Order Sequence Product Swapping helps merchants using a fixed schedule of products throughout the duration of a subscription. A customer starts on box 1 and receives a new product on each delivery in a fixed order, set by the merchant. We recommend watching the How do autoMate Order Sequence numbers work? video alongside this one to fully understand how OS Product Swapping works.
Watch the demo video here
How does it work?
A merchant can define a list of products and the order a customer should get them, within the duration of their subscription. The first order, placed on the website, would always be order sequence 1 - this is what's know as the trigger product.
When an order is placed for the trigger product, autoMate will automatically update the next queued order with product number 2 within that schedule.
For example, a customer subscribes to Box 1 on the website, autoMate will then update that customers Order Sequence number to OS: 2 and then swap the product in the subscription to match the product assigned to Order Sequence 2. This process will then repeat again for OS: 3 and so on...
How to get started
Once you have installed autoMate and connected your ReCharge account, you will be able to create your first schedule.
Before creating your first schedule, we recommend reading our article on Order Sequence numbers and how they work. Then you can discuss with ReCharge how to backdate order sequence numbers to your active subscriber list, if required.
Defining the Trigger product
The first step to creating a schedule is allocating a trigger product ID or variant ID. This is what the customer will order on the website when they first subscribe. autoMate uses this trigger product to identify which schedule that customer belongs too and therefore allocates the correct product for the next queued delivery.
Go to Order Sequence Product Swapping on the main autoMate menu and select Add new. Then you can define the trigger or triggers that will be assigned to this schedule:
A schedule can have multiple trigger products and you can have a mix of trigger products and variants. This means a customer can order multiple subscription products on your website and they can all follow the same schedule.
Setting up the schedule
The next step is assigning one product to each Order Sequence. There are no fixed duration or length of schedule, so you define how many different boxes there are within the subscription.
The first sequence in your schedule and the first product you allocate will be the second delivery in the subscription. From the example above you can see we've added in 2 into the Order Sequence box.
The next step is to click Choose product and select which product you would like the customer to receive on OS: 2.
Once you have made your selection, click Add.
After this you can either save the schedule or continue to add more sequences by following the same pattern.
* Please note - A product ID can not belong to multiple schedules. Each product ID assigned to each order sequence must have a unique ID to avoid clashes, when queuing the next order.
Adjusting the Subscription Price
Within autoMate settings, if you have Order Sequence Product Swapping enabled, you can also adjust the price of the next queued order. This feature is useful if you want to offer a discounted price on a set order sequence to reward loyalty.
Once this is enabled, you can go back to the order sequence schedule and select the checkbox Also update price for sequence.
In the example above, we've set the 5th product to be zero value. This means the customer subscription for this order sequence will have no charge and they will receive that order for free. The pricing format will need to include two decimal places e.g. 1.00, 19.99 etc. The currency will be the currency that you charge on your store.
Additional Information
Please note, autoMate will not retrospectively update the queued orders of active subscribers. autoMate will only take over from the subscription at the point a webhook is received, which is in three scenarios:
1 - A new order is placed for a trigger product
2 - A subscription is renewed or another order is processed for a trigger product or the product which matches the schedule for their order sequence number.
3 - A subscription is updated with a trigger product. This can be either a merchant going into ReCharge admin and swapping that customer to a trigger product or a customer going into their account area and swapping to a trigger product.
Until one of these 3 scenarios occurs, autoMate wont perform any actions on the subscription.