Developing a subscription based website

ian · May 7, 2015

Whilst I already run a successful ecommerce website, I bought it off the shelf and developed it a very long time ago (2005) and things have certainly moved on a lot since then, bootstrap this, whmcs this, html5 that etc etc

I need to expand an existing business which previously had a site, but due to time limitations, I decided to stop and just serve the existing customers.

The business model is essentially a subscription based service, where the customer is charged annually for support on a product, or hopefully as part of roll-out, a monthly subscription option too, so need functionality such as automated billing, invoicing, email notifications etc.

I'm considering using a hosting based template such as this, http://themeforest.net/item/active-host-responsive-htmlcss-hosting-template/9829612, which is built on html only, as I want to ensure the most simple and clean of code.

However, as this is just a front end, what would you recommend for the back-end, and to take orders etc. Is WHMCS easy to integrate and use. Any other solutions or suggestions?

The alternative is just to pay a developer, but I'd like to understand a bit myself first, so I don't get ripped off!

Once I have all setup, I'm thinking of using something like GoCardless to automate the payments, unless of course any of the above can do that for me?

martin-s · May 7, 2015

Here's a summary of what we've done:

* Custom coded client login area with billing/invoices/discount codes/etc.
* Payment via GoCardless (Direct Debit) and Worldpay Futurepay (recurring card billing)
* The GoCardless API is superb, the Worldpay one less impressive, but acceptable
* All invoices and payments are automatically logged into our accounts software Xero, again via a very impressive API

Aside from the payment model, the other thing we've put a lot of work into is developing a custom autoresponder marketing and onboarding tool.

It has taken a serious amount of work, but it's working really well.

We happen to host our own email server for transactional emails, but we use Sendy.co for managing our email newsletter list.

That has another good API, but the biggest benefit is the Amazon SES integration. Every 1,000 emails costs just $0.10 - which is utterly unbeatable in comparison to the normal names. Sendy.co is a one-off PHP purchase for about $70 if memory serves.

In summary, the biggest payoffs for us have been:

* Automation via quality APIs
* Putting a lot of thought and effort into sales and onboarding auto-responders (including using direct mail via CFH Docmail)
* Growing our email list from day one

Adam H · May 7, 2015

WHMCS is incredibly flexible, If you do go down that route and need someone to integrate it into a current design to look like your current site then try this guy :

https://www.licensepal.com/services.php

Honestly for $39 I don't know any developer that could compete with that kind of price I know I couldnt get close to it, he's respected in the niche and does a great job.

ian · May 7, 2015

Thanks both of you, I've added rep for you.

With regards to WHMCS, I've never come across it before. The link I originally provided to a template example was just barebones html, but they offer a Wordpress version which suggests integration already (http://royaltemplates.com/themes/projects/ActiveHostWordPress/support/). However, I don't particularly want the bloat of Wordpress for this, just a tidy structure. Would integration similar be possible with just the html option? Sorry if that is a daft question, I have no idea!

On the subject of GoCardless, if it means 'direct debit' in the traditional sense of the word, i.e. payment from a UK bank account, then I can't use that facility for most of my clients. I can add an automated solution at a later date though, as I'm happy to manually process payments through my existing gateway (sagepay) for now.

Retired_member41 · May 7, 2015

You can just copy and paste your headers and footers into whmcs and you have a site that all looks the same.

Adam H · May 7, 2015

Caz said:
You can just copy and paste your headers and footers into whmcs and you have a site that all looks the same.

Most of the time you can if the design your integrating lacks functionality and is pretty simple design wise. More complex setups normally come with their fair share of CSS, JS conflicts to wade through.

Another option if you wanted to go down the wordpress route is a simple bridge like http://i-plugins.com/

ian · May 7, 2015

I'd need it to have the same fluid design, not a default WHMCS structure tbh. The link I provided includes a screen show showing what I assume is integration, but that appears only to be for the Wordpress version which I don't really need is WHMCS is essentially a back-end and can handle customer registrations, encryption, ordering? (if that is indeed what it does!). Strange that the flat html version of that template doesn't suggest WHMCS compatibility or whether it includes those pages.

BeachLife · May 7, 2015

Is it actually a hosting service you are offering? What about using something designed for subscription services, such as Cratejoy? Not sure how tuned they are to provide a virtual service rather than a product, but may be worth a look.

ian · May 7, 2015

It isn't a hosting solution no, but thanks for the link, will take a look.

Ignore the integration aspect of WHMCS for now, as I see there are plenty of similar designs to the one I linked to offering the template pages too.

However, is WHMCS suitable for the entire order process in the same way as a shopping cart solution is, i.e. able to take customer details, process payments etc, or am I not understanding it correctly, and is indeed it the best solution?!

donton · May 7, 2015

BeachLife said:
Is it actually a hosting service you are offering? What about using something designed for subscription services, such as Cratejoy? Not sure how tuned they are to provide a virtual service rather than a product, but may be worth a look.

Ditto that. I use Cratejoy for a physical box - their support is outstanding and the integrations are easy to configure (Stripe payments, Mail Chimp integrations, etc)

Might be worth emailing Cratejoy support to see if their CMS will support a service without an actual product.

ian · May 7, 2015

I think at this time, I may be over complicating my requirements, though the suggestions are absolutely brilliant to where I need to take this arm of the business, and it seems that integration of a back-end system to a clean front-end shouldn't be too difficult...or not for a professional anyway.

I may start by developing a site using a template. I know these templates can be hit and miss but I'm ok with the basics of editing to suit and moving things around so that's fine. What I don't understand is bootstrap? Does that mean it was built using a block method that suits responsive design? Can I continue to use bootstrap (even on a flat html format) to move code around without having to actually hard code?