đŁ Wc 24th February 2025 - Subscriptions Announcement đŁ
At present, when a customer subscribes, their initial month's payment is determined by the number of days remaining in the month.
Starting the week of February 24th, we will modify this to base the pro-rated payment on the number of sessions left in the month instead.
Important Information:
Once this update is live, all subscription tickets will need to include:
A per session cost: This will be used to determine the amount charged for the customer's first paid month.
A fixed recurring monthly fee: This will be the set amount charged on the 1st of each subsequent month.
To ensure a smooth transition for bookings at the time of release, we will automatically fill in the per session cost for all existing tickets. This will be calculated by dividing the current monthly subscription cost by four, assuming there are typically four sessions in a month.
You will be able to adjust the per session cost at any time. Note that any changes made will only impact future bookings.
Please review your Subscription details in your activity setup to align with these changes.
Find out more about this feature here
Why create a subscription?
Generates repeat business for you
Saves setup time, if you run many sessions throughout the year
Improves customer loyalty
Allows you to spread the cost for your customers
Occupancy optimisation- if you cancel a parents subscription, we'll automatically list the session so another parent can snap it up straight away
1. Setting up subscriptions
1.1 Select the new subscription option when setting up activities
When choosing to âAdd an activityâ youâll see two options - the first is to add a Block or Individually bookable activity. The second is to create a Subscription activity.
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A subscription activity will allow you to set up weekly recurring activities with no end date. Pebble subscriptions charge a pro-rated amount for the first month, calculated based on the number of sessions remaining in that month. Moving forward, on the 1st of each month, a fixed recurring monthly charge will be applied.
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1.2 Add all the key details about your subscription
The first thing you'll need to do is add all the key details about your subscription:
Activity Name
Activity Description
Subscription details - this is any further information you want to communicate relating to your subscription
Age range
Location
What customers need to bring and what you supply
Activity images
Activity category
The âHow our subscriptions workâ banner at the top of the page can be expanded to reveal all the information youâll need to set up your subscription activities.
1.3 Select the dates and times your classes are available
On the schedule page you can add the days of the week on which your subscription occurs.
You wonât need to add a date range as subscriptions are created with no end date. Donât worry though - youâll be able to cancel a customerâs subscription when you want (more about that later).
You can then define the times that the subscription occurs on those days
Your customers will subscribe to a day and time slot that repeats weekly.
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1.4 Add your off-days
Subscriptions are set up with no end date - but of course, there will be situations when you wonât be able to run an activity on a particular day (e.g. holidays, inset days, half term). So weâve built a feature that allows you to indicate âoff daysâ. These will be communicated to your customers before they make a booking.
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After setting up your activity youâll be able to update your off-days if anything changes. Every time you update your off days weâll email your customers to inform them of the update.
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1.5 Add Trial sessions, if applicable
We understand that committing to a subscription may be daunting for your customers.
So weâve built functionality that allows you to offer up to three free or paid trial sessions.
Select whether you want to add a free or paid trial.
1.5.1 Free trials
You can offer up to three free trial sessions.
The customers subscription begins after the trial period unless cancelled by you at the customer's request.
After your trial ends we'll calculate the amount the customer needs to pay for the remaining sessions in the month after the trial period. We'll charge this immediately after the trial ends.
After the initial pro-rata payment all monthly customer subscription payments will be collected on the first of the month.
If the customers wishes to cancel their subscription after the trial, then they will need to contact you to request cancellation(subject to your T&C's).
1.5.2 Paid trials
You can offer up to three paid trial sessions
Upon beginning the trial the customer will immediately pay the upfront cost of the trial.
The customers subscription begins after the trial period unless cancelled by you at the customer's request.
After your trial ends we'll calculate the amount the customer needs to pay for the remaining sessions in the month after the trial period. We'll charge this immediately after the trial ends.
After the initial pro-rata payment all monthly customer subscription payments will be collected on the first of the month.
If the customers wishes to cancel their subscription after the trial, then they will need to contact you to request cancellation(subject to your T&C's).
1.5.3 Future Subscription Start Date
If you want to take bookings for your subscriptions now but delay the date the subscription starts (and payment is taken) then you can set this date in this section.
By default, payment will start from the date a parent signs up to your activity (unless they have taken out a trial). You can instead set a future start date below to allow customers to book now but delay the date the subscription starts (and the first payment is taken/a trial starts).
6. Setup your tickets and prices
You can set different ticket prices for your subscription activities.
Pebble subscriptions charge a pro-rated amount for the first month, calculated based on the number of sessions remaining in that month.
Moving forward, on the 1st of each month, a fixed recurring monthly charge will be applied.
NOTE: The pro-rated cost for the first month will be capped at the recurring monthly subscription cost.
You can update these prices at any point. Any updates to the cost will only apply to future bookings.
The fixed recurring monthly cost will split the yearly cost of a subscription into equal payments throughout the year for all sessions. This will be the same cost each month regardless of how many sessions are running in that month - you should therefore prorate your payment to account for any off-days.
TIP:
Take the total number of sessions you have in a year (eg. 42), multiply it by the cost of an individual session (eg. ÂŁ20).
Take the total cost of the year (eg. ÂŁ840) and divide it by 12 to get the fixed recurring monthly cost (eg. ÂŁ70).
This spreads the cost evenly across the year.
2. Manage your subscription bookings
Your Subscriptions bookings are held in the âSubscriptionâ section accessed from the bookings page. If you click on a particular activity then youâll be able to see all the subscriptions for a particular day of the week and time.
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When you expand an activities subscriptions bookings youâll see all the information about each booking.
First session: This is the Childâs first session. Weâve added a âTrialâ note to indicate if the Childâs first session is a Free or Paid trial
Next payment: The date we will next take payment from the customer.
If this date if the first of the month then this is their standard recurring monthly subscription payment
If this date is any other payment than the first of the month then this is the date we will be collecting their pro-rata payment after their trial period ends
Last payment attempt: Pebble's system is built to ensure ongoing payments are collected from your customers. If a payment fails (eg the customer's card expires), we will notify the customer so that they can update their details if necessary- and we automatically make 3 further attempts to process the payment. You can see the status of the payments here- if the payment fails after the 4th attempt, you can either arrange payment directly with the parent or contact our support team for further assistance. The following month, we will retry the payment again (unless you cancel the subscription).
Cancel subscription: We give you the ability to cancel a subscription at any point- this will cancel the next payment for the customer and automatically calculate a âFinal session dateâ - this is the final session the child can attend in their month's subscription. If you need this final session date amended, please contact our support team who can manually adjust this.
Status
Active - subscription is active and all payments are up to date
Payment - subscription is active but the last payment collection failed
Paused - subscription payment collection has been paused
Cancelled - subscription has been cancelled. No further payments will be collected.
We value your input and are always looking for ways to improve our communication and services.
If you have any questions or feedback, please donât hesitate to get in touch with our CS team at support@bookpebble.co.uk or on the live chat support.
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