The Challenge

Alpha Traditions had an established ecommerce experience built on WordPress, but the business had evolved beyond the capabilities of a traditional online store.

The brand's core offering is built around curated fraternity apparel and accessories delivered through recurring subscription boxes, with a separate gifting experience for customers who want to purchase boxes for someone else.

The challenge was therefore not simply to migrate an existing website to a new platform.

Alpha Traditions needed a platform that could support recurring subscriptions, multiple subscription plans, customer personalization, apparel sizing, gift purchases, member-specific functionality, delivery schedules, and ongoing customer communication within one connected experience.

The subscription products also required additional information from customers. Instead of treating every subscriber as the same, the business needed a way to collect preferences through surveys so that each box could be curated around the individual customer.

At the same time, the gifting side of the business needed to remain completely separate from the subscription journey.

The goal was to create a website where customers could immediately understand the difference between subscribing for themselves and buying a box as a gift, while giving the business the backend infrastructure required to manage both experiences efficiently.

The Solution

Moving Alpha Traditions From WordPress to Subbly

We migrated Alpha Traditions from WordPress to Subbly, rebuilding the website around a subscription-first ecommerce infrastructure.

The migration allowed us to create a much clearer separation between the two main customer journeys:

Subscribe

For customers who want to receive Alpha Traditions boxes on an ongoing basis.

Gifts

For customers who want to purchase individual boxes or gift cards for someone else.

This separation became a core part of the new information architecture and user experience.

We also rebuilt the subscription products, connected personalized surveys, introduced interactive size guides, created gift product experiences, implemented member support functionality, connected newsletter communication, and created an interactive delivery schedule.

The result is a single digital experience where subscriptions, gifting, personalization, member support, and ecommerce work together through Subbly.

A Clear Separation Between Subscriptions & Gifts

Two Different Customer Journeys

One of the most important UX decisions was creating a clear distinction between customers who want to subscribe and customers who want to purchase a gift.

Instead of presenting every product within one generic shop experience, the website is structured around two clear paths:

Subscribe

Customers can explore the recurring Alpha Traditions subscription boxes and choose the experience that is right for them.

Gifts

Customers can explore the Neophyte Box options or purchase a subscription box gift card without entering a recurring subscription journey themselves.

This makes the website easier to understand while allowing each product category to have its own appropriate purchase experience.

The current site reflects this structure directly in the primary navigation, with Subscribe and Gifts presented as separate sections.

Alpha Ice Box

A Personalized Recurring Subscription Experience

The Alpha Ice Box is one of the two core subscription products on the platform.

The experience is designed around recurring delivery of exclusive fraternity apparel and accessories, with customers able to choose between quarterly and yearly billing options.

Rather than creating a generic subscription checkout, we built a dedicated product journey around the specific requirements of the Alpha Ice Box.

Customers can:

• Select their subscription billing option

• Complete a personalization survey

• Provide information used to curate their box

• Access the interactive Size Guide

• Review the delivery schedule

• Understand the current subscription cutoff

• Continue through the subscription purchase journey

The result is a subscription experience that feels more like a personalized membership than a standard recurring ecommerce order.

Alpha For Life Box

A Dedicated Experience for Life Members

The second core subscription product is the Alpha For Life Box, designed specifically for Alpha Phi Alpha Life Members.

The product has its own dedicated subscription experience, with quarterly and yearly billing options and a separate customer journey tailored to the product.

The experience communicates the exclusivity of the product while providing the same level of functionality as the main subscription journey.

Customers can choose their preferred billing option, complete the attached survey, access the Size Guide, and review the delivery schedule before completing their subscription.

This creates two distinct subscription experiences while keeping the underlying platform consistent.

Personalization Through Product Surveys

Turning a Subscription Into a Curated Experience

A key requirement for Alpha Traditions was the ability to collect additional information from customers after they select a subscription.

Both the Alpha Ice Box and Alpha For Life Box have an attached survey that collects additional customer information used to help curate their subscription box.

This transforms the subscription from a simple recurring purchase into a more personalized experience.

The journey becomes:

Choose Your Box → Select Your Plan → Tell Us About You → Curated Box → Recurring Delivery

The website itself reinforces this experience through its "Customize" step, explaining that subscribers answer a quick survey so their Alpha Box can be curated for them.

This personalization layer is particularly important for a subscription business built around apparel and accessories, where customer preferences and sizing directly influence the value of each shipment.

