Table Of Contents
- Overview
- Creating a Subscription Club
- Subscription Club Settings
- Adding a Member
- Adjusting a Member Billing Month
- Managing Billing
- Member Account Module
- Processing a Subscription Release
- Creating a Club Release
- Next Steps after Completing the Release
Overview
This presentation will cover the creation and processing of a Subscription club in the OrderPort Wine Club module. A Subscription club allows wineries to regularly bill customers, which creates balances for the members. This is ideal for people who want to be members but do not want to buy wine at set times throughout the year. The balance can be used by the member at the time of their choosing. These balances can be used to pay for wine club releases or purchases at the winery. This is a new payment method called Accounts. It can also be used online or in the Admin Cart. There is a new Member Accounts module devoted to this. This is where wineries can view account information for each member of their Subscription clubs.
Creating a Subscription Club
When starting a subscription club, you will be asked to choose the discount and case discount members will receive, just as in other club types. You will also be asked to enter the billing cycle, as well as the amount that will be charged to the members each cycle. The billing cycle is how often someone will be charged throughout the year. There are currently 4 options: Monthly, Quarterly, Semiannually and annually. Automated billing will begin on the first day of their next payment month. For further information on creating wine clubs, consult the Creating a Club document.
Subscription Club Settings
First, choose the frequency of the billing cycle. Then choose the renewal amount. This is the amount of money customers will be billed during each cycle. You as the winery have the choice to charge new members at sign up or not. If you want to charge at sign up, it will equal the renewal amount. If you do not charge at sign up, the member will first be charged on the first day of the next eligible month.
First choose the frequency of the billing cycle. Then choose the renewal amount. This is the amount of money customers will be billed during each cycle. If you choose to bill quarterly, semiannually or annually, you can specify which months members will be billed. Additionally, you can choose a specific day of the month the billing will occur. Billing will occur automatically on the morning of the day you choose. Make sure to click Save when you are done. You can change your billing cycle if you need to in the future.
You as the winery have the choice to charge new members at sign up or not. If you want to charge at sign up, it will equal the renewal amount. If you do not charge at sign up, the member will first be charged on the first day of the next eligible month. There is also an option to place members on hold if their payments decline. This means they will not receive club benefits until they have completed payment.
Adding a Member
When adding a member to a subscription club, a card on file must be present. This ensures the customer is billed for their deposits.
When running a club, though, the member’s balance will pay for the release and not the card on file.
Adjusting a Member Billing Month
Subscription clubs support the ability to update a member’s next billing month. This means that they will stay on the same cycle as the other members but will not be charged until the next month specified. In this example, the member is part of a subscription club with a monthly billing cycle. First navigate to the members account and click the Memberships tab. Click Edit on their membership to open the Edit window. Using the ”Select Next Billing Date” dropdown menu, choose the next month that you want the member to be billed. Then click Update Membership to save the changes.
Managing Billing
With subscription clubs theses are automatically billed on the date you selected in the club options tab. You also have the option to do a manual billing on a customers account if nessisary.
Automatic Billing
Member Accounts are billed on the first of the month, whether it’s a monthly, quarterly, semiannually or annually. Customers will receive a notification letting them know whether their card was successfully charged or not. They payments will be listed as deposits on your sales reporting. Invoices are available to customers, and refunds can be processed if necessary. There are two places where you as the winery can view charges made as part of a subscription club.
Subscription Information
You can view member deposits in each member’s account in the Wine Club module. On the Member’s Memberships tab, there is a button called
Subscription Information.
When clicked a new window will open. This will show both manual and automatic charges.
Manual billing
You as the winery can also place stand alone deposits on member accounts. This can be completed through the Subscription Information section. Enter an amount into the “Funds to add” section. Then click on Add Funds.
Manually deposits are always in addition to automatic renewals and will not cancel the member’s next automated deposit.
Subscription Reports
The Wine Club Module now has new reports specific to the Subscription club type. Both are found in the Reports Section of the Wine Club module.
The Subscription Club Report will show you the current account balance information for members as well as the date of their next subscription renewal.
The Subscription Renewals Report will show you the monthly billing cycles, breaking down which payments were successful, and which were not.
This report will show each subscription club members current account balance. This is how much money they have to use for purchases at the winery. The Next Renewal field shows the date on which their next automated payment will be charged to their card on file.
In addition to that information, the report also indicates the member’s sign-up date as well as the number of shipments they have received so far.
Subscription Renewals Report
The Subscriptions Renewal Report will show member payments for each billing cycle. It breaks down which payments were successful, and which weren’t.
Since declined payments can be reauthorized, it will show which batch each payment was a part of.
Reauthorizing Deposits
Automated payments that decline can be reauthorized by the winery.
In the club options for your club, you can see each month’s subscription batches. For those members that declined, you can charge their cards a second time. If you need to reauthorize cards, a new batch can be created. Clicking the Reprocess Declined Cards button will make another attempt to charge the declined members. This will create a second batch for the month and show which customers remain uncharged.
Member Account Module
The Member Accounts module will allow you to keep track of customer accounts from outside of the Wine Club module. You will be able to see deposits made on the member’s account as well as sales that customers purchased with their balance. The module also allows you as the winery to process standalone deposits on a member account.
