What is the Trial Feature
The trial feature allows you to easily offer trial sessions on your classes. Trials are a great way of allowing children, parents and carers to try out your activity, experience your coaching and get a feel of your club.
With this feature, you can easily manage all children on trials and follow up with them to get them booked into your full term!
How to Set Up a Trial
You set up your trials on a class-by-class basis. This gives you the flexibility to choose which classes you want to offer a trial for.
Either add in the trial option during the initial scheduling of your classes or edit your class at any time to turn the trial on or off.
You can click the 'Edit' button from your schedule or from within the register to manage this:
Select 'I Offer a Trial' to set the trial per-session price and the number of trials that must be booked:
You can choose to offer a trial over a certain amount of sessions, rather than just one.
The sessions will run consecutively starting on the date the parent/carer booked.
Most clubs stick to a one session trial, this keeps it simple for both you and the parent/carer to manage.
When setting up your trials, you can use the trial settings (Found under 'Settings' > 'Bookings and Policies' > 'Trials') to control how far in advance parents and carers can book trials.
This setting applies to all classes you are running, including future terms:
How Parents and Carers Book a Trial
Your booking page will show both the term and trial booking options. The parent/carer can select the date they want to attend from the drop-down:
The parent/carer can then choose which child they would like to book in, fill out any registration questions (if applicable) and complete their order.
When the child appears on your register, their booking will be marked as a 'Trial' and will show the word trial under any trial sessions they have booked:
How to Manually Book a Child into a Trial
Sometimes you may want to book a child into your class on behalf of the parent/carer.
Access the register for the class you are booking the child into, then click 'Add to Register' and 'Add a Child'
You can search for the child you are booking and click 'Trial'
You will then be able to choose the date for their trial.
Once booked you can send a booking confirmation from the class register. Select the child using the box to the left of their name, then click 'Message' and 'Booking Confirmation'
Below is the email and text (if enabled) that the parent/carer will receive to confirm the booking:
How to Transfer the Trial Booking
If the parent/carer wants the child's trial to be for another class, the trial for this class would need to be ended using the 'Trial Options' below.
The child can then be added to the new class using the method above.
The child can be transferred, however, this will book them into the full term for the other class.
This can be done by selecting the box to the left of the child's name, then clicking 'Transfer' and 'Transfer to a Different Class'
Select the class you'd like to transfer them to and click 'Transfer'. You can choose to send the parent an email to inform them of the change of class. Then confirm this by clicking 'Transfer Kids'
Trial Options
You can easily manage your trials using the 'Trial Options' button next to each trial booking on the class register:
How to Change the Date of the Trial
Using the 'Trial Options' button, you can easily change the date of the child's trial.
You can select the date you would like to move the trial to, then click 'Change Date.' This will update on the class register.
How to Convert the Trial to a Full Booking
Invite the Parent/Carer to Book in
Once the child has attended the trial, you can send the parent an invitation via email to book in for the rest of the term using the 'Invite' button from the trial options:
They will then receive this email:
The parent/carer can use the 'Book' button to book the child into the sessions, or they can click 'Not Returning' if they no longer want their child to attend.
If they choose 'Not returning' they will have to confirm this:
You will then be sent an email to let you know and the child will be removed from the register:
If the trial session is for the last week of term, you can go into the next term and invite the parent to book from there.
Manually Book the Child
If you know that the child will be returning for the rest of the term and want to book them in on behalf of the parent/carer, you can click use the 'Child Definitely Returning' trial option:
Within this option, you can choose to add a set-up fee for this order, if you offer one.
You can then click 'Book' to book them into the rest of the term.
Please note that booking the child in manually doesn't send a booking confirmation.
Once you have booked the child in, you can send one manually from the class register by selecting the child using the box to the left of their name, then clicking 'Message' and 'Booking Confirmation'
If you use standard payments, whether you invite the child or book them in manually, the system will use the remaining sessions in the term to work out how much the parent owes.
If you use subscription payments, the parent will be able to set up their payment method once they are booked in.
How to End a Trial
If the child decided the class wasn't for them, or you've not heard back from a parent/carer, you can end their trial using the 'Child not Returning' section within the trial options.
You can decide whether you want to send the parent/carer an email to thank them for coming to the trial. If you send this, they will receive this email:
If you or the parent/carer have ended the trial, the children will move to the 'Rejected Trials' section on the register.
If the trial was ended in error, you can use the 'Unreject' button to add them back to the register.
If you ever need to invite or book them into the remaining session, you can do this by clicking the 'Trial Options' button to access your options:
How Trials Work With Re-Run and Auto-Enroll
Convert the Trial to a Full-Term Booking
When you re-run your term and auto-enroll the children, any children on trials will be greyed out:
If you would like to convert them to a full booking for the next term, you can select them:
This will automatically book the child in.
Invite the Parent or Carer to Book the New Term
If the parent/carer booked a trial at the end of the last term and you want to invite them to book the new term, or if the trial date has been moved to next term, you can invite the parent from your new register:
FAQ
Can Parents/Carers Apply a Discount to Trials?
You can choose whether discounts can be applied to trials. You can edit this option from your 'Settings' > 'Discounts'
Please note: discounts can only be applied if you have invited the parent/carer to book in. Discounts cannot be used when you manually book them in.
Discount can only be applied when a parent is booking themselves into your classes.
Can a Parent or Carer Book More Than One Trial?
You can choose how many trials are parent/carer must book on for under one class. We don't have any limits on booking trials for more than one class. Please note, if you or a parent/carer ends their trial, they cannot book a trial for the class again.
What if a Parent/Carer Doesn't Turn Up?
You can edit the trial date from the trial options, end the trial to prevent future bookings or delete the booking if the parent/carer is going to book in the future.
Can I Book a Parent/Carer For a Date in the Past?
Yes! We understand that parents/carers may turn up and book later. If they book in late, you can edit the trial date from trial options to a date in the past, or if it's a new booking, you can select the start date when booking them in.