied through your subscription platform when the upgrade is processed.

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Funnel Triggers and Targeting

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Why do I need product-specific triggers?

Without a product trigger, your funnel may show to customers who do not have the eligible subscription product in their order. This results in wasted impressions and a subscription modification that silently fails - the offer product gets added to the order, but no subscription is changed.

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Recommended trigger setup

Enable these two triggers together for most subscription upgrade funnels: All enabled triggers use AND logic - every condition must be met for the funnel to show.

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What happens if the funnel fires for a customer without the eligible product?

The offer will still appear on the post-purchase page. If the customer accepts:

• The Shopify changeset will succeed and the offer product will be added to the order.
• The subscription upgrade call to your provider will fail because no matching subscription can be found. The error is logged, but the customer still sees a success state.

The result: the offer product is added to the order as a one-time purchase, but no subscription is modified. This is why product-specific triggers matter.

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Important Notes

• Subscriptions only. This feature only triggers if the customer purchased the subscription version of the eligible product. It will not trigger for one-time purchases.
• Frequency on replacements. When replacing a product, the new item inherits the original subscription’s frequency. Selecting a different frequency is not supported unless using the Both upgrade type.
• Multi-product upsells. Subscription upgrade settings must be configured individually for each product in a multi-product upsell.
• One subscription per post-purchase flow. Only one subscription offer can be accepted per post-purchase page. If your funnel has multiple steps that include subscription products, only the first accepted offer will go through. The funnel editor will show a warning if it detects this conflict.
• Shopify selling plans are not supported. This feature only works with Recharge, Skio, and Loop.

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Troubleshooting