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How to get more Shopify customers to subscribe: 8 ways

By Wes Young · · 6 min read

Most Shopify stores switch on subscriptions, add a "Subscribe & Save" option to the product page, and wait. A few customers pick it. Most don't. The share who subscribe isn't fixed, though. It comes down to a handful of choices you make about which products you offer it on, how the offer looks, and when you ask.

Here are eight of them, roughly in the order a customer meets them.

1. Offer it where people already come back

Subscriptions sell best on things customers run out of: coffee, supplements, skincare, pet food, razors, cleaning refills. Before you put a plan on every product, look at your order history. Which products do customers already buy a second and third time without being asked? Those are your first subscription products, because you're not changing what people do, only making it easier.

Then set the delivery frequencies from how long the product actually lasts. If a bag of coffee lasts most people three weeks, offering only "every month" means they run out a week early and buy elsewhere, or "every two weeks" and they end up with a cupboard full and cancel. Two or three frequencies around the real usage is usually plenty. Too many choices makes people stop and think, and stopping is where they leave.

2. Make subscribing the default choice

This is the biggest single change most stores can make. When the subscription is the option already selected on the product page, with one-time purchase one click away, far more customers keep it. Agencies that work with supplement and wellness brands report subscribe rates from a subscription-first page well above those from a page that leads with one-time purchase. Your numbers will differ, so test it on your own store, but it's rare for it to make things worse.

Put the subscription option first, too. People read top to bottom, and the first option reads as the recommended one.

Selected by default isn't the same as hidden. The one-time price must be easy to see and easy to choose, and the subscription's terms (what they'll be charged, how often, and how to cancel) must be clear before they pay. Several US states, including California, have automatic renewal laws that require exactly that, so check what applies to you.

3. Show the saving in money

"Save 10%" makes the customer do maths. "$22.50 instead of $25, every delivery" doesn't. Show the subscription price next to the one-time price, with the one-time price struck through, so the difference is something they can see rather than work out.

How big a discount? Ten to fifteen percent is common for replenishment products. Whatever you choose, make it something you can afford on every order, not just the first. A large first-order-only discount brings in subscribers who were there for the first order and leave after it. There's a worked example of the maths in how much your subscribe-and-save discount should be.

4. Answer the worry before they have it

The reason people hesitate isn't the price. It's the fear of being stuck: a charge they forgot about, a box they didn't need, a cancellation that takes a phone call. They have reason to be wary. In McKinsey's study of subscription shoppers, nearly 40% of subscribers had cancelled a subscription at some point.

So say the reassuring things right next to the choice, not in an FAQ at the bottom of the page:

  • Cancel anytime, with no fees.
  • Skip or pause a delivery when you have enough.
  • Change what's in it, or how often, from your account.

Three short lines is enough. Each one removes a reason to choose one-time "just to be safe".

5. Make the promise true

"Cancel anytime" only helps if it is true, and customers find out fast whether it is. If cancelling means emailing you and waiting, the reviews and the chargebacks will say so. If they can skip, swap or pause from their account in a few taps, they tell their friends instead.

An easy way out also makes the way in easier. A customer who knows they can pause is far more willing to subscribe in the first place. And when they do go to cancel, a self-serve flow is your chance to ask why and offer something that fits, like a skip or a less frequent delivery, rather than losing them silently. Here's how to build a cancel flow that does that.

Regulators are moving the same way. The FTC's "click to cancel" rule was struck down in court in 2025, but the FTC began a new rulemaking in 2026, and around 30 states have automatic renewal laws of their own. California's, for one, requires that a customer who signed up online can cancel online. Building an easy exit now means you won't have to rebuild later.

6. Ask again at the right moment

Many of your best future subscribers are customers who bought once, one time. They've tried the product and they like it. What they haven't had is a good reason to commit.

The best moment to give them one is just before they run out. If a bottle lasts about thirty days, an email around day 25 (“Running low? Subscribe and get it every month for 10% less”) arrives when the need is real. Replenishment emails like this tend to outperform general promotions because they're about the customer's actual problem, not your calendar. Most email tools can send one based on the date of the last order.

The same goes for customers who order the same thing a second time. A repeat order is the clearest sign there is that a subscription would suit them; a short note on the order confirmation or in the following email is often all it takes.

7. Make the first delivery count

The first few deliveries decide whether a subscriber stays, so the moment they subscribe is the start of the job, not the end. Send a confirmation that tells them in plain words when the next order comes, what it'll cost, and how to change it. A customer who knows where the controls are doesn't panic when a renewal email arrives, and a customer who doesn't is the one who cancels "just in case".

If your product needs a little time to show results, like most supplements or skincare, say so up front, and say how long. Subscribers who expect results in week one and don't see them leave in week two.

8. Measure the subscribe rate, product by product

You can't improve what you don't watch. The number to track is simple: of the orders for a product that offers a subscription, what share chose it? Look at it per product, not just for the store. One product sitting at half the rate of the others usually has something to fix, like a frequency that doesn't match how long it lasts, or a discount that's too small to notice.

Then watch what happens after: how many subscribers reach their third order. A higher subscribe rate that comes with faster cancellations isn't growth, it's churn with extra steps. The changes above work because they bring in customers who wanted a subscription anyway, and then make it easy to keep.

The short version

  1. Offer subscriptions where customers already reorder, at frequencies that match real use.
  2. Select the subscription by default, and put it first.
  3. Show the saving as a price, not a percentage.
  4. Put "cancel, skip or change anytime" next to the choice.
  5. Make that true, with self-serve changes and an easy cancel.
  6. Ask one-time buyers again just before they run out.
  7. Tell new subscribers exactly what happens next.
  8. Track the subscribe rate per product, and how many subscribers stay.
Using Vanix? The Subscription Selector block puts the subscription first and selected by default, shows the subscription price beside the one-time price, highlights a frequency as "Most Popular", and lists three benefits under the choice, all from the theme editor. The customer portal and cancellation flow are what make "cancel anytime" true.

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