This article goes over some frequently asked questions (FAQs) about the Add-Ons App. The Add-Ons App gives sellers the ability to offer one-time products as add-ons to the first shipment for customers buying a new subscription product.
In this article
Add-Ons App 101 FAQs
What are the benefits of the Add-Ons App?
Is the Add-Ons App free?
Can I use the Add-Ons App on the Marketplace?
How do I set up and use the Add-Ons app?
How does the Add-Ons App work?
What can be set up for the Add-Ons App page in the subscribe flow?
What are the best practices for the Add-On Feature?
How can I measure the impact of the Add-Ons App on my conversion rate?
How can I measure revenue generated from the Add-Ons App?
One-Time Products FAQs
Can I only offer One-Time products as Add-Ons to Subscription Products?
Which one-time products should I offer?
Can I add-on hidden One-Time Products?
Can I change Add-Ons based on term, variant or survey answers, etc?
How many one-time products can be configured as add-ons?
Add-On Shipment FAQs
Where can I find Shipments with Add-Ons?
How do shipping costs calculate for orders with Add-Ons?
How does the Add-Ons App affect multi-product type Carts?
How are Add-On shipments handled by third-party shipping tools, the Cratejoy API, and fulfillment centers?
Customizing the Add-Ons Page
Will my site's theme support the Add-Ons App?
Can I customize the Add-Ons page?
Add-Ons App 101 FAQs
What are the benefits of the Add-Ons App?
The Add-Ons App gives sellers the ability to cross-sell products by displaying One-Time Products that can be added to a new Subscription purchase. This type of cross-selling typically affects 0.2% of overall carts based on the eCommerce average. While a small number of customers will purchase the add-on, the supplemental revenue adds up over time.
The Add-Ons feature has countless benefits that enhance the value of your subscription box. The main benefits, but limited to, include:
• Increased average order values. Becoming a successful subscription box business is not just about selling to a high quantity of subscribers, but it’s also about maximizing profits from each subscription. The Add-On feature enables more opportunities for your already invested customers to add more to their orders.
• Improved customer experience. Being able to showcase your knowledge and understanding of your customers is an impactful way to resonate with them, supporting a healthy and positive customer experience. The Add-On feature highlights relevant or complementary products that go hand-in-hand with products they’ve already established interest in. If a customer is buying an item that requires supplementary or additional parts or accessories, you’re saving them hassle and time with this feature.
• Increased customer lifetime value. Data from your long-term subscribers’ shopping behavior and browsing history can inform the choices you make for your add-on items, supporting your confidence the selected add-on items will be purchased by established subscribers, furthering their subscription timeline.
Is the Add-Ons App free?
Yes, the Add-Ons app is free! Transactions are processed with the regular fees from the payment processor and Cratejoy.
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Can I use the Add-Ons App on the Marketplace?
Yes, we have a beta program for using the Add-Ons app on the marketplace. You can more in Cratejoy Listing: Using Add-On Feature.
How do I set up and use the Add-Ons app?
This article goes over how to set up and use the Add-Ons App for checkout only and all access plans: Using the Add-Ons App. For MP Only plans, check out Cratejoy Listing: Using Add-On Feature.
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How does the Add-Ons App work?
The Add-Ons App enables a step to the subscribe flow called Add-Ons. This step displays One-Time Products that can be added on to to a new subscription purchase. Sellers select and configure the One-Time Products that appear in the Add-Ons step. The additional products are added to the first shipment for the customer.
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What can be set up for the Add-Ons App Page in the Subscribe Flow?
On the Add-Ons page, sellers can set up the following settings, which will be displayed to customers.
- Page Title: Title of the page
- Page Description: Description of the page
- One-Time Product Options: Select the one-time products displayed as add-on products
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What are the best practices for the Add-Ons Feature?
Compliment your Subscription Box. Ensure your Add On Products are relevant and complementary to the subscription product. For example, if you sell beauty-related products, it would make sense to speak to that interest of the buyer and offer complementary products, like make-up brushes, compact mirrors, or cosmetic bags. Therabox provides a great example of this in their add-on products. They offer self-care items and feature a wax candle, a journal, or an eyeshade for their add-on items.
