Membership Discounts
Use this page to give some members a cheaper membership rate — family, staff, student or senior.
Quick steps
- Go to Memberships, click More Actions (⋮), then Discounts. Click New Discount.
- Type a Discount Name, such as "Family of 4".
- Pick the Discount Type — Percent off (%) or Flat amount off ($) — and type the Amount.
- To give it only to some people, type a Customer Tag. Leave it blank for everyone.
- Under Applies To, tick the plans it covers, or leave them all unticked for every plan.
- Click Create Discount. New members who match get it automatically when they join.
To give a discount to one existing member: open their membership page, tick the discount in the Discounts panel and click Save Discounts.
Common questions
I changed a discount, but existing members still pay the old price. Discounts are worked out when somebody joins. To change an existing member, use the Discounts panel on their own page.
Two discounts match, but only one was applied. Only the biggest non-stackable discount is used. Tick Stackable with other discounts on the ones meant to add together.
Is this the member's discount on things they buy at the register? No. That is set on the plan, under Retail/POS discount for members — see Membership Plans.
More detail: the discounts list
A membership discount changes what a member pays for their membership. Family rates, a staff rate, a student rate, a founding-member rate — anything where one person pays less than the plan's list price.
Open them from Memberships → More Actions (⋮) → Discounts, or with the Discounts button on the Membership Plans page. The page explains itself: "Lower a plan's price for some members — students, seniors, families. They get it automatically when they join."
A membership discount reduces the membership fee. The percentage a member gets off things they buy at the register is set on the plan itself, under Retail/POS discount for members — see Membership Plans.
The Discounts List
The page shows Name, Discount, Who gets it and Plans, with New Discount at the top and an Edit link on each row.
- Discount reads, for example, 20% off or $10.00 off.
- Who gets it reads Everyone, or Customers tagged "Senior" when the discount needs a customer tag.
- Plans lists the plans it is limited to, or All plans.
- A grey Inactive badge beside the name marks a discount that has been switched off.
An empty list reads No discounts yet., with an example to get you started: "For example: 20% off for students, or $10 off any plan for customers tagged "Senior"."
More detail: every field on a discount
Creating a Discount
Click New Discount.
| Field | What it does |
|---|---|
| Discount Name | Required and unique, for example "Family of 4". It is shown beside the member's price on their membership page in the admin. |
| Customer Tag (optional) | Only customers carrying this tag get the discount. Leave blank to apply to everyone. |
| Discount Type | Percent off (%) or Flat amount off ($). |
| Amount | 15 means 15% or $15 off, depending on the type. A percentage must be between 0 and 100. |
| Applies To | A tick box for each active plan. Tick the plans it should cover. "Leave all unticked to apply to every plan." Unticking every plan on an existing discount puts it back to all plans. |
| Internal Note (Optional) | For your own staff — a reminder of when to use it. |
| Stackable with other discounts | See the stacking rules below. |
| Active | Untick to retire a discount without deleting it. |
Click Create Discount.
More detail: how discounts are applied
How Discounts Are Applied
Automatically, when somebody enrols
When a membership is created, every active discount whose plan list and customer tag match that person is considered, and the price is worked out as follows:
- The best single non-stackable discount is applied first — whichever one takes off the most money.
- Every stackable discount is then applied in turn, each one calculated on the price left after the previous.
The result is stored as that member's own price and is what gets billed from then on, even if the plan price changes later.
By hand, on one member
A member's page has a Discounts panel listing every active discount available for their plan. Tick or untick, then Save Discounts. The price under the list updates to what they will be charged.
- Ticking here applies the discount to that member regardless of tags — it is your decision, made deliberately.
- Saving with nothing ticked clears all discounts and puts them back on the plan price: Discounts cleared — price reset to plan price.
- For a member on auto-billing, the recurring amount at the payment processor is updated to match, and the panel says so: "Helcim's recurring amount will be updated to match. The next auto-charge will use the new price." If that update cannot be made, a line is added to the membership's Notes telling you to change it at the processor by hand.
The panel is not shown on punch-card memberships, or where no active discount covers that plan.
More detail: editing, deactivating and deleting
Editing, Deactivating and Deleting
Click a discount's name to open it. Its page shows the discount, the plans it applies to, the customer tag it needs, whether it is stackable and whether it is active, with three buttons:
| Button | What it does |
|---|---|
| Edit | Change any field. |
| Deactivate / Activate | Switch the discount off or back on. An inactive discount is not given to new members and is not offered on a member's Discounts panel. |
| Delete | Asks Delete [name]? and removes it. |
Members keep the price they were given. Their membership page then reads Discounted at enrollment by a discount that no longer exists. Use the Move to the current $X button on that member if you want them back on the plan price.
More detail: troubleshooting
Troubleshooting
| Problem | Solution |
|---|---|
| The discount isn't applying at signup | Check it is Active, that the plan is ticked under Applies To (or that no plan is ticked), and that the customer carries the Customer Tag if one is set. |
| A plan is missing from the Applies To tick boxes | Only active plans are listed. Activate the plan first. |
| A member's price didn't change when I changed the discount | Discounts are worked out when somebody enrols. Change an existing member from the Discounts panel on their own page. |
| must be between 0 and 100 for percent discounts | A percentage discount cannot be more than 100. Switch to a flat amount if you meant dollars. |
| Name has already been taken | Discount names must be unique in your store. |
| Two discounts, but only one applied | Only the biggest non-stackable discount is used. Tick Stackable with other discounts on the ones meant to layer. |
| The member's page shows no Discounts panel | It is a punch card, or no active discount covers that plan. Create one and it appears. |
More detail: best practices
Best Practices
- Name discounts after the reason, not the number — "Family of 4" survives a price change; "15% off" does not.
- Use tags for rules that repeat. Tag the customers once and every future enrolment picks the rate up on its own.
- Keep stacking rare. One clear rate per member is easier to explain at the counter than three that layer.
- Retire rather than delete. Deactivating keeps the name readable on the members who still hold it.
What's Next?
- Members — attach or clear a discount on one member.
- Membership Plans — list prices and the member shop discount.
- Auto-Billing — how a price change reaches the payment processor.