Subscription products work differently from one-time purchases. When you A/B test prices, ABConvert creates duplicate products or variants behind the scenes. Subscription apps rely on stable product references, so a few extra steps are required to avoid broken subscriptions or canceled renewals.
By the end of this article, you will know what to do when you start a price test and how to end it safely without disrupting active subscribers.
When to use this
Use this guide if:
You are running a price test on subscription products
You want to avoid breaking existing subscription renewals
You plan to stop a price test and keep subscriptions active
How subscription price tests work in ABConvert
When you run a price test for subscription products, ABConvert uses one of two methods:
Duplicate variant method
Duplicate product method
These duplicates allow customers to purchase the same product at different prices. Subscription apps treat these duplicates as separate products or variants, which is why manual management is required.
You can check your current setup in ABConvert → Settings → Price test method.
What to do when you start a price test
When launching a price test, you must make sure your subscription app recognizes the duplicate products or variants created by ABConvert.
If this step is skipped, customers may not be able to subscribe to the test variant.
Step 1: identify the duplicate product or variant
Go to Shopify Admin → Products
Open the product used in your price test
Find the duplicate product or the duplicate variants
Copy the product ID or variant ID from the URL
In a price test, products with multiple variants will have an asterisk added to the option value to indicate the test group (e.g. * for Test Group 1, ** for Test Group 2).
For single-variant products, test groups are labeled using symbols in order: -, ., *, and +.
Step 2: add duplicates to your subscription app
Below is an example using Loop Subscription. Other subscription apps follow similar logic.
How to include duplicate variants/products in Loop Subscription
Open your Loop Subscription app
Go to Aquire > Selling plans
Select the selling plan used by your original product
Go to Products > Products mapped
For Duplicate Variant method users
Click X of N variants mapped
In the Select variants popup, select both original and the duplicate variants
Click Save
For Duplicate Product method users
Click on Add more products
In the Select products popup, select the duplicate product
Click Select
This allows customers in the test to successfully create subscription orders.
Here's a video demo on how to include duplicate variants in Loop Subscription:
What to do when you are about to end a price test
You should never stop a subscription price test without performing a product swap.
Why can't I end the test directly
During a price test, duplicate variants or products are created to ensure that customers can purchase at different price points. Our app carefully manages these duplicates.
When a test is stopped, the duplicates are either deleted or moved to draft status to prevent any impact on your store. However, this can disrupt subscription orders, potentially preventing them from continuing.
To ensure that subscription orders function normally after a test ends, we need to perform a product swap within your subscription app.
What exactly is product swap
A product swap is a process used in subscription apps to change a subscription order's product(s). This allows you to change the variant, SKU, or product in selected orders.
By performing a product swap, we ensure that subscription orders using the test price remain intact after the price test ends.
How to perform a product swap
To perform a product swap, you first need to identify the subscription orders you want to modify. You can filter these orders by product ID or variant ID.
Also, the ways to perform product swaps will differ from your price testing method. See "how to get my price testing method" section below for more details.
Product swap guides by app
Below, we provide instructions on how to perform a product swap in different apps.
For the most up-to-date information, please refer to the official documents.
Recharge
There are two ways to perform a product swap in Recharge:
Swap products using the Multi-select tool
Export a set of subscription orders, and use bulk update by uploading CSV file
For more details, please refer to Recharge bulk update guide.
Using the Multi-Select Tool In Recharge
Use the duplicate product ID or variant ID to filter out the Recharge order
Use the multi-select tool to select one or more orders and click
ActionsSelect Swap product and follow the instructions
Check progress in
Bulk updates > Processing status
For more details, please refer to Recharge multi-select tool article.
Using the Import Tool In Recharge
You can also export the orders with the product that needs to be swapped, and create a CSV file that specify order with which product (variants) should be swapped for one another.
For more details, please refer to Recharge import tool article.
Loop Subscription
In Loop Subscription, we can perform product swaps for individual orders in Loop Admin Portal.
For Pro plan users, it will be more effective to swap products for a large amount of subscription orders by using the Bulk Actions feature.
Swap subscription products from the Loop Admin Portal
Please refer to the official Loop Subscription Swap Product guide.
Swap subscription products using bulk actions
Go to Subscriptions > Bulk actions panel
Click on Create new bulk action
Select subscriptions by filtering with product id(s)
Decide actions > select Swap product(s) and select products to be swapped
For Duplicate Variant method users, you will need to add an action for each variant
Old product: Select duplicate variant
New product: Select original variant
For Duplicate Product method users
Old product: Select duplicate product
New product: Select original product
Don’t know which testing method you are using? Please refer to "How to get my price testing method" section above
Save the action
Go back to Bulk actions panel, and click on Run action for the added actions
For more details, please refer to the official Loop Subscription Bulk Actions guide.
