Series are most commonly used for dog training group classes where your client subscribes to a multi-week program. Often these are 4-6 week programs occurring at the same day/time every week, possibly containing different services for each class. So how do you set this up for your clients?
This guide touches on what you need to know to create and configure your series.
Adding a Group Training Service
If you haven't already, start by creating a group training service. Use this guide to set one up and head back after you've done that.
Creating a Series
You can think of creating a series as creating a template for your group classes. Once you've created a template, you can use it to start adding class bookings to your calendar. Let's start by walking through the process of creating a template for a 4-week Puppy Training class.
Start by travelling to the Services page. First click the ellipses in the left-hand menu bar, then select "Services".
This page includes a full list of all your services and series, organized by their type and listed alphabetically. Click the "Actions" button at the top-right of the page, then select "New Series" from the drop-down menu to begin building your series.
Here, you'll see a new interface with some familiar inputs.
Series Name | This will be displayed to your customers when they're selecting the services they're booking for, and will appear on invoices. It's a good idea to keep it short and concise. |
Description | The description will show below the Series Name. Use this section to help your customers understand what they'll learn by booking this series. |
Default Price | The price that will be automatically inserted when you add a new series to your calendar. This can be changed manually before committing a specific booking to the calendar. |
Capacity | The total capacity for each class/day/time in the series. This can also be adjusted before committing the series to your calendar. |
For this example, we'll name the series "Puppy Training First Start", then set the default price to $400 and the capacity to 10.
Below that you'll see the interface to add services/classes/days to your series. Each service, class, or day in a series is a step. Click the "Add Step" button 4 times so that we can create our 4-week Puppy Training program.
A selection menu will show up for each step. Use the drop-down menus to select the group service "Puppy Training Level 1" for each step. When creating a series, a different service may be selected for each step if desired.
Once each step has been assigned a service, click the "Create Series" button at the top-right and our new Puppy Training series has been created!
That's it! You can now add the new series to your calendar and begin booking students into your classes. Once added, the steps of your series will display as "Step #: Name of Service".
Editing the Settings for an Existing Series
Any series that you have created will be listed together on the Services page, beneath your list of group training services.
Each series is listed with its name, a "Publicly Listed" toggle, buttons to copy its direct link and code for its website integration, a settings icon, and a trash can icon.
When a series' "Publicly Listed" toggle is turned on (purple), it will be included on the service list in your Public Booking Portal and Private Client Portal, allowing your clients to self-book classes of that type. Turning this toggle off (grey) removes the series from your public list, preventing clients from seeing it. When getting a series ready for your clients to self-book, we recommend turning the "Publicly Listed" toggle ON for the series (i.e. Puppy Training First Start) and OFF for the service from which it is built (i.e. Puppy Training Level 1). That will ensure only the series is listed for selection in your booking portal.
Series that are not publicly listed (i.e. their toggle is turned off) can still be self-booked by clients if you provide them with its direct link/website embed or if the client has access to the series through an active membership subscription. This allows you to provide restricted access to series that you want to have more control over.
Clicking the trash can icon for any listed series deletes it from your list.
To edit the settings for an existing series, select either its name or the gear icon at the right side of its line entry on the Services page.
Series have a variety of settings available.
Series Details | Settings chosen when first creating the series. This includes the series' name, description, default price, and steps. |
General Settings | Toggles to control the public listing status and whether the series' bookings appear on the calendar with a custom colour. This section also includes a toggle controlling whether or not a waitlist is available for the series. |
Series Image | Allows you to assign a photo to the series, to be displayed with the class description in your booking portal. |
Links and Integrations | Buttons to copy the embed code and direct link for the selected series. These can be used to provide clients with direct access to book classes of this type. Use these direct options to provide select clients with access to book or to customize the booking page on your website. |
Client Self-Booking Settings: Payments | Options to control the payment settings for clients self-booking the series. Selecting "Required" means customers have to pay in full to confirm their registration, "Require Package/Credit" means the customer must have available service credits or purchase a package to book the class, "Optional" means an invoice is automatically generated at the time of booking so customers may choose to pay right away or wait, and "Deposit" means the customer must pay a certain percentage of their booking fee/package price to confirm their booking registration.
Note: These settings are available only after Stripe has been set up on your account. |
Client Self-Booking Settings: Sorting & Onboarding | Allows you to assign an intake form to the series and/or assign a custom category. Assigning a form here results in that form being presented to clients for completion during the self-booking process. Assigning a category results in the service being listed under that category in the booking portal instead of its default. |
Client Self-Booking Settings: Custom Overrides | Options for customizing the booking window, cancellation window, and tip defaults for the series. By default, all series will be subject to your account's global settings. Toggles in this section allow you to override the global settings and choose series-specific settings instead. |
To edit the series' name, description, default price, default capacity, and/or steps, click the "Edit" button under "Series Details". Note that the service type cannot be edited for any existing services.
For more information on adjusting the settings for your series to best suit your needs, check out our guide on Configuring Self-Serve Bookings.
Now that you know how to build and edit your series, you're ready to start adding classes to your calendar and accepting client registrations! To learn more about the scheduling process, check out our guide on Adding Bookings to Your Calendar.