✨ Please note: Ticket costs are available on the Lite plan or above.
Trial tickets let customers try your experience at a reduced price before committing to a full ticket. You can create them using a new entry, a dedicated ticket type, or a discount code.
This article explains how to set up trial tickets and give customers a first-hand experience of your offerings.
Overview
There are several ways to offer customers a trial. The best option depends on how often you want each customer to use the offer.
While trial tickets and trial classes allow customers to benefit from the offer multiple times, a trial discount code is recommended for one-time trial offers. You can also restrict a trial discount code to one use per booker's email address.
One-time trial offers
If you want each customer to be able to use a trial offer only once, we recommend using a trial discount code.
This allows you to:
Restrict the discount to one use per booker's email address
Choose which tickets, entries or events the discount applies to
Offer a free or discounted first session without creating a separate trial ticket
💡 To note: Trial tickets and trial classes do not have the same one-time-use restriction. If a customer can book them more than once, use a trial discount code instead.
To set up trial discount code to share with your customers who want to try a session:
Select Packages & Discounts from the left-hand menu, Discounts, then Add a new discount set from the top right-hand corner:
Select Add discount code:
Create the discount code. Customers use this code when checking out to redeem their discount. For example, "TASTER20".
Choose what Type of discount (fixed amount or percentage off) and restrict the cost to a single use per email address to prevent customers from using the code multiple times:
The Fixed amount discount option gives you more control over your customer’s basket. The Percentage off option applies to the entire basket, which could reduce your revenue.
Once complete, select Add codes to save the codes to your set. Then Name the set:
Select which events you would like this offer to apply to by selecting Add usage restriction, then the entries from the drop-down menu:
If you select Entry or Tag, the discount will apply to all tickets within those entries. To target specific ticket types, choose the Ticket option instead.
Once finished, select Save changes. You can then start sharing your discount code with your new customers.
💡 Please note: Discounts don’t automatically apply to new customers. You’ll need to manually create and share discount codes tailored to your promotional offers for both new customers and referrals.
Trial ticket
💡 Trial tickets are useful when you want to offer a specific ticket type for a trial session. However, customers may be able to use the trial ticket more than once, depending on how your schedule and ticket restrictions are configured.
You can offer a discounted trial ticket alongside your regular ticket and set a limit on the number of trial tickets available for each session.
To do this:
Select the event from your schedule, then Edit entry:
Select the Tickets & Costs tab, then Create ticket:
Add a Name, Description and set a ticket cost under Pricing (if applicable).
Select Save ticket when you have finished, ensuring you also save your entry.
Public page example showing different ticket options
💡 To note: This option relies on your customers choosing this ticket option appropriately.
Trial Class
Trial classes can be useful when you want to offer customers access to a class on a trial basis.
As with trial tickets, consider whether you want customers to be able to use the trial more than once. If the offer should be limited to one trial per customer, a trial discount code is usually the better option.
To do this, you can create a separate new entry for trial customers with low-cost tickets, keeping it separate from your regular classes.
For example:
💡 Please note: Setting this option means you'll need to manually monitor the attendees and capacity limits to ensure you don't oversell your event.
Password-protecting the entry
You might want to password-protect the taster entry so that only new customers with the correct password can book tickets.
If you'd like to do this, it's a good idea to add the instructions for obtaining the password in the Description box within the Information tab of the entry settings:
Then, select the More options tab and add the password in the Private booking password:
Offering a trial for a course
If you're offering a course and want customers to attend one session as a trial, you can use a drop-in ticket for the first session.
💡 To note: A drop-in ticket for a course session doesn't automatically convert into a course booking. If the customer decides to join the rest of the course after attending the trial session, they will need to make a separate booking for the remaining dates.
Consider how you want to handle customers who decide to continue before setting up your trial offer. Depending on your pricing structure, you may need to offer a separate ticket for the remaining course dates or use a pro-rated price.
If you only want to offer the trial on the first course date, you can also use ticket availability and restriction settings to control when and where the trial ticket can be booked.
Tags: tastersession, taster, newstarter, intro offer, introductory