Skip to content
Arc XP
Product Documentation

Subscriptions basics: Features & concepts

A lightning-fast website transforms reader engagement, while intuitive editorial tools supercharge content creators’ productivity. Yet, for publishers, these features alone don’t guarantee sustainable growth. Long-term success hinges on adopting a robust and adaptable revenue model. For many publishers today, the key lies in building direct reader revenue through subscriptions.

Arc Subscriptions is a powerful, API-first platform designed to help publishers deepen audience connections and generate revenue through digital subscriptions. Its extensible nature ensures seamless integration with your existing systems, offering unparalleled flexibility to meet the unique demands of your business. By prioritizing adaptability, Arc empowers publishers to innovate, experiment, and scale with ease.

The platform enables a smooth, customizable checkout process, supporting multiple payment gateways for secure, flexible transactions. Its architecture ensures that subscription renewals are managed effortlessly, adhering to the billing cadence defined by the publisher. With robust reporting capabilities, Arc Subscriptions keeps stakeholders informed and equips teams with actionable insights for data-driven decisions.

The API-first approach of Arc Subscriptions makes it exceptionally extensible, allowing publishers to tailor integrations and workflows to their specific needs. Whether building custom user experiences, integrating with third-party systems, or leveraging advanced analytics, the platform offers the tools and flexibility to grow alongside your business.

By combining cutting-edge tools, an open and extensible architecture, and a focus on experimentation, Arc Subscriptions provides a comprehensive solution for building, managing, and scaling subscription-based revenue. It’s the foundation publishers need to thrive in an ever-evolving digital landscape.

Please checkout What is a subscription in Arc XP Subscriptions for more details.

Checkouts

The digital subscription purchase process in Arc XP Subscriptions follows a shopping cart model: items are added to the cart, an order is created, and payment is processed.

Arc XP Subscriptions offers two distinct checkout flows, tailored to different user needs and implementation strategies:

Regular Checkout: This flow is designed for authenticated users who are already logged into Arc XP Identity. The order creation process begins seamlessly, ensuring a smooth and straightforward experience for subscribers.

Express Checkout: Ideal for reducing friction, this flow allows non-authenticated or anonymous customers to purchase subscriptions without requiring immediate registration. Once the purchase is complete, customers will be prompted to register and create an account, streamlining the process for first-time users or those seeking a faster checkout experience.

These flexible checkout options cater to diverse customer preferences, ensuring an efficient and user-friendly subscription experience.

Please refer to Checkout to purchase a subscription for more details.

Taxes

Arc XP Subscriptions offers a dynamic range of tax calculators designed to optimize efficiency, ensure compliance, and simplify tax management for businesses:

Zero Tax: Perfect for scenarios where no tax is applicable, this default option eliminates unnecessary complexity, allowing businesses to focus on seamless transactions in tax-exempt situations.

Custom Tax: Provides unparalleled flexibility to adapt to diverse tax regulations. Businesses can easily configure tax rates and rules to meet specific jurisdictional requirements, ensuring accuracy and compliance across multiple regions.

Taxamo Integration: Unlocks the power of automated tax compliance for digital sales. This integration simplifies the handling of complex tax scenarios, such as cross-border transactions, by automating tax calculations and compliance requirements, saving time and reducing errors.

These tax calculator options empower businesses to tailor their approach to meet operational needs while maintaining compliance, enhancing the customer experience, and reducing administrative burdens.

See Set up taxes: custom taxes and external integrations for more details.

Subscription Management

Subscriptions can be managed in three distinct ways:

  • CSR Management: Subscriptions can be handled through the Arc Admin Tool, allowing Customer Service Representatives (CSRs) to directly manage accounts. See Subscription Managment: CSR perspective for details.

  • Developer API: Subscriptions can be controlled programmatically by utilizing developer APIs, offering flexibility for integration and automation. See Subscription Managment: Developer interface for details.

  • Reader Self-Service: Readers can manage their subscriptions independently using front-end applications built on top of Arc XP’s public APIs and SDKs. See Subscription Managment: Reader experience for details.

Using these options you can easily:

  • Search Orders: Easily retrieve order information using parameters like order total, dates, or payment details.
  • Access Detailed Order Information: View transactions, including payments and refunds, with options for issuing refunds and managing associated data.
  • Manage Subscriptions: Perform actions such as canceling, restoring, terminating, or extending subscriptions, updating products, prices, billing addresses, or tax statuses, and handling subscription-specific tasks like gift and shared subscription management.
  • Handle Payments and Refunds: Issue refunds (full, prorated, or custom) and manage payment details with transparency and flexibility.
  • Support Various Subscription Types: Cater to paid, complimentary, gift, shared, enterprise, and group subscriptions, with tailored options for each.

Product, Prices, and Offers

Products and Prices

Each subscription links to a product (SKU) and a pricing strategy (PriceCode) that defines rates and renewal terms. Marketers can create and manage products and prices via an intuitive interface, which supports flexible pricing options like recurring subscriptions and one-time gift purchases. Product and price statuses (Draft, Published, Archived) ensure clear organization and tracking across campaigns, while configurable renewal cadences and pricing strategies cater to diverse business needs.

The platform supports robust customization for subscription products, including entitlements, shared access, and detailed product descriptions, which can enhance customer engagement. Currencies and tax settings allow global adaptability, while tools for filtering, editing, and organizing products and prices streamline management. For details, see Set up products and prices.

Offers

The Arc Subscriptions Offers tool empowers marketers to efficiently manage products and marketing campaigns to drive business growth. Marketers begin by creating products and pricing strategies, which serve as the foundation for compelling offers. Once products and prices are configured, marketers can create offers by adding essential elements like headlines, subheadlines, disclaimers, and optional images. Offers can include multiple products, each with one or more pricing strategies, showcasing variations such as term lengths. Custom variables allow further customization, and a default offer can be set for display on the paywall once it is published.

Marketers can enhance campaigns by adding campaign codes, enabling targeted promotions such as flash sales or exclusive offers. Campaign codes can also control access for specific customer groups, such as existing subscribers. Publishing an offer automatically sets the associated products and prices to “Published” status, ensuring they are ready for customer use. Once published, changes are limited to avoid disruptions to existing subscriptions. With these tools, marketers can effectively build, schedule, and launch campaigns, driving traffic and maximizing conversions. Check out Set up and publish offers for more details.

Entitlements

The Arc XP Entitlement system allows subscribers to access specific sections or content types when a paywall is deployed. While product SKUs handle subscription purchases, Entitlements determine what content subscribers can access. An Entitlement groups sections, sites, or content types, creating a flexible layer between product SKUs and paywall access controls. Each product can have multiple Entitlements, while a paywall rule typically has one Entitlement governing access. This setup enables cross-site subscriptions and bundling options, streamlining access management for diverse content offerings.