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How to Sell and Fulfill a Subscription (with Video Tutorials): https://help.pm.leapevent.tech/a/864446
In this article, we'll show you how to sell subscriptions, and we'll also show you how to fulfill those subscriptions. We recommend starting with:
- Two video tutorials about how to sell and fulfill a subscription
- A definition of selling vs fulfilling
Then, step-by-step, we'll cover how to sell and fulfill:
- A Fixed subscription
- A Choose Your Own subscription
- A Pick Later subscription
We'll also cover some frequently asked questions at the end.
If you're not already familiar with the different types of subscription packages, start with All About Subscriptions in PatronManager.
If you haven't yet built your subscription packages, you'll need to do that before you can sell them. Check out these articles to set them up:
- Fixed subscriptions
- Choose Your Own subscriptions
- Pick Later subscriptions
How do I sell subscriptions, and how do I seat those subscriptions?
For starters, watch the following two video tutorials on how to sell and fulfill a subscription.
PatronManager Box Office is constantly evolving - some things may look a little different than in these videos. For the latest updates, see the steps below.
Looking for a specific section of the How to Sell a Subscription video?
- 0:54 - How to sell a Fixed or Pick Later subscription
- 2:58 - How to sell a Choose Your Own subscription
Looking for a specific section of the How to Fulfill a Subscription video?
- 1:14 - How to find Orders awaiting fulfillment
- 1:51 - Fulfill a Fixed or Choose Your Own subscription
- 4:34 - Fulfill a Pick Later subscription
- 7:31 - Manually fulfill part of a subscription
- 9:55 - Fulfill a subscription with general admission tickets
Selling vs Fulfilling: what's the difference?
In some cases you'll do the whole process at once -- you may even choose to fulfill the subscription before you complete the Order and collect payment, to ensure the patron has their preferred seats. To clarify the difference, though:
- Selling a subscription means adding a subscription package to a Ticket Order and completing the Order to collect payment for that subscription. Think of this as selling the patron a fancy envelope labeled "First Fridays Subscription".
- Fulfilling a subscription means assigning seats (or specific general admission tickets) to the subscription package. This removes those seats/tickets from inventory so they can't be sold to anyone else, and completes the subscription package so that you can print or email the patron's tickets. Think of this as filling the fancy subscription envelope with actual event tickets.
Sell and fulfill a Fixed subscription
Fixed subscriptions contain a specific combination of retail Event Instances, for example a "First Fridays" package which would contain one ticket to the first Friday performance of each show in your season.
2. Start with a search for your patron
If the patron exists in the system, it's always best to add their Contact to the Ticket Order up front by looking them up and selecting their name (1).
If they're new (or you don't find them by searching), don't worry - you can select New Contact instead to create a new Contact and add their information (2).
You can also edit the patron's information at any time using the Edit Buyer Info button after selecting a Contact!
3. Click the "Subscriptions" tile
If the subscription you want to sell is in the Recently Sold quick tiles, you can also select it from there.
7. Adjust the Price Level of packages if needed
For example, if you need to change one of the packages from "Adult" to "Comp," click the appropriate Price Level on that package row now.
9. Fill out the rest of the order information and submit
The rest of the process is the same as for any Ticket Order; if you'd like a refresher, we have instructions here.
Because you selected a seat in step 6, this subscription is now fulfilled too!
If a patron purchases their subscription online and you don't have Pick Your Own Seat subscriptions turned on or if patrons can't select seats online, you'll need to fulfill the subscription with specific seats (for reserved seating Events) or tickets (for general admission Events).
1. Qualify the Order if needed
Ticket Orders placed online, or that contain a Donation, or where there was no existing Contact to attach, need to be qualified. If you see that the Order Status is "To Be Qualified," complete that step first, then come back.
2. Note that there are Unfulfilled packages, then click "Fulfill" from the Order Info tab
Fixed, general admission subscriptions sold internally can automatically fulfill themselves if there's sufficient inventory. If all the subscription packages have a green "Fulfilled" badge instead of the orange "Unfulfilled" badge as shown here, you're all set! If there are any "Unfulfilled" badges, though, be sure to complete this process.
3. Review the fulfillment landing page
Here's a tour:
- Order Notes: if there are any comments on the Ticket Order (e.g. with seating requests), those are visible here.
- Subscription package: subscriptions are grouped on this page by the package (i.e. Subscription Ticketable Event/Event Instance), even if they were sold at different Price Levels (e.g. Adult vs Student).
