PocketSuite’s Subscriptions feature helps you automatically generate recurring income for your business without the back and forth with your clients. This is a great way to build a continuous stream of revenue for your business. Subscriptions is a powerful and versatile feature which can also be used to create membership plans and enforceable payment plans in addition to the classic subscription model.
To get started, go to Settings > Features > Subscriptions and toggle on.
In this article:
- Learn how subscriptions structure your services over fixed intervals of time
- How to set up a subscription
- Keep track of all your current and previous subscriptions
- Booking clients using their subscriptions
Use of a standard subscription plan
PocketSuite’s Subscriptions feature allows you to set an auto-charge frequency within which clients can book a set number of sessions, either services, classes, or reservations, that are paid upfront with each subscription payment. Clients are automatically charged at the end of each time period, the number of sessions is renewed. For example, a fitness trainer might offer a monthly subscription to cover two classes per week or eight total sessions in a month. If their client only uses two sessions in a month, their available sessions are reset to eight the next month, but the unused sessions are not carried over.
How to set up a standard subscription plan
To create a new subscription, go to Settings > Subscriptions.
You should now see a screen that has all of the subscriptions you currently offer. To create your own customizable subscription, tap “+” > “Create a subscription”.
You will now see the screen below. Add the Name, Description, image for your booking site, and attach any Contracts and Forms for the client to complete when they purchase the subscription.
You can specify the services, classes, and reservations by the subscription or set all services as eligible. To do so, tap on “Services.” PocketSuite allows you to choose to include either all of your services, classes, reservations, and packages or select specific items. To do this, tap on Services > Some services to choose which items you would like to include. Attaching packages to subscriptions will be addressed later in this article. Tap “Done” when you are satisfied.
PocketSuite also allows you to specify the quantity of the selected services clients may receive in each payment period. Tap on “Sessions” to customize the number of sessions available to them during each payment period. If you would like the subscription to function as a membership, do not select a number of sessions. In this case, clients will need to pay for individual appointments separately.
To customize the cost of the subscription, tap on “Payment Amount”.
You should now see the screen below. Under “Price” specify the amount you would like to charge the client each pay period. “Setup Fee” allows you to charge the client an additional fee when they first purchase the subscription. Edit “Number of Discounts” to dictate how many discounts the client will receive. Toggle “Allow sales tax” if you would like to add sales tax to the subscription. Once you are finished, tap “Done”.
Pro Tip: If the cost of your subscription is less than the cost of booking the included services individually, set the price as the full upfront cost and use a continuous discount to adjust the price down to your desired price point. This will show the client how much they’re saving when booking online, encouraging them to select the recurring option.
To customize the frequency at which the subscription renews, select “Auto-charge Frequency.” You can select an interval of time by which clients will be automatically charged for their subscription.
If you do not want to indefinitely auto-charge your clients, you can specify by tapping on “Number of Payments” and selecting the number of times your clients will be auto-charged. Select continuous for a standard subscription plan, these can be canceled any time. If you do not attach any sessions to the subscription, the subscription can then function as a payment plan for external matters.
Depending on the subscription, you may want to make some of your subscriptions private. Toggle “Show Online” on to determine if all clients can see it on your booking site.
Sell and keep track of your current subscriptions
PocketSuite makes it easy for you to sell and manage your subscriptions. Start on your dashboard and tap on “Subscriptions”.
Here you can see all of your active subscriptions. To sell a subscription to a client, tap on the “+” on the top of the screen.
To choose the subscription, tap on “Plan” and select the subscription you wish to sell. The price and frequency will be auto-filled based on details of the subscription.
Select a client to send the subscription to. Once you are satisfied with the subscription’s settings, tap “Send” to send the subscription to the client.
Note: If you’re using Online booking, clients can purchase subscriptions online as well if “Show online” is toggled on.
To track the sessions a client has on their subscription, return to the subscription dashboard and tap on an active subscription.
When you sell a subscription, a package is also created to track the sessions used. Tap on “Packages” or More > View Packages. A list of the client’s active packages will appear sorted by date of purchase. Tap the one you wish to view.
Here you can view the remaining sessions available to the client on the selected subscription. Tapping the number of sessions will show you the sessions already used.
Booking clients using their subscriptions
PocketSuite allows you to book clients using services from their subscriptions. To get started, tap on “Schedule” from your dashboard or from their package.
Tap on “Client” to select the client you would like to book.
Now tap on “Services”. Services covered by the client’s subscriptions will be labeled with “Prepaid Package” followed by the remaining quantity available to them. Select the service or services you would like to book them for.
Fill the rest of the form out as you normally would. Tap “Next” when you are done.
Review the setup of your booking and tap “Send” when you are ready to book the client.
Note: A client booking an appointment from the online booking site or app will also be able to see which services are covered by their subscription. Each service covered will be marked with “Prepaid package” and be already paid for.
