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Selling recurring products or subscription products used to be a headache.
You had to know how to code and have tons of money for the infrastructure involved.
The tech evolved, so anyone can start selling subscription products on their own.
No fancy coding is needed.
No expensive servers or infrastructure.
All you need is to sign up for Stripe.com, set up a free account, connect your bank account, and set up your product.
It is no wonder that millions of people are selling online because of how easy Stripe makes it.
This brief article will explain how to set up recurring products and how you can start accepting them.
What Are Stripe Recurring Products
A recurring payment is a payment charge that happens on a designated frequency.
In Stripe, you can set up these recurring payments (also known as subscriptions) and set a pre-determined billing frequency.
What Is A Billing Frequency?
For example, if you set up a product (which we will show how further down), you can set up that the payment occurs daily, weekly, monthly, yearly, every three months, every six months, or custom frequency.
The different billing frequencies gives the end-user immense control over their billing.
Not to mention the ability to offer different pricing strategies to businesses of all sizes.
How Can You Test Different Billing Frequencies?
Testing different billing frequencies is an excellent idea as it will give you some data on what works and what doesn't.
If you have a new recurring product that you are introducing to the marketplace, you will want to see what is acceptable to consumers.
Let's say you are selling a puzzle box subscription service.
Every month you want to give customers a new puzzle box.
But since you never sold this type of product before, you may be unsure what to charge.
In this case, you can set up one Stripe subscription product for $24.95 that bills every one month.
But you are curious to see if you can sell one puzzle box every two weeks.
In this case, you can set up a second subscription for $24.95 that bills every two weeks.
With Stripe, you can do this type of testing without any issue.
How To Create A Recurring Product In Stripe
To create your first recurring product in Stripe, go to Stripe.com.
Click the sign-up button. Then proceed to fill in the details requested.
These details will include information about your business and banking details.
Once you have filled in these details, you should be okay to move forward.
Creating Your Recurring Product
In your Stripe account, locate the menu item titled 'Products.'
It should be on your left-hand side under 'Connected Accounts.'
Click 'Products.'
Then click the purple 'Add Product' button
Adding Your Recurring Product Information
Once you click that button, a new screen will popup.
On this screen, you'll be able to give your product a name, a description, and an image if you'd like.
Scroll down to the pricing section.
In this section, you'll be able to set up your pricing model and choose your pricing.
For the pricing model, keep Standard pricing selected.
But if you'd like to see the other pricing models, you can click the drop-down, and new pricing models will appear.
You can choose from Standard, Package, Graduated, Volume.
Adding Stripe Recurring Price
In the pricing input box, enter the price.
We'll enter $24.95 to keep our example consistent.
Then we will also select recurring instead of one-time.
Now from the billing period box, select the frequency,
You can choose daily, weekly, monthly, every three months, every six months, yearly or custom.
You don't need to worry about any of the other options.
Now click the purple 'Save product' button in the upper right-hand corner.
Voila! You have created your first recurring product in Stripe.
How To Set Up Stripe Invoices And Collect Monthly Payments
If you're not looking to sell physical products and want to send recurring monthly payments, you can do that as well via Stripe Invoices.
How Do Stripe Invoices Work
Like setting up a recurring product in Stripe, you can set up subscriptions for individual clients.
For example, if you are a coach and want to sell coaching, Stripe allows you to set up a subscription and charge based on different frequencies.
How To Set Up A Monthly Subscription Payment
First, you will need to set up a product. Follow the same steps as above.
In your Stripe account, locate the menu item titled 'Products.'
It should be on your left-hand side under 'Connected Accounts.' Click 'Products.'
Then click the purple 'Add Product' button
Adding Your Recurring Product Information
Once you click that button, a new screen will popup.
On this screen, you'll be able to give your product a name, a description, and an image if you'd like.
Scroll down to the pricing section.
In this section, you'll be able to set up your pricing model and choose your pricing.
For the pricing model, keep Standard pricing selected.
But if you'd like to see the other pricing models, you can click the drop-down, and new pricing models will appear.
