Overview

• What is a "data migration"?
• How does Skio migrate payment information?
• What data is required to migrate a subscription into Skio?
• What are the prerequisites in order to begin the migration process?
• Are there any subscriptions that cannot be migrated into Skio?
• FAQs

What is a "data migration"?

A data migration, or just migration for short, refers to the process of gathering subscription-related data from your existing (or "legacy") subscription platform in order to re-create your subscriptions in Skio! This will effectively "move" all of your subscribers in your legacy subscription platform into Skio, ensuring that all subscription management will take place in Skio from that moment on.

Skio's in-house Launch team are experts in this area & have collectively handled hundreds of such migrations - trust that you are in good hands! 

The outline for a typical migration is as follows:

1. If needed, the Launch team will ask you to connect the payment processor you're currently billing subscribers on through our migration wizard tool (this isn't necessary for Shopify Payments).
   
   
2. The Launch team will then generate a preview of the data to be migrated in a CSV format, as well as communicate the total number of subscriptions to be migrated, any subscriptions that cannot be migrated (and why), as well as provide a complete JSON data file of the subscriptions to be generated (if requested).
   
   
3. Once the all questions have been asked / clarifications have been made and the data preview has been approved, we will want to establish a migration target date, typically early in the week (i.e. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday); this ensures that the Launch team as well as the Skio Support team (help@skio.com) will be available to answer any post-migration questions that may arise.
   
   
4. Once the migration date arrives, the Launch team will reach out to confirm that the merchant is ready to proceed. We will then check that all billing has already completed for your legacy platform for that day; if this is true, we will then perform the data migration to generate copies of your existing subscriptions in Skio!
   
   An important distinction here is that Skio does not "move" subscription data into its platform, but rather we "copy" it - meaning your old subscription program will still exist until the legacy app is deleted. This is required, as Shopify subscription contracts created by one app are not able to be "taken over" by a different app.
   
   
5. Once the data migration is complete, the Launch team will reach out to let you know! You will then need to cancel, delete, and/or otherwise disable billing in your former subscription platform on the day of migration. The Launch team will typically advise your team on the steps needed here, which depends on the existing subscription platform you are migrating from; some apps it is possible to "disable" recurring billing, while others require deleting the app entirely.
   
   
6. With the migration complete, the Launch team will finish with any necessary post-migration steps, including enabling billing for migrated subscribers in Skio as soon as cancellation of the old platform is confirmed, updating login links to point to the Skio portal (if desired), and adding any necessary redirects from the old subscription platform's Customer Portal to Skio's Customer Portal.

How does Skio migrate payment information?

The answer depends on which payment processor you are currently using to process subscriptions in your old platform. For Shopify Payments, no action is required, as all data is accessible via Shopify's API. For all other payment processors (such as Stripe, Paypal, and Authorize.net), we will ask your team to connect your payment processor to Skio / Shopify, either through a specific link or through entering API keys into our migration wizard tool. Skio does not store payment method data in our database; all data is stored in the payment processor, and we use the payment processor's API to associate the proper payment method token with the related subscription / customer in Shopify. Skio places all orders via Shopify, where Shopify then charges the customer's payment method via the payment processor as needed.

Note: using Authorize.net has additional steps that typically require reaching out to your existing subscription platform to release all payment tokens into Authorize.net, as well as download a CIM export from Authorize.net (this process will be outlined in more detail by your Launch engineer). 

What does my "migration summary CSV" contain, and how can I make sense of it?

When the data migration preview is available, the Skio Launch team will send over a CSV containing your migration summary preview. This contains the following columns, for your team to review the subscription data at a high-level to ensure that it makes sense / looks accurate based on the data in your current subscription platform:

1. productTitle : the title of the Shopify Product in a given subscription
2. productPlatformId : the ID of the Shopify product
3. variantId : the ID of the specific variant of the product that a given customer is subscribed to
4. variantTitle : the title of the specific variant (if applicable)
5. price : the price at which customers are subscribed to this specific product / variant, at the frequency listed
6. interval : the specific time unit (days, weeks, months) that the frequency for the subscription is set to
7. intervalCount : the specific number of units of time (i.e. 3 months, where 3 is the intervalCount)
8. count : the total number of subscriptions that will be migrated that match this column (i.e. have this product with this variant at this price and this frequency)
9. prepaidInterval (if applicable) : the prepaid delivery interval for prepaid subscriptions
10. prepaidIntervalCount (if applicable) : the prepaid delivery interval count

If you have specific questions about this high-level overview data, please feel free to consult your Launch engineer with questions!

If you also received a "subscriptions.json" file from your Launch Engineer with your migration data preview, that file contains the specific subscription record data that will be migrated into Skio. This can be used, for example, to cross-reference a specific customer in your previous platform to ensure that the data in the JSON file is correct (i.e. contains the correct products at the correct prices and subscription delivery frequencies, based on the data from the previous subscription platform).

What data is required to migrate a subscription into Skio?

