Tip #9 : Different ways to create a subscription for your customer

Tip #9 : Different ways to create a subscription for your customer

Hello everyone,

We've been sharing a tip every week to address specific business scenarios which can be implemented for your subscription business. Last week, we shared a tip about how to implement metered billing with Google Sheet. This week we will be looking at the different ways to create subscriptions for your customers.

Let's say you are the owner of a gym and a fitness centre. Your customers can subscribe to your gym in two ways:
  1. Automatic: The customer goes through your website and subscribes online.

  2. Manual: The customers come directly to your gym and you manually onboard them.
Let's look into the above processes in detail.

1) Automatic Subscriptions:

Majority of subscription businesses will have their own website that lists their products (or) services. These websites will have a detailed pricing page where the customers can select a plan as per their requirements and check out instantly.

To help you with the process, Zoho Subscriptions provides you with the Embed Widget feature. You can use the Embed Widget feature to create a Checkout Button and Pricing Table for your plans. The Checkout Button and Pricing Table can be embedded on your website. Embedding this feature in your website is to make it easier for your customers to get information about the plans you offer through the Pricing Table and instantly subscribe to a plan of their choice, by clicking the Checkout Button.

Refer to this video for a more detailed information.

2) Manual Subscriptions - Onboard the customers from Zoho Subscriptions dashboard:

For manually on-boarding your customers, you have to create a new customer in Zoho Subscriptions. After creating a customer, there are three ways to collect the payments.

  1. When the customer pays via cash or card:

    Once the customer has been created in Zoho Subscriptions, create a new subscription for the customer. Then choose the Payment Mode as Offline and record the payment for the first billing cycle in the following page. A subscription will now be created for the customer and the first created invoice will be marked as paid.

  2. When you send an invoice to the customer and they opt to pay online: 

    After creating a new customer, create a new subscription for the customer by choosing the Payment Mode as Offline and choose the configured payment gateway of your choice. A subscription will now be created and an invoice will be sent to the customer via email automatically with a link to pay for it. Your customers can click the link on the email to make the payment.

  3. When the customers give their card details to charge them on every renewal:

    Customers might also give you their card details to charge them upon every renewal and send an invoice copy to them for the same. To help you with these type of payments, Zoho Subscriptions provides you with the Request Payment Page. You can easily send an email to the customer with a link to update their card details using the Request Payment page.

    Once the customer has updated the card details, you will be notified with an in-app notification. After that, you can create a new subscription for the customer by choosing Payment Mode as Online and the Card has the payment option for the customer. The customer will then be charged automatically every month and an invoice will be sent to them.
All the above-mentioned ways can be done via;
      ii) APIs; and
      iii) Mobile Apps.

Refer to this video for a more detailed explanation. If you have any queries, feel free to comment below. We are here to answer them.

Cheers,
Sasidaran K,
The Zoho Subscriptions Team.

    Access your files securely from anywhere









                          Zoho Developer Community




                                                • Desk Community Learning Series


                                                • Digest


                                                • Functions


                                                • Meetups


                                                • Kbase


                                                • Resources


                                                • Glossary


                                                • Desk Marketplace


                                                • MVP Corner


                                                • Word of the Day


                                                • Ask the Experts



                                                          • Sticky Posts

                                                          • Tip #4 : Refer and Earn Workflow system for your Subscription Business

                                                            Hello everyone, We've been coming up with a tip every week to address specific business scenarios which can be implemented for your business. In continuation to the previous post, this week we will be seeing about how you can implement the Refer and Earn Workflow system to acquire more customers. Why are Referrals important? Customer Acquisition is crucial for any business to sustain itself in a constantly evolving market. It involves persuading new consumers to purchase your products. Customers
                                                          • Tip #2 - Cancellation of Offline Subscriptions based on the Expected Payment Date

                                                            Hello everyone, As you all know, we are coming up with a custom function workflow every week to address specific business scenarios. In continuation of this previous blog, this week we will be seeing about Cancellation of Offline Subscriptions based on the Expected Payment Date. Business Scenario: In general, for any business, the customers make payments via online as well as offline. In case of subscription where the automatic collection of charge is enabled (aka online subscription), the customer's
                                                          • Tip #3 : Send SMS Reminders for your Subscription Business

                                                            Hello everyone, As you all know, we are coming up with a tip every week to address specific business scenarios. In continuation to the previous blog, this week we will be seeing how you can use SMS reminders for your Subscription Business. Using SMS messages for your Subscription Business: While managing your subscription business, more often than not, you need to keep your customers informed about upcoming renewals, payment reminders and cancellations. By keeping them informed in advance, you can
                                                          • Tips And Tricks - Announcement