Interactive Size Guide

Helping Customers Get the Right Fit

Because the subscription boxes contain apparel, sizing is an important part of the customer journey.

We introduced an interactive Size Guide that can be opened directly through a popup.

Rather than sending customers away from the purchase experience to search for sizing information, the guide is available exactly where they need it.

This creates a smoother experience:

Choose Product → Open Size Guide → Check Fit → Continue

The same Size Guide experience is available across the subscription product journeys, helping reduce uncertainty around apparel sizing before customers commit to their subscription.

The Gift Experience

Giving Alpha Traditions to Someone Else

Alongside subscriptions, Alpha Traditions needed a dedicated gifting experience.

We created a separate Gifts journey featuring the Neophyte Box and gift card options.

This allows customers to purchase curated Alpha Traditions products without entering the standard recurring subscription experience.

The Neophyte Box is positioned as a non-subscription product, giving customers the flexibility to purchase a box as a standalone gift. The current website presents the Neophyte Boxes separately from the recurring subscription products.

Three Neophyte Box Options

Personalized Gift Purchases

The Neophyte Box experience includes three different product options, allowing customers to select the gift that best matches the recipient.

Each product has its own dedicated product experience.

Just like the subscription products, the Neophyte Box products also include an attached survey.

This means the gifting experience can collect additional information about the recipient before the order is completed.

The journey therefore becomes:

Choose Gift → Select Box → Complete Survey → Check Size → Purchase

This creates a more personalized gifting experience without requiring the customer to subscribe.

Subscription Box Gift Card

Another Way to Give the Experience

For customers who may not know which subscription or product option is right for the recipient, we also implemented a physical Alpha Ice Box & Alpha For Life Box $50 Subscription Box Gift Card.

This provides an alternative gifting path where the customer can purchase a gift card instead of selecting a specific recurring subscription product.

The result is a more flexible gifting ecosystem that supports both:

Product-Based Gifting

Choose a specific Neophyte Box.

Subscription-Based Gifting

Purchase a gift card that can be used toward an Alpha subscription box.

Interactive Box Delivery Schedule

Making Subscription Timing Easy to Understand

Subscription box delivery timing is an important part of the Alpha Traditions customer experience.

We created an interactive Box Delivery Schedule that gives customers a clear visual representation of the subscription calendar.

The calendar dynamically communicates:

• Today's date

• Current subscription period

• Subscription cutoff date

• Expected delivery window

For example, the current schedule communicates the cutoff required to receive the next available box and shows the expected delivery period later in the month.

This removes ambiguity from a subscription model where customers need to understand the relationship between when they subscribe and when their next box arrives.

Instead of explaining the schedule only through static text, we turned it into an interactive visual experience.

Member Support

Recovering a Lost Alpha For Life Member PIN

Alpha Traditions also required a dedicated support experience for existing Life Members.

We created a dedicated Alpha For Life Member PIN form that allows members who have forgotten or lost their PIN to request information or assistance with recovering their member credentials.

The form provides a simple self-service entry point without requiring members to search through general contact channels.

This adds an important member-support layer to the website and extends the platform beyond ecommerce into ongoing customer service.

Forms & Customer Communication

Web3Forms

We integrated Web3Forms to handle website form submissions.

The integration supports the general Contact Us experience as well as the dedicated Alpha For Life Member PIN request flow.

This provides the business with a lightweight system for handling customer inquiries and member support requests without introducing unnecessary complexity.

Newsletter & Customer Engagement

Constant Contact Integration

We connected Constant Contact to the website's newsletter experience.

This gives Alpha Traditions a direct communication channel for staying connected with its audience beyond the website.

Customers can subscribe to receive updates, offers, fraternity news, and other relevant communications.

The newsletter integration creates another touchpoint in the broader customer journey, helping turn website visitors and customers into an ongoing audience.

Design & User Experience

Upleveling an Established Brand Experience

The project wasn't simply a platform migration from WordPress to Subbly.

We also redesigned and upleveled the overall website experience to create a more modern, cohesive, and conversion-focused interface.

The new experience focuses on:

• Clear separation between subscriptions and gifts

• Strong product hierarchy

• Dedicated subscription journeys

• Personalized product experiences

• Easy-to-access Size Guides

• Interactive delivery schedules

• Clear membership positioning

• Straightforward gifting options

• Simple customer support

• Responsive layouts

• Strong calls to action

• Consistent product presentation

The goal was to make the complexity behind the subscription model feel simple on the customer side.

