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How-to

Flow - Renewal when an auto order item's schedule ends

Overview​

Some subscriptions are meant to end. A prescription covers a set number of fills, a program runs for six months, a membership lasts a year. You set that end with the Repeat Count on the item's last auto order step. Once the final rebill ships, the customer receives nothing further, and unless you reach out, the first sign they get that something changed is that nothing arrives.

The Auto Order - When an auto order item completes its schedule trigger enrolls the customer in a flow at that moment. This guide builds a flow that asks the customer to renew, timed so they still have product on hand while they act.

How the schedule complete trigger works​

The trigger fires once for each auto order item, right after the rebill that uses up the item's last scheduled step is charged successfully.

  • It waits for a successful charge. If the final rebill declines, the trigger does not fire. It fires when a retry succeeds.
  • It carries only the items that ended. When an auto order holds several items and only one reaches the end of its schedule, the trigger and the email include just that item. The other items keep shipping.
  • It needs a schedule with an end. The item must use an Automatic auto order whose last step is an item step with a Repeat Count, and no loop step. A blank Repeat Count, a loop step, or a Customer Selectable auto order recurs indefinitely, so the trigger never fires.
  • The next shipment date shows 1/1/2030 for the completed item. That date means nothing more is scheduled.
note

The auto order stays enabled when an item's schedule ends. Auto Order - When an auto order is disabled does not fire in this case, so a flow built on that trigger never reaches these customers.

Before you start​

  • Set up the end of the schedule. On the item's Auto Order tab, give the last item step a Repeat Count. The Repeat Count counts rebills, not the original order, so a schedule of the first order plus 11 rebills uses a Repeat Count of 11. See Auto Order Tab.
  • Decide where the customer renews. Usually that is the product page, or a buy link that adds the item to a cart. If renewal needs something new from the customer, such as an updated questionnaire, send them to the page that collects it.

Step 1. Create the flow​

Navigate to StoreFronts → Communications → Flows and click New Flow.

In What will trigger this flow?, choose Auto Order - When an auto order item completes its schedule.

Two enrollment settings matter for a renewal flow:

  • Turn on Remove customers on any purchase, so the reminder emails stop when the customer renews from one of your messages. Step 4 explains what counts.
  • Leave Re-entry at Allow re-entry anytime. A customer who renews and reaches the end of the next term should get the flow again.

See Flow Enrollment Settings for what each setting does.

Step 2. Limit the flow to items that need renewal​

The trigger fires for every item, on every auto order, whose schedule ends. If only some of your products need a renewal message, add a Condition step as the first step that checks the item, and end the No side without sending anything.

If every item that has a Repeat Count needs renewal, skip this step.

Step 3. Time the first email​

Add a Time Delay step before the first email. The trigger fires when the last shipment is charged, so the customer still has that shipment's supply. Pick a delay that leaves enough time to renew before it runs out.

Allow for anything that slows renewal down. If a renewal needs a review or an approval before you can ship, such as a new prescription, send the first email early so the approval finishes in time.

Step 4. Keep reminding until the customer renews​

A single email is easy to miss. Follow the first Send Email step with a few more Time Delay and Send Email pairs, for example a reminder a week later and a last notice around the time the supply runs out.

The reminders stop on their own once the customer renews through one of your messages, because of Remove customers on any purchase from Step 1. When a customer clicks a link in any of your StoreFront Communications emails, SMS messages, or postcards and then places an order on your StoreFront during that visit, UltraCart removes them from this flow and skips every step they have not reached yet. That lets you schedule several reminders without emailing someone who already renewed.

Know what does not count as a purchase for this setting:

  • An order placed without clicking through from a message, such as typing your store's address, ordering by phone, or an order entered in the back office. The customer stays in the flow and keeps getting reminders.
  • Auto order rebills. They never remove a customer, so a rebill from another subscription the customer holds does not cut the renewal reminders short.

To also catch renewals placed some other way, put a Condition step in front of each reminder that checks whether the customer has renewed, and end the side for renewed customers without sending anything.

Remove customers on purchase from this flow is the narrower option: it reacts only to a purchase in a visit that started from this flow's own messages. Remove customers on any purchase also covers a customer who renews after clicking a different message, such as a newsletter, so it is usually the better fit for renewals.

Step 5. Write the renewal emails​

Add a Send Email step. The flow has the auto order in context, so the email can show the customer's items from it. In live sends, the email shows only the items whose schedules ended.

Tell the customer what ended and what they need to do. Then add a button that takes them to renew:

  • A product page, when renewal needs a questionnaire or other input that lives on that page.
  • A buy link that adds the item to the cart, using the ADD parameter described in Parameters that can be passed to UCEditor.

A renewal purchase creates a new order and, for an auto order item, a new auto order with a fresh schedule.

Step 6. Test and activate​

Use Test Flow and Test Emails to check the sequence and the email content, then click Save Flow. When everything looks right, click View & Activate to review and activate the flow.

Example: a 12-month prescription​

A prescription product ships a 28-day supply, and each prescription covers 12 fills: the first order plus 11 refills.

  1. On the item's Auto Order tab, the item step ships Every 28 Days with a Repeat Count of 11. The auto order ends with the last fill the prescription covers.
  2. The flow uses Auto Order - When an auto order item completes its schedule, with Remove customers on any purchase turned on.
  3. A Time Delay of a few days follows, then an email explaining that the prescription has run its course and a new one is needed to keep treatment going.
  4. The email's button opens the product page, where the customer completes the questionnaire and places a new order. That order goes through the same review as a first-time order, gets a new prescription, and starts a new auto order.
  5. Two more Time Delay and Send Email pairs remind customers who have not renewed, the last one timed for when the supply runs out. A customer who renews from the first email's button is removed from the flow and never sees the reminders.
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