When you create a plan in Zendra, you choose its type and how customers get in. The type sets the model — a membership, a subscribe & save product, or a loyalty-style free program — and the trigger decides what grants access. This page walks through the options so you can pick the right combination.

When you’d use this

• Decide whether a plan should be free, paid one-time, or a recurring subscription.
• Choose how customers become members — by buying, by signing up, or automatically.
• Add a free trial or a signup fee to a paid plan.
• Set whether access lasts a fixed period or runs until cancelled.

The plan types

Every plan is one of three types:

• Membership — sells access through a digital product listing (e.g. a “VIP Access” product). Buying it makes the customer a member.
• Subscribe & save — sells a physical product on a recurring schedule (e.g. a monthly coffee), with member perks attached.
• Loyalty program — a free program where access is granted automatically rather than purchased.

How customers become members

A plan is activated by one of these triggers:

• Product purchase — the customer buys the plan’s assigned product. They can buy it once or subscribe using one of your billing plans.
• Account registration — grant a free membership automatically when a customer creates an account. Useful for growing your list and your member base at once.
• Shopify Flow — create or grant memberships automatically from a workflow (for example, “grant membership after $500 in lifetime spend”). See Shopify Flow.
• Manual grant — give any customer a complimentary membership directly from their Shopify customer page, no purchase required.

Billing and access options

For paid plans, a few settings shape the commercial terms:

• Billing interval — charge weekly, monthly, annually, or on a custom interval, with optional minimum commitment and maximum billing cycles.
• Free trial — let customers try the membership free for a set number of days before the first charge, independent of the plan’s billing interval.
• Signup fee — add a one-time enrollment fee on top of the recurring price.
• Fixed-length or open-ended — set the membership to expire after a specific duration, or run until the member cancels.

Common issues

• Customers can only buy once, not subscribe. The plan needs at least one billing plan configured — add one to offer a recurring option.
• A free program isn’t enrolling new account holders. Confirm the account-registration trigger is enabled on the plan.
• A trial charged immediately. Check the trial length (in days) is set on the billing plan and not left at zero.

Keep learning

• Create your first membership plan — a step-by-step setup.
• Recurring billing & subscriptions — billing intervals and options in depth.
• Shopify Flow — automate membership grants.