Collect recurring payments with subscriptions

When you configure a payment link or quote to collect recurring payments using HubSpot payments, HubSpot tracks these recurring payments through a subscription record in the CRM. And because HubSpot automatically bills the buyer based on the schedule you set in the payment link or quote, you don't need to create separate payment links to collect regular payments.

In this article, learn about:

• How subscriptions work
• The ways that you can view, edit, or cancel subscriptions
• How to turn on payment reminder emails
• Working with subscriptions in other HubSpot tools. 

How subscriptions work

When a buyer uses a payment link or quote to purchase a line item with a regular billing frequency (also known as a recurring line item), HubSpot creates a subscription to automatically charge the buyer at the specified frequency. This means that you don't need to create multiple payment links to charge a buyer for products or services that renew regularly.

When a buyer purchases a recurring line item, the following happens:

• You and the buyer will receive a payment notification for the first subscription payment. 
  
  

  Buyer receipt	Merchant receipt

• HubSpot will create a subscription record to track recurring payments. The subscription record will automatically be associated with the contact that matches the email address submitted during checkout. It will also automatically be associated with the contact's associated company, deal, and payment record.
  • Line items with the same billing frequency, billing terms, billing start date, and number of payments are tracked on the same subscription record, as they can be billed together.
  • Line items with different billing frequencies, billing terms, billing start dates, and number of payments are tracked on separate subscription records. For example, if a payment link includes two recurring line items, one monthly and one yearly, two subscription records will be created. Similarly, if a payment link contains two recurring line items with different billing terms, two subscription records will be created.
  • If a recurring payment is made using ACH, a subscription record will be created once the ACH payment is authorized and submitted, even if the payment is still pending.

Please note: HubSpot will not create subscription records for recurring line items when Stripe is the selected payment method.

• When the next payment due date arrives, HubSpot automatically charges the buyer using the payment method they originally purchased with. If the customer needs to update this payment method, you can send them a link to update it.
• For each charge, HubSpot will email the buyer a receipt, and the properties on the subscription record in HubSpot will be updated. You can also turn on reminder emails to notify the buyer 14 days before their next subscription payment. 
• HubSpot will send email notifications to the account admins when a subscription payment is made or fails. You can turn these notifications off within your notification settings.

View subscriptions

You can view subscriptions either from the subscription index page or from a subscription's associated contact, company, deal, and payment records. From either place, you can check the status of a subscription, edit the susbcription, or send the buyer a link to update their payment method.

View subscriptions on the subscription index page

Use the subscription index page to view all subscriptions, create and use saved views to filter subscriptions by specific criteria. To view the index page, navigate to Sales > Payments > Subscriptions.

• The subscriptions index page includes two default views, which you can access by clicking the Unpaid and Scheduled tabs above the table. These views filter subscriptions based on the Status property. Learn more about subscription statuses.
• Use the Status and Next payment due date dropdown menus to quickly filter all subscriptions by those attributes. Or, click Advanced filters to set up additional filter criteria.
• To save a view for future use, click Save view at the upper right of the table. You can create up to 50 views.
• To view a subscription's full details or edit the subscription, click the subscription name.

Learn more about viewing and filter records on the index page.

View subscriptions on associated CRM records

To view a subscription from one of its associated records:

• Navigate to your records:
  • In your HubSpot account, navigate to Contacts > Contacts.
  • In your HubSpot account, navigate to Contacts > Companies.
  • In your HubSpot account, navigate to Sales > Deals.
  • In your HubSpot account, navigate to Sales > Payments > Payments.
• Click the name of the record associated with the subscription.
• In the right sidebar, navigate to the Subscriptions card to view the subscription status and start date.

• For more information, hover over the subscription and click Preview.

• In the right panel, review the subscription's details and edit the subscription as needed. 

Subscription statuses

Below, learn more about what each subscription means:

• Active: all scheduled payments have been processed successfully.
• Unpaid: the scheduled payment for the current billing cycle failed. An email will be sent to the buyer requesting that they update their payment information. Learn more about addressing failed subscription payments.
• Canceled: the subscription has been canceled before term. Buyers will not be charged for canceled subscriptions.
• Expired: the buyer has been charged as per the initial billing term and no further charges are expected. Buyers will not be charged for expired subscriptions.
• Scheduled: the subscription's billing has been delayed to start in the future, as shown in the Start date property. 

Edit a subscription

If you need to update an existing subscription, such as its line items, next payment due date, payment method, and associated contact:

• In your HubSpot account, navigate to Sales > Payments > Subscriptions. 
• From the subscription index page, click the name of the subscription.
• In the right panel, click Actions in the upper right, then select one of the following options:
  • Edit subscription: edit the subscription's list items, including price, quantity, and discounts.
  • Update payment method: update the payment method used for subscription billing.
  • Edit next payment date: schedule the next payment due date for another date.
    
    
  • You can also scroll to the Contacts section of the subscription, then click + Add to update the associated contact.

Alternatively, you can access the subscription side panel from any of its associated CRM records. 

Cancel a subscription

If a buyer asks to cancel their subscription, you can cancel the subscription via the subscription record in HubSpot. The subscription will be canceled immediately and the customer will no longer be charged. You can wait to cancel until the end of the billing term, or cancel the subscription and issue a refund for the unused service days. If you cancel a subscription that has a pending ACH payment, the pending payment will not be automatically canceled and refunded, so you will also need to issue a refund for that pending payment.

Please note: if you don't have a refund policy, it is recommended to cancel closer to the billing date.

• In your HubSpot account, navigate to Sales > Payments > Subscriptions.

• From the subscription index page, click the name of the subscription.
• In the top right of the panel, click the Actions dropdown menu then select Cancel subscription.
• In the dialog box, select the I understand the customer won't be charged again checkbox.
• Click Cancel subscription.

The customer will receive a subscription cancellation email.

If you canceled the subscription before the end of the billing term, learn how to issue a refund from your payments dashboard. You can also create a subscription-based workflow to send a notification to your team when a customer's next payment is due to remind them to cancel the subscription.

Turn on payment reminder emails

You can send a payment reminder email to your buyers 14 days before their next subscription payment is due.

• In your HubSpot account, click the settings settings icon in the main navigation bar.
• In the left sidebar menu, navigate to Payments.
• Click the Notifications tab.
• Click to toggle the Upcoming payment reminder switch on.

• Click Save.

Moving forward, an email reminder will be sent to a buyer before their next payment. You can also use workflows to send notifications for an upcoming subscription payment.

Using subscriptions in other HubSpot tools

You can use subscription data in other HubSpot tools, including workflows, lists, and reports.

• Create subscription-based workflows to automate actions based on subscription information. For example, send an internal notification to your team when a subscription's status is past due, or automatically update the subscription owner. Learn more about subscription enrollment triggers.
• Track recurring revenue in the subscriptions analytics tool, or create a custom report based on subscription data. When creating a custom report, make sure to select Subscriptions as the data source, or the single object if creating a single object custom report.
  
• Segment your contacts or companies into lists based on subscription properties. For example, create a list of contacts with a known subscription end date, then send an email to the list of contacts encouraging them to renew.