Will They Run Out Before the Next Refill? A Shopify Subscription Survey

A coffee subscriber picks four-week delivery. Does that mean the bag lasts four weeks? Maybe the buyer drinks two cups on weekdays, shares a grinder with a partner, and spends every other weekend away. Maybe four weeks was the only sensible-looking option. The schedule they selected and the amount they expect to use are two different facts.

Before building a win-back campaign for people skipping shipments, check whether your offer matches how the product gets used. A Shopify thank-you-page survey can give you a testable idea as early as the first subscription order.

Ask about the bag they actually bought

For a roaster with a 500-gram refill, ask “About how long do you expect the 500 g of coffee in this order to last?”

• Less than 2 weeks
• At least 2 but less than 3 weeks
• At least 3 but less than 4 weeks
• At least 4 but less than 6 weeks
• 6 weeks or more
• I'm still figuring that out

Choose boundaries that line up with your current or feasible delivery schedules. Keep a person who says “Exactly four weeks” in a single answer bucket. If someone bought two bags, the same 500-gram question may describe the wrong quantity. Limit your analysis to orders matching the wording, or explicitly ask how long one bag lasts and calculate order coverage separately. Include how many bags they expect to open at once if that materially changes the math.

If your survey reaches both one-time and subscription purchases, screen with “Did you set up recurring deliveries for this coffee today?” before asking about usage. A repeat customer can place a one-time order, and a first order with the store can start a subscription. Keep those distinctions in your analysis. Shopify's overview of subscription purchase options

Model the mismatch in days

Imagine a two-person household uses 25 grams per day. Its 500-gram bag lasts 20 days. On a 28-day delivery schedule, that household needs roughly eight days of extra coffee before the next shipment if deliveries run as planned. A household using 12.5 grams per day has about 40 days of coffee and may still have 12 days on hand when the next bag arrives. Both can appear in the same four-week plan report.

Suppose 60 new subscribers answer, and 22 expect to finish the bag in two to under three weeks. Offer a three-week cadence as a limited test if your operations can support it. Count selection of that cadence, then compare skips, cancellations, and completed second deliveries after both plan groups have had time to renew. Because customers choose their own plan, treat differences between the groups as clues. They may also reflect household size or enthusiasm for the product.

Check the prediction against the cupboard

A buyer can know their intended routine before they know how they like the beans. Once subscribers have had a chance to use the product, ask a separate question through a suitable follow-up channel: “When your last refill arrived, how much coffee did you still have?” A full bag waiting unopened suggests excess stock. A customer who bought emergency coffee locally may need an earlier shipment. For businesses that sell multipacks, the bundle-choice survey helps distinguish stocking up from trying several varieties.

Launch the first-order question using OrderSurvey on the Shopify App Store and the thank-you-page setup instructions. Put any link for changing a plan outside the research question. Shopify Subscriptions customers can review upcoming orders and take actions such as skipping one through their customer accounts. Make the available actions clear for the subscription app your store uses. Shopify's customer subscription experience

Frequently asked questions