Setting Up Subscriptions

Overview

The subscription system allows you to monetize your content by offering paid access to premium material. The system is built around a flexible hierarchy that lets you create multiple products, pricing tiers, and subscription groups to match your business model.

Core Concepts

Understanding the subscription hierarchy is essential for proper configuration:

Product

The top-level container for your subscription offerings. A product represents your offer type (e.g., “Monthly Subscription”, “Monthly Donation”, “Monthly Basic Tier Subscription”).

Pricing Tier

Individual purchase options that sit under a product. Each pricing tier defines:

• Price and billing frequency (monthly, annual, etc.)
• The subscription group it grants access to
• Display name and marketing description

Subscription Group

A logical grouping that controls access to premium content. Subscription groups are assigned to:

• Categories (and their child content)
• Publications (affecting all categories within)

When a customer purchases a pricing tier, they receive a subscription to its associated subscription group.

Subscription

The membership a customer holds. Created automatically when a pricing tier is purchased, granting access to all premium content in the associated subscription group(s).

Customer

The individual or organization holding one or more subscriptions. Customer records track:

• Contact information
• Payment methods
• Active and expired subscriptions
• Order history

Payment Method

The configured payment processor integration (Stripe, PayPal, etc.) that handles transactions and recurring billing.

Setting Up Your Subscription System

Step 1: Configure Payment Methods

Before creating products and pricing tiers, you need to set up at least one payment method.

1. Navigate to Administration → Revenue Configuration → Payment Methods tab
2. Click Add payment method
3. Select your payment processor (Stripe recommended)
4. Enter your API credentials
5. Configure webhook settings for subscription renewals
6. Click Save

Important: Test your payment method in sandbox mode before enabling live transactions.

Step 2: Create Subscription Groups

Subscription groups collect different pricing tiers into a logical access unit which defines what content customers can access.

1. Navigate to Administration → Revenue Configuration → Subscription Groups
2. Click on Create subscription group
3. Specify an alphanumeric identifier for the group, a name, and a maximum device limit per customer.
4. Click on Create
5. Click on Update settings

Step 3: Assign Subscription Groups

1. Navigate to Publisher → Categories or Administration → Publisher Configuration → Publications
2. Select the category or publication you want to restrict
3. In the subscription settings section, assign one or more subscription groups
4. Click Save

Example Structure:

Publication: Main News Site
├── Category: Breaking News (Free)
├── Category: Investigations (Subscription Group: "Premium")
└── Category: Analysis (Subscription Group: "Premium Plus")

Readers with a “Premium” subscription can access content in the Investigations category. Those with “Premium Plus” access Analysis content.

Step 3: Create a Product

1. Navigate to Revenue → Products tab
2. Click Add product
3. Fill in the form and check on Enabled for sale
4. Click Create product

Step 4: Create Pricing Tiers

Pricing tiers are the actual purchase options customers see.

1. From the Product page you were taken back to, scroll down to Pricing tiers.
2. Click Create pricing tier
3. Configure the tier:
   • Name: “Monthly Premium Access”
   • Enabled for sale
4. Price tab: $9.99
   • If you wish to use a trial price and a different recurrent price, fill the Repurchase price field
5. Subscription tab:
   • Enable subscription mode
   • Maximum cycles: fill this if you want the subscription to end after a specific number of renewals
   • Click on Add new entitlement
   • Choose Create new subscription as Action
   • Fill in the number of days of subscription to give to the user
   • Pick the Subscription group
   • If you wish to provide different entitlements on renewal, you can fill the renewal fields too.
6. Click Create pricing tier

Common Tier Structures:

Basic News Site:

• Monthly Premium: $9.99/month → “Premium” group
• Annual Premium: $99/year → “Premium” group

Multi-Tier Publisher:

• Basic Monthly: $5/month → “Basic” group
• Premium Monthly: $15/month → “Premium” group
• Premium Annual: $150/year → “Premium” group
• All Access: $25/month → “All Access” group (includes all subscription groups)

Step 4a: Enable Custom Pricing (Optional)

For donation-style models or flexible pricing, you can allow customers to set their own price.

1. Create a base pricing tier following Step 4 above
2. Configure its subscription mode with the desired entitlements
3. Navigate back to the product editor
4. Enable the checkbox “Allow customers to set their own price”
5. Click Save

How It Works:

• Customers can purchase via API with a custom price amount
• If a pricing tier doesn’t exist at the requested price, the system automatically creates one
• The new tier is created by copying your base pricing tier and updating the price and repurchase price values
• All other settings (subscription group, entitlements, billing frequency) remain the same

Use Cases:

• Donation-based memberships
• Pay-what-you-can subscriptions
• Flexible pricing for different markets
• Supporter tiers with custom amounts

Step 5: Mark Content as Premium

Content must be explicitly marked to require subscription access.

