Subscription and Identity Blocks Overview
Identity and Subscription blocks are Arc Blocks that can be used together to create a front-end paywall experience powered by Arc Subscriptions on the back-end. The Identity and Subscription blocks each contain a set of PageBuilder Theme blocks that can be used together or independently to create your desired user registration, paywall, and log in experiences. You can use them as-is or as a starting point to customize by forking a Theme block.
Identity blocks
The Identity block package consists of eight Arc Blocks that can be used to configure the sign-up and log-in experiences for accessing walled content. It is used to manage the end-user aspects of signing up (registering/creating an account), logging in, and managing a user account. It is easy to create the following experiences using the corresponding block included in the Identity block package:
Experience/Functionality | Arc Block(s) in PageBuilder |
|---|---|
Sign Up / Sign In buttons in the Navigation bar | Identity Header Account - Arc Block |
Signing up for a new account with an email address | Identity Sign Up - Arc Block, Identity - Sign, Identity Log In Links - Arc Block |
Logging In with an existing account with an email address | Identity Log In - Arc Block, Identity Log In Links - Arc Block |
Creating a new account or logging into an existing account using a social account (Google, Apple ID or Facebook) | Identity Social Sign-On - Arc Block |
Resetting a forgotten password at login | Identity - Forgot Password Arc Block, Identity - Reset Password Arc Block |
Changing my email address or password on a Profile page | Account Management - Profile |
Subscription blocks
The Subscriptions block package consists of 3 Arc Blocks that can be used to configure the purchase experience for accessing walled content. It is used to manage the end-user aspects of displaying a paywall, showing a variety of subscription offers, and checking out. It is easy to create the following experiences using the corresponding block included in Subscriptions block package:
Experience/Functionality | Arc Block(s) in PageBuilder |
|---|---|
Paywall or Registration Wall overlay that a user runs into after consuming the budget, as defined in Arc Subscriptions | Paywall - Arc Block |
Offer page where a user can select from a variety of options, or a specified campaign | Offer - Arc Block |
Checkout page where a user can purchase a chosen offer | Checkout - Arc Block |
Using Identity and Subscription blocks
A paywall or registration wall experience is easy to set up using the Paywall Arc Block. The Paywall block can be placed on any template where you want a registration wall or paywall to appear (typically an article template) and renders for a user based on the paywall rules set up in the Subscriptions application. The Subscriptions - Paywall block controls both the Registration wall and Paywall bottom drawer overlays, so it can handle any combination of rules you’d like. For example, you may want a user to have 3 free articles before they need to register as a user, and then 5 more articles before they need to subscribe. This can be achieved by setting up your rules in Arc Subscriptions and then configuring your Registration Wall and Paywall using the Paywall Arc Block in PageBuilder. For more information on installing the Identity and Subscription blocks, see Using Identity and Subscription blocks.
FAQs
Do these blocks work with external identity or subscription systems?
No. The Identity and Subscription blocks are designed to work with Arc Identity and Arc Subscriptions.
What payment gateway providers can I use?
The Checkout block is integrated with Stripe. You can also fork the block to use a different payment gateway.
How many products, prices, or offers can I have?
You may set up any number of products, prices, or offers in Arc Subscriptions, however your default offer will be the one shown on the paywall. You can choose which offer is the default at the offer setup in Arc Subscriptions. When using the Offer block on an offer page, you can specify a campaign code in the Custom Fields if you’d like to show all offers (for instance, campaign code ‘allaccess’) or just certain offers (for instance, campaign code ‘sports’). If you leave the campaign code blank, it will show the default offer.
What are the limitations of the Identity and Subscription blocks?
While the Identity and Subscriptions blocks cover many use cases regarding the registration and paywall experiences, there are some front-end pieces that the blocks do not cover, including:
User e-mail address verification flows - You will be using your own e-mail provider for sending e-mails, including password resets and e-mail verification e-mails. If you choose to turn on “Email verification required for a customer to log in” setting in Arc Subscriptions, you will need to build additional front-end pages for re-sending verification e-mails or success messages upon clicking the verify link in e-mail.
Manage a subscription - The ‘Account Management - Profile’ block allows a user to manage their profile, including updating their e-mail address and password, however it does not include managing a subscription. If you’d like for users to view, edit or cancel a subscription, those pages will be custom development.
Other Identity or Payment providers - Currently, the Identity and Subscriptions blocks support Arc Identity and Arc Subscriptions, using Stripe as a payment provider. If you’d like to use a different identity or payment provider, contact Arc XP Customer Support or add a request to the Arc Ideas Board.