- Unfulfill selected: if all or part of the subscription has been fulfilled, you can use the selection boxes (6) with this button to unfulfill components, e.g. to remove all the assigned seats for a given show before fulfilling with new seats.
- Mark as fulfilled: use this button to manually mark a subscription as fulfilled - more on that later.
- Fulfillment notes: this is an internal field tracked on the subscription package. Use for internal notes about seating preferences etc.
- Selection boxes: use these checkboxes to select individual subscription components to fulfill or unfulfill. Check the box in the column header to select all at once.
- Item details: one row for each Ticketable Event/Instance sold as part of the subscription package. Fulfillment items (i.e. the actual seats/tickets) will appear under the header once a row is fulfilled.
- Quantity fulfilled: the number of seats/tickets fulfilled for each placeholder within the package, and the number of placeholder slots that need to be filled.
- Manual fulfillment: click the dropdown arrow to access manual fulfillment for a subscription component if necessary.
- Fulfill selected: use with the selection boxes (6) to fulfill all or part of a subscription package.
- Back to Ticket Order: leave this page and return to the Ticket Order interface.
You can fulfill all subscriptions in a package simultaneously, even if the Price Levels are different (e.g. Adult and Student First Friday packages).
Different types of subscription packages (e.g. First Fridays vs First Saturdays, or a Fixed vs Choose Your Own subscription) need to be handled/seated separately, and will appear in separate sections on this page.
4. Complete fulfillment for the relevant subscription components
The process varies slightly depending on whether your subscription package contains pick-your-own-seat Event Instances, general admission Event Instances, or a mix of both. Be sure to read the sections that apply to your organization.
4.1. Select any incompletely-fulfilled events, then click "Fulfill Selected"
You can skip any components that are already completely filled (e.g. general admission components), but if you happen to select them anyway, that's fine - you would just wind up with one extra step showing the fulfilled components, and you'd click "Next" to move past it.
If all the subscription components need to be fulfilled, click the checkbox in the column header to select all the underlying items at once.
4.2. Review the fulfillment page for the first venue
There's a lot happening on this page, let's take a closer look:
- Number filled: tracks the number of seat selections completed for the current venue
- Fulfilling: lists the performances you're selecting seats for in this particular venue
- Venue map: seating chart for the venue where you're selecting seats right now; if the subscription includes events in multiple Venues, you'll see the name of the Selected Venue here
- Fulfillment cards: each card specifies the number of seats you must select to complete that card, and which Allocation to choose them from. The active card has a blue outline.
- Comments/Fulfillment notes: any Order Comments and Fulfillment notes that may be useful when selecting seats for the patron appear on the right during seat selection.
4.3. Select seats as specified to complete each fulfillment card, then click "Next"
For each fulfillment card, select the number of seats specified in that Allocation. Filled cards are grey; you can remove seats using the trash can icon if you need to re-select.
4.4. Review seat preferences if applicable, then click "Next"
If your organization uses the Subscription Renewal Tool, you may see a page like this one.
4.5. Repeat for additional venues as needed
If the subscription component Event Instances take place in different venues, you'll repeat from step 2 for each subsequent venue.
4.1. Verify fulfillment for general admission events
General admission components will fulfill themselves automatically as long as there is sufficient inventory in the target Allocation. Use the "Quantity Fulfilled" column to confirm.
4.2. If any general admission components are incomplete, but you know there's enough inventory to fill them, select them and click "Fulfill Selected"
This could happen if the Allocation was originally sold out, but you reallocated inventory so that now there's enough.
You can select and fill as many components at a time as you'd like - in this example we're only choosing one.
4.3. The system will process for a minute while it attempts to fulfill those selections. Review the results, then click "Next"
If it succeeds, it will look like this, with all cards grey and Fulfilled:
If it fails to fulfill all cards, the remaining ones will be white and Unfilled:
If that happens, you can either add more inventory and try fulfilling again, or manually fulfill the component into a different Allocation or Event.
5. Review the fulfilled subscription, then click "Back to Ticket Order"
If you completely fulfilled all the component events, the subscription will now be marked as filled. The checkboxes will be greyed out, and you'll see a button available to "Re-open" the subscription should you need to make changes.
6. The subscriptions are now filled!
Head over to the "Print" tab if you need to print or email tickets.
You can always click "Fulfill" if you need to make changes or want to quickly view all seat info at once.
If a patron selects "Email" as their delivery method, you will need to email them their tickets from the "Print" tab.
