Essential Daily Workflows

How the subscription lifecycle works from checkout to renewal, where merchants manage everything, and what to verify before going live.

Availability: Free + Pro

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• Current guide: Essential Daily Workflows
• Where to open it: WordPress Admin -> ArraySubs
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• Troubleshooting: Audits, Logs, and Troubleshooting

Overview

Once your store is set up and products are published, the subscription system runs largely on autopilot. This guide explains the day-to-day mechanics: what happens automatically, what you should monitor, and how the major pieces connect. Read this before going live to understand what your store will be doing behind the scenes.

How the Subscription Lifecycle Works

Every subscription follows a predictable path from checkout to either renewal, expiration, or cancellation. Here is the complete flow:

Checkout to Subscription

1. A customer adds a subscription product to their cart and completes checkout.
2. ArraySubs creates a subscription record linked to the order.
3. The subscription starts in Pending status (or Trial if the product has a trial).
4. When the order is marked as paid, the subscription moves to Active.

ArraySubs supports both the classic WooCommerce checkout and the block-based checkout (Store API). The subscription creation happens automatically regardless of which checkout method your store uses.

Trial Phase

If the product includes a free trial:

1. The subscription starts in Trial status immediately after checkout.
2. No recurring payment is collected during the trial period.
3. The system calculates the trial end date based on the trial length and trial period configured on the product.
4. A daily batch job checks for subscriptions ready to convert from trial to paid.
5. When the trial ends, the subscription converts to Active and the first paid billing cycle begins.

Active Phase and Renewals

Once a subscription is active, the renewal engine handles all recurring billing:

1. Invoice generation — The system creates a pending WooCommerce renewal order (invoice) 6 hours before the payment due date.
2. Payment processing — With automatic payments Pro, the system charges the customer's saved payment method. With manual renewals, the customer receives an invoice email and pays through the order payment link.
3. Successful payment — The renewal order is marked as paid, the subscription's next payment date advances to the next billing cycle, and the completed payments counter increments.
4. Failed payment — The subscription enters the grace period (see below).

This cycle repeats for every billing period until the subscription is cancelled, expired, or paused.

Grace Period Flow

When a renewal payment is not received by the due date, the system follows this timeline:

 Due date          +3 days             +10 days
    │                 │                    │
    ├─── Active ──────┤──── On Hold ──────┤── Cancelled
    │  (customer has  │  (access          │  (subscription
    │   full access)  │   restricted)     │   terminated)
    │                 │                    │

• Days 0–3: The subscription stays Active. The customer retains full access. This gives time for payment retries, bank processing delays, or the customer to pay manually.
• Days 3–10: The subscription moves to On Hold. Customer access is restricted. The outstanding invoice is still open for payment.
• Day 10+: The subscription is automatically cancelled. All future scheduled actions are removed.

At any point during the grace period, if the customer pays the outstanding invoice, the subscription immediately returns to Active.

Both grace period durations are configurable in ArraySubs → Settings → General.

Expiration

If a subscription has a defined subscription length (not unlimited), it automatically expires after the configured number of billing cycles. For example, a 12-month plan with monthly billing expires after 12 successful payments.

Expired subscriptions cannot be renewed — the customer would need to purchase a new subscription.

Cancellation

Cancellations can happen in three ways:

When a subscription is cancelled, all future scheduled actions (renewals, reminders, expiration) are unscheduled.

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Automated Background Jobs

ArraySubs runs several scheduled jobs automatically using the Action Scheduler system. You do not need to configure these — they run on their own after activation.

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Where Merchants Manage Everything

Admin Dashboard — ArraySubs Menu

The main ArraySubs admin interface is a single-page application (SPA) accessible from the WordPress sidebar. Here is a map of every page and what it is for:

Subscriptions

Retention

Member Access

Profile Builder

Settings

Other Pages

WooCommerce Product Editor

Subscription configuration lives inside the WooCommerce product editor:

1. Go to Products → Edit on any product.
2. Check the Subscription checkbox in the Product data section.
3. Open the Subscription tab to configure billing period, interval, length, trial, and signup fee.
4. For variable products, configure subscription fields per-variation.

Customer Portal (Frontend)

Customers manage their subscriptions at My Account → Subscriptions. The portal is read-only for viewing and provides action buttons for self-service operations based on your settings.

