How does plan versioning work?

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I've asked Duff (our lead developer) to answer this since I know he'll get all the details right. He should get to it tomorrow - sorry for the delay!

> How does plan versioning work?

The basics - every time you save a subscription plan, a new version gets created.

>
> I see that I can add several versions of a plan (this is a great idea by the
> way).

You're right that there are several versions of a plan. There's only one current version though. More details to follow.

> However I'm not totally clear about how this works and what I can do
> with it.
>
> Let's say I have some subscribers on the 'basic' plan. What's the
> recommended approach and what is the user experience for the following kinds
> of changes.
>
> 1) Some features get added to or removed from the plan - do existing users
> continue on the plan and get the new feature level or the old feature level
> - or can I choose this?

When a subscribers subscribes to a plan, they're really subscribing the current subscription plan version. If it's a recurring subscription, they'll be renewed at that version. If you then change the subscription plan, it adds another version. All future subscribers would get associated with the latest version. This is how we handle grandfathering.

> Do they get told that there is a new plan?

No they don't.

> Can I
> automatically bring users from v1 to v2
> , and withdraw v1 from sale, where
> this is in the subscriber's interests?

We don't have support for that at this point.

> Or do they need to go through the
> whole signup stage again and provide card info again etc.

Yes, they'd need to re-subscribe using the latest subscription plan. At that point, if the feature level is the same as the old version, their time will be extended. If the new version has a different feature level, then Spreedly will handle the pro-rating and switch the subscriber to the new feature level.

>
> 2) Something in the plan text changes...might just be cosmetic or it might
> be new terms. Do the users get notified or is this selectable?

Nope, they don't get notified.

>
> 3) The price changes, up or down. What happens to the existing subscribers?
> Do they continue to get billed on the old level

Yes they would.

> or would they be billed on
> the new level (this would be a problem if the price went up).

Nope. They'll be billed on the old level.

> Do they get
> told there is a new (e.g. cheaper) price?

No they don't.

>
> 4) I bring out a new plan because I want to no longer offer the original
> basic plan - for example let's say it was a heavily discounted introductory
> offer for early adopters. Can I make it so that users can stay on the
> original plan if they are currently on it, but once they change to another
> plan, they can't go back?
> Again, what will the users see in this case.

Yes. That's exactly what happens. They'll stay on the the original plan and then once they change, they can't go back to the old version (since it's not the current plan version).

>
> I also assume that the only version of a plan that is available for purchase
> to new or upgrading subscribers at any given time is the latest one. Is that
> right?

Exactly.

I hope this helps! I think we need a page in the Integration docs fully describing subscription plan versions. Please hit us up with any additional questions!

I understand how the plan versioning works, however, it's not exactly what I'm looking for.

Due to postage costs decreasing on our 'rest of world' plans we want to drop the subscriptions cost. We have a few subs on our ROW packages who are all on recurring billing. We don't want them to pay over the odds on the recurrence so they need switching to the new version, preferably without them being told that next time their payment will be less (and therefore complaining that they paid more only a few weeks ago).

An option when creating a new plan version that stated something like "move all current subscribers to new version" would be ideal. With an additional option for "inform user" would be even greater. Perhaps with an opt in, opt out of recurring billing link in the email for if the price increased.

Tom, we have the backend built for moving subscribers from one plan version to another, but haven't added a UI for it yet. If you have a specific set of subscribers you want to move on a one-time basis I can do that for you now. Otherwise, we'll be working to expose this ability in the UI in the next month or two.

Thanks Nathaniel. We're OK to wait because we're doing yearly subscriptions so it won't some around for a good 6 months, by which time you'll be up and running with the UI.

Is it now possible for us to move a subscriber from old version of a plan to latest version of same plan? If it is possible, I can't see how to do it!

We can do it for you administratively - just drop us a line.