Subscriptions

Subscriptions are a powerful way to keep the studio going. Besides providing a regular sense of income, it also boosts class attendance and creates a thriving community.

Taramala supports a monthly subscription model allowing students to purchase or set up a subscription online. Once a subscription is set up, the student will be billed monthly via Square. This can be either through an emailed invoice or via use of a credit card stored on file if autopay is enabled for the studio Taramala account.

What information is stored in a subscription?

A subscription has the following properties:

• Bought on field (start date).
• Expiration date: the date when the subscription terminates.
• Cost: how much is charged each billing cycle.

Taramala contains logic to ensure that there are no overlapping subscriptions of the same type for a student.

Editing Subscriptions

While all fields are editable in a manual subscription, not all fields can be changed for a student subscription that is managed by Square.

• Bought on field (start date). Can be set today or a date in the future for a new subscription but cannot be changed once the subscription is active.
• Expiration. Is usually left null when creating a subscription, but can be set to a date in the future if needed. This field cannot be changed once the subscription is active.
• Cost. Defaults to the subscription package type cost for new subscriptions but can be changed when creating a subscription for a student. The cost can also be changed for an active subscription. In this case, the new cost will be used during the next billing cycle. Note that the cost can only be changed once within a single billing cycle.

Autopay feature for Subscriptions

If autopay is supported for the studio's account, the student is required to enter credit card information and the student is billed at that time for the subscription and then again on a monthly basis. If autopay is not supported, an invoice is sent to the student and the student pays the invoice separately.

Autopay: What if a student's credit card expires?

If a credit card used for autopay is canceled or expires, the following will happen:

• Student-Only Updates: Due to strict PCI compliance requirements, only the student can update their credit card information. Studio owners cannot do this on their behalf.
• Email Invoicing: An email invoice will be automatically sent to the student. When the student pays this invoice, they will be given the option to re-enroll in autopay.
• Late Payment Notices: If the payment becomes past due, a notice will appear on the student website informing them of the late payment, along with a direct payment link. When the student uses this link to pay, the new credit card will be automatically set up for future autopayments.
• Late Payment Enforcement: A student is given a 10 day grace period to make a subscription payment, after that the student will not be able to register for classes.

Can a student register for classes if an invoice payment is late

If a student is late in paying for a subscription, she will see the following reminder in the studio schedule widget and will be given a 10 day grace period to make a payment. During this period, she will still be able to register for classes, but after 10 days class registration will not be allowed until payment is made.

How can I check subscription status in Taramala

Under the Purchase tab there is a panel where you can quickly review your studio's subscribers and see most recent payments, how long a subscription was active and whether the account is current.

How do I find my subscriptions in Square?

After logging in to Square, look for the 'Subscriptions' module in the left side navigation pane. All subscriptions created by Taramala are visible there.

https://squareup.com/dashboard/subscriptions

How do I enter Square Subscriptions manually?

Subscriptions are often purchased online by students, but you can also add a Square subscription in the Taramala app as shown below.

In this scenario, you can manually add a Square subscription just like you enter punchcards.

How do I enter Manual Subscriptions?

This may be useful for students that you are migrating over to Taramala and the student already has an active subscription. In this case, you would like Taramala to only keep track of classes and not handle monthly invoicing.

In this scenario, you can manually enter subscriptions just like you enter punchcards.

When you enter a subscription, you have the option to set up Square on the subscription.

If you check the Square checkbox, a subscription for your student will be created in Square and an invoice emailed to the student. If autopay is enabled, the next time the student navigates to the student schedule, the student will be prompted to enter credit card information which will be used to pay for the subscription on a monthly basis.

If you are migrating subscriptions from another system, set them up in two parts:

1. Square subscription — Create the Square subscription and set the 'Bought On' (start) date to the next billing date for the subscription in the system you are migrating from. Taramala will start billing the student through Square on that date.
2. Gap subscription — Create a second, manual subscription (leave the Square checkbox unchecked) that runs from today until that next billing date. This "gap" subscription covers the time the student has already paid for in the old system, so they keep access to classes until the Square billing begins.

Once both are in place, cancel the subscription in the old system so the student is not billed twice.

How do I cancel Subscriptions?

While it's possible to cancel subscriptions in Square, it's best to do this in Taramala since both Taramala and Square will be updated at the same time. To cancel a student's subscription go to the Student's tab and select the student, then scroll down in the edit console to where Subscriptions are and click to edit the active subscription. From there, select 'Cancel Subscription'.

Can Students Cancel Their Subscriptions?

There is an option in the subscription tab to either allow students to cancel a subscription online or not. To provide studios with the ability to allow clients to cancel a subscription online, "click to cancel" support is provided as an option in the editor for Subscription Packages. This feature was added to make it easier for your students to cancel without requiring any effort on your part.

When enabled, students can cancel their subscriptions online from the 'Account' page of the Studio_Website.

Note that this feature is disabled by default.

How Can I Pause a Subscription?

Taramala does not currently support pausing subscriptions directly in the app, but you can pause them in Square:

• Log in to your Square Dashboard and navigate to Subscriptions.
• Locate the student's subscription and select Pause.

Important Note on Billing Cycles: Any billing cycle that falls within the pause period will be automatically skipped. Make sure to unpause the subscription before the student's next desired billing date so they are properly invoiced when they resume classes.

Subscriber Benefits

With Taramala's custom pricing for classes and events, students can use their subscription to gain access to otherwise paid events. This is clearly shown in the student schedule as shown below.