Offering subscriptions in your Shopify store can be a game-changer for locking in predictable, long-term revenue. Simply put, subscriptions foster customer loyalty through product familiarity and “automates” the regular decision to buy. Top brands such as Liquid IV and Olipop use subscriptions to establish a stable customer base with higher LTV.
In recent years, the ecommerce subscription market size has grown exponentially. According to the Business Research Company, the market size will only grow further from $326.44 billion in 2024 to $539.16 billion in 2025 at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 65.2%. At this rate of growth, it’s important to integrate subscription offers into your business models.
Here’s everything you need to know about why subscriptions work, how you can start creating subscriptions for your Shopify store, and how you should optimize your landing pages to get the most out of your subscription offers.
Create Long Term Revenue with Subscriptions in Shopify
Merchants can offer subscriptions for their Shopify stores using the built-in feature "selling plans." These plans define the recurring delivery frequency and pricing for products, so businesses can drive customers towards “onboarding” for the long term.
Advantages of subscription offers include:
- Increased Customer Lifetime Value: When customers subscribe, they're making a commitment to your brand. This means higher customer lifetime value (LTV) as they continue to purchase from you over an extended period. This also helps stabilize your revenue streams, reducing the uncertainty that often comes with financial forecasting and planning.
- Improved Customer Loyalty: Subscriptions create ongoing touchpoints with your customers and make it as convenient as possible for customers to buy through automated recurring billing, product delivery tracking, and more. Build on the relationships with your most loyal customers by personalizing your offers to subscribers and providing unique benefits and discounts. Continually providing value to your subscribers ensures that they will continue buying from you.
- Reduced Customer Acquisition Costs: Retaining existing customers is significantly more cost-effective than acquiring new ones. Subscriptions help you retain hard-won customers.
- Simplified Inventory Management: With a subscription model, you can better anticipate demand and manage your inventory more efficiently, reducing waste and storage costs. Long term, this means you can reallocate more of your time and resources towards keeping current customers and gaining new ones.
- Optimizing Product Offers: Repeat purchases are a valuable source of data for gathering feedback, testing out new products, and tailoring your offers to higher-value customers. With subscriptions, you can promote discounts, attract new customers, and incentivize existing customers to subscribe.
Optimize Your Subscription Experience With Third Party Apps
Third-party apps allow you to extend Shopify's native functionality and tailor the subscription offer experience to boost subscription retention for the long term.
For your customers, this means more compelling offers, a more engaging customer experience, and more personalized subscription benefits. For businesses, this leads to streamlined subscription management, more subscription sign-ups, and higher customer lifetime value.
Key advantages include:
- Flexible Subscription Offers: Offer various subscription frequencies (weekly, monthly, quarterly), customizable subscription boxes, and options for customers to skip deliveries or swap products. Include opportunities for customers to add one-time purchases to their subscription orders, increasing average order value.
- Convenient Customer Management: Provide a self-service portal for customers to manage their subscriptions, update payment information, track incoming deliveries, and adjust their preferences. Reduce failed payments with automated dunning management that failed transactions and notifies customers of upcoming payments.
- Reduced Subscriber Churn: Subscription apps can help you provide a better customer experience by making it easy for customers to manage their subscriptions and get the products they need. A smoother subscription experience lowers the chance of customers canceling their subscriptions.
- Integrations To Build A Full Marketing Funnel: Subscriptions work best as part of a complete marketing funnel. Integrate with other essential ecommerce apps, such as email marketing platforms and loyalty programs, to enhance your subscription offering.
With all subscription offers, it’s important to track user churn. This means actively monitoring subscription analytics, identifying key stages where customers are most likely to cancel their subscriptions, and intervening with targeted messaging or cancellation alternative offers on landing pages.
On the cancellation landing page, brands should experiment with different types of content such as personalized videos, unique CTAs, and alternative subscription offers to see which do the best job of decreasing churn rate. Alternate offers can include discounted rates for their subscription, a direct line to customer support, or seasonal gifts included in their next order.
Replo Experiments allows users to launch and monitor different campaigns right where you build your online store pages. Get a faster turnaround between editing cancellation pages, publishing them, and gathering insights on the impact of these changes on churn rate.
Top Subscription Apps In Shopify
The Shopify App Store offers a wide array of subscription management tools, each with its pros and cons. Here are some of the top subscription apps you can integrate with your Shopify store:
Growing Your Subscriptions with Landing Pages
A streamlined subscription experience is a first step in the right direction. But, you also need to attract customers to sign up in the first place. That’s where custom landing pages come in. They help optimize your subscription offer sign up rates by:
Providing Direct Targeted Messaging: Landing pages let you tailor your messaging to match the interests of your target audience while staying on-brand. Plus, you can use customer data to personalize the subscription recommendations and relevant product benefits on your page. Content AI takes this a step further by automatically generating customized copy; give it your preferred tone, target audience, brand name, and product, and it will write your messaging for you.
Showing a Clear Call to Action (CTA): Landing pages are designed with a clear and prominent CTA, prompting visitors to take the desired action—subscribing to your offer. Other types of pages, such as homepages and product pages, may divert audience focus from those actions.