Add Add-On Item options to post-purchase emails. Follow-up is also a great way to capture residual interest. It not only showcases your strong and open communication with your subscribers to send a post-purchase email, but you can also build upon their excitement for the subscription by piquing their interest with relevant and well-priced add-on items. Here’s an example of what that might look like
- Add high-margin products as cross-selling recommendations. As mentioned before, it’s also a good idea to designate higher-margin items that may impact the price of your subscription box as an add-on item. For example, if you want to offer a high-quality wooden box for your sensory box subscription, but don’t have the overhead to manufacture and send it every month, you can offer it once at the appropriate price and encourage your customers to use it time and time again with each monthly subscription box.
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How the Add-Ons App appears in the Subscribe Flow
Here is a screenshot of how the Add-Ons App appears on a Subscription Product's settings in the Merchant Portal. Sellers can click and drag the position of the Add-Ons App in the Subscribe Flow.
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How the Add-Ons App may appear to customers
Here is an example screenshot of how the Add-Ons App may appear to customers for sellers that have a hosted Cratejoy site and are on the Checkout Only or All-Access Plan.
Add-Ons App Sales Impact FAQs
How can I measure the impact of the Add-Ons App on my conversion rate?
Google Analytics can be used to measure the impact of the Add-Ons app. It's best to set up and integrate with Google Analytics before the Add-Ons App is employed. This is so sellers have a better baseline for the performance of the Subscribe Flow.
Here are some articles on setting up and using Google Analytics to track conversion rates:
Setting Up Google Analytics on your Storefront
Using Google Analytics for Conversion Rate Tracking
How can I measure revenue generated from the Add-Ons App?
The Revenue by Product report helps measure the revenue generated by the Add-Ons App. Learn how to run this report in our support article: Revenue Reports - Daily & Monthly
In this report, sellers can review One-Time Products that have been configured as Add-Ons. The revenue before and after the Add-Ons App was added can be compared using this report.
The Average Revenue Per Subscriber metric on the Dashboard can give insight as to how the Average Order Value has increased. Learn more about Cratejoy Dashboard analytics in our support article: Using Analytics
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One-Time Product FAQs
Can I only offer One-Time products as Add-Ons to Subscription Products?
Yes, only One-TIme Products can be added on. Other subscription products cannot be set up as one-time products.
The Add-Ons App only supports One-Time Products as add-ons when customers are buying a new subscription product on a storefront site.
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How many one-time products can be configured as Add-Ons?
There is no limit. Cratejoy suggests configuring 1 to 3 Add-On products.
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Which one-time products should I offer?
Ultimately, it's up to each seller as to what One-Time Products to offer as Add-Ons.
Here are some factors to consider when setting up Add-On Products:
- One-Time Products priced lower than the Subscription Product often perform better than ones that are more expensive.
- When there are multiple Add-On products to choose from, many customers select the first Add-On product displayed.
- The first Add-On product is often the best positioned, so sellers may want to put the Add-On product they want to sell in the first position.
- You can change the order of the Add-Ons by dragging and dropping them.
Can I change One-Time Products offered as Add-Ons?
Yes, One-Time Products offered as Add-Ons can be changed at any time. They can be edited under the Add-Ons step in Subscribe Flow on the Subscription Product page.
Products can be deleted, added and the order changed. The Add-Ons step can also be removed at any time.
Make sure to click the Save button on the Subscription Product page to save the changes!
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Can I add-on hidden One-Time Products?
Yes, both visible and hidden One-Time Products can be Add-Ons.
Hidden One-Time Products can be added to the Subscribe Flow for the Subscription Product. In this case, the product will stay hidden on the Shop but will be visible in the Subscribe Flow for the Subscription Product.
Sellers can create hidden One-Time Products for the purpose of being added onto Subscription Products. With this workflow, it's possible to offer One-Time products with shipping policies and pricing that are different than visible One-Time Products.
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Can I change Add-Ons based on term, variant or survey answers, etc.?
No, Add-On Products are statically set for each subscription product. They are not modifiable based on a customer's individual selections for a subscription term, variant, or survey answers.
What happens if a One-Time product is out of stock?
If a One-Time Product and its variants (if applicable) is out of stock, it will not show as an Add-On offer.