                                                            Hello everyone, Every business is unique and each of them follows a specific workflow. While managing your customers' subscriptions with Zoho, you might have some needs unique to your business. Custom Functions helps you address such needs. This is a start to a series of posts, where we will be coming up with a custom function workflow every week that addresses specific business scenarios. Watch this space for further updates! Also, if you have any specific business scenario which needs to be addressed,
                                                          • Tip #6 : Accessing external URLs from Zoho Subscriptions

                                                            Hello everyone, We have been sharing a tip every week to address specific business scenarios which you can implement for your subscription business. Last week, we shared a tip about implementing the Approval Workflow system. This week, let's look at how you can access external URLs with the help of Custom Link. Business Scenario: Every business functions differently and has its unique requirements. At times, businesses might want to access other websites or applications by appending specific information


                                                          Manage your brands on social media



                                                                Zoho TeamInbox Resources



                                                                    Zoho CRM Plus Resources

                                                                      Zoho Books Resources


                                                                        Zoho Subscriptions Resources

                                                                          Zoho Projects Resources


                                                                            Zoho Sprints Resources


                                                                              Qntrl Resources


                                                                                Zoho Creator Resources



                                                                                    Zoho CRM Resources

                                                                                    • CRM Community Learning Series

                                                                                      CRM Community Learning Series


                                                                                    • Kaizen

                                                                                      Kaizen

                                                                                    • Functions

                                                                                      Functions

                                                                                    • Meetups

                                                                                      Meetups

                                                                                    • Kbase

                                                                                      Kbase

                                                                                    • Resources

                                                                                      Resources

                                                                                    • Digest

                                                                                      Digest

                                                                                    • CRM Marketplace

                                                                                      CRM Marketplace

                                                                                    • MVP Corner

                                                                                      MVP Corner







                                                                                        Design. Discuss. Deliver.

                                                                                        Create visually engaging stories with Zoho Show.

                                                                                        Get Started Now


                                                                                          Zoho Show Resources

                                                                                            Zoho Writer

                                                                                            Get Started. Write Away!

                                                                                            Writer is a powerful online word processor, designed for collaborative work.

                                                                                              Zoho CRM コンテンツ






                                                                                                Nederlandse Hulpbronnen


                                                                                                    ご検討中の方




                                                                                                          • Recent Topics

                                                                                                          • Outbound IP address SPAM problem.

                                                                                                            Hello Zoho Support, We noticed that one of your outbound IP addresses (136.143.188.12), which delivers our domain’s mail, is currently listed on the UCEProtect blacklist. Because of this, our messages are sometimes flagged as spam by recipient servers.
                                                                                                          • Answer Bot and Personalized Questions

                                                                                                            Hi there, I have the same problem using the SalesIQ Answer Bot and the Zoho Desk Answer Bot (which really need different names, to be honest, in order to avoid confusion...) Customers that visit our website ask questions in the form of "What do you do?"
                                                                                                          • Forwarding

                                                                                                            How can I forward my Zoho account to my gmail account? Noël
                                                                                                          • Add a Way to Duplicate Cards in the Same Canvas (Retain All Settings)

                                                                                                            Dear Zoho SalesIQ Team, We would like to request a new feature in Zoho SalesIQ: the ability to duplicate an existing card within the same canvas while retaining all of its information and settings, including conditions, configurations, and display preferences.
                                                                                                          • Zoho Mail CC and BCC not working

                                                                                                            Zoho Mail CC and BCC not working. I have tried multiple combinations amongst my domain aliases but emails sent as CC or BCC never arrive, not even to Spam. I have checked that the DNS is set up correctly in Cloudflare and have even received a DMARC report
                                                                                                          • Zoho Autoplay Issue

                                                                                                            Currently, we run our graphics on a playlist with youtube videos interspersed in our office -- however, when we go to update the playlist (since last Thursday at around 8-9am EST) it no longer saves the autoplay function.  We have tried making a new account, manually saving with cntrl+s, making a new show, etc but nothing seems to work.  Even with our old program, we can't change it off of autoplay for ones that were created in the past. Another issue is that if we change a slide transition to anything
                                                                                                          • Critical Issue: Tickets Opened for Zoho Support via the Zoho Help Portal Were Not Processed

                                                                                                            Hi everyone, We want to bring to your attention a serious issue we’ve experienced with the Zoho support Help Portal. For more than a week, tickets submitted directly via the Help Portal were not being handled at all. At the same time no alert was posted
                                                                                                          • Adding hyperlinks in CRM emails time automatically

                                                                                                            It may just be me, but when I am writing an email to a lead, I find inserting a hyperlink very time consuming. Granted, I can use templates but there are a ton of scenarios where I might want to put a link in to an website that wouldnt require me to go though the effort of creating a template.  Ideally, the crm would identify that I that a string of text is a URL and insert the hyperlink automatically, just like microsoft outlook or gmail. Has anyone else had this same experience and found a way
                                                                                                          • Enhance "Applications Usage" with Date Filters, Historical Analytics & App-Level Breakdown

                                                                                                            Hello Zoho Creator Team, We are writing to request a critical enhancement to the Applications Usage section to improve our ability to monitor, analyze, and manage our platform consumption over time. While the current view of today’s usage is helpful for
                                                                                                          • External File Share - Allow delete

                                                                                                            Hi Team, when I share an external link and give it edit rights the external user can add but not delete files and folders. what am i doing wrong?
                                                                                                          • How to notify all members on any updates to zoho crm?

