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Offer subscriptions in the cart and checkout

Let customers turn a one-time item into a subscription from the cart — and, on Shopify Plus, from checkout itself — without sending them back to the product page. Anyone who added a product without noticing the subscribe option gets a second chance at the moment they're already committed to buying.

Turn it on​

  1. In the Zubs app, go to Settings → Recommendations & Upsells.
  2. Tick Offer subscriptions in the cart and checkout.
  3. Choose a Placement in the cart — above or below the line item. Checkout always shows the offer below the line item.
  4. Show the discount in the offer shows the discount configured on the selling plan in the button. A percentage plan reads Make it a subscription - save 10% and a fixed-amount plan reads Make it a subscription - save €2.50. Fixed-price plans, or plans without a discount, read Make it a subscription. Turn this setting off to always use the plain label.
  5. Save.

Add it to your theme​

The offer needs a home in your theme. Cart pages and cart drawers are separate, so add both if your theme uses both.

  1. Go to Online Store → Themes → Customize.
  2. Open the Cart template, choose Add block, and pick Subscription cart offer.
  3. For a cart drawer, open App embeds at the bottom left and switch on Subscription cart drawer.
  4. Save.

If your theme only ever shows a drawer, the app embed on its own is enough.

Add it to checkout​

Checkout placement needs Shopify Plus — the checkout editor is only available on that plan, so on Standard and Advanced stores the cart offer above is the whole feature.

  1. Go to Settings → Checkout → Customize.
  2. Choose Add app block in the order summary and pick Subscription offer in checkout.
  3. Save.

What customers see​

Next to each eligible line, a button offering the subscription and a line showing the delivery frequency. Pressing it converts that line — the price updates straight away, no page reload. The button then reads Back to one-time, so undoing it is one press.

Once the line is a subscription, a delivery frequency dropdown appears next to it. Converting always applies the frequency marked as the default for that plan group; the dropdown lets the customer change it afterwards, and the price and savings update with their choice. Only pay-as-you-go frequencies are listed — if the product has just one, there's nothing to choose and no dropdown appears.

The offer itself stays a simple yes or no: nothing is asked about frequency until the customer has already said yes.

In checkout the offer sits under the line in the order summary and works the same way, with two differences:

  • Instead of a dropdown, a converted line gets a Change frequency button next to Back to one-time. It opens a small window listing the frequencies — for example Every 4 weeks · save 10% — and the change applies once the customer presses Update. Closing the window any other way changes nothing.
  • Back to one-time only appears for subscriptions the customer started there. One they chose on the product page is left alone.

When the offer doesn't appear​

The offer is deliberately hidden in these cases:

  • The product has no pay-as-you-go plan. Prepaid plans are never offered in the cart — a single press would charge for several deliveries at once, which isn't obvious enough to be fair.
  • Build-your-box products. Their plan belongs to the box flow.
  • The line is already a subscription.
  • The product is opted out (see below), or the feature is switched off.
  • The customer is paying with a wallet (Shop Pay, Apple Pay, Google Pay, PayPal). Shopify doesn't allow changing the line at that point, so the offer is hidden in checkout rather than shown as a button that can't work. A subscription they already started there stays undoable, though changing its frequency is hidden too, for the same reason.
  • Your billing approval is still pending. Nothing is offered on either surface until that's sorted.

Subscription overview in checkout​

A separate checkout block reassures customers about what they're signing up for. Whenever the order contains a subscription, it appears below the line items in the order summary with up to three points:

  • How often it's delivered — for example Delivers every 4 weeks, taken from the plan's delivery frequency. If the subscriptions in the order are on different frequencies, it reads Delivers on your schedule instead.
  • What they save — for example You're saving 10%. Only shown when every subscription in the order is discounted and the discount is the same on every order; otherwise the line is left out rather than overstate the saving.
  • Easily manage in your account — always shown.

There's nothing to configure: it doesn't depend on the cart offer setting above. Like the checkout offer it needs Shopify Plus:

  1. Go to Settings → Checkout → Customize.
  2. Choose Add app block in the order summary and pick Subscription overview in checkout.
  3. Save.

Excluding specific products​

Add the tag from Opt-out product tag (default zubs-no-cart-offer) to any product that should never show the offer. Everything else with a pay-as-you-go plan will.

Tips​

  • Requires a Shopify 2.0 theme.
  • Customers who convert in the cart get exactly the same subscription as one started from the product page — same frequency, same discount.
  • Product-page settings live in Customize the Widget; this is a separate block.