Hey, Scott Austin here.

Today’s episode is all about subscriptions—one of the most powerful tools for building recurring revenue in your Shopify business. Whether you’re selling coffee, skincare, pet supplies, or even digital memberships, subscriptions can dramatically boost your customer lifetime value, improve cash flow, and create a smoother experience for your customers.

I’ve helped a lot of brands increase their revenue through subscriptions. This topic is long overdue for the podcast—so let’s dig in and explore how subscriptions can level up your Shopify brand.

Let me start off by saying that subscriptions isn’t for every brand.  Let’s say you only sell diamond engagement rings, then subscriptions isn’t right for.  But subscriptions can be used for more scenarios than just restocking coffee.  Hopefully, this episode will get you brainstorming.

Value of Subscriptions

Let’s dive into the value of subscriptions—why they’re not just a nice-to-have, but a strategic growth tool for e-commerce brands.

From the business side, subscriptions provide predictable revenue and drive up your customer lifetime value—or CLV. Instead of a one-time $30 order, a customer subscribed at $30/month could bring in $300 over ten months. That higher CLV gives you more room to spend on customer acquisition and retention.

Subscriptions also make inventory planning easier. With a predictable volume of recurring orders, you can more confidently manage stock levels, production runs, and shipping schedules.

Now, let’s flip to the customer side of the equation.

Subscriptions offer real convenience. If someone drinks coffee every morning, it’s a hassle to reorder manually every few weeks. Subscriptions remove that friction and ensure the product just shows up when needed.

There’s also the value perception. Many stores offer a discount or bonus to subscribers—say 15% off or the ability to swap products or alternate delivery addresses anytime. That kind of flexibility and savings encourages signups and builds trust.

So bottom line: subscriptions aren’t just about recurring revenue. They’re about making your brand easier to love—and giving customers one less thing to think about.

Subscription Models

Let’s break down the different types of subscription models you can use in your Shopify store. Depending on what you sell, one model might fit your brand better than the others—or you might combine more than one.

Replenishment Subscriptions

These are perfect for consumable products that customers use regularly and need to restock—like coffee, skincare, vitamins, pet food, or razors. You might offer delivery every 2 weeks, monthly, or every other month.  I’ve even had clients that offer delivery once a year with their subscriptions for things like water filters that get replaced each year.

A replenishment example is Blume, a Shopify brand that sells natural skincare products. They offer a simple “Subscribe & Save 10%” model on products like cleansers with flexible pause or cancel options.

Curation Subscriptions

This model is all about surprise, delight, and personalization. Customers receive a box of themed or hand-picked items each month. It’s ideal for categories like fashion, food, hobbies, beauty, and lifestyle.

Horti is a great example—they’re a plant subscription service that sends a new potted plant monthly with care instructions. It creates a sense of discovery and growing expertise with every delivery.

Gift Subscriptions

With gift subscriptions, someone buys the subscription for someone else—usually for a birthday, holiday, or special occasion. It’s typically a one-time payment with recurring fulfillment, like a 3-, 6-, or 12-month plan.

Think about a Mother’s Day gift scenario.  Let’s say you sell chocolates and the customer wants to spend $300 on their Mother’s Day gift.  Well $300 of chocolates is a lot to receive all at once.  But with a gift subscription, that $300 can be spread out to chocolates for mom for the next 6 months.

Access or Membership Subscriptions

This model focuses on giving customers access to something exclusive—like content, community, discounts, or early product drops. It's great for creators, educators, or premium brands.

The Beard Club blends replenishment and membership subscription types. They offer beard care products, but subscribers get additional perks like exclusive discounts, grooming tutorials, and early access to new items. It creates a sense of belonging and insider status that drives retention and brand loyalty.

So to recap:

• Replenishment is about convenience and routine
• Curation is about surprise and discovery
• Gift is about buying for someone else
• Access is about exclusivity and community

Choose the model—or models—that best fit your product and customer relationship.

Shopify Subscription App Options – Why I Recommend Recharge

When it comes to adding subscriptions to a Shopify store, the app I recommend and use with my clients is Recharge.  Now this not a sponsored podcast.  I’ve just found Recharge to be the best subscription app for Shopify.  That said, if you want to sign-up for Recharge, I’d appreciate you using my affiliate link in the show notes. 

I find Recharge to be one of the most mature and feature-rich subscription platforms available for Shopify. Here’s what I like about it:

1. Recharge uses Shopify’s Subscriptions API, so customers stay within the native checkout experience. That means no redirects, better performance, and higher conversion rates.
2. You can set multiple frequencies—weekly, monthly, every 60 days, etc.—and give customers the ability to skip, pause, or cancel directly from a portal in your store. This self-service functionality boosts retention and lowers support load.
3. Recharge plugs into Klaviyo, Gorgias, and most analytics platforms. You can create winback flows, manage churn, and reward loyal subscribers with milestone perks.
4. Recharge supports prepaid subscriptions, gifting, bundling, and upsells. Want customers to build their own bundle or pay upfront for a 6-month plan? Recharge can handle it.