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Before You Go Live — Verification Checklist

Run through this checklist before opening your store to real customers:

Products

• At least one subscription product is published and visible in the store catalog.
• The product page shows the correct billing schedule and price.
• The cart shows the subscription summary (recurring total, trial info, signup fee if applicable).
• Checkout completes successfully and creates a subscription.

Subscription Creation

• After a test order is paid, a subscription appears in ArraySubs → Subscriptions After a test order is paid, a subscription appears in **ArraySubs → Subscriptions** with the correct status.
• The subscription detail page shows the right product, price, billing schedule, and dates.
• The initial order appears in the Related Orders section.

Customer Portal

• The Subscriptions The **Subscriptions** tab appears in My Account.
• The subscription list shows correct data.
• The detail page shows the correct overview and available actions.
• Self-service actions (cancel, etc.) work as expected.

Email Notifications

• The customer receives a "New Subscription" email after checkout.
• The admin receives an admin notification email.
• Emails render correctly with accurate subscription details.

Settings

• Grace period days are set to your preferred values.
• Customer portal actions (cancel, reactivate, etc.) are enabled or disabled as intended.
• Cancellation flow and retention offers are configured if needed.

Payment (for automatic renewals — Pro)

• Your payment gateway is configured and connected.
• Gateway health shows a healthy status in Audits → Gateway Logs Pro Gateway health shows a healthy status in **Audits → Gateway Logs** *(Pro)*. For Stripe, confirm the official WooCommerce Stripe connection is active and the ArraySubs secondary webhook shows as auto-provisioned for the current test/live mode.
• A test automatic renewal processes successfully.

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Real-Life Use Cases

Use Case 1: Monthly Box Subscription Store

A subscription box store ships products monthly. The merchant creates a simple subscription product ($39.99/month), enables the grace period (3 active + 7 on-hold days), and sets up renewal reminder emails 3 days before the due date. On renewal day, the system generates an invoice, attempts payment, and alerts the customer if payment fails. The merchant monitors All Subscriptions daily for any on-hold subscriptions that need attention.

Use Case 2: SaaS Membership with Trials

A digital service offers a 14-day trial. The merchant configures a trial on the product, enables "one trial per customer" in settings, and sets up content restriction rules in Member Access. Customers sign up, get gated content access during the trial, and the batch job auto-converts them to paid after 14 days. The merchant reviews retention analytics periodically to monitor churn and adjust retention offers.

Use Case 3: Multi-Tier Coaching Platform

A coaching platform has three variable subscription tiers. The merchant configures plan switching (upgrades and downgrades) in settings, sets up role mapping so each tier grants a different WordPress role, and restricts premium content by role. Customers can switch plans from the portal, and the proration system handles pricing adjustments automatically.

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Troubleshooting

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Related Guides

• Before You Launch — Requirements, core concepts, and the full Free vs Pro feature map.
• First-Time Setup — Step-by-step installation and your first subscription product.
• Manage Subscription Products — Complete product configuration, plan switching, coupon integration, and more.

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FAQ

How often do the renewal batch jobs run?

Invoice generation and overdue checks run every hour. Trial conversions run once daily at 2:00 AM. These schedules are automatic and do not require configuration.

What happens if I change settings while subscriptions are active?

Most settings apply to future actions only. For example, changing the grace period affects future overdue transitions, not subscriptions already in the grace period.

Can I manually trigger a renewal for a specific subscription?

No direct manual trigger exists in the admin UI. For testing, use a staging site with a short billing cycle, or run the relevant queued action from WooCommerce → Status → Scheduled Actions when one exists. ArraySubs no longer supports manually editing the next payment date from the subscription edit form.

Do I need WP-Cron or a real server cron?

ArraySubs uses the Action Scheduler library, which runs through WordPress cron. For reliable scheduling on production stores, a real server cron job (hitting wp-cron.php every minute) is recommended over the default WP-Cron visitor-triggered approach.

What should I monitor daily?

Check the All Subscriptions list for any subscriptions in On Hold status — these may need attention (customer outreach, payment issues). Review email logs for delivery failures if you notice customers are not responding to renewal invoices.

Will deactivating the Pro addon break existing subscriptions?

No. Existing subscription data is preserved. However, Pro-only features (automatic payments, store credit, checkout builder, etc.) will stop functioning until the addon is reactivated. Manual renewals will continue to work through core.