Sell and fulfill a Choose Your Own subscription
Choose Your Own subscriptions allow the patron to choose a specific number of retail Event Instances from a list of options you define. The patron will choose their performances up front when buying the package. For example, a "Choose Three" package where the buyer can select three specific performances from your entire six-show season.
2. Start with a search for your patron
If the patron exists in the system, it's always best to add their Contact to the Ticket Order up front by looking them up and selecting their name (1).
If they're new (or you don't find them by searching), don't worry - you can select New Contact instead to create a new Contact and add their information (2).
You can also edit the patron's information at any time using the Edit Buyer Info button!
3. Click the "Subscriptions" tile
If the subscription you want to sell is in the Recently Sold quick tiles, you can also select it from there.
7. Add how many packages you need at each Price Level, then click Next
In this example, we only have one Price Level available.
If you have different Price Levels that map to the same set of retail Event Instances, you can add them at the same time. If your Price Levels correspond to different lists of Event Instances, you'll need to add them one at a time.
9. Select the Allocation (if applicable) to add the selection to the card
If there's only one Allocation, the system chooses it for you and you'll skip this step!
11. Fill out the rest of the order information and submit
The rest of the process is the same as for any Ticket Order; if you'd like a refresher, we have instructions here.
At this point, the subscription packages are still unfulfilled. You can jump ahead to fulfillment if you need to guarantee the buyer specific seats before they pay; just be sure to complete the Order within an hour or the draft will be automatically deleted.
It's often best to finish up the Order first, then continue on to fulfillment.
It's time to fulfill the subscription with specific seats (for reserved seating Events) or tickets (for general admission Events).
1. Qualify the Order if needed
Ticket Orders placed online, or that contain a Donation, or where there was no existing Contact to attach, need to be qualified. If you see that the Order Status is "To Be Qualified", complete that step first, then come back.
3. Review the fulfillment landing page
Here's a tour:
- Order Notes: if there are any comments on the Ticket Order (e.g. with seating requests), those are visible here.
- Subscription package: subscriptions are grouped on this page by the package (i.e. Subscription Ticketable Event/Event Instance), even if they were sold at different Price Levels (e.g. Adult vs Student).
- Unfulfill selected: if all or part of the subscription has been fulfilled, you can use the selection boxes (6) with this button to unfulfill components, e.g. to remove all the assigned seats for a given show before fulfilling with new seats.
- Mark as fulfilled: use this button to manually mark a subscription as fulfilled - more on that later.
- Fulfillment notes: this is an internal field tracked on the subscription package. Use for internal notes about seating preferences etc.
- Selection boxes: use these checkboxes to select individual subscription components to fulfill or unfulfill. Check the box in the column header to select all at once.
- Item details: one row for each Ticketable Event/Instance sold as part of the subscription package. Fulfillment items (i.e. the actual seats/tickets) will appear under the header once a row is fulfilled.
- Quantity fulfilled: the number of seats/tickets fulfilled for each placeholder within the package, and the number of placeholder slots that need to be filled.
- Manual fulfillment: click the dropdown arrow to access manual fulfillment for a subscription component if necessary.
- Fulfill selected: use with the selection boxes (6) to fulfill all or part of a subscription package.
- Back to Ticket Order: leave this page and return to the Ticket Order interface.
You can fulfill all subscriptions in a package simultaneously, even if the Price Levels are different (e.g. Adult and Student First Friday packages).
Different types of subscription packages (e.g. First Fridays vs First Saturdays, or a Fixed vs Choose Your Own subscription) need to be handled/seated separately, and will appear in separate sections on this page.
4. Complete fulfillment for the relevant subscription components
The process varies slightly depending on whether your subscription package contains pick-your-own-seat Event Instances, general admission Event Instances, or a mix of both. Be sure to read the sections that apply to your organization.
You can fulfill all items at the same time, even if the components are a mix of reserved seating and general admission. We'll split out the two versions below, but the system will automatically walk you through the applicable steps for each package.
4.1. Select all incompletely-fulfilled events, then click "Fulfill Selected"
Click the checkbox in the column header to select all the underlying items at once.
4.2. Review the fulfillment page for the first venue
There's a lot happening on this page, let's take a closer look:
- Number filled: tracks the number of seat selections completed for the current venue
- Fulfilling: lists the performances you're selecting seats for in this particular venue
- Venue map: seating chart for the venue where you're selecting seats right now; if the subscription includes events in multiple Venues, you'll see the name of the Selected Venue here
- Fulfillment cards: each card specifies the number of seats you must select to complete that card, and which Allocation to choose them from. The active card has a blue outline.
