Working with Subscriptions

A subscription is a product that is sent to a customer on a recurring basis. Generally they consist of publications, such as magazines or newsletters. While subscription products can also be classified under the Publications product category, not all subscriptions are publication products. For example, any non-publication product that is regularly sent to a customer over a period of time can be considered a subscription.

The following is an overview of the process for working with subscriptions in Aptify:

1. An organization begins production of a new product that is sent to customers on a recurring basis.
   • See Subscription Product Setup Recommendations for information on suggested practices when creating new subscription products.
     
     
2. A user creates a Products record for this item, specifying that it is a subscription.
   • See Subscription Product Setup for instructions on how to create a subscription product.
     
     
3. An order entry clerk takes an order for the subscription from a customer/member.
   • See Placing an Order for a Subscription Product for information on how to create an order for a subscription.
   • When the order ships, Aptify automatically creates a Subscriptions record.
     
     
4. When a new issue of the subscription is ready for distribution, a user creates a Subscription Fulfillment record to generate the list of subscribers who should receive the issue.
   • Each time a subscription fulfillment is generated, Aptify automatically deducts the appropriate number of issues from the corresponding Subscriptions record.
   • If a subscriber does not renew a subscription, the subscription expires when either all issues in the subscription have been sent or the end date has passed.
     
     
5. As subscriptions approach the expiration date, a user runs the Subscription Renewal -wizard to generate invoices for current subscribers, prompting them to renew their subscriptions.
   • See Subscription/Membership Renewal for details. This topic also describes how to configure automatic subscription renewals.
     
     
6. Under some circumstances, a current subscriber may want to cancel an active subscription. In this case, an order entry clerk creates a cancellation order to cancel the remainder of the subscription.
   • See Canceling Subscriptions and Dues for instructions.

This topic covers the following sub-topics related to subscriptions: