In this article:
Overview
A subscription discount reward gives your customer money or a percentage off a subscription order. You choose whether it applies to their next order only, to a set number of orders, or to every one from then on.
There are two ways to offer one. Most merchants use the ordinary Discount reward, which can cover one-time orders and subscription orders at the same time, so you do not need a separate reward for each. There is also a reward type dedicated to subscriptions, covered further down.
Adding a subscription discount to a Discount reward
Log in to your LoyaltyLion account
Go to Program, then Rewards
Click Create reward, then select Discount
Choose Fixed amount or Percentage, enter the value, and check the Points cost
Under Purchase type, choose Subscription for subscription orders only, or Both to cover one-time orders as well
In Recurring subscription payments, use Apply discount to future subscription payments to set how many future orders the discount covers
Click Create
On Recharge you also get Allow use on existing subscriptions, which lets a customer apply the discount to a subscription they already have rather than only to new ones. The option appears only when a Recharge integration is connected.
The Active subscription discount reward
Active subscription discount is a second, more specific reward type in the reward picker. It does the same job as a Discount reward set to subscriptions, except it only ever applies to subscriptions, so there is no purchase type to choose.
Use whichever suits you. The Discount reward is the more flexible of the two because one reward can serve both kinds of order.
An Active subscription discount reward offers:
Discount type and value, fixed amount or percentage, and a Points cost. If your program has tiers you set a cost per tier
Recurring subscription payments, deciding how many future orders the discount covers
Customer redemption limit and Inventory limit
Display, where you set the Reward name your customers see
Discount code, where you can set a custom Prefix. This needs the Advanced plan
Discount combinations, deciding whether the reward stacks with your other discounts
Active subscription discount rewards cannot be offered at your point of sale, so POS is not selectable in the Availability section.
Applying a discount to an existing subscription
Your customers can apply a subscription discount to a subscription they already have, straight from your loyalty page. This works for a Discount reward with purchase type Subscription or Both, and for the Active subscription discount reward.
Your customer claims the reward on your loyalty page.
They choose the subscription to apply it to from the list of their active subscriptions. They can do this when they claim the reward, or later from their reward history.
The discount comes off that subscription's next order.
On Recharge, this needs Allow use on existing subscriptions turned on for the reward. On Skio and Yariflow, there is nothing extra to turn on.
Your customers can still copy the discount code and enter it in their subscription account instead, usually on a Manage subscriptions page.
Where the code lives depends on your platform. On Recharge it is a Recharge discount, so you will find it in the Recharge app rather than in your Shopify admin. On Skio it is an ordinary Shopify discount, so it appears in Shopify like any other.
Adding a product to an existing subscription rather than a discount works differently, and is covered in the Recharge manual's section on subscription rewards.
FAQ
Do I need a separate reward for subscribers?
No. A Discount reward with purchase type Both works for one-time orders, new subscriptions, and subscriptions your customers already have. On Recharge, turn on Allow use on existing subscriptions for the reward.
Can customers use other LoyaltyLion rewards on a subscription order?
Only if your subscription platform uses the Shopify checkout. Where a platform takes payment through its own portal instead, our other rewards cannot reach that order, because they work at the Shopify checkout.
What happens if a customer cancels their subscription part way through?
They lose the remaining discount, because each voucher applies to a specific order. If you would rather they did not lose out, you can refund a set number of points manually.
A customer claimed the reward but I cannot find the code. Where is it?
On Recharge, the code is created in Recharge rather than Shopify, so look in the Recharge app. On Skio, it is a native Shopify discount and appears in your Shopify admin.