Woocommerce Help How To Change Renewal Date

WooCommerce Help: How to Change Renewal Date for Subscriptions

Introduction

WooCommerce Subscriptions is a powerful plugin that allows you to sell products or services on a recurring basis. Managing subscriptions effectively involves understanding how to adjust renewal dates, whether for individual subscriptions or across the board. This article provides a comprehensive guide on how to change renewal dates in WooCommerce Subscriptions, ensuring you can manage your recurring revenue streams with ease. Whether you need to accommodate customer requests, streamline your billing cycles, or simply fix an error, this guide will walk you through the process step-by-step. It is important to change renewal dates carefully because doing it incorrectly can cause disruption to customers and the payment systems in place.

Main Part: Changing Subscription Renewal Dates in WooCommerce

Changing renewal dates in WooCommerce Subscriptions requires careful attention and understanding of the different methods available. Here’s a breakdown of the approaches you can take:

1. Changing the Renewal Date for a Single Subscription

This method is ideal for handling specific customer requests or correcting individual subscription errors.

Steps:

1. Navigate to WooCommerce > Subscriptions: In your WordPress admin dashboard, locate and click on the “WooCommerce” tab, then select “Subscriptions.”

2. Find the Subscription: Search for the specific subscription you want to modify. You can use the search bar or filters to narrow down the list.

3. Open the Subscription Details: Click on the subscription to view its details page.

4. Edit the Subscription: Scroll down to the “Subscription Totals” section. Here, you’ll see the “Next Payment” date. Click on the “Edit” button (usually a pencil icon) next to this date.

5. Update the Renewal Date: A calendar will appear. Select the new renewal date you want to set. Be extremely careful when choosing the new date. Make sure it fits your intended change.

6. Save Changes: Click the “Save” button (or similar) to apply the new renewal date. The “Next Payment” date in the subscription details should now reflect the change.

7. Important Note: Changing the next payment date does not automatically process the payment. It simply schedules the payment for the new date. If you want to process the payment immediately, see the next section.

2. Manually Processing a Renewal

Sometimes you might need to process a renewal immediately after changing the date. This is useful if a customer’s payment failed and you’ve updated their renewal date accordingly.

Steps:

1. Follow Steps 1-3 above to find and open the specific subscription.

2. Subscription Actions: Look for the “Subscription Actions” meta box. This usually appears on the right-hand side of the subscription details page.

3. Process Renewal: In the “Subscription Actions” meta box, select “Process Renewal” from the dropdown menu and click “Go.”

4. Review the Order: A new order will be generated for the renewal. Review the order details carefully.

5. Complete the Order: If everything is correct, mark the order as “Processing” and then “Completed” to simulate a successful payment. If the payment should fail based on the settings of the system, review the steps taken and consult the woocommerce subscription documention.

3. Using Code Snippets (Advanced)

For more complex scenarios or to automate renewal date adjustments based on specific conditions, you can use code snippets.

Example: Let’s say you want to add a function that adjusts all renewal dates by one week.

/**
Adjust all subscription renewal dates by one week.
*/
function adjust_all_subscription_renewal_dates_by_week() {
$subscriptions = wcs_get_subscriptions( array(
'limit' => -1, // Get all subscriptions
) );

foreach ( $subscriptions as $subscription ) {

$next_payment_timestamp = $subscription->get_time( ‘next_payment’ );

$new_payment_timestamp = strtotime( ‘+1 week’, $next_payment_timestamp );

$new_payment_date = date( ‘Y-m-d H:i:s’, $new_payment_timestamp );

$subscription->update_dates( array(

‘next_payment’ => $new_payment_date,

) );

}

}

// Important: Remove this line after running once! Otherwise, it will keep adding a week!

// adjust_all_subscription_renewal_dates_by_week();

Explanation:

• `wcs_get_subscriptions()`: Retrieves all subscriptions.
• `$subscription->get_time( ‘next_payment’ )`: Gets the timestamp of the next payment date.
• `strtotime( ‘+1 week’, $next_payment_timestamp )`: Adds one week to the timestamp.
• `date( ‘Y-m-d H:i:s’, $new_payment_timestamp )`: Formats the timestamp into a date string suitable for WooCommerce.
• `$subscription->update_dates()`: Updates the subscription’s next payment date.
• Important: This example is provided for educational purposes. Test thoroughly on a staging site before using on a live site. You also need to add this code snippet using a plugin like Code Snippets or directly in your theme’s `functions.php` file (child theme is recommended). Make sure to remove the function call after you run it once, otherwise it will run on every page load and continuously adjust the renewal dates.

4. Things to Consider Before Making Changes

Before altering any renewal dates, keep the following in mind.

• Communicate with Customers: Inform customers of any significant changes to their renewal dates, explaining the reason for the adjustment. Good communication helps prevent confusion and dissatisfaction.
• Impact on Revenue: Be mindful of how changes might impact your cash flow, especially if adjusting renewal dates across a large number of subscriptions.
• Payment Gateway Limitations: Some payment gateways might have limitations on how far in advance you can schedule payments. Check your gateway’s documentation.
• Subscription Status: Ensure the subscription is active before attempting to modify the renewal date.
• Backups: Always back up your database before making significant changes to your WooCommerce Subscriptions data.

Conclusion

Changing renewal dates in WooCommerce Subscriptions can be achieved effectively by manually adjusting individual subscriptions, processing renewals directly, or, for more complex scenarios, using code snippets. Understanding the different methods and considering the potential impact on your business and your customers will allow you to manage subscriptions more effectively, streamlining the way that subscriptions are handled. Always test changes on a staging environment before implementing them on your live website. Remember to communicate with customers and monitor the results after making any adjustments. By following these guidelines, you can maintain smooth subscription management and keep your recurring revenue flowing without interruption.