- Order Notes: any Order Comments and Fulfillment notes that may be useful when selecting seats for the patron appear here
4.3. Select seats as specified to complete each fulfillment card, then click "Next"
For each fulfillment card, select the number of seats specified in that Allocation. Filled cards are grey; you can remove seats using the trash can icon if you need to re-select.
4.4. Repeat for additional venues as needed
If the subscription component Event Instances take place in different venues, you'll repeat from step 2 for each subsequent venue:
4.1. Verify fulfillment for general admission events
General admission components will fulfill themselves automatically as long as there is sufficient inventory in the target Allocation. Use the "Quantity Fulfilled" column to confirm:
If the subscription is completely fulfilled, click the "Mark as filled" button to mark it as complete. This is necessary for general admission subscriptions sold online.
4.2. If any general admission components are incomplete, but you know there's enough inventory to fill them, select them and click "Fulfill Selected"
This could happen if the Allocation was originally sold out, but you reallocated inventory so that now there's enough.
You can select and fill as many components at a time as you'd like, even if they're a mix of general admission and reserved seating as in this example
4.3. The system will process for a minute while it attempts to fulfill the general admission selections. Review the results, then click "Next"
If it succeeds, it will look like this, with all cards grey and Fulfilled:
If it fails to fulfill all cards, the remaining ones will be white and Unfilled:
If that happens, you can either add more inventory and try fulfilling again, or manually fulfill the component into a different Allocation or Event.
5. Review the fulfilled subscription, then click "Back to Ticket Order"
If you completely fulfilled all the component events, the subscription will now be marked as filled. The checkboxes will be greyed out, and you'll see a button available to "Re-open" the subscription should you need to make changes.
6. The subscriptions are now filled!
Head over to the "Print" tab if you need to print or email tickets.
You can always click "Fulfill" if you need to make changes or want to quickly view all seat info at once.
If a patron selects "Email" as their delivery method, you will need to email them their tickets from the "Print" tab.
Sell and fulfill a Pick Later subscription
Pick Later subscriptions allow you to sell a set number of "vouchers" aka placeholder tickets, which the patron can later swap for tickets to specific events. For example, a "Pick 5 Later" package where the buyer receives a pack of five vouchers to redeem for five tickets later on. You can easily sell these packages even if you haven't yet defined the performances that will happen in your season.
2. Start with a search for your patron
If the patron exists in the system, it's always best to add their Contact to the Ticket Order up front by looking them up and selecting their name (1).
If they're new (or you don't find them by searching), don't worry - you can select New Contact instead to create a new Contact and add their information (2).
You can also edit the patron's information at any time using the Edit Buyer Info button!
3. Click the "Subscriptions" tile
If the subscription package you want to sell is in the Recently Sold quick tiles, you can select it from there.
7. Add how many packages you need at each Price Level, then click Add Pending Items
In this example, we only have one Price Level.
8. Fill out the rest of the order information and submit
The rest of the process is the same as for any Ticket Order; if you'd like a refresher, we have instructions here.
The patron is ready to redeem some or all of their Pick Later vouchers for tickets/seats to your Events. Let's get them some tickets!
1. Qualify the Order if needed
Ticket Orders placed online, or that contain a Donation, or where there was no existing Contact to attach, need to be qualified. If you see that the Order Status is "To Be Qualified," complete that step first, then come back.
3. Review the fulfillment landing page
Here's a tour:
- Order Notes: if there are any comments on the Ticket Order (e.g. with seating requests), those are visible here.
- Subscription package: subscriptions are grouped on this page by the package (i.e. Subscription Ticketable Event/Event Instance), even if they were sold at different Price Levels (e.g. Adult vs Student).
- Unfulfill selected: if all or part of the subscription has been fulfilled, you can use the selection boxes (6) with this button to unfulfill components. Be careful; with Pick Later subscriptions this option will remove both vouchers and actual tickets.
- Mark as fulfilled: use this button to manually mark a subscription as fulfilled - more on that later.
- Fulfillment notes: this is an internal field tracked on the subscription package. Use for internal notes about seating preferences etc.
- Selection boxes: use these checkboxes to select subscription components to fulfill or unfulfill.
- Item details: one row for each voucher Event Instance contained in the subscription package (see below). Placeholder vouchers and fulfilled tickets appear under the header row.
- Quantity fulfilled: the number of seats/tickets fulfilled out of the total vouchers sold. Voucher placeholders don't count as items fulfilled.
- Fulfill selected: use with the selection boxes (6) to fulfill the subscription and swap vouchers for real tickets.
