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Introduction
Collections offers allow merchants to curate subscription-based sequences in which to fulfill select products.
The following article will guide you through the process of building a collections offer as well as the process of managing those orders via the UI and API.
Please note - This feature is not currently available to all sticky.io clients. Please contact your sticky.io representative if you are interested in configuring collections offers.
Without further ado, let's begin!
What You'll Need to Configure a Collections Offer
Before we begin building a collections offer, you must already have products and billing models defined within your sticky.io instance.
Configured products must have the Collections checkbox ticked within the configuration view to make them available for selection through the offer configuration process.
For information on how to configure products and billing models, please review this article.
How to Configure a Collections Offer
We'll begin by clicking into the Products menu and navigating to the Offers tab.
Once on the Offers page, open the Actions dropdown and click Add to start building a new offer.
Set Collections as your offer type using the dropdown menu. Then, click Next to advance.
Add a Name for your collections offer into the corresponding field. This will be for internal-use only and will not be visible to customers.
Specify a number of products per shipment by entering a number into the corresponding field. Later in the configuration process, you'll build a sequence of products to be shipped. For example, if you were to specify "2" within this field, then at each recurring interval, 2 products from your configured sequence would be shipped. Please note that the number of items shipped with each order,
Next, specify the billing models to be associated with your offer. These should be recurring style billing models and will dictate the frequency that subscribed customers receive orders on. To associate a billing model with your collections offer, simply locate it within the menu and check the corresponding box.
If desired, set a percent or per-quantity flat amount discount by checking the corresponding box and specifying your desired amount. For example, checking the "Discount (%)" box and specifying a value of 10 in the open field as depicted below would associate a 10% discount with the "Every 60 Days" model.
If desired, add a trial period to your collections offer by clicking the corresponding box.
If selected, you'll need to configure the trial duration, what to charge and when to charge it. Starting with trial duration, select a trial duration of "Billing Model" or "Custom"
Selecting "Billing Model Duration" will result in your customers paying your specified charge price for their first billing period and then defaulting to the standard pricing for the products they are receiving.
Selecting "Custom Duration" will allow you to configure a custom window for the trial period. For example, entering a value of 14 into this day would apply a 14 day trial period to our "Every 60 Days" offer.
Next, specify what to charge for the trial period. If "Product Price" is specified, the customer will be charged the full product price for the trial. Specifying a "Custom Price" would apply that price point to the trial period on the day of initial purchase. For example, applying a "Custom Price' of "20" would mean customers enrolling in the trial would pay $20 on the day the purchase trial begins and then would pay the full price for the main product on the day it's charged and shipped.
Finally, we'll configure the products to be included in the collection sequence! To start, open the dropdown menu and search for your desired products. For example, inputting a search value of "coffee" will return all applicable products for selection.
Clicking an individual product name once will add it to my collection sequence.
Selected products will appear below the dropdown menu as pictured.
Products can be dragged and dropped into new positions by clicking and holding on the three vertically stacked dots and dragging the product up or down in the sequence order.
Modify product prices within the context of the order by typing new prices into the corresponding fields. Quantities can be modified in similar fashion.
Clicking the "locked" checkbox will lock the products into a shipment order. This can be applied to models where the products must go out in the order specified. An example configuration is depicted below.
If using Inventory Awareness with the above collections offer, then positions 3 and 4 would not be shipped if product 2 is out-of-stock. The order would be backordered, but every day thereafter, the system will check the backordered product to see if the order can be sent. Once the product is in stock, the order will be sent and the sequence will resume.
Important Note -
For initial orders of collections offers conducted via API, you can send as many products as desired to the customer.
All desired products must have their product IDs included with the New Order call.
As long as the product IDs match the products configured with the offer, then it will be marked as shipped by the sticky.io system.
Once fully satisfied with your configurations, click Save to preserve your selections.
Managing Collections Offer Orders
Skipping, Stopping, Restarting or Changing Recurring Dates
From the Order Details page, use the hyperlink next to Next Recurring Date to skip or stop a subscription.
It is important to note that once a collections offer order has been "skipped", the customer cannot return to those products or positions within the sequence.
Reshipping an Order
From the Order Details page, use the hyperlinked Post Reshipment to Custom FTP Fulfillment. This will queue the order back up for inventory check.
