How to Create Your First Subscription Plan

Subscription revenue starts with a single plan. Until you create one, the subscribe option never appears on your product pages and customers cannot sign up for recurring orders. This guide walks you through every step from prerequisites to post-launch verification so your first plan is live and working in under ten minutes.

If you already have plans set up and want to learn about editing, bulk operations, or advanced frequency configurations, see the full Subscription Plans reference instead.

Prerequisites checklist

Before you create a plan, confirm every item below. Missing any one of these will prevent the subscription option from showing up at checkout.

subZwallet is installed and the Shopify subscription app access scope is approved (this happens during initial install).
You have at least one active product in Shopify with inventory available. Draft or archived products cannot be attached to a plan.
The subZwallet subscription widget app block is added to your product page template in the theme editor. Without the widget, customers see no subscribe option even if a plan exists.
If you plan to offer a subscriber discount, confirm your pricing supports the margin. A 10% discount on a product with 15% margin leaves only 5% gross margin per subscription order.

Step 1 — Open Subscription Plans

In the subZwallet sidebar, click **Subscription Plans**. You will see a list of all existing plan groups. If this is your first time, the list is empty.

Click the **Create plan** button in the top-right corner. This opens the plan builder where you configure delivery, discounts, and products in a single flow.

Step 2 — Set plan name and delivery frequency

Give your plan a clear internal name that describes what it covers. Examples: "Monthly Coffee Refill," "Protein Powder — Bi-weekly," "Skincare Essentials — Flexible." Customers do not see this name; it is for your own organization in the dashboard.

Next, add one or more delivery frequencies. Each frequency becomes a selectable option at checkout. Common setups:

Single frequency — Every 30 days. Simple and easy for customers to understand.
Two frequencies — Every 2 weeks and every 4 weeks. Lets customers pick the cadence that matches their usage.
Three frequencies — Every 1 week, every 2 weeks, every month. Best for consumable products with variable usage rates.

Adding too many frequency options can cause decision fatigue. Two or three choices tend to convert best.

Step 3 — Configure the subscriber discount

A subscriber discount is optional but significantly increases subscription conversion rates. You have three discount types:

**Percentage discount** — Most common. 10-15% is the standard range for consumable products.
**Fixed amount discount** — A flat dollar amount off each order. Works well for high-ticket items where percentages feel small.
**Free shipping** — Can be combined with a percentage or fixed discount, or used alone as the only incentive.

The discount applies to every recurring order, not just the first one. If you want a first-order-only incentive, handle that through a separate discount code rather than the plan discount.

Example plan configuration

Below is a realistic plan setup for a coffee subscription store. Use this as a starting template and adjust values for your product category.

This plan gives customers two cadence options, a 12% recurring discount, and free shipping. Only three SKUs are attached, keeping the plan focused on the core subscription offering.

Step 4 — Attach products and variants

Click the product picker to browse your Shopify catalog. Select every product (and specific variants, if needed) that should be available on this plan. A few guidelines:

Only attach products that make sense as recurring purchases. One-time items like gift cards or sample kits usually do not belong on a subscription plan.
If a product has size or flavor variants, you can attach all of them or only a subset. Deselect any variant you do not want offered as a subscription.
One product can be attached to multiple plans. For example, a protein powder could appear on both a "Monthly Basics" and a "Bi-weekly Performance" plan.

Step 5 — Review and save

The plan summary shows your delivery frequencies, discount configuration, and attached products. Double-check everything before saving:

Are the frequency intervals correct? "Every 2 weeks" and "every 14 days" are the same thing, but make sure you picked the one you intended.
Is the discount value what you planned? A 20% discount when you meant 2% is a costly mistake.
Are only the intended products attached? Scroll through the product list to confirm.

Click **Save**. The selling plan syncs to Shopify immediately. Your attached products now have a subscription option.

What to check after creating the plan

Do not assume everything is working just because you saved the plan. Run through these checks before telling customers about the subscription option.

Theme preview check

Open your Shopify admin and go to **Online Store > Themes > Customize**.
Navigate to a product page for one of the products you attached to the plan.
Confirm the subscription widget appears and shows the correct frequencies and discount.
If the widget is missing, check that the subZwallet app block is added to the product page template.

Checkout test

Enable the Shopify Bogus Gateway or Shopify test payment gateway in **Settings > Payments** (if not already active).
Visit your storefront, select the subscribe option on an attached product, and add it to cart.
Complete checkout with test payment details.
After the order completes, go to **Manage Subscriptions** in subZwallet and confirm a new subscription contract appears with the correct product, frequency, and discount.
Check that the next billing date shown on the contract matches the delivery frequency you configured.

If the contract does not appear or the billing details are wrong, delete the test order and review your plan configuration. The most common issue is a missing or misconfigured delivery frequency.

Common issues and fixes

**Subscription widget not showing on product page** — The widget app block is not added to your theme. Go to theme editor, navigate to your product page template, and add the subZwallet block.
**"Subscribe" option appears but discount is missing** — Check the plan in subZwallet. If the discount field is empty or set to zero, no discount is applied. Edit the plan and add the discount.
**Product not showing the subscribe option** — The product is not attached to any plan. Open the plan, use the product picker to add the product, and save.
**Test order did not create a subscription contract** — Make sure you selected the subscribe option (not one-time purchase) before adding to cart. Check Manage Subscriptions; the contract may take a few seconds to appear after checkout completes.

Next steps

Your first plan is live. Here is what to do next: customize how the subscribe widget looks on your product pages (see Widget customization), review and manage subscription contracts as customers sign up (see Manage Subscriptions), and explore advanced plan options like multiple plan groups and tiered discounts (see Subscription Plans). If you are setting up subZwallet for the first time, the Getting started guide covers the full onboarding sequence.