Sell More Online Subscriptions in Shopify Using SMSBump and ReCharge

The subscription E-Commerce sector has experienced a growth of over 100% a year over the past 5 years. The largest retailers made more than $2.6B in sales in 2016, up from $57.0M in 2011.

So if you’re using your Shopify store to sell products with subscription payments, you’re definitely onto something.

The question is how you can drive more recurring payments to your store and get more online customers to subscribe?
 

ReCharge is the highest rated Shopify app allowing your store to sell subscriptions and charge customers on a recurring schedule.

How to Boost Subscription-Based Sales in Shopify with SMSBump


The new integration between SMSBump and ReCharge gives your Shopify store a number of SMS automations you can activate to send notifications to your subscribers about:
 

  • Subscription Activated - let them know they've successfully subscribed for your product
     
  • Subscription Cancelled - inform they their cancellation was successful 
     
  • Subscription Order Abandoned - send them a gentle reminder that their cart is waiting on them 
     
  • Upcoming Payment - allow them to skip a payment or upsell them a product, all with just a simple keyword
     
  • Failed Charge - alert them if their payment didn't go through 


Read below to learn how to connect ReCharge with SMSBump so you can increase your subscription sales and conversion rates with SMS notifications and keep your customers in the know at all times.


Add SMSBump to Shopify

 

​How to Connect SMSBump and ReCharge in Shopify


This tutorial assumes you already have SMSBump installed in your Shopify store and you're running the SMSBump or SMSBump Plus plan.
 

Step 1

From your dashboard, navigate to Integrations and click on ReCharge.
 

SMSBump ReCharge Integration for Shopify


Get familiar with the Overview and the app features that ReCharge offers to your store.

The most important part is that you can use ReCharge for 60 days for free.

This will give you enough time to test different SMS automations and approaches to your customers.
 

Step 2

When you're ready, click Configure.
 

SMSBump: Configure ReCharge App in Shopify


This is where you connect SMSBump and ReCharge in your Shopify store. This is so the two apps can play well together and help you increase your subscription conversions with each others features.


Step 3

When you're ready, click Install in the popup.
 

Connect SMSBump and ReCharge in Shopify
 

Congratulations! SMSBump and ReCharge are now connected in your Shopify store.
 

Your ReCharge checkout for subscriptions will automatically display this checkbox.


Checkout Accept SMS Marketing Promotions and Notifications Checkbox

 

Now your subscribers can also opt in for SMS promotions and notifications.

Setup SMS Marketing Consent and Compliance

These steps show you how to add your Privacy Policy compliance text and modify your SMS consent checkbox.

Go to your Recharge Settings and click Translation.


 

Find the Checkout buttons/page controls section and paste the following text into your Copyright text field:

I consent to receive recurring automated marketing by text message through an automatic telephone dialing system. Consent is not a condition to purchase. STOP to cancel, HELP for help. Message and Data rates apply. View Privacy Policy & ToS.


Checkout buttons/page controls


View the full setup tutorial in our TCPA & CTIA compliance guide.

 

  This is where things get really cool.

The SMS promotions and notifications your Shopify store can send come in the form of pre-defined SMS automations in SMSBump.


This means you set your SMS notifications to be sent out on autopilot once and go enjoy your day.
 

How to Setup Your SMS Automations for Subscribers


Go to your SMSBump app and from your Dashboard, go to Automations.

Scroll down and you will find the 4 ReCharge automations ready for you.
 

SMSBump & Recharge SMS Automations in Shopify
 

Activate your SMS Automations for each of the triggers you want!
 

1. Subscription Created

You can enable SMSBump to send out automatic SMS notifications to each subscriber who just made a purchase in your Shopify store.
 


 

Customize your text message any way you want so it fits your brand voice as well as the specific scenario that your customers will go through.

Once you're done, your subscribers will receive SMS confirmations about their successful subscription and details about their payments.
 


 

2. Subscription Cancelled

Enable the SMS automation for cancelled subscribers so they get notified and assured that their recurring payment will no longer be active.

You can also use it as an opportunity to invite customers back to renew their subscription.

Maybe offer them a special discount? A free month?
 


 

This is important because this gives your customer the confidence that cancelling their subscription is confirmed and they will not be billed again.

You can avoid getting in trouble with customers and receiving negative feedback or questions from your cancelled subscribers.

Simply automate the SMS notifications, so when a customer cancels - they receive an SMS, everything is confirmed and everyone is happy.
 


 

3. Subscription Abandoned at Checkout

Your customer was almost ready to subscribe for your product, but something happened.

No worries, this is where SMSBump is most powerful at. SMS notifications for abandoned carts.

Simply enable the SMS automation for the abandoned checkout and customers who almost subscribed will be messaged whenever you want them to be.
 


 

Abandoned cart SMS is one of the most highly converting means of cart recovery because users see their text messages instantly and the open rates are ridiculously high.
 


 

  Highly recommended!

Such a personal approach combined with the right timing and a good deal can take your sales through the roof.


4. Upcoming Payment

One of the most important SMS Automations you can use with ReCharge to remind your customer that they have a payment coming up.

The upcoming payment notification you can configure to also give your customers the option to skip their next month's subscription, without having to permanently unsubscribe from your service, or you can upsell them a product, both possible via a simple keyword.

If you enable the Skip a payment option, besides the upcoming payment reminder, your customers will receive a keyword which they can text if they want to skip this month’s subscription payment.
skip_monthly_charge_SMSBump

As far as the Product upsell option goes - if enabled, customers can purchase an additional product, proposed by you, which will be added to their monthly subscription.
upsell_keyword_recharge_SMSBump
You can easily customise the timing of all of these automated messages. Select the number of days before the payment is due and send an SMS reminder so your customer knows.

Trust me, as a person that easily forgets, this will be much appreciated from your customers.

Use the Send on field to set the number of days, or you can choose to send the reminder the same day when the payment is due. Up to you.
 


 

Craft a friendly message that just gives your customers a friendly heads up.

This kind of commitment helps you boost the customer loyalty because it shows you care and provide a complete service to your audience.
 

Upcoming ReCharge Payment SMS Automation in Shopify
 


5. Failed Charge Alert 
 

Let your customers know if there is an issue with their subscription payment, so they can quickly resolve it and receive their monthly delivery. Make it friendly, though, don't cause any unnecessary panic. 

From the Text Message field style up the content of your SMS with the help of the available short codes. The default text message we've crafted already contains short codes which fetch important data, which we recommend you leave as is: 

 

  • {Error}: this displays the reason why the charge failed and is collected straight from ReCharge. The reasons could be many, amongst which insufficient funds, invalid credit card info, expired credit card etc.
  • {UpdatePaymentURL}: a link to the page where they can verify their payment details and update them 

failed_charge_SMSBump

Boost your Subscription Conversions using SMS

So this is how you connect your SMSBump and ReCharge apps in Shopify.

Start experimenting with the automations, their timing and their content to deliver a precise service to your customers. Show you're there and actively engaging with them to build loyalty and not only get more subscriptions, but also retain the ones you already have.

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