A/B Testing and Optimization: Landing pages provide an ideal platform for A/B testing different elements (headlines, images, CTAs, etc.) to identify what resonates best with your audience. Plus, you can experiment with different content per target audience. Continuous optimization through tools such as Replo's Experiments feature are conducive to boosting sign-up rates over time.
Personalizing the Ad To Landing Page Funnel: Segment your subscribers and tailor the content on your paid advertising to match the targeted messaging on your landing pages. This creates a direct ad to landing page funnel to target audiences and drive them to purchase.
For example, if your ad copy and image highlights a monthly snack subscription box, then the landing page the ad leads to should feature the same snack box with further detail on the offer. Templates such as the one from Bokksu or Liquid I.V. are a good place to start for building a subscription landing page.
Building Trust and Credibility: Incorporating elements like customer testimonials, user-generated content, candid reviews, security badges, awards, and product return guarantees on your landing page builds trust and credibility. The assurance of product quality encourages customers to subscribe.
How to Set Up Subscriptions For Your Shopify Store
Offering subscriptions is a great way for achieving a stable long-term revenue stream. Here’s everything you need to know about setting up subscriptions and the subscription landing page for your Shopify store in 6 easy steps:
- Go to your Shopify Store. From the Home Page, head to the Subscriptions in the left hand panel, under Apps.
- On the Subscriptions page, follow the Shopify Subscription Setup Guide to create your subscription, also known as selling plans. Select “Create Plan.”
- Customize the frequency and the quantity and the specific SKUs that will be regularly delivered to your customers. Fill in the required information, including title, description, product variants, discount percentages, delivery internal, and delivery frequency.
- To verify your subscription plan, click on Plans to check that your subscription has been set up correctly. You can come back here to edit content, or delete subscription plans when they are no longer needed.
- To set up our subscription landing page, head over to the Replo Editor. Navigate to the All Pages tab and select “Create New” in the upper right hand corner of the panel. Choose “Template” and select a subscription landing page template from our Template Library, such as the Subscription Prescription Landing Page Template.
- Once the page has been created, update the template text using Content AI in the editor bar. This will rewrite all of the content in the selected containers to match your specific product and better target your audience. You can further customize the styling and design of the buy box in our Design Panel on the righthand side.
That’s it! You now have a subscription page for your Shopify store that’s custom-designed to your subscription box brand. All you have to do is hit publish. We recommend using templates because it gives us a quick and already-optimized base to work off of when designing landing pages.
We recommend using templates because it gives us a quick and already-optimized base to work off of when designing landing pages. (Building from scratch is not always fun.)
Top Subscription Brand Landing Page Templates
Ready to design your own subscription landing page but need some inspiration?
Here are a few examples of our favorite subscription brands on Shopify:
- Bokksu: Bokksu is a subscription box service that delivers a curated selection of authentic Japanese snacks with a focus on traditional flavors and artisanal treats.
Their subscription landing page leans into the unique offering to "Discover Japan Through Snacks" from the headline, with a strong focus on cultural exploration. The brand also features social proof from leading publications, such as the New York Times, and expands on their unique commitment to authenticity through a “What Makes Us Different” Section.
- Scandinavia Biolabs: Scandinavia Biolabs is a haircare brand that sells shampoos, conditioners, and serums.
Their subscription product pages place an emphasis on the money saved and percentage off per subscription, on top of addressing any customer questions about the product in an FAQ section. This page makes it convenient for price-conscious customers to understand the value of a subscription. - Liquid I.V.: Liquid I.V. is a powdered electrolyte drink mix that's designed to help you rehydrate faster than water alone.
Their subscription product page includes size options for shoppers’ to customize their subscription, as well as a clear description, benefits, and ingredients section right after the subscription box. This makes it very clear to shoppers what they’re getting for their plan, boosting customer trust. - Olipop: Olipop is a fun drink brand that specializes in prebiotic soda that contains fiber, botanicals, and prebiotics.
Their subscription buy box lets customers choose the 12 pack box of drinks they’d like to purchase every month, the amount of money saved via subscription, and even includes the custom option for shoppers to send their purchase as a gift to someone else. Added personalization and flexibility make the plan more attractive to shoppers.
Build FAQ Sections For Your Subscription Page With Landing Page Builders
Subscriptions require more upfront commitment from shoppers. As a result, brands often need to build a higher degree of trust before someone will sign on as a subscriber. One of the best ways you can do that is to address common questions pre-emptively in a FAQ section to inform customers and reduce shopper anxiety. Brands like Scandinavia BioLabs understand this—the more trust you build in your shoppers, the more likely they’ll subscribe.
Shopify does not let you fully customize the appearance of your landing pages for subscriptions, so you’ll have to opt for a landing page builder. With Replo, you’ll be able to quickly pull together any questions you’d like to address and organize that information in an engaging and easy-to-read format for your shoppers. No code is needed, and you can customize the design of your FAQ sections beyond what Shopify offers.
To create a user-friendly FAQ section on your landing page or product page using the Replo landing page builder, you can select a page or section template from our template library, insert it into your subscription page, and edit the content to get a custom subscriptions page in minutes.