1. When creating or editing content, locate the Metadata section
2. Check Premium to require subscription access
3. Alternatively, check Free to make content available without subscription
4. Publish the content

How It Works:

• Content marked as Premium requires an active subscription to the appropriate subscription group
• Content marked as Free is accessible regardless of subscription status
• Unmarked content follows standard paywall rules (see below)

The subscription group required is determined by the content’s primary category. If the primary category (or its parent publication) has subscription groups assigned, the customer must have a subscription to at least one of those groups.

Content Access Logic

The system evaluates content access in the following order:

1. Free content: Always accessible
2. Premium content + matching subscription: Accessible
3. Premium content + no subscription: Blocked (prompt to subscribe)
4. Non-premium content: Subject to paywall/datawall limits

Example Scenario

Setup:

• Category “Investigations” assigned to subscription group “Premium”
• Customer has subscription to “Premium” group
• Article published in “Investigations” category, marked as Premium

Result: Customer can access the article immediately.

Setup:

• Same category and article
• Customer has no subscription

Result: Customer is blocked and prompted to purchase a subscription that includes the “Premium” group.

Paywall Integration

The subscription system works alongside the paywall to control content access:

• Datawall: Requires login before hitting paywall limit
• Paywall: Requires subscription after free article limit
• Premium content: Always requires subscription (bypasses paywall limits)

For detailed paywall configuration, see the Paywall Configuration Guide.

Example Combined Strategy:

Paywall Rules:
- Datawall Limit: 2 (must log in after 2 articles)
- Paywall Limit: 5 (must subscribe after 5 articles)

Content Strategy:
- Daily news: Non-premium (subject to paywall)
- Investigations: Premium (requires subscription immediately)
- Breaking alerts: Free (always accessible)

This approach funnels engaged readers toward subscription while using the paywall for casual visitors.

Advanced Features

Custom Pricing and Donations

The system supports flexible pricing models where customers can set their own price, ideal for donation-style memberships or pay-what-you-can models.

Setup:

1. Create a base pricing tier with your default/suggested price
2. Configure subscription mode and entitlements on this base tier
3. Edit the product and enable “Allow customers to set their own price”

Implementation: When a customer submits a purchase via the API with a custom price:

• The system checks if a pricing tier exists at that exact price point
• If not found, a new tier is automatically created by cloning the base tier
• Only the price and repurchase price fields are updated
• All other configuration (subscription groups, billing frequency, entitlements) is inherited

Example:

Base Tier: "Supporter Membership"
- Default Price: $10/month
- Subscription Group: "Supporters"
- Entitlements: 30 days subscription

Customer purchases at $25/month via API:
- New tier created automatically: "Supporter Membership" at $25/month
- Same subscription group and entitlements
- Customer receives their subscription to "Supporters" group

Best Practices:

• Set a reasonable suggested/default price as your base tier
• Consider setting minimum price limits in your front-end implementation
• Use clear messaging about how donations support your work
• Thank donors appropriately based on contribution level

Time-Based Content Access

You can restrict subscription access to content published during the customer’s active subscription period. This prevents new subscribers from accessing your entire archive.

Use Cases:

• Magazine-style access (only current issues)
• Preventing archive binging
• Encouraging longer subscription retention

Setup: Contact support to enable time-based content restrictions for your account.

Multiple Subscription Groups per Customer

Customers can hold subscriptions to multiple groups simultaneously, either through:

• Purchasing multiple individual pricing tiers
• Purchasing a tier that grants multiple subscription groups

Example:

Product: All Access Pass
├── Tier: Complete Access ($30/month)
    └── Grants: ["Premium", "Premium Plus", "Exclusive"]

Subscription Group Inheritance

If a publication has subscription groups assigned, all categories within inherit those groups by default. You can override this at the category level for more granular control.

Example:

Publication: Sports Daily (Groups: ["Sports Premium"])
├── Category: Football (Inherits: "Sports Premium")
├── Category: Basketball (Inherits: "Sports Premium")
└── Category: Analysis (Override: "Sports Premium", "All Access")

Managing Customers

Importing Existing Customers

If you’re migrating from another system, you can import your customer base. For detailed instructions, see the Importing Customers Guide.

Manual Subscription Management

While most subscriptions are created through purchases, you can manually grant access:

1. Navigate to Revenue → Customers
2. Search for the customer
3. Click Create payment
4. Select a pricing tier and payment method
5. Click Create payment

Note that if you pick a real payment method, and the customer has a linked token, a real payment will take effect on the customer’s payment method.

