Learn how to launch a try before you buy campaign on products using deposits and payment authorization with Downpay on your Shopify online store.

On this page:

Offer try before you buy on products

• Overview
• Create the deferred payment purchase option in Downpay
• Create Shopify Flow authorization workflow
• Adjust language on your store for your trial program
• Launch your campaign by enabling the Downpay block on your theme

Try before you buy order management

• Fulfillment
• Payment collection and returns

• FAQs

Offer try before you buy on products

Overview

Try before you buy is a selling strategy that allows customers to try products for a limited time before being charged for them. This selling strategy is valuable when customers need to determine the right size for clothing or shoes, choosing colour for makeup, or testing a product out like a mattress to determine if it's the right fit. Try before you buy is a great way to increase conversion on products that usually are more difficult to sell online.

Try before you buy can be set up easily by offering a 0$ deposit on the trial products and only authorizing payment on the payment method at checkout. This ensures a hold is placed on the card that merchants can capture should products not be returned by the end of the trial period.

Create the deferred payment purchase option in Downpay

Begin by creating a purchase option that suits your trial campaign in Downpay. Make sure to assign all products you wish to offer on trial and set a payment due date that matches the trial period along with any shipping timelines to added accuracy.

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Create Shopify Flow authorization workflow

To ensure orders are authorized once they are created, we will be using Shopify Flow which is available on all Shopify plans. This workflow will only trigger on orders that have a Downpay purchase option in them.

Create this workflow or simply download the workflow file and make sure to set it to active.

Trigger: [Shopify] Order created
Condition: [Flow] Wait 10 seconds
Action: [Downpay] Authorize remaining payment

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Adjust language on your store for your trial program

Some default language on checkout and email notifications that Downpay installs with may not fit your try before you buy campaign and these guides can be used to tweak content to suit your brand.

• Checkout due later language
• Email notifications

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Launch your campaign by enabling the Downpay block on your theme

Follow the Downpay theme install guide to install Downpay blocks on your product and cart page and make any necessary content changes to suit your campaign.

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Try before you buy order management

Fulfillment

Be default, fulfillments are marked On Hold when using the Downpay payment due date type: Days after checkout. For try before you buy, this isn't very useful and it is recommended to release the On Hold fulfillments manually or with a Shopify Flow workflow to save time. We've provided one below.

Once the order holds are release, you may proceed with fulfillment as usual.

Payment collection and returns

If you've enabled the 2 Shopify Flow workflows, automatic payment authorization and automatic fulfillment hold release, try before you buy orders will appear in Shopify like this example:

In this section, we will discuss various scenarios depending on what a customer decides to keep and return.

Customer keeps all items

In this scenario, simply use the capture payment button to collect the balance owed.

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Customers keep some items

Once a customer has reached out to request a return for some items, simply use Shopify's return workflow.

1. Toggle quantity of the right line item you wish you return, set a reason and return label url or tracking. Click Create return

Customers will receive a Return created email notification with the return label.

2. Once a return has been created, the remaining balance of the order will be adjusted to calculate only for the items left in the order. The payment authorization will still be active for the full amount of the previous remaining balance.

3. Once the product has been received, you may use the restock button to complete the return.

4. Now you may capture the remaining balance left on the order using the capture payment button and entering in the cost found under the Balance line. In this case, $99.30.

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Customers keep no items

If customers choose to return all products, simply follow the workflow for Customers keep some items.

One all items have been returned, if you do not want to refund the amount that was paid for the trial, use the Close return option found on the return section of the order page to close out the return.

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FAQs

How can I limit how many products are allow in the cart for a trial?

We recommend looking for an order limiting app on Shopify for this functionality. An example is AOD ‑ Order Limits (Min‑Max).

Can customers use a portal to tell me which items are kept?

We do not have this feature at this time. Customers would have to reach out for support to begin the returns process.

Can I limit try before you buy to certain customers or regions?

Yes, it is possible to conditionally display Downpay deposits to only select customers or regions.

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Updated on: 21/11/2024