Or, you can build from scratch. To start from scratch, follow these steps:
- Add a Heading (as needed): Utilize the landing page builder's drag-and-drop function to add in a Heading to start a new section on your page.
- Add an Accordion Block: Go to Interactive Components and drag in an Accordion Block. Duplicate as many Collapsible Components as the number of questions you will go through in your FAQ section.
Put each question in the Collapsible Header and each answer in the Collapsible Content. Feel free to customize the styles, font, and overall design of your Accordion Block in the right hand panel. - Keep it Simple: Write concise and easy-to-understand answers to your FAQs. Use bullet points as needed to improve readability. Group related questions together and use clear headings, subheadings, and Horizontal Rules as dividers to make it easy for visitors to find the information they need.
- Optimize for Mobile: Ensure your FAQ page is mobile-friendly and looks great on all devices. Use Content AI to automatically convert your content into a mobile responsive format.
Use Replo To Build Subscriptions Pages
Shopify subscriptions are a powerful way to grow your business, increase customer loyalty, and generate a stable recurring revenue stream. Third-party apps are key to achieving this, as are building your subscription landing pages in a compelling and informative format.
To take your store to the next level, explore our recommended subscription apps and try building out a subscription landing page for your Shopify store. Leading subscription apps such as Skio and Loop integrate with Replo, so you can create custom high-converting landing pages in our Landing Page Editor for each of your subscription offerings.
Check out our full list of subscription integrations to see which ones work best for your Shopify store, or start building your landing pages now.
Frequently Asked Questions About Subscriptions In Shopify
- What is a subscription business model?
A subscription business model centers around customers making recurring payments for access to a product or service. This means a predictable long-term revenue stream for the business and convenience for the customer. Popular physical subscription products include health drinks from brands such as Liquid I.V. and Olipop or beauty products from brands such as Allure Beauty Box; popular digital subscription services include streaming music such as Spotify or streaming films such as Netflix. - How to start a subscription business? How to start a subscription box business with Shopify?
You’ll need to start by identifying a customer need or pain point that your subscription can address. For example, this can be curated boxes tailored to specific interests, replenishment services for essential items, or access to exclusive perks and content.
Once you have an idea nailed down, test it. Select high-quality products that align with your brand and create a prototype offering to test your offering and gather feedback.
Set up your online store using a platform like Shopify, which has a robust app ecosystem for subscription management. Integrate a dedicated subscription app to handle recurring billing, customer management, and loyalty programs. Use Replo to build custom subscription pages to drive conversions and track your customer interactions with Replo Analytics. Use Experiments to A/B test subscription offers for maximum revenue growth.
Last but not least, develop a marketing strategy to attract and retain subscribers. Use marketing, social media engagement, influencer collaborations, and email campaigns to reach your target audience.
Offer attractive incentives, such as discounts and free trials, to encourage sign-ups. Make sure to prioritize your customer experience by providing excellent customer service, an easy onboarding process, flexible product delivery, and personalized interactions.
Read our complete article on 4 market-proven tactics you can follow to grow you subscription business revenue, with real life examples from leading subscription brands. - What is a subscription box business?
A subscription box business delivers curated collections of items to customers regularly, typically on a monthly or quarterly basis. These boxes cater to specific interests, such as beauty products or pet supplies, and the subscription gives customers a new box of items each delivery cycle.
This model plays on the convenience and the excitement of discovery for customers, while providing businesses with a predictable revenue stream and valuable customer data. Subscription boxes are a popular choice for established brands to expand their revenue streams and for newer businesses looking to tap into the rapidly growing subscription ecommerce market.
Here's what you need to know to run a successful subscription box business, according to the top 4 subscription box brands on Shopify.
- How to start a subscription box business? How to start a subscription box business with Shopify?
Long story short, starting a subscription box business is highly similar to what you would do to start a subscription business. As mentioned above, it requires identifying a customer need or pain point, and identifying high-quality products that can solve that problem.
The key difference is that your product offering would be a collection of items rather than a single product. Like its namesake, the product of a subscription box business usually comes in a box, with all the offerings relevant to your brand. The items can be custom-selected or highly variable between deliveries, but they should all adhere to some core theme or value proposition of your brand. To test your product idea, you should create a prototype subscription box and gather feedback first.
The set up process of a subscription box online store is very similar to that of setting up a regular subscription business. Using Shopify in conjunction with a third party subscription management app such as Skio or Loop is typical, and Replo helps store owners maintain greater control over the design and performance of their store. Replo Analytics and Experiments enable users to monitor page performance and A/B test their subscription pages to identify the winning product offer or landing page design.
Develop a marketing strategy to attract and retain subscribers. Use marketing, social media engagement, influencer collaborations, and email campaigns to reach your target audience and drive them toward your landing pages. Offer attractive incentives, such as discounts and free trials, to encourage sign-ups. Make sure to prioritize your customer experience by providing excellent customer service, an easy onboarding process, flexible product delivery, and personalized interactions.
- Can Shopify support a subscription box business?
Yes, 100%! Check out the previous question above for a full run-down for how you get started with your own subscription box business on Shopify.