It is important to note that subscriptions cannot be "stopped" from the Subscription page, but rather only from the Order Details page as described. If you try to stop a subscription from the Subscriptions page, you will receive the following error message.
Actioning On Collections Orders by API
The sticky.io API documentation will provide references for conducting various subscription management or order management actions.
These actions include:
Placing new subscription orders
Canceling a subscription
Resuming a stopped subscription
Skipping the next subscription shipment
Updating subscriptions, including changing subscription frequency
Rescheduling subscriptions
To reach the pertinent area of our API documentation, follow this link and open the V3 dropdown, then the Subscription dropdown.
It is important to note that once a shipment is skipped, a customer cannot return to those products or positions within the sequence.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can we apply additional merchandise discounts using the UI at the order level?
Rebill discounts can be applied from the Order Details page. Within the Order Details view, apply the discount within the Rebill Discount field as pictured below. Click save at the bottom. The discount will apply to all upcoming positions in the recurring sequence.
From the Contacts page, discounts can be applied for a specific subscription ID. Discounts will be applied on a per-product basis.
Locate the desired customer contact and navigate to the Contacts page.
Click Manage as pictured below within the desired product record.
Under discount, select Percent or Flat Amount. Add the discount amount and click Save.
Once the order rebills, it will apply the discount only to the products it was added to and not to all products within the order.
Can we apply shipping discounts using the UI at the order level?
No, there is no way to apply a discount specifically to shipping.
It is possible to update the shipping method within an order. Shipping updates apply to entire orders and cannot be updated on a product-by-product basis.
To do so, navigate to the Order Details view and locate the Shipping Method field. Then, simply select the new shipping that should be applied for the next cycle.
Can we apply merchandise discounts AND shipping modifications be applied by the UI at the order level?
Yes, following the steps above. The two levels of discounts are not related and can be applied together on the same order.
Can we apply additional merchandise discounts using an API at the order level?
Yes, using the Order_update method. This will be applied as a rebill discount, similar to what is described above through the UI.
Once the order is created, use this endpoint.
https://{{appkey}}.sticky.io/api/v1/order_updateThen, using this route, build your request body as pictured. This is where you will pass Order ID. Passing a value of "0" with "rebill_discount_is_one_time" will mean the discount is applied as a lifetime discount. Passing a value of "1" means it will only be applied to the next cycle then removed.
A subscription discount can be applied using this endpoint for the RESTful API.
https://{{appkey}}.sticky.io/api/v2/subscriptions/{{subscription_id}}/discountThen, using this route, pass the desired amount in the body of your request as pictured. This will apply a discount to the specific subscription ID.
Can we apply shipping discounts by API at the order level?
No, the same rules apply here as with the UI above. Shipping discounts cannot be applied, but shipping IDs can be updated using the Order_update method.
To update the shipping ID associated with a given order ID, use this endpoint.
https://{{appkey}}.sticky.io/api/v1/order_updateThen, using this route, pass the desired shipping method in the body of your request as pictured below.
Can we apply merchandise discounts AND shipping discounts be applied by API at the order level?
Yes, following the steps above. The two levels of discounts are not related and can be applied together on the same order.
What discount types are compatible with collections offers?
Standard offer discounts, including percent and flat per product discounts are, of course, compatible with collections offers.
Volume discounts have not been officially tested with collections offers.
Coupons can be applied at order creation as pictured below. Please visit this article for more information on coupon offers.
Additionally, coupons or promo codes can be applied when creating orders by API. Simply pass the parameter
promocodein the order creation request. An example is depicted below.
Decline Manager discounts can be applied to collections offers.
Custom prices can be passed for the initial cycle using code as described within the offer array.
An example response to the above request is pictured below.
Is it possible to control the quantity on the initial order and default to the collections offer configuration?
Yes, passing the quantity for the initial cycle in the offers array as depicted below would result in an initial order quantity of 4 for the specified product ID of 77.
With the next order, the scheduled products will be sent with their configured quantities.
Through the Place Order UI, simply specify the desired number of units in the quantity field.
Can I specify the position to start with through a new_order and new_order_card_on_file API request?
Yes, pass the parameter "is_starting_issue" with the corresponding request. Passing a value of "1" with this parameter would correspond with the order starting with position 1 within the configured sequence.
Is force billing compatible with Collections Offers?
No, force billing is not compatible with collections offers.