How to Set up a Subscription

If you're looking for an easy way to take subscription payments for your services or products then Book That In's built-in subscription option is an easy and intuitive way to automated bookings and payments via your website.

Written By bookthatin

Last updated 1 day ago

There are 2 ways to use subscriptions on Book That In:

  1. As stand alone recurring payments - good for memberships

  2. Linked to a class or ongoing event - good for paying for a particular class in regular, recurring payments.

This article covers option 1 - Subscriptions as a stand alone booking type.

This option is useful for annual or monthly memberships which are not tied to particular dates or sessions. It can also be used as a handy workaround to allow you to sell products.

If you would like to offer subscriptions as a way of signing up a recurring class, the better method would be to use Subscription Price Bands, which are covered in this tutorial: Understanding Subscription Price Bands in Book That In

Frequently asked questions about Subscriptions: Subscription Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs).

The following video tutorial walks you through how to set up a Subscription, including the options to set a free trial period or a delayed start date:

Step-by-Step Instructions

1. Access Subscription Settings

  1. Log in to your BookThatIn account.

  2. Go to the Business area.

  3. Select My Booking Types.

  4. Choose Subscriptions.

    • If you don’t have any subscriptions yet, the page will appear empty.

2. Create a New Subscription

  1. Click Add New Subscription Type.

  2. If you already have a subscription set up, you can use the Copy From option. Otherwise, create one from scratch.

3. Choose Online or In-Person

  • If the subscription is online only, select Yes.

    • The system will automatically set the address as “Online”.

  • If it is in-person, select No and choose or create an address.

4. Add Subscription Details

  1. Name: Enter the subscription name (e.g. Great Membership).

  2. Description: Add a description that will appear on your booking widget below the name.

  3. Booking Warning: Optional. Add text to appear in confirmation emails for this subscription.

    • Subscriptions have their own confirmation email template.

5. Set Pricing and Billing Frequency

  1. Enter the subscription cost (e.g. £10).

  2. Choose the billing frequency: monthly, weekly, annually, etc.

  3. (Optional) Add a one-time cost if you want to charge a joining fee or include a product with the membership.

6. Configure Start Options

  1. Delay Start Date options:

    • No: Starts immediately.

    • Free Trial Period: Offer a set number of free days/weeks/months before charging begins.

    • Set Start Date: Payments begin on a specific date and time, regardless of sign-up date.

  2. Note: If the set date has already passed, the customer will be charged immediately when signing up.

7. Display Options

  1. Show on Widget: Choose Yes to display the subscription publicly on your booking widget.

    • Choose No if you want it hidden (useful for private memberships).

  2. Category: Select an existing category or create a new one.

  3. Archive: Leave as No unless you want to remove the subscription.

  4. Age Limits: Add if the subscription is restricted to certain age groups.

8. Save Your Subscription

  1. Review the details.

  2. Click Save.

  3. Your subscription is now active and ready for customers to sign up.

Conclusion

You’ve now created a subscription in BookThatIn, complete with recurring payments, optional free trials, and flexible billing schedules. You can always adjust details later in the Business area.

For support, email support@bookthatin.com