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How to Create and Manage Recurring Subscription Plans in 4Geeks Payments

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Recurring revenue is the backbone of many modern businesses. 4Geeks Payments makes it straightforward to establish consistent cash flow by offering robust tools for creating, managing, and automating recurring subscription plans.

Whether you are launching a monthly membership service, a SaaS product, or a retainer-based consultancy, setting up subscription plans correctly is crucial for operational efficiency. This article guides you through the entire process of creating and managing subscription plans within the 4Geeks Payments ecosystem, ensuring seamless billing cycles and improved customer retention.

Prerequisites

Before you begin creating subscription plans, ensure you have the following:

  • Active Admin Account: You must have administrative access to the 4Geeks Console.
  • Payment Gateway Configured: A payment processor (e.g., Stripe, PayPal) must be successfully connected to 4Geeks Payments to handle recurring charges.
  • Product Details: Have your pricing strategy ready, including plan names, billing frequencies (monthly/yearly), and amounts.

How to Create a New Subscription Plan

Follow these steps to set up a recurring billing model for your customers.

Step 1: Access the Payments Dashboard

  1. Log in to your account at 4Geeks Console.
  2. From the main navigation menu, select Payments.
  3. Click on the Subscriptions tab and then select Plans.

Step 2: Define Plan Details

  1. Click the Create New Plan button.
  2. Plan Name: Enter a customer-facing name (e.g., “Pro Plan,” “Monthly Membership”).
  3. Description: Add a brief description of what the plan includes. This helps with internal organization and may appear on customer invoices.
  4. Pricing Model: Select Fixed Pricing (standard flat rate) or Tiered Pricing (if costs vary by usage).

Step 3: Set Billing Frequency and Amount

  1. Billing Interval: Choose how often customers will be charged (e.g., Weekly, Monthly, Annually).
  2. Amount: Enter the currency and price for the chosen interval (e.g., $49.00 USD).
  3. Trial Period (Optional): If you wish to offer a free trial, enter the number of days (e.g., 14 days) before the first charge occurs.

Step 4: Finalize and Save

  1. Review all settings to ensure accuracy.
  2. Toggle Active to make the plan immediately available for assignment.
  3. Click Create Plan to save it to your library.

The plan is now live and can be assigned to customers manually or selected via your checkout integration.

Managing Existing Subscriptions

Once your plans are active and customers are subscribed, ongoing management involves handling upgrades, cancellations, and status changes.

Modifying a Customer’s Subscription

  1. Navigate to the Customers tab within 4Geeks Payments.
  2. Search for and click on the specific customer’s name.
  3. Scroll to the Active Subscriptions section.
  4. Click the Actions menu (three dots) next to the relevant plan.
    • Upgrade/Downgrade: Select Change Plan to switch them to a different tier. You can choose to prorate the difference or apply the change at the next billing cycle.
    • Cancel Subscription: Choose Cancel Immediately or Cancel at End of Period depending on your policy.

Pausing Subscriptions

Sometimes customers need a break rather than a full cancellation.

  1. In the customer’s subscription view, select Pause Subscription.
  2. Define the duration (e.g., “Pause for 1 month”) or leave it open-ended.
  3. The billing cycle will automatically resume once the pause period ends.

Common Use Cases

Scenario 1: Launching a Tiered SaaS Product

  • Situation: A software company wants to offer “Basic,” “Pro,” and “Enterprise” tiers.
  • Application: Using 4Geeks Payments, the admin creates three distinct monthly plans. The “Enterprise” plan is set up with a Yearly billing interval option to encourage long-term commitment.
  • Result: Customers can self-select their tier during checkout. The system automatically handles prorated charges if a “Basic” user upgrades to “Pro” mid-month.

Scenario 2: Seasonal Membership Pausing

  • Situation: A gym uses 4Geeks Health for patient wellness programs billed via 4Geeks Payments. A client is traveling for the summer and wants to hold their membership.
  • Application: The administrator locates the client in the dashboard and selects Pause Subscription for 3 months.
  • Result: The system stops billing for the specified period and automatically reactivates the membership (and billing) in September, retaining the customer instead of losing them to cancellation.

Troubleshooting

Issue 1: Customer was charged the wrong amount

  • Cause: This often happens if tax settings were updated or a prorated upgrade occurred.
  • Solution: Check the specific Invoice details linked to the subscription. If it was a prorated charge, the system calculated the difference between the old and new plan. You can issue a partial refund directly from the invoice view if necessary.

Issue 2: Trial period did not end correctly

  • Cause: The “Trial Days” field may have been left blank or set to 0.
  • Solution: Edit the plan settings to ensure the trial duration is correct. For existing subscriptions, you cannot retroactively add a trial, but you can manually adjust the “Next Billing Date” for specific customers.

Issue 3: Subscription status shows “Past Due”

  • Cause: The automatic payment attempt failed (e.g., insufficient funds, expired card).
  • Solution: The system’s dunning logic (see our article on Automated Payment Retries) will attempt to retry. You can also send a manual payment link via the console.

Conclusion

Effective subscription management is key to maintaining a healthy recurring revenue stream. With 4Geeks Payments, you have the flexibility to create diverse plans and the control to manage individual customer lifecycles with ease.

By automating these billing processes, you reduce administrative overhead and provide a smoother experience for your clients.

Ready to optimize your billing strategy? Explore more advanced features in the 4Geeks Help Center.

Additional Resources