Customer Management & Controls

This guide covers how to configure customer restrictions, subscription controls, and self-service options in your offers. These settings help protect your business from abuse while giving legitimate customers the flexibility they need to manage their subscriptions effectively.

From purchase limits that prevent fraud to skip options that reduce cancellations, this guide will help you understand and configure the customer management features that work best for your business model.

Why Customer Controls Matter

Smart customer management isn't just about restrictions - it's about:

Preventing fraud and abuse with purchase limits and restrictions
Reducing cancellations by giving customers flexibility to pause or skip
Protecting your business from chargebacks and disputes
Improving customer satisfaction through self-service options
Maintaining subscription value by preventing gaming of trial offers

Purchase Limits & Restrictions

Control who can purchase your offers and how often to prevent abuse and protect your business model.

One Per Customer

Limit customers to one purchase of this offer, ever. This is enforced by email address across all payment methods.

When to use:

Trial offers to prevent repeat trial abuse
Limited-time promotions
First-time customer bonuses
High-value offers with special pricing

How it works:

Vrio checks email address against all previous orders
Blocks duplicate purchases even with different payment methods
Applies across all campaigns using this offer

One Per Customer Period (Optional):
You can enhance this restriction with a time-based period setting. Instead of blocking forever, you can limit purchases within a set number of hours. This is typically used as a fraud reduction tool.

Set a specific number of hours (e.g., 24, 48, 720 for 30 days)
Customers can purchase again after the period expires
Useful for preventing rapid repeat purchases while allowing legitimate reorders later

Example: A $1 trial skincare subscription limited to one per customer prevents users from creating multiple accounts to get repeated trial pricing. With a 720-hour (30-day) period, customers could potentially purchase again after a month if you want to allow periodic trials.

To edit the One Per Customer setting on an offer, Navigate to the offer you want to edit and click on the Settings tab.

One Per Card

Limit customers to one purchase of this offer per payment method. Only available for credit card payment methods. Vrio determines the card using the card bin number, card last 4 digits, and expiration month.

When to use:

Preventing card testing or fraud attempts
Limiting promotional offers
Reducing risk from stolen payment methods

How it works:

Only applies to credit card payment methods
Vrio checks the card bin number, last 4 digits, and expiration month
Same card cannot be used for multiple purchases of this offer
Creates a unique fingerprint for each payment method

To edit the One Per Card setting on an offer, Navigate to the offer you want to edit and click on the Settings tab.

Subscription Management Controls

Give customers control over their subscriptions while protecting your business interests.

Skippable Transactions & Shipments

Allow customers to skip upcoming transactions and/or shipments without cancelling their subscription entirely.

How skipping works:

Skip Transaction:

Marks the transaction and any related shipments as skipped
Schedules the next transaction and shipment based on the offer cycle configuration
No billing occurs for the skipped cycle

Skip Shipment Only:

Skips just the shipment, not the billing
Schedules the next shipment and pushes any billing out based on the shipment schedule
Useful for customers who want to continue paying but pause delivery

Benefits for your business:

Reduces cancellations: Customers skip instead of cancelling
Maintains subscription value: Customer relationship continues
Improves satisfaction: Flexibility increases loyalty

Benefits for customers:

Skip during vacation or travel
Skip when they have product oversupply
Manage temporary budget constraints

For detailed skipping configuration and setup, see: Skipping Renewals and Shipments Guide

Pause Subscriptions

Allow customers to temporarily pause their entire subscription.

How pause works:
When it's time for the customer to bill, Vrio will skip the transaction and schedule the next renewal at that time based on the offer's billing frequency.

When customers pause:

All future billing stops
All future shipments stop
Subscription can be reactivated later
Customer account and preferences remain intact

Use cases:

Extended travel or deployment
Seasonal usage products
Temporary financial hardship
Medical or personal reasons

For detailed pause configuration and setup, see: Offer Pausing Guide

Frequency Changes

Allow customers to change their subscription frequency (e.g., monthly to bi-monthly).

Common frequency options:

Every 30 days → Every 60 days
Monthly → Bi-monthly
Weekly → Every 2 weeks

When to enable:

Products with variable consumption rates
Customers requesting frequency changes via support

For detailed setup instructions, see: Frequency Editing Configuration Guide

Offer Swapping

Allow customers to switch between different offers without cancelling and restarting their subscription.

How Offer Swapping Works

When a customer swaps offers, the renewal for the current offer is cancelled and a new renewal transaction is created on the new offer's schedule along with any associated shipments.

Benefits

For customers:

Seamless switching between product options
No loss of subscription history or preferences
Avoid cancellation fees or restart friction

For your business:

Prevent cancellations when customers want different products
Cross-sell to different offers within your ecosystem
Maintain customer lifetime value through transitions

For detailed configuration instructions, see: Offer Swapping Setup Guide

Expiration Dates & Time Limits

Offer Expiration

Offer expiration allows you to set a date when the offer will be moved to an expired status. This is useful for time-limited programs where customers sign up but the offer itself expires after a certain period.

Example use case:
A VIP membership program where customers sign up for exclusive benefits, but the offer expires after one year and they need to re-enroll.

How it works:

Set an expiration date on the offer
Offer automatically moves to expired status on that date
Existing subscriptions continue but new signups are prevented

For complete expiration configuration including reminders, see: Offer Expiration System Guide

Advanced Customer Controls

Gifting Controls

When offers are marked as "giftable":

Purchase process includes gift recipient information
Gift notifications and claim processes
Gift subscription management separate from purchaser

For detailed gifting configuration and setup, see: Gift Offers Guide

Implementation Best Practices

Start Conservative

Begin with more restrictive settings and loosen them based on customer feedback and fraud patterns.

Monitor Usage Patterns

Track how customers use self-service features:

Skip usage frequency and patterns
Pause duration and frequency
Frequency change adoption
Support ticket reduction

Balance Flexibility with Protection

Find the sweet spot between customer convenience and business protection:

Generous enough to improve satisfaction
Restrictive enough to prevent abuse
Clear enough to set proper expectations

Communicate Clearly

Make sure customers understand:

What controls are available to them
How to access self-service features
Limitations and restrictions
When they need to contact support

Remember: The goal is to give customers enough control to stay happy while protecting your business from abuse. Start with your biggest customer pain points and add controls that address those specific issues.