In order to generate a new subscription contract in Skio, we require the following data points:

1. Customer email
2. Customer shipping address
3. Subscription status (i.e. Active, Paused) (Note: canceled subscriptions are not able to be migrated)
4. Subscription next billing date
5. Subscription line items
   1. Line item title
   2. Line item Shopify variant ID
   3. Line item quantity
   4. Line item price (this is the actual price charged for the subscription if the item quantity was set to 1 ; this is not the pre-discount price)
6. Subscription billing frequency (i.e. "Every 1 month")
7. Subscription delivery frequency (if different from billing, otherwise can be the same)

What are the prerequisites in order to begin the migration process?

Before the Launch team can begin the data migration process, your store must be live with Skio & selling Skio subscriptions. This will allow us to confirm that you are no longer selling subscriptions through your legacy subscription platform. We require this step to be completed first in order to create a clean break in the data from your legacy platform. This ensures that the data we migrate at the time of migration is accurate, and no new subscribers are missed in the process.

Second, if your legacy platform is not billing through Shopify Payments, you will connect your payment processor through our migration wizard; please note that your Launch engineer will provide specific instructions as needed during the migration process to get your payment processor properly connected!

Are there any subscriptions that cannot be migrated into Skio?

Yes, there are two main types of subscriptions that we cannot migrate into Skio at this time. First, we are unable to migrate canceled subscriptions, as these typically do not have the required data we need in order to migrate, and we are unable to take over the previously-created Shopify subscription contract as mentioned above. Second, if a customer does not have a valid payment method on file (i.e. their card is expired / cannot be validated), we are not able to migrate them into Skio, as a valid payment method is required in order to generate a Shopify subscription contract. 

FAQs

Can you migrate Paused subscriptions into Skio?

• Yes! If your store uses a "Paused" status for subscriptions, please be sure to mention this to your Launch engineer so that they can ensure this status is maintained during the migration.
  
  Note about Paused subscriptions: when a customer unpauses their subscription, they will either a) be set to bill on their original next order date if that date has not yet passed, or otherwise b) will be asked to select a new next order date if the previous one has passed.

My previous subscription platform says that I have more / less subscriptions than the Skio migration preview data suggests. Why would that be?

When migrating data from another subscription platform, its possible that the subscription platform counts their subscriptions different from the way that Skio counts them; its possible that every single product is considered its own subscription (which is the case with ReCharge), or that every customer is considered as its own subscription even if they really have various subscriptions.

In Skio, one single subscription may have multiple products in it with the same delivery frequency, same next order date, and same shipping address. Additionally, one customer in Skio may have multiple subscriptions if they are subscribed to different products at different shipping addresses / next order dates / delivery frequencies.

If you have specific questions about the numbers displayed in your migration data preview, please consult your Launch engineer!

Can Skio migrate payment tokens from 1 payment processor to another?

• As a subscription management platform, Skio doesn't actually store payment tokens in our system; we place orders through Shopify, which uses payment tokens from your existing payment processor. For this reason, the Skio team is not able to migrate payment tokens from 1 payment processor to another. If your store has recently migrated the payment tokens yourself (ex. from Braintree into Stripe), please let us know and we can be sure to utilize the new payment processor's payment tokens data when migrating subscriptions into Skio!

Can you migrate Build-a-Box subscriptions into Skio?

• Yes! We can take box subscribers from a legacy platform and map them to an existing "Build-a-Box" in Skio. We will need to determine if your existing box is "Static" or "Dynamic", and then create the necessary mapping logic from the legacy platform's box to the new Skio box. If your store has Build-a-Box subscriptions with your legacy subscription provider, please be sure to mention this to your Launch engineer to ensure that they are aware of this part of the migration. Your Launch engineer will reach out if additional information is required on your end to complete this process.

My current subscribers are on an older product/variant, and I want to update them to a new product during the switch to Skio. Is this possible?

• Yes! We can update products/variants during the migration process if needed. We'll need your team to provide a "mapping file" to indicate which products should be swapped and what they should be swapped to, as well as new pricing information (if applicable). We'll request this file in a CSV format, and typically this file would contain (at least) two columns: Old Variant ID and New Variant ID. Be sure to ask your Launch engineer if you have additional questions or requirements!

What happens if my old platform is not cancelled after the migration is complete?

• If your legacy subscription platform's recurring billing is not cancelled, Skio will not enable billing for migrated subscriptions until we're certain that they are no longer being charged through the legacy platform - so you don't need to worry about your customers being double charged.
  
  What will happen is the subscriptions are still processing in the legacy subscription platform post-migration will need to have their next billing date updated in Skio in order to reflect that they were already charged for their order. We have a process in place for making this update, however we require ensuring that you will be able to cancel your legacy subscription platform on the day of migration to prevent this.

New subscribers have trickled into my old subscription app post-migration. Can we move them into Skio?

• Yes, if needed we are able to perform a "top-up" migration to gather any holdouts from your legacy subscription platform into Skio. We do require publishing with Skio prior to the migration in order to minimize the potential for this to occur, and your Launch engineer will review your store to scan for any other code where a customer could create a subscription in the legacy subscription platform (3rd party apps such as Tapcart and Rebuy, etc.).

If you have any questions regarding your specific data migration, feel free to ask your assigned Launch engineer, or reach out to our Support team (help@skio.com) !