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How to set up and manage subscriptions

A guide on setting up and managing subscriptions in Pebble

Support Pebble avatar
Written by Support Pebble
Updated over a week ago

📣 Wc 24th February 2025 - Subscriptions Announcement 📣

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 ‘Add an activity’ you’ll 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 ‘How our subscriptions work’ banner at the top of the page can be expanded to reveal all the information you’ll 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 won’t need to add a date range as subscriptions are created with no end date. Don’t worry though - you’ll be able to cancel a customer’s 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 won’t be able to run an activity on a particular day (e.g. holidays, inset days, half term). So we’ve built a feature that allows you to indicate ‘off days’. These will be communicated to your customers before they make a booking.
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After setting up your activity you’ll be able to update your off-days if anything changes. Every time you update your off days we’ll 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 we’ve 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 ‘Subscription’ section accessed from the bookings page. If you click on a particular activity then you’ll 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 you’ll see all the information about each booking.

  • First session: This is the Child’s first session. We’ve added a ‘Trial’ note to indicate if the Child’s 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 ‘Final session date’ - 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 don’t hesitate to get in touch with our CS team at support@bookpebble.co.uk or on the live chat support.


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