                                                                                                            Hi, I am using the free version of zoho CRM and currently seeing this will work for our company. We are a small company and wanted to be more informed about all the changes in zoho. 1. How do I s et notifications that go to the team for any and all changes
                                                                                                          • How to change the format for phone numbers?

                                                                                                            Mobile phone numbers are currently formatted (###) ###-####.  How can I change this to a more appropriate forms for Australia being either #### ### ### or (#)### ### ###?
                                                                                                          • Unattended Access on Android without Play Store

                                                                                                            I'm testing Zoho Assist for remote config and maintenance of our IoT devices. The devices are running Android 8.1 and do NOT have Google Play Store installed, nor can it be installed. I've been able to install Zoho Assist on the devices and load the enrollment
                                                                                                          • Open Sans Font in Zoho Books is not Open Sans.

                                                                                                            Font choice in customising PDF Templates is very limited, we cannot upload custom fonts, and to make things worse, the font names are not accurate. I selected Open Sans, and thought the system was bugging, but no, Open Sans is not Open Sans. The real
                                                                                                          • Is it possible to embed Zoho Bookmarks in the Cliq sidebar?

                                                                                                            Is there any way that each Zoho user can access their bookmarks (that live in https://bookmarks.zoho.eu/ which is technically a part of Zoho Mail) directly within Cliq? As a widget, or an item in the sidebar? My team does not use Mail, it uses Cliq all
                                                                                                          • Show Attachments in the customer portal

                                                                                                            Hi, is it possible to show the Attachments list in the portal for the particular module? Bests.
                                                                                                          • Kaizen #142: How to Navigate to Another Page in Zoho CRM using Client Script

                                                                                                            Hello everyone! Welcome back to another exciting Kaizen post. In this post, let us see how you can you navigate to different Pages using Client Script. In this Kaizen post, Need to Navigate to different Pages Client Script ZDKs related to navigation A.
                                                                                                          • Navigate with Ease: Announcing Improvements to Your Zoho CRM for Everyone's Setup Experience

                                                                                                            Hello Everyone, We’re thrilled to announce new enhancements to the Setup Menu in our Zoho CRM for Everyone system, designed to simplify your workday and streamline your overall experience. What's New? Addition of a Setup Homepage Faster Search in Setup
                                                                                                          • Zoho Projects Webhook fails with HTTP Error 0

                                                                                                            Hello Zoho Community, I am pulling my hair out over this one. I have setup a very basic http(s) server that always responds "ok" and code 200 to incoming GET requests. It will accept any parameters, and any path. Really, all it does is say "ok," and log
                                                                                                          • ZOHO Campaignで表のカラムの幅を調整したい。

                                                                                                            表を作成した際、個々のカラムの幅を調整したいのですが、方法が分かりません。 どなたかご存じの方ご教示ください。
                                                                                                          • Auto-upload Creator Files to WorkDrive

                                                                                                            Hi everyone, I’m working on a workflow that uploads files from Zoho Creator to specific subfolders in Zoho WorkDrive, as illustrated in the attached diagram. My Creator application form has two multi-file upload fields, and I want—on successful form submission—to
                                                                                                          • Exciting Updates to the Kiosk Studio Feature in Zoho CRM!

                                                                                                            Hello Everyone, We are here again with a series of new enhancements to Kiosk Studio, designed to elevate your experience and bring even greater efficiency to your business processes. These updates build upon our ongoing commitment to making Kiosk a powerful
                                                                                                          • Kaizen #129 : Client Script Support for Blueprints

                                                                                                            Hello everyone! Welcome to another week of Kaizen. Today, let us discuss about how you can use Client Script during a Blueprint transtion to meet your requirements. This Kaizen post will provide solution for the post - Need non-mandatory fields in blueprint
                                                                                                          • Search Bar Improvement for Zoho Commerce

                                                                                                            Hey everyone, I've been using Zoho Commerce for a bit now, and I think the search bar could really use an upgrade. Right now, it doesn't show products in a dropdown as you type, which would make finding items a lot faster. On Shopify, for example, you
                                                                                                          • Making digital signatures accessible to all: Introducing accessibility controls in Zoho Sign

