Setting up subscription upgrades

This guide walks through building a Subscription Upgrade offer with the setup wizard. New to the feature? Start with the Overview first. For provider-specific API token steps, see Integrations.

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Creating a Subscription Upgrade offer

To set up a Subscription Upgrade, you will use the post-purchase funnel editor. The setup wizard walks you through four steps: connecting your subscription provider, picking the trigger product, configuring the upgrade itself, and choosing the offer product the customer sees on their order. To open the wizard:

1. In your Aftersell dashboard, go to Post-purchase Upsells.
2. Click Add Funnel.
3. Select the Subscription Upgrade template.

The Set up a subscription upgrade wizard opens with four steps.

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Step 1: Connect provider

Add your API key. Pick your subscription platform and add your API token. Your provider will be used to update the customer’s subscription after they accept the upgrade.

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Pick your provider

From the Subscription provider dropdown, select Recharge, Skio, or Loop. The API token field and its helper text update to match the provider you picked.

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Generate your API token

If you do not already have a token, generate one in your subscription platform. Each provider has different scopes and steps — see the dedicated guide for your provider:

• Recharge: generating an API token
• Skio: generating an API token
• Loop: generating an API token

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Paste, test, and save

Back in the Step 1 panel:

1. Paste your API token into the API token field.
2. Click Test API key. Aftersell validates the token against your provider, checking that it authenticates correctly, holds all required scopes, and belongs to your store.
3. Once the test passes (green check), click Continue to move to Step 2.

The test result shows one of three states:

• Green check (valid) — the token authenticated, all required scopes are present, and the token belongs to your store. You can save and continue.
• Red X (invalid) — the token was rejected or is missing required scopes. The message names the specific missing scopes if applicable. Fix the token in your provider dashboard and test again before saving.
• Warning (could not verify) — Aftersell could not reach your provider to complete the check. Test the key again. You cannot save until the check passes or clears.

Aftersell blocks saving if the token check does not pass. This prevents subscription upgrade failures that would otherwise only surface after a customer has been charged.

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Step 2: Trigger product

Their current plan. Select the trigger product. Pick the subscription customers will be upgrading from.

1. Click Choose subscription product.
2. Only products with active subscription plans appear in the picker.
3. Select the product (and a variant if it has variants).
4. Click Select product.

Once selected, the wizard confirms that the product has been added as a funnel trigger, meaning only customers who buy it will see this offer. The trigger product must have an active selling plan in Recharge, Skio, or Loop, since that is how the upgrade is applied to the customer’s subscription. Click Continue to move to Step 3.

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Step 3: Subscription upgrade

Frequency & pricing. Configure the subscription upgrade. Choose what happens when a customer accepts the upgrade.

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Subscription upgrade type

Pick one of three options from the dropdown:

• Change delivery or billing frequency. Keep the same product, change how often the customer is billed or shipped to.
• Replace with a different subscription product. Keep the same frequency, swap to a different product.
• Change frequency and replace product. Do both at once.

The fields that appear below the dropdown change based on which option you pick.

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If you picked “Change delivery or billing frequency”

Choose how to define the new frequency:

• Use an existing selling plan. Pick from a dropdown of plans already configured in Recharge, Skio, or Loop. The plan defines the delivery and billing intervals.
• Set the frequency manually. Enter delivery and billing frequencies yourself.

If you set the frequency manually:

• Delivery frequency, how often the product ships.
• Billing frequency, how often the customer is charged.

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If you picked “Replace with a different subscription product”

Replacement subscription product. Pick the subscription product the customer will be upgraded to. Only products with active selling plans are shown.

1. Click Choose replacement product.
2. Select the product (and a variant if applicable).
3. Click Select product.

Override subscription quantity (checkbox).

• When off (default), the existing subscription quantity is preserved on renewal.
• When on, enter the quantity that will apply to renewals of the replacement subscription.

Available for Recharge, Skio, and Loop.

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If you picked “Change frequency and replace product”

Both sets of fields appear: the frequency configuration from the first option, and the replacement product picker from the second. Fill in both, or the offer will not work.

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Recurring discount

Optional incentive applied to every future renewal of the upgraded subscription.

• Recurring subscription discount. Enter the amount.
• Discount type. Percentage or fixed amount.

This discount stays in effect for all future renewals, not just the first cycle. Click Continue to move to Step 4.

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Step 4: Offer product

A visual placeholder. Select the offer product. This is a visual placeholder only, not a real product the customer buys. Choose one of two options:

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Option A: Create new

Aftersell creates an unpublished placeholder product in your Shopify catalog on your behalf.

• Product image. Upload the image shown in the offer card.
• Product title. The name shown in the offer card, for example Premium upgrade.
• One-time upgrade price. When Upgrade the subscription immediately is off (the default), this field is locked at 0 because the subscription provider will charge at the end of the current billing cycle, and the placeholder product appears on the Shopify order at $0.00. When Upgrade the subscription immediately is on, the field becomes editable so you can set it to the price difference between the original and the upgraded subscription.

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Option B: Pick existing

Pick a product you have already created in Shopify. The trigger product is auto-hidden from the picker since it’s a subscription product.

1. Click Choose offer product.
2. The picker shows only products without active subscription plans.
3. Select the product and click Select product.

The customer is shown that product at its existing Shopify price. That price is charged on this Shopify order, in addition to the subscription upgrade applied in Recharge, Skio, or Loop on the next cycle. When Step 4 is complete, click Create offer.

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Additional triggers and refinements

The wizard automatically adds the trigger product in Step 2. This section is for any additional triggers you want to layer on top of it.

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Why product-specific triggers matter

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 in Recharge, Skio, or Loop.

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Recommended trigger setup

All enabled triggers use AND logic. Every condition must be met for the funnel to show.

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Next steps

Once your offer is live, test and verify it before relying on it. Also review the limitations and important notes and set up fulfillment and 3PL mapping.