Order schedule preferences in Loop let brands control how subscription orders are scheduled and processed.
You can use these settings to:
Choose whether subscriptions are scheduled based on the charge date or the actual delivery date.
Define allowed billing days of the week, so any order falling on a non-billing day is automatically moved to the next available billing day.
In this article, we’ll learn how to leverage these settings to achieve different scheduling and operational use cases.
Why use order schedule preferences?
Order schedule preferences help brands align subscription billing and order scheduling with their operational needs. In Loop, you can achieve this using two key preferences.
Preference 1: Order schedule based on billing
Use this when you want the order schedule to be created based on the billing date. For example, if a subscription starts on 5th Feb, the order is scheduled to be delivered on 5th Feb (same day as billing).
Preference 2: Order schedule based on delivery
Use this when you want to bill customers before the actual delivery date. This is commonly used by meal brands that charge 3–4 days prior to delivery to estimate preparation quantities. For example, an order is charged on 2nd Feb and scheduled to be delivered on 5th Feb.
Customizing texts for customer portal
Brands can customize the text shown to subscribers based on the enabled preference by navigating to "Customer portal > Themes > Text > Order now flow texts"
Order schedule based on billing
Configuration
Follow these steps to complete the process.
Navigate to Loop > Settings > Order and shipping section > Order schedule preferences
Select “Order schedule based on billing”. Once enabled, a child preference for “Billing days” will appear.
Billing days
Configure the days of the week when recurring orders can be processed. Orders scheduled on non-billing days are moved to the next available billing day.
Bill orders on all days
Bill orders on specific days
Customer portal experience
Example 1: Order schedule preference set to Order schedule based on delivery and Bill orders on all day
User created a subscription on 16th Feb from the storefront. As per the current order schedule preference billing and delivery schedule is also set for 16th Feb the same day subscription got created.
Example 2: Order schedule preference set to Order schedule based on delivery and Bill orders on specific days only (i.e Monday)
User created a subscription on 16th Feb (Monday) from the storefront. As per the current order schedule preference billing and delivery schedule is also set for 16th Feb the same day subscription got created.
In this case the next recurring order schedule for billing is set for Monday only as shown below:
March 16, 2026
April 20, 2026
May 25, 2026 and so on
Order schedule based on delivery
Configuration
Follow these steps to complete the process.
Navigate to Loop > Settings > Order and shipping section > Order schedule preferences
Select “Order schedule based on billing” and click on Save
Charge offset
Defining a charge offset allows brands to decide how many days before the actual delivery date an order should be billed.
For example, if the charge offset is set to 4 days, the order will be charged 4 days prior to the delivery date.
In Advance rules, brands can configure different charge offsets for specific locations based on their business requirements. If no specific condition is defined for a particular location, the default charge offset condition will be applied.
If brands update the charge offset, for example, from 4 days to 3 days, they can use the bulk "Update charge offset" option to apply the new setting to existing subscriptions in the system.
Handle first delivery/pickup date
Brands can use this setting to control the first delivery or pickup date selected at checkout and based on that how the recurring order schedule will be created in Loop. This setting is required when brands use pickup + delivery apps like Zapiet at checkout to let customers choose the first order date.
Learn more: How to setup Loop <> Zapiet integration
This section contains two critical configurations:
Checkout date field name
Shipping date field name
Local delivery date field name
Pickup date field name
Date format and date separator
These keys can be found in the Shopify order detail page under the additional details section.
Brands need to ensure that the correct values are added in the configuration blocks to make sure the order schedule is created as per their requirement. If we entered the wrong key, then the recurring orders will be scheduled based on when the customer placed the checkout order.
For example, a customer checks out on 17th Feb but selects 25th Feb in the Zapiet date calendar as the first delivery date. If Handle first delivery/pickup date is configured correctly in Loop, the first order will be created for 25th Feb, and recurring orders will be scheduled after that based on the subscription frequency.
Add delivery date tag on orders
Using add date tag on order preference, brands can add a delivery-date-based tag to subscription orders, which is useful for tracking purposes.
Need help?
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Regards,
Loop Subscriptions Team 🙂