Here's some more information to know about how the Add-Ons App treats out of stock One-Time Products:
- If all One-Time Products are out of stock, this step will be skipped in the Subscribe Flow. This is done to reduce cart abandonment.
- If a One-Time Product has variants, all variants must be out of stock for the product to not be displayed.
- If Out of Stock Purchases is enabled for the One-Time Product, then the Add-On page will be displayed.
- Test orders do not count against inventory stock.
Add-On Shipment FAQs
Where can I find Shipments with Add-Ons?
Shipments with added-on products will show up on the Shipments page in the Merchant Portal under the Monthly Products tab. These shipments will not show under the One-Time Products tab on the Shipments page.
For these shipments, the Subscription Product will be listed first with Add-One Products listed after it.
Shipments can also be filtered by Shipments With Add-Ons and Shipments Without Add-Ons. This makes it easier for fulfilling shipments with Add-On Products.
How do shipping costs calculate for orders with Add-Ons?
Shipping costs will calculate for multi-product orders with Add-Ons the same way they do for orders without Add-Ons. A multi-product order is an order with both Subscription Product(s) and One-Time Product(s). No changes are made to Shipping Rules or One-TimeProduct Shipping Options.
To learn more about how shipping is calculated for checkouts with Subscription and One-Time products, take a look at this article: Cratejoy Shipping Rules
How does the Add-Ons App affect multi-product type Carts?
Multi-product type carts are carts that have both Subscription Products and One-Time Products.
Multi-product type Shipments when the Add-Ons App is Not Installed
If the Add-Ons App is not installed, a multi-product type cart will generate two shipments. One shipment for the Subscription Product(s) and the other for the one-time product(s).
Multi-product type shipments when the Add-Ons App Is Installed
If the Add-Ons App is installed, all multi-product type carts will be merged into one shipment instead of two.
This applies to all shipments, not just carts that are created through the Add-Ons step. It includes when the customer manually chooses a Subscription Product and a One-Time Product without the Add-Ons step.
How are Add-On shipments handled by third-party shipping tools, the Cratejoy API, and fulfillment centers?
Yes, Add-On shipments work with third-party shipping tools, the Cratejoy API, and fulfillment centers. Sellers may need to create new workflows to manage Add-On shipments.
Third-party shipping tools like ShipStation and Pirate Ship can handle Add-On Shipments with no extra configuration needed.
Fulfillment centers may charge increased prices for Add-On shipments since fulfillment is often based on the types of products.
We recommend that sellers test out workflows with third-party shipping tools and fulfillment centers. This will help ensure the Add-Ons App and the shipment method works for their business needs.
How shipments appear in ShipStation and Pirate Ship
Here is how shipments created with the Add-Ons App will appear in ShipStation:
Here is how shipments created with the Add-Ons App will appear in Pirate Ship:
Customizing the Add-Ons Page
Will my site's theme support the Add-Ons App?
We recommend sellers use the most updated themes. This will help make sure the Add-Ons App is straightforward and scalable.
The Add-Ons App supports new and old designer themes. However, it's only usable within the Subscribe Flow that's set up for the Subscription Product.
This means the Add-Ons App will not work if:
- The Subscribe Flow has been customized and does not rely on the Subscribe Flow in the Subscription Product settings.
- A site has been customized to use a unique Subscribe Flow that's hardcoded
In these cases, the seller may need to work with a developer to configure the Add-Ons App. Here are some tips on working with developers: Best Practices for Hiring Designers and Developers.
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Can I customize the Add-Ons page?
Yes, the Add-Ons page can be easily customized through our Designer and Code Editor. Sellers change aspects like color, copy, and button text.
To customize the Add-Ons page:
- In the Merchant Portal, click Design and then find the theme to update. Next, click the Designer button.
- At the top under Viewing, select Subscribe
- Under Subscriptions Products, find the product with the Add-Ons page setup. Select Add-Ons.
The page is also customizable through the Code Editor. Through the code editor, almost any aspect of the page can be modified. However, some sellers may look to work with a developer to make more advanced changes. Here are some tips on working with developers: Best Practices for Hiring Designers and Developers.
Cratejoy strongly recommends customizing store design on an unpublished copy of a published theme instead of on the published live theme. If mistakes are made when editing a live theme, then it could negatively affect a store.
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Updated by Jake 06/09/22