How do I manage a customer's subscription?
Use Subscriptions to open a contract, review customer details, see recent orders, edit the next order, skip or resume the next billing cycle, cancel the plan, or open the customer portal.
Steps
- Open Subscriptions. The list shows the subscription ID (the same number customers see in their portal), the subscriber's name, their plan, the next order date, and any payment failures.
- To find a customer, type in the search box above the list — a name, email, or subscription ID. Accents are optional, so 'helene' finds 'Hélène'. Use the All / Active / Cancelled tabs to narrow by status.
- Select the subscription contract.
- Review the plan, customer, guided profile, last order, and next order sections. Next order shows two dates because they are two different events: Charges is when the card is billed, and Delivers is the week the box is for.
- Use Edit to change the next order's menu selections. Tick the meals you want, and use the − and + buttons to set how many of each — a customer can have the same meal more than once when Repeat recipes is on for their plan.
- Use the Discount code card to put one of your Shopify discount codes on the customer's upcoming renewals.
- Use Skip, Unskip, Cancel plan, or Customer Portal as needed.
Frequently asked questions
What is the banner at the top of a subscription?
It appears only when something needs your attention, and it shows one thing at a time — the most urgent. A charge that did not collect; a delivery whose cutoff is within 48 hours with no meals chosen; a cancelled subscription; or a subscription migrated from another app. No banner means nothing needs doing.
The banner says the next delivery has no meals after the customer cutoff.
The order cutoff for that week has passed with nothing chosen, and auto-assign is off for that customer's meal plan. Customers can no longer change the week, but staff can still open the delivery and use Choose meals to repair it before billing completes. Turning on auto-assign under Meal plans prevents this happening again: the box is then filled from the slots the customer picked last time.
The banner says they will be charged with no meals selected. What do I do?
Open the next delivery and use Choose meals to pick on the customer's behalf before the cutoff. You are seeing this because auto-assign is off for that customer's meal plan — with it on, the box is filled from the slots they picked last time and the banner says so instead. You can turn it on under Meal plans.
Why does a subscription show Payment failed?
The scheduled charge for that cycle did not go through, and nothing retries it on its own — the subscription has already moved on to the next week, so that week stays uncollected until you act. The subscription itself stays active. Open the contract, use Customer Portal to send the customer a secure payment method update link, and once they have updated it, use Retry charge on that delivery to collect the week.
I refunded an order in Shopify. Does Servd know?
Yes, for refunds made from now on. Refund the order in Shopify as you normally would and Servd updates that delivery on its own — there is nothing to do on our side. A FULL refund marks the delivery Refunded and takes it out of Meal Demand, off the packing slips, and out of the week's order and meal counts: the customer has their money back, so nobody is expecting that box. A PARTIAL refund marks it Partially refunded and changes nothing else — refunding the shipping, an add-on, or a goodwill amount does not mean the customer stopped wanting their meals, so the box is still made and still shipped, and you can still edit it. Neither one changes your revenue figures, and neither one touches the Shopify order. Refunds you made before this was released are not picked up.
How do I collect a payment that failed?
Two places offer it, and both charge the same delivery. On the subscription contract, open the Failed week in Deliveries and choose Retry charge. On the Orders page, click the failed order and choose Retry charge in the panel that opens. Either way you are asked to confirm, because it bills the customer's payment method immediately at the subscription's current price. Send the customer a payment method update link first — if the card that was declined has not changed, the retry is declined the same way. Only a failed delivery can be charged this way: a scheduled one already has its own charge coming, and a paid one is done.
What does Skip do?
Skip marks the matching upcoming Shopify billing cycle as skipped. If the cycle is still eligible, customers will not be billed for that cycle.
Why does an order say Charges one date and Delivers another?
They are two different events. The charge is when the customer's card is billed; the delivery is the menu week the box belongs to, and it is normally a few days later. Both come from the same upcoming order, so they always describe the same box. If Next order says No charge scheduled, that subscription has no upcoming order queued — contact support, because it will not renew on its own.
Why can't I set how many of each meal?
The − and + buttons only appear when Repeat recipes is turned on for that customer's meal plan, on the Meal plans page. With it off, each recipe can be chosen once. Quantities already saved on a delivery are still shown, and editing that delivery keeps them.
Why don't I see a Servings column when editing meals?
Servings only appear for plans that use them — the 'Each recipe serves more than one person' toggle on the Meal plans page. With it off, every recipe is a single serving, so the column would say the same thing on every row and is hidden instead.
Can I edit an order that is already paid?
The app focuses on upcoming scheduled orders. Paid orders should be handled from Shopify admin like normal orders.
What is the Guided profile section on a subscription?
If the customer used the guided start flow on your storefront, their answers are saved with the subscription and shown in a Guided profile card: their goals, allergies, and preferences. Allergies are highlighted so your kitchen can flag them. The card only appears for subscriptions that came through guided start — older or non-guided subscriptions won't show it.
More in Subscriptions
What happens to existing subscriptions if I change my meal plan product?How do I run a welcome offer (discounted first boxes)?See who changed a subscription, and whenMove my subscriptions over from another appWhat can customers do in the customer portal?How do I add a discount code to an existing subscription?How do I see which menus are included in an order?Ready to set this up on your store?
Servd is free to install and walks you through creating your meal plan, your first menu, and the storefront entry point.
Install Servd on ShopifyQuestions about your setup? Email us — we respond within 24 hours.