                                                                                                            Hi there! At Zoho Sign, we are committed to building an inclusive digital experience for all our users. As part of our ongoing efforts to align with Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), we’re updating the application with support that will go
                                                                                                          • Account Owner Field From Accounts Module to be Displayed in Contacts module

                                                                                                            I have a field in the Accounts Module in the CRM called "Account Owner" i want that field to be also mapped into the Contacts Module custom single line field called "Account Manager".
                                                                                                          • Update a field in the ZOHO Form, basis numeric value in another field in the same form

                                                                                                            I am trying to create a questionnaire in ZOHO, where clients need to answer 10 questions, and basis response, values are assigned. I have created a total score field where the sum of the values is stored. But i am unable to create a rule whereby another
                                                                                                          • How to update "Lead Status" to more than 100 records

                                                                                                            Hello Zoho CRM, How do I update "Lead Status" to more than 100 records at once? To give you a background, these leads were uploaded or Imported at once but the lead status record was incorrectly chosen. So since there was a way to quickly add records in the system no matter how many they are, we are also wondering if there is a quicker way to update these records to the correct "Lead Status". I hope our concern makes sense and that there will be a fix for it. All the best, Jonathan
                                                                                                          • Meet up de Zoho en Bilbao

                                                                                                            Buenos días comunidad! Estamos estudiando hacer un Meet up en Bilbao desde zoho y varios Partners. Para que la experiencia sea excelente, queremos saber cuantas pesonas se vendrían a Bilbao al evento. Y para que sea lo mas útil posible, que temas dentro
                                                                                                          • Picklist reference value in REST

                                                                                                            picklist options can be configured to have a different reference value than the displayed one, should be helpful in things like multilanguage: https://help.zoho.com/portal/en/kb/crm/customize-crm-account/translations/articles/translations is there a way
                                                                                                          • In Zoho inventory Converting sales return to cerdit note from using Api from Creator Error details: {"code":-1,"message":"Invalid Sales Return ID."}

                                                                                                            In Zoho inventory Converting sales return to cerdit note from using Api from Creator Error details: {"code":-1,"message":"Invalid Sales Return ID."} this is button Function used in the Creator map Inventory.Create_Credit_note(int CRE_ID) { return_value
                                                                                                          • Marketing Tip #2: Recover lost sales with abandoned cart emails

                                                                                                            Did you know most online shoppers don’t complete checkout? Automated cart recovery emails are an easy way to bring them back. A simple reminder can recover sales you’d otherwise lose. Try this today: Enable abandoned cart emails in Zoho Commerce and set
                                                                                                          • Billing Management: #9 Usage Billing in IoTs

                                                                                                            We live in a world where connectivity has become a lifestyle rather than a luxury. From smart thermostats that adjust your home's temperature to GPS trackers monitoring end-to-end fleets and sensors that optimize energy grids, the Internet of Things has
                                                                                                          • {"code":1038,"message":"JSON is not well formed"}

                                                                                                            Today this began failing: sales_order_data = zoho.books.createRecord("salesorders",books_organization_ID,order_data); with this error message. {"code":1038,"message":"JSON is not well formed"} This code has been running for two years. Here is the input
                                                                                                          • How can I migrate Shared Mailbox from Zoho Mail to Team Inbox?

                                                                                                            I am unable to migrate mails from my shared mailbox in Zoho Mail to Team Inbox. I am the super admin of my Zoho One plan and yet I am getting an error saying only admins can do this? I don't understand the issue.
                                                                                                          • Remember all the ways we've posted?

                                                                                                            The world celebrates World Postal Day in 2025 with the theme “#PostForPeople: Local Service. Global Reach". The story of the “post” is a story of human connection itself, evolving from simple handwritten notes carried over long distances to instant digital
                                                                                                          • Add Support for Authenticator App MFA in Zoho Desk Help Center

                                                                                                            Hello Zoho Desk Team, We hope you are doing well. We would like to request an enhancement related to security for the Zoho Desk Help Center (customer portal). Currently, the Help Center supports MFA for portal users via SAML, JWT, SMS authentication,
                                                                                                          • Can no longer upload my own Notebook cover

                                                                                                            I've had Notebook for over a year and have been able to create my own notebook covers, but when I tried to upload my own cover for a new notebook today, the upload feature has suddenly been starred, requiring me to upgrade my account. When did this
                                                                                                          • Zoho Desk - Cannot Invite or Register New User

                                                                                                            Hi who may concern, we encountered a problem that we cannot invite user or the visitor cannot register for a user at all through our help center portal, with the snapshot shown as below and the attachement. It always pops up that "Sorry, Unable to process
                                                                                                          • Custom domain issue

                                                                                                            I recently changed records for my support area custom domain for a few months, I then wanted to come back to Zoho, but now I can't connect it and I can't login as it's having an SSL issue. I cannot get a good response from support, as I've been notified
                                                                                                          • Next Page