Customers shouldn't need to understand how the subscription infrastructure works.

They simply need to understand:

What am I buying?

Is it for me or someone else?

What information do you need from me?

When will I receive it?

How do I get help if I need it?

The new website is structured around answering those questions clearly.

One Website. Multiple Customer Journeys.

One of the strongest aspects of the project was creating a platform capable of serving several distinct customer needs without making the experience feel fragmented.

A visitor might arrive looking for:

A Monthly Subscription

They can explore the Alpha Ice Box and choose the appropriate billing plan.

A Life Member Subscription

They can explore the Alpha For Life Box and its dedicated subscription experience.

A Gift

They can explore the Neophyte Box options and purchase a specific box for someone else.

A Subscription Gift

They can purchase a gift card toward an Alpha Ice Box or Alpha For Life Box subscription.

A Personalized Box

Subscribers and gift recipients can provide additional information through product-specific surveys.

Sizing Information

Customers can open the Size Guide directly from the product experience.

Delivery Information

Customers can use the interactive calendar to understand subscription cutoff dates and expected delivery periods.

Member Support

Life Members can request help recovering their Member PIN.

General Support

Visitors can contact Alpha Traditions through the website's contact form.

Ongoing Communication

Customers and visitors can join the newsletter through the Constant Contact integration.

All of these journeys now live within one connected experience built on Subbly.

The Technology

Subbly The core platform powering the website, subscription products, ecommerce, recurring billing, customer journeys, product experiences, and gifting infrastructure.

Web3Forms Used to handle website contact forms and the dedicated Alpha For Life Member PIN support form.

Constant Contact Used for newsletter signup and ongoing customer communication.

Custom Product Surveys Attached to subscription and gift products to collect additional customer information and support a more personalized box experience.

Interactive Size Guide A popup-based sizing experience accessible directly from relevant product journeys.

Interactive Delivery Schedule A calendar-based experience showing the current date, subscription cutoff dates, upcoming box periods, and expected delivery windows.

The Outcome

The project transformed Alpha Traditions from a traditional WordPress ecommerce website into a modern subscription and gifting platform built around Subbly.

The new platform gives the business the ability to:

• Run multiple subscription products

• Offer different billing options

• Separate subscription and gifting journeys

• Personalize subscription boxes through customer surveys

• Personalize gift products through recipient surveys

• Provide interactive apparel Size Guides

• Sell multiple Neophyte Box options

• Sell subscription box gift cards

• Communicate clear subscription cutoff dates

• Display interactive delivery schedules

• Support Alpha For Life members with a dedicated PIN request journey

• Manage website contact forms

• Grow newsletter communication through Constant Contact

• Manage the entire ecommerce and subscription experience through Subbly

Most importantly, the platform now reflects the actual structure of the Alpha Traditions business.

Subscriptions, gifts, personalization, member support, and customer communication are no longer separate experiences.

They work together as one connected digital platform.

From WordPress Store to a Personalized Subscription Experience

Alpha Traditions came to us with an established WordPress website and a business model that had grown beyond the capabilities of a traditional ecommerce setup.

The challenge was to create a platform capable of supporting recurring fraternity subscription boxes while also providing a flexible gifting experience, personalized customer information, apparel sizing, delivery scheduling, and ongoing member support.

We migrated the website to Subbly and rebuilt the experience around those requirements.

We created a clear separation between Subscribe and Gifts, built dedicated experiences for the Alpha Ice Box and Alpha For Life Box, added personalized surveys, introduced interactive Size Guides, created three Neophyte Box gift options, implemented subscription box gift cards, and built an interactive delivery schedule.

We also connected Web3Forms for customer and member support requests and Constant Contact for ongoing audience communication.

The result is more than a migrated ecommerce website.

It is a personalized subscription and gifting platform built around the unique way Alpha Traditions serves its community.

One Platform. More Ways to Celebrate Brotherhood.

Alpha Traditions now has a digital foundation capable of supporting recurring subscriptions, personalized boxes, one-time gifts, subscription gift cards, member services, and ongoing customer engagement — all within one connected Subbly-powered experience.

A modern subscription platform built to make fraternity traditions easier to discover, personalize, and share.

Building a Subscription Business That Needs More Than a Store?

We help ambitious brands turn complex business models into complete digital subscription experiences — from strategy and UX to platform migration, ecommerce, personalization, integrations, and growth.