You can choose from Standard, Package, Graduated, Volume
Adding Stripe Recurring Price
In the pricing input box, enter the price.
We'll enter $24.95 to keep our example consistent.
Then we will also select recurring instead of one-time.
Now from the billing period box, select the frequency,
You can choose daily, weekly, monthly, every three months, every six months, yearly or custom.
Creating The Stripe Invoice
Now that you have the product set up, you will want to click on the 'Subscriptions' menu item.
It will be under the 'Customers' menu item.
Click 'Create Subscription.'
Now you can choose you will be receiving this invoice if it's a specific customer.
If it's not going to one customer, you can leave the customer input box empty.
Now proceed to the Pricing section, where you can select the product you created.
You can also select if you want the payment to charge the card on file automatically or manually.
Additionally, you can add a memo to specify the payment.
Once you done, click between Schedule subscription or Start a subscription in the upper right-hand corner.
If you want to start the subscription on a particular day and have it end on a specific day, select 'Schedule subscription.'
If you want the subscription to start immediately, then select 'Start subscription.'
How To Accept Recurring Payments On Your Website Using Stripe
Now that you know how to create a recurring product and a subscription, you can now start selling them on your website.
But, often, this requires a bit of technical knowledge.
We have a simple solution that requires no code, and you can get started selling in less than 5 minutes.
How To Sell Your Recurring Products On Your Website
To begin, go to Cartfuel.io.
Cartfuel is a simple eCommerce solution you can place on any site or platform.
The best part you can customize the form to your branding AND offer one-click upsells.
There is no credit card or debit card to get started; all you need to do is create a free account.
Once you create your account, you will want to connect your Stripe account.
Once you connect your Stripe account, you can then click on 'Add new product sequence.'
A product sequence is the payment forms you'll be adding to your website.
And don't worry, there is no coding required.
Create Your Product Sequence In Cartfuel
Now you will enter your product information.
You will want to add the product name and currency.
Then under 'Billing Frequency,' you will want to select the blue 'Recurring' button.
Now you will see two drop-downs.
In the first drop-down, select the product you created in Stripe.
In the second drop-down, select the pricing that goes with that product.
You can add extra options in Cartfuel like an end date, charging more fees, charging taxes, and more.
We have a more detailed video here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VELV6UfDiIM
After you set up the product, then you will want to click the Next Step button.
How To Customize Your Product Sequence
In step 2, you'll be able to customize your product sequence by changing the font, text, button size, button color, and button text.
Once done, you can click on the next step and choose where you want your customers to go.
That could be a thank you page or an upsell page if you choose to have one.
In this case, we will enter our thank you page.
If you decide to have an upsell, you want to add the URL of the upsell page and then toggling on the 'Upsell product page' toggle.
Once done, click 'Next Step.'
In the last step, you can set up some emails to send to customers after buying your recurring product.
Once finished, click the Save button.
How To Add Stripe Recurring Products To Your Site
A popup will appear once you click the Save button.
You will see two code snippets. Don't fret; all you need to do is go to your website and add an embed element.
Most website builders have the option to add an HTML or embed element.
If you don't see one, contact your website developer support to get help.
Once you add the HTML or embed element, you will want to go back to Cartfuel and click on the first code snippet.
It will copy the code for you.
Then go back to your website and paste that first code snippet.
Now head back to Cartfuel and click the second snippet.
Repeat the process by going to your site and pasting the code snippet under the first code snippet.
Then click Save.
Now you have the payment form you created in Cartfuel with your recurring product from Stripe on your website!
How To Manage Recurring Payments With Stripe
If you are using Cartfuel, you can see all sales in your analytics dashboard.
Or, your customer can use the Cartfuel customer billing portal.
But if you're not using Cartfuel, you can use a service like https://mysuperportal.com/.
How To Create and Sell Stripe Recurring Products Recap
Stripe helps people and small businesses set up recurring products.
You can set up daily, weekly, monthly, or yearly recurring products.
You can also set up subscriptions like invoices. If you want to use Stripe on your website to accept recurring payments, you can use a tool like Cartfuel.