Welcome to the guide on setting up subscription products for MINIBC! This walkthrough will cover the essential steps needed in both BigCommerce and MINIBC. It's designed for users running the recommended BigCommerce V3 Product Experience and assumes you have a basic understanding of BigCommerce and are at a beginner level with MINIBC. Let's get started!
Product Modifier Setup (BigCommerce)
To start, we need to create subscription options for customers to choose. Begin by navigating in BigCommerce to Products -> Product Options and then the Shared modifiers tab. On the upper left choose Add shared modifier to begin.
Below is an example of what we're aiming to complete; we'll break down each field below.
Display Name: This is the label customers will see on your website.
Modifier name: This is the label you as the merchant see; we've added "MBC" at the beginning to help it stand out.
Type: MINIBC supports - Dropdown, Radio Buttons and Rectangle list - as drop-down types for subscriptions.
Required: If you're launching a new store; we recommend checking the 'Required' box. This makes sure customers can't miss subscription option. If you're adding MINIBC to an existing store, then keeping this item - not - required will allow customers to continue to use the re-order button within the Orders section of BigCommerce.
Option Values: This is the list of options customers will be able to choose from. We recommended starting with "One-Time Purchase" (if the product is offered as such) to make sure customers don't accidently choose a subscription option without realizing it.
Once you've finalized on your modifier details you can save them and we'll move on.
Product & Option Value Setup FAQ:
Q. Can I change Option Values once I begin taking subscriptions?
A. Values can be changed as needed, though the frequency length must remain the same. As an example, you can have "Ship Every Month" to start, then change it to "Deliver Monthly" without an issue; but you cannot change it to "Ship Every 3 Weeks" as this will impact the frequency length and customers already subscribed will be negatively impacted.
Q. Can I mix frequencies (weekly, monthly, yearly)?
A. We recommend that you don't mix frequency types as this complicates setup. If you do need to mix frequencies we recommend discussing this during your training with a MINIBC representative.
Q. Can I add other option or shared modifiers to products post launch?
A. We do recommend finalizing your complete product setup prior to launching with MINIBC. If you need to add customizations or other options to products once there are existing subscriptions for that item, you'll need to open a support ticket and work with our team to update existing subscriptions to the new product spec; depending on the complexity and size of this update paid services may be required.
Q. Where do I setup my subscription discounts?
A. Read on, that's covered under Product Setup
Product Modifier Setup (MINIBC)
With your shared modifier setup, we'll need to setup MINIBC to know what shared modifiers to listen for and what to do if one is included in an order. The below is a guide for a general product setup using the example above as a base.
- Navigate within the MINIBC application to the Products tab; click on the Add new button to begin.
- For the Create Subscription option, choose 'Bulk Setup" and then Next
- From the initial drop-down choose the shared modifier you created in the previous step.
- From the type drop-down choose either "Standard" or "Membership" depending on your product type
- You'll now be presented with a list of the option you'll be presenting to customers. We'll go through each of the columns and our recommended settings.
- Modifier Labels - This is the name of the label you created in BigCommerce
- Use - Enable the slider for option you want MINIBC to recognize as subscription purchases.
- Frequency - You'll need to enter the numerical value and the frequency type you'll be using. So "1" and "Months" as an example.
- Billing Frequency - Generally this should be set to 1; you want customer billed every time the frequency comes up for renewal. If you have other requirement discuss those during your training with a MINIBC representative.
- Ongoing - Unless you want the subscription to stop after a certain period, you should enable this slider for each option.
- Pre-Paid - If the subscription is pre-paid and you don't want the subscriber to be billed each renewal, enable this option.
- Stop After - If the subscription is pre-paid (a gift subscription for example), enter the total number of renewals you would like minus 1. For a 6-month pre-paid term, you'd enter 5, since the first shipment was the initial order.
- After you've completed this table, click Next to continue.
- For the Pricing & Customer Groups section, you'll choose if products should be renewed at a set price for all subscribers regardless of sign-up time. This could also be consider grandfathered pricing. You can also setup if you would like customers to be placed in a specific group upon a successful subscription purchase. Once you've made your updates to this table, click Next to continue.
- On the final step, you'll review and confirm your subscription option details. Once you're confident, you can click Create Subscription Products to continue.
Product Setup & Discounts (BigCommerce)
Once you've set up the shared modifier and configured MINIBC, the final step is to enable the shared modifier on products you want to offer as subscriptions. You can do this manually, following the steps outlined below, or through the BigCommerce API. While MINIBC doesn't provide instructions for the API method, if you have a large catalog of subscribable products, we offer assistance with product setup through paid services.
To setup items individually follow the below steps:
- In BigCommerce navigate to and being editing the product you want to enable subscriptions on.
- Within the product editing dashboard, navigate to the Customizations section and click the Configure Options link.
- Within the Modifier Options screen, click Add Shared Modifier Options and choose the shared modifier you created and setup in the previous steps. You should see something similar to the below after adding your shared modifier:
- Once you've added your shared modifier you can choose save options.
- Within the Customizations section, beside the Rules title, click Configure Rules.
- Choose within the drop-down your shared modifier and select which frequencies will receiver a discount (you can have different discounts per frequency, though this is not recommended). You want to select the Adjust Price checkbox and use "Remove" and enter the numerical percentage or value you want to remove from the item for subscription purchases. Below is an example of a simple one option discount for subscription.
- After you're configure your discounts you can click Update Rules.
- Once back on the main dashboard, you again need to click Save to commit the customizations and discounts to the product.
These steps will need to be repeated for each item you wish to include subscriptions/discounts on. If you have any additional questions, don't hesitate to reach out to your training instructor or MINIBC support for assistance.