Subscriptions & Commerce Go Live Checklist
- Spyroulla Ioakim
- Georgia Kountouri
If your business focuses on Subscriptions & Commerce flows, then follow this checklist to ensure that you have configured CRM.COM correctly before going live. Note that you will also need to reference the “Go Live Checklist” in order to ensure that you have completed the settings as a whole.
This checklist provides you the items you need go through in order to setup your business’s product catalogue, make it available for your contacts to order and become recurring subscribers who are billed and pay on a recurring basis.
Check our Bootcamp’s Repeat Commerce guide in the Help Center. This guided tour takes you through the minimum configuration needed to get your business up and running quickly.
Product Catalogue
PRODUCTS
Create your Product Catalogue – the physical goods and services that you will be selling. Ensure that an image is uploaded for your products and that an order catalogue is configured for those products that will be available for ordering. It’s important to note the various options that CRM.COM offers when it comes to setting up products:
Manually in the back-end which is a suitable solution for small business with a limited catalogue.
The Import Data utility which you can easily prepare your products information in a file and import products and their prices.
The Product Synchronisation Web API which can be used to again import a big volume of products from a third-party system. This option requires additional development by an integrator.
CRM.COM’s Web APIs can always be used by integrators to develop your business customised products import into the platform. Refer to the Commerce user manuals for more information on setting up the product catalogue.
It’s strongly suggested that when creating products into CRM.COM you also consider setting up their prices as well. CRM.COM’s tools allow you to create a product and also its base price.
PROMOTIONS
Optionally, set up your Promotions that will be automatically applied when your contacts place their orders. Note that Promotions are also applied when contacts amend their subscriptions by either changing or adding more services to their subscriptions.
Subscriptions & Billing
CORE BUSINESS RULES
(Settings > Subscriptions & Billing)
Cancellation Policies
Define your business policies when it comes to when your subscribers can cancel their services.
Change Service Policies
Define your business policies when it comes to when your subscribers can change their services i.e. when a service can be upgraded and downgraded.
Service Delivery
Service Delivery is CRM.COM’s main set or processes that manage how your business delivers services to your contacts. So this essential piece of rules determines what keeps a service effective, when is deactivated and when services are automatically cancelled.
Billing Rules & Calendar Billing
Your business Billing Rules determine CRM.COM’s billing behaviour; when services are billed, characteristics of the billed period and how financial transactions are issued. Make sure to set up the rules according to your business billing requirements since changing them after going live might cause inconsistencies in services' billing periods.
Usage Billing Rules & Usage Charge Limits
Your business rules when it comes to usage-based billing. This set of setting scan be modified at any point in time with no side-effects in your contacts1' billing.
Orders
Order Fulfilment Policies
Determine how your business will fulfill orders placed by your contacts. A default policy is already configured that covers all supply methods and all of the organisations in your Business Network. Set up additional policies to differentiate fulfillment flows based on these two major factors, if needed.
Integrations
When it comes to Subscriptions & Commerce product, CRM.COM supports two major Integration capabilities.
PAYMENT GATEWAYS
If your business accepts payments from your contacts for their orders or for recurring billing purposes, then enable a Payment Gateway service integration to receive online payments. CRM.COM offers the following options:
Enable the CRM.COM Wallet Gateway to get your business start accepting payments by just enabling our gateway.
Enable one of CRM.COM’s supported Payment Gateway integrations. This option requires your business to create a merchant account on these services.
Implement a Payment Gateway plugin and integrate it to the platform using CRM.COm’s Integration Web APIs available here. Note that CRM.COM supports various Payment Flows which are described here.
PROVISIONING PROVIDERS
If your business is using a third party system to provision and authorise services to your contacts to various devices (OTT or CAS systems, with/out devices) then CRM.COM provides the following options:
Enable one of CRM.COM’s supported Provisioning Providers integrations or
Implement a Provisioning Provider plugin and integrate it to the platform using CRM.COM’s Integration Web APIs available here. Discover various Subscription flows in the Integrator Hub by clicking here.
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