Now, Recharge isn’t the cheapest option. But for established businesses ready to scale subscriptions, the value is well worth the cost. I use Recharge with my clients regularly, and I can say firsthand their support is solid—something I wish I could say about more apps.

How to Measure Your Subscription Business

Let’s talk about how to measure success. If you’re not tracking the right metrics, it’s hard to know what’s working, what needs improvement, and where the real opportunities lie.

Here are the key metrics to track in your subscription business:

1. Monthly Recurring Revenue (MRR) – This is the total subscription revenue you generate each month. It gives you a stable forecast and helps with cash flow and planning.
2. Active Subscribers – How many customers are currently subscribed and receiving recurring orders. You can segment this by product or plan to identify trends.
3. Average Order Value (AOV) and Lifetime Value (LTV) – You can compare subscriber AOV and LTV with ala carte customers. If subscriber LTV isn’t outpacing your acquisition cost, it’s time to revisit your offers.
4. Churn Rate – The percentage of subscribers canceling each month. High churn means you’re not delivering enough value or the timing is off. Look for patterns, and adjust accordingly.
5. Pause/Skip Behavior – This often happens before churn. If many people skip the third shipment, that’s a clue you might need to adjust frequency or introduce an incentive.

If you’re using Recharge, most of this data is right in your dashboard, or it can be integrated with tools like Google Analytics or Looker Studio for more advanced reporting.

UX Considerations for Subscriptions

Next, a great subscription offer needs a great user experience to match.

Start with the product page. Make the subscription option clearly visible and easy to select—ideally using a toggle or radio button. Spell out the benefits.  Like “Subscribe & Save 10%,” or “Free shipping,” or “Cancel anytime.” Also, be specific about the frequency.  Like “Delivered every 30 days” or “Billed monthly.”

After the purchase, let customers manage their subscription themselves. Recharge offers a customer portal that integrates with Shopify’s new account pages. Customers can pause, skip, cancel, or update payment info—no emails to support required.  This builds trust and reduces churn. Sometimes customers don’t want to cancel—they just need to skip a shipment. Give them that option.

Also, reinforce the value. Use clear language on your site and in your emails to highlight flexibility and ease. Remind customers that subscribing means less stress, less hassle and more consistency.

Integrating with Klaviyo Flows

Subscriptions shouldn’t be a “set it and forget it” experience. You should use Klaviyo to stay in touch throughout the subscriber lifecycle.

Here are some flows to set up:

1. Welcome flow with tips on managing the subscription—ideally delivered via a short video.
2. Pre-renewal reminders a few days before billing. These build trust and reduce surprise charges.
3. Milestone emails at 3, 6, or 12 months. Say thank you and offer a small gift or discount.
4. Winback flow for canceled subscribers. Ask for feedback, offer a special deal, or highlight new features.

You can also promote subscriptions to non-subscribers. For example, add a “Did you know you can subscribe?” message in your restock flow.

Recharge integrates with Klaviyo, so these flows can be personalized based on actual subscription behavior.

Common Pitfalls to Avoid

Getting your subscription program right, can take some iteration and some time.  Avoid these common mistakes to fast-track your subscription program:

1. Making it hard to cancel. Don’t frustrate your customers. Make canceling simple—and offer pausing or skipping as alternatives.
2. Not showing the value. Don’t just list “Subscribe” as an option. Actively explain the benefits—discounts, convenience, flexibility, etc.
3. Overcomplicating the setup. Too many frequencies or bundle options cause decision fatigue. Keep it simple, especially at launch.
4. Ignoring churn signals. Skips and cancellations are data points. Listen, learn, and improve your offer and customer experience.

Quick Wins and Best Practices

Here are a few quick ways to improve performance:

1. Offer a compelling discount or bonus on the first subscription. It lowers the barrier for the customer and pays off in long-term value.
2. Make sure your subscription discount is competitive with your other marketing offers. If your emails promote 20% off, don’t offer just 10% for subscriptions. Match or sweeten the deal.  Additionally, you may want to exclude current subscribers from normal marketing emails so they don’t feel like they are missing out.
3. Send pre-renewal reminders. Transparency builds trust and reduces churn.
4. Use analytics to refine your offer. Look at skip rates, timing, and cancellation points. Adjust your intervals or incentives accordingly.
5. Test delivery frequency. Not every product needs a 30-day cycle. Try offering 60 or 90 days based on customer habits.

Summary

That brings us to the end of today’s episode. We covered a lot.  The big idea is this: subscriptions aren’t just a technical feature—they’re a long-term relationship with your customer. And like any relationship, it takes attention, communication, and flexibility to make it thrive.

If you’re thinking about adding subscriptions to your store, or you already have them and want to improve performance, don’t be afraid to experiment. Test different offers, try new intervals, listen to feedback—and keep iterating.

And if you want a second set of eyes on your subscription setup or help crafting a strategy that fits your brand, I offer one-on-one video consults where we can build a plan together. There’s a link in the show notes where you can book yours.

Thanks for listening.