Reading Member accounts
The Member Accounts module allows you to view deposits charged to a member’s card on file. Approved deposits will show in white, canceled in brown, and declined in red. It also allows you to view transactions made with their balances. Those will show as transaction type Sale.
When looking at deposits, you will be able to view and generate invoices that can be provided to your customers. Here you can also process refunds by clicking the details button.
Processing Deposits
Manual deposits can be charged through the Member Accounts module. This is done on the Deposit Funds tab.
The member’s card on file can be used, as well as cash, check or a credit card that is not currently of file. Enter the amount that will be deposited, choose the payment method and click Load Funds.
Processing a Subscription Release
Creating a Club Release
When running a Subscription release, the funds that the customer has in their account will be used to pay for the wine. If the order total exceeds the member’s current balance, the order cannot be completed.
To start a wine club release, click the Create Club Release button on the wine club’s General tab. A new window will open asking you to name the release as well as name the first build.
The release represents the club run as a whole. Each release can have multiple builds, which can be used to organize that way in which members are processed. For example, the release would be named “Summer 2019 Club” and your first build could be named “Pick Up Customers” if you planned on processing them separately from shipping members.
Step 1: Choosing your Members
The first step of every club build is to choose which members will be placed in the build for processing.
You can run everyone in a single build, or you can organize your members into different builds. A common way to do this is having separate builds for pick-up customers vs shipping customers.
When processing a build, only those within the build will be charged for their club release. You can search for specific members or use the various filters. For example, you can filter the members to see only pick-up customers.
The Stats portion of the screen will break down the members that are currently chosen for the build.
Setting a Balance Requirement
A new tool unique to Step 1 for
Subscription Clubs is the “Required Subscription Balance” tool. This allows you to set a threshold on how much a person will need to have in their account to be processed.
The system will prevent those with lesser balances from being able to be in the build. If a member is the build is found to have insufficient funds, they will show as an error on Step 3.
Step 2: Choosing your Wines
When running a Subscription Club, Step 2 is when you will choose the wines. For this type of club, the customer will not have the ability to edit the wines chosen by the winery.
The search feature will allow you to access the wines in your Catalogue Manager. You will be prompted to choose the specific wines as well as a quantity. The selected wines will appear in the box at left.
If you make a mistake, click the red “X” next to the wine and search again. Once carts are created you will need start over in step three if you notice a mistake has been made. After choosing the wines, make sure you have the correct Ship From Warehouse. This is the location that inventory will be pulled from for shipping orders. Click Next to move onto Step 3.
Step 3: Cart Creating and Shipping
You will be prompted to choose a shipping method, component cost & quantity, ship date and given the chance to double check your fulfillment location. Then click Get Shipping Options.
Even if you are only processing pick up orders the system will ask for a shipping method. The system will recognize they are pick-ups and not apply shipping costs.
At right is a build that contains both pick up and shipping orders. The shipping method has only applied to the customers the module has designated as ship customers. The module allows for a change in shipping method or pick-up location to be made after the carts are created.
Problem Orders
A Problem Order occurs when a cart cannot be created for a member. This is generally due to a lack of necessary account information such as shipping address. Another common reason is not having a license to ship the member’s state.
Problem orders can be removed from the build so that the accounts can be updated. A new build can then be created to process those members.
Step 3: Double Check
The next part of Step 3 will be to double check the carts that have been created. The build will pull a member at random so you can verify the contents of the cart. This is to ensure that the wines, quantities, discounts and prices are correct.
If you are running a customer choice club, this will also be the case. Since no edits have been applied to orders yet, all carts are currently the same.
Step 4: Sending your email
Step 4 of every wine club build is the member email. This email is the best way to inform customers of their upcoming release.
You can creat these designs in the marketing If you have already created a template, choose it from the Template drop-down menu.
Step 5: Editing your Orders
On Step 5, you can make edits to carts on behalf of the members in the build. You will be presented with the list of carts and can use the search bar to find a specific member.
Click on member’s name to open up the cart for edits. You will have the ability to change shipping method or mark an order as a pick-up. The items can be edited, as well as the prices and discounts.
In addition to editing the wine that’s in the cart, new items can be added by the winery. Changes will be saved automatically. When adding products, keep in mind that the new additions do not exceed the customer’s current account balance.
Step 6: Completing the Build and Authorizing Cards
You will be given the list of actions that will occur once the Finish button has been clicked, including next steps. This will differ from other clubs in that a card is not being charged.
The build will begin to process, which means that the system will pull funds from the member’s accounts and create an order. When the process is complete a report will generate showing whether a cart was processed successfully or not.
Reviewing your Orders
- All orders marked in green were successfully created and authorized.
- A successfully authorized order can be put through fulfillment so that funds can be captured.
- The order here in red was created, but the card was declined. This order will need to be reauthorized before funds can be captured.
Next Steps after Completing the Release
- The next part of the Wine Club process is fulfillment, during which funds will be captured on orders. This is also when orders are released and dispatched. Please see the Fulfillment presentation on how to complete this process.
- For further staff trainings, contact Training Manager Carlos Reiner at carlos@orderport.net or schedule a one-on-one training session here: https://calendly.com/carlosorderport/admin.
- For support questions, contact the OrderPort Support team by phone at 206-464-1151 or by email at helpdesk@orderport.net.