Skio Subscription
In Skio Subscription, we can perform product swaps effectively with Bulk Operations.
How to perform product swap(s) using bulk operations in Skio Subscription?
Go to Tools > Bulk Operations
In Conditions panel, click on Add a condition and select Product based > Contains products
After the second condition has shown up, click on Add products
Select products that need to be swapped by filtering with the product names
For Duplicate Variant method, select duplicate variants of the products
For Duplicate Product method, select only the duplicate product
Don’t know which method you are using? Please refer to "How to get my price testing method" section above
In Actions panel, click on Add an action
For Duplicate Variant method, select Product based > Swap product variants, and follow step 6-1
For Duplicate Product method, select Product based > Bundle expansion, and follow step 6-2
6-1. In Swap product variants, select the variants to be swapped
Old product: select duplicate variant
New product: select original variant
6-2. In Bundle expansion, select the products to be swapped
Product to remove: select duplicate product
Products to add: select original product
7. Click on Start operation
Seal Subscription
In Seal Subscription, we can use automatic product swap feature to update subscription orders efficiently.
How to perform an automatic product swap in Seal Subscription?
Go to Automations > Product Swap and click on Create product swap
For Apply swap options, select Immediately on existing subscriptions
Click on Show advanced options, then click on Select products to filter out subscriptions by product id
In Remove these products from subscriptions,
For Duplicate Variant method, select duplicate variant of the product
For Duplicate Product method, select the duplicate product
Don’t know which method you are using? Please refer to"How to get my price testing method" section above
In Add these products to subscriptions,
For Duplicate Variant method, select original variant of the product
For Duplicate Product method, select the original product
Click on Save product swap
For more details, please refer to the official product swap video guide.
Smartrr Subscription
In Smartrr Subscription, you can update a subscription’s products directly from the admin panel.
How to perform a product swap in Smartrr Subscription?
Navigate to Subscriptions in the left-hand menu
Use the Filter option to locate subscriptions with the product that needs to be swapped
For Duplicate Variant method, select duplicate variant of the product
For Duplicate Product method, select the duplicate product
Don’t know which method you are using? Please refer to"How to get my price testing method" section above
Click on the blue subscription ID number to access the subscription details page
In the product list, locate the target product
Click Swap Product next to the product you want to replace
In the pop-up window, choose the original product to complete the swap
For Duplicate Variant method, select original variant of the product
For Duplicate Product method, select the original product
For more details, please refer to the official guide on adjusting subscription products.
Shopify Subscriptions
In Shopify Subscriptions, you can update a subscription’s products in the Contracts panel.
How to perform a product swap in Shopify Subscriptions?
Navigate to the Contracts panel in the left-hand menu
Locate the contracts containing the test product(s)
Open the contract details and click on Edit under Subscription Details
Use the search function to add the original variant or product:
For Duplicate Variant method, select for original variant of the product
For Duplicate Product method, select the original product
Don’t know which method you are using? Please refer to"How to get my price testing method" section above
Remove the duplicate variant or product from the subscription details
Update the price if needed
Click Save to finalize the updates
For more details, please refer to the official Shopify Subscriptions guide.
Appstle Subscription
Please refer to the official guide for performing a product swap in Appstle: https://intercom.help/appstle/en/articles/5195883-how-can-a-merchant-add-swap-delete-products
First, use Add products to add the original variant or product:
For Duplicate Variant method, select for original variant of the product
For Duplicate Product method, select the original product
Don’t know which method you are using? Please refer to"How to get my price testing method" section above
Then, use Delete Product to remove the duplicate variant or product from the subscription details.
Kaching Subscriptions
In Kcahing Subscriptions, you can update a subscription’s products in the Subscriptions panel.
How to perform a product swap in Kaching Subscriptions?
Navigate to the Subscriptions panel in the left-hand menu
Locate the subscriptions containing the test product(s)
Open the contract details and click on Edit under Subscription Details
In Edit Subscription, click on Change subscription products
Use the search function to add the original variant or product:
For Duplicate Variant method, select for original variant of the product
For Duplicate Product method, select the original product
Don’t know which method you are using? Please refer to"How to get my price testing method" section above
Remove the duplicate variant or product from the subscription details
Update the price if needed
Click Save to finalize the updates
For more details, please refer to the official Kaching Subscriptions guide.
Conclusion
In this article, we've explained how to safely end a price test across different subscription apps. We're also in talks with app providers to streamline this process, so that manual product swaps may not be necessary in the future.
If you have any questions or feedback, feel free to reach out via our support widget.