Use Cases:

• Employee access
• Promotional access
• Partner arrangements
• Customer service resolutions
• Press credentials

API Integration

The following API collections are relevant for subscriptions:

• Payment for making purchases
• Cart for store cart
• Customer for most other Customer-related operations

Best Practices

Pricing Strategy

Start Simple: Begin with a single pricing tier and add complexity as you understand customer behavior.

Test Price Points: Use A/B testing to find the optimal price for your market.

Annual Discount: Offer 15-20% savings on annual plans to improve retention and cash flow.

Trial Periods: 7-day or 30-day trials can significantly improve conversion rates.

Content Strategy

Balance Free and Premium: Offer enough free content to demonstrate value, but reserve your best work for subscribers.

Recommended Split:

• 60-70% free content (subject to paywall)
• 20-30% premium content (requires subscription)
• 5-10% completely free (marketing and breaking news)

Premium Content Guidelines:

• In-depth analysis and investigations
• Exclusive interviews
• Subscriber-only newsletters
• Ad-free experience
• Early access to content

Subscription Group Design

Keep It Simple Initially: Start with one or two subscription groups. You can always add more later.

Common Structures:

Single Tier:

• “Premium” group → All premium content

Two Tiers:

• “Basic” group → Standard premium content
• “Premium” group → All content including exclusive features

Multi-Publication:

• “Publication A” group → Publication A content
• “Publication B” group → Publication B content
• “All Access” group → Everything

Monitoring and Optimization

Key Metrics to Track:

• Conversion rate (visitors → subscribers)
• Churn rate (cancellations)
• Average revenue per user (ARPU)
• Paywall → subscription conversion
• Subscription group distribution

Regular Reviews:

• Monthly: Review conversion rates and churn
• Quarterly: Analyze pricing tier performance
• Annually: Reassess overall subscription strategy

Troubleshooting

Customers Report They Can’t Access Premium Content

Check:

• Customer has an active subscription (not expired)
• Subscription group matches content’s category/publication settings
• Content is properly marked as Premium
• No payment failures causing subscription suspension

Pricing Tier Not Appearing

Verify:

• Tier is active (not archived)
• Product is active
• Payment method is configured and active
• Tier has a subscription group assigned

Content Unexpectedly Behind Paywall

Review:

• Content not marked as Free
• Category/publication has subscription groups assigned
• Paywall rules may be conflicting with subscription setup
• Check primary category assignment

Subscription Not Created After Purchase

Investigate:

• Payment method webhook configuration
• Payment processor transaction logs
• System logs for processing errors
• Customer may have received error during checkout

Example Configurations

Scenario 1: Local News Site with Standard Paywall

Product: Digital Subscription

Pricing Tiers:

• Monthly: $8/month → “Subscriber” group
• Annual: $80/year → “Subscriber” group

Content Strategy:

• All local news: Free or subject to paywall (5 article limit)
• Investigations and special reports: Premium → “Subscriber” group
• Breaking news and alerts: Always free

Publications/Categories:

• Publication: Main Site
  • Category: Local News (No groups - uses paywall)
  • Category: Investigations (Group: “Subscriber”)
  • Category: Opinion (Group: “Subscriber”)

Scenario 2: Donation-Supported Independent Media

Product: Support Our Journalism

Configuration:

• Custom pricing enabled on product
• Base tier: “Monthly Supporter” at $5/month → “Supporter” group
• Suggested amounts displayed in front-end UI: $5, $10, $25, $50, custom

Tiers (Auto-Generated): As customers donate at different amounts, pricing tiers are automatically created:

• $5/month → “Supporter” group
• $10/month → “Supporter” group
• $25/month → “Supporter” group
• $50/month → “Supporter” group
• Any custom amount → “Supporter” group

Content Strategy:

• Most content free with light paywall (10 article limit)
• Premium exclusive content for supporters
• Emphasis on community support rather than hard paywall
• Regular thank-you content for donors

Special Features:

• Flexible donation amounts encourage broader support
• All supporters get same content access regardless of amount
• Front-end suggests amounts but allows any custom value
• Recognition badges in comments for supporters

Scenario 3: Multi-Publication Media Company

Product 1: City News Tiers:

• City Basic: $10/month → “City Basic” group
• City Premium: $20/month → “City Premium” group

Product 2: Sports Network Tiers:

• Sports Fan: $12/month → “Sports” group

Product 3: Everything Bundle Tiers:

• All Access: $35/month → All groups

Content Strategy:

• Each publication has distinct subscription groups
• Bundle pricing encourages cross-publication subscriptions
• Premium tiers within publications unlock exclusive content