This article assumes that you have already completed the app installation and have added the storefront widget to a backup theme. Since your store is not live, we'll want to enable test mode for Shopify Payments.
Step 1 - Enable Shopify Payments Test Mode (optional)
This step is optional, and allows you to process payments on Shopify's checkout using test credit cards. If you don't do this, you can simply change the price of your product to $0 temporarily, or create a 100% off discount code.
To enable test mode, follow the instructions here: https://help.shopify.com/en/manual/payments/shopify-payments/testing-shopify-payments#enable-test-mode-for-shopify-payments
Step 2 - Create a non-physical product
Simplee Memberships works by linking a recurring payment to a single Shopify product. Before creating a membership plan, you should create a non-physical product which will represent this memberships.
Step 3 - Create a Membership Plan
You may have already created a membership plan when setting up Simplee Memberships. If not, complete the following steps:
Open the Simplee Memberships app
Open the Plans page
Create a new Plan
Set the membership plan's name
Choose a customer tag
Choose an order tag (optional)
Select the membership product you created in Step 2
Set one or more membership lengths
You can offer your membership for a single length, or add in as many options as you'd like
Optionally create rules and form fields
Save your plan
Step 3 - Checkout with test plan
Now we want to go through the entire checkout process as though you were a customer.
In your Shopify admin, click Online Store, then on the theme which has the widget on it, click Actions > Preview
Navigate to the product page where you set up your membership product
IMPORTANT: If you only set up a single membership length, you will not see a widget on the product page. When you add the product to the cart and at checkout, you should see the membership's display name under the product name
When you add the membership to your cart, does the cart show the Display Name of the membership?
Go to the checkout page - does the product show the Display Name of the subscription?
Complete the checkout using a test credit card (or real card if you did not enable test mode)
You can use 4242 4242 4242 4242 as the credit card number and any valid information for name, expiry date, and CVV
Step 4 - Emails and customer management
Now that you've created a membership (nice job!), check these things:
See that you received an email as the customer indicating that you've started your membership - if the format or branding needs updating, do so in the app's Settings page
In the app, within a minute of checkout, the membership will appear on the Memberships page
Click on the membership, and get familiar with the membership management page
We recommend trying things like sending a credit card update request and testing out the activity log and customer notes features
Step 5 - Login as a customer
Go back to the theme preview, and login to the store using the email you checked out with (you may need to create an account first). If you don't have an option to login as a customer or create an account, enable customer accounts on the Shopify Settings > Checkout page.
Check these things:
On the Account page, do you see a link to My Memberships?
Click the link - does the customer portal load successfully?
Step 6 - Launch and/or customize
If you're happy with your flow, you can go ahead and publish this backup theme.
If you'd like to make minor or major updates to your product page widget, or your customer portal, we would love to assist! The Simplee team has extremely affordable development services available.
That's it! If you're ever stuck, open the app and chat with our support team.