How to upsell to a subscription in checkout and cart

Overview

UpsellPlus allows you to convert one-time purchases into subscriptions directly in the cart or checkout through upsells or cross sells. This helps increase recurring revenue while offering convenience to your customers.

Step-by-Step Guide

Log in to Shopify Admin

Open the UpsellPlus App
Go to Apps in the lefthand menu
Click UpsellPlus from the list of installed apps

Create a checkout offer
Click Create offer > Checkout

Note: upselling to subscriptions in checkout is only available for Shopify Plus merchants. All merchants can use the upselling to subscriptions in cart or post-purchase.

Selling Subscriptions on the Post Purchase page


Add a product with a selling plan
Choose a product in the resource picker that has at least one selling plan in your subscription app

Tick Add as a subscription
This will show you all the available selling plans for the selected product




Choose your selling plan

Now, you have an upsell set up that will show the subscription product!
Use messaging to highlight the benefits of subscribing (e.g., savings, convenience)




The upsell will be added to cart, but it won't replace the item in cart yet. To let the customer swap out a one off product for a subscription:

Go to the Smart Rules card
Tick Swap product in cart with upsell product if added and Same quantity



You can set up smart rules so the subscription offer only shows when someone has the one-off version of the product in cart.

Key Tips
Show Savings: Highlight the price difference between one-time and subscription purchases
Test Different Plans: Experiment with different subscription lengths to see what converts best

Related Articles
How to A/B Test Checkout Upsells
How to Automatically Add a Free Gift to the Cart

Updated on: 11/02/2025