- Back to Ticket Order: leave this page and return to the Ticket Order interface.
You can fulfill all subscriptions in a package simultaneously, even if the Price Levels are different (e.g. Adult and Student First Friday packages).
Different types of subscription packages (e.g. First Fridays vs First Saturdays, or a Fixed vs Choose Your Own subscription) need to be handled/seated separately, and will appear in separate sections on this page.
4. Click the checkbox to the left of the vouchers, then click "Fulfill Selected"
Whether vouchers can be redeemed in any combination or must be redeemed on a specific voucher-to-event basis is up to you, and you'll build your subscription a little differently depending on how the vouchers can be used.
That will influence how the vouchers are arranged during fulfillment, so your page may look a little different than this one.
It's ok if there are already some fulfilled 'real' tickets included in the checkbox; you'll see them on the next page but they won't change unless you intentionally remove/replace them.
5. Select an Event and Instance the patron wishes to attend
There's a lot happening on this page, let's take a closer look:
- Number filled: tracks the number of vouchers redeemed
- Show all active price levels: used later if you need to seat a subscriber at a performance that has no subscription Price Levels
- Fulfillment cards: each card specifies the number of seats you must select to complete that card. Placeholder voucher cards are white; cards filled with 'real' tickets are grey. The active card has a blue outline.
- Event selection pane: select the Ticketable Event the patron would like to attend for this voucher
- Event list search: quickly search the list of events for a particular text string
- Include Past Events: by default only Events with future Event Instances are visible. Click this button to expand the list to include past Events (which you can then narrow down using the search box).
- Event Instance list: after selecting the Event, click an Instance to select it.
6. Select seats or add general admission tickets
This step varies slightly depending on whether you're redeeming vouchers for reserved seating or general admission Event Instances. Be sure to read the sections that apply to your organization.
1. Select the number of seats indicated on the card
Select the exact number of seats specified on the active card.
If there are any order comments or fulfillment notes, you can find them from the Order Notes button at the top.
If you see this message, it means there are no subscription Price Levels available for this seat, but there may be single ticket Price Levels you could use instead.
Click "Continue" to make those single ticket Price Levels visible, then click the seat again. Or click "Cancel" to select a different seat.
2. Adjust the Price Level if needed, then click "Confirm" to add the seat(s)
No money changes hands during Pick Later fulfillment, but the system needs a Price Level to use for reporting etc.
If you need to upcharge or downcharge the patron, you'd process an exchange instead.
1. Select the Allocation, then click "Add" next to the desired Price Level to add the correct number of tickets to the active card
8. Review the subscription, then click "Back to Ticket Order"
If there are still vouchers remaining, the subscription will remain unfulfilled, and you can repeat the process whenever the subscriber is ready to use more of their vouchers!
10. The subscription will automatically be marked as filled once all vouchers are used
The checkboxes will be greyed out, and you'll see a button available to "Re-open" the subscription should you need to make changes.
11. The subscriptions are now filled!
Head over to the "Print" tab if you need to print or email tickets.
You can always click "Fulfill" if you need to make changes or want to quickly view all seat info at once.
If a patron selects "Email" as their delivery method, you will need to email them their tickets from the "Print" tab.
Frequently Asked Questions
Glad you asked! Manual fulfillment allows you to fill a subscription with seats or events that wouldn't normally be available as part of the subscription package. This is useful if, for example, the original Allocation is sold out.
For a complete overview of manual fulfillment, including when you use that option vs processing an exchange, see this article.
Yes! Fulfilling a general admission subscription removes tickets from inventory for the underlying events and ensures that a) the patron has a real ticket to attend each show, and b) you won't accidentally oversell your events.
Nope, you can choose to fulfill just some of the underlying events, and you can even choose to fulfill only some of the seats in a given venue.
This is unusual - in most cases, you'll want to assign the seats as early as possible to ensure the subscriber has the seats they want and that their group can all sit together - but it is definitely possible.
Once the subscription is fulfilled, then you can email their tickets from the Ticket Order using the Print tab.
Want to see a step-by-step guide to do this? We have full instructions available.
In many cases, a subscription will automatically mark itself as fulfilled when it is, and you won't need to click that button. Here are the cases where you'll use it:
1. This is a general admission subscription that was sold online, and it is in fact completely fulfilled
General admission subscriptions can normally fulfill themselves (unless an Allocation is sold out. When one is sold online, though, it will still be marked as unfulfilled, and you'll need to click the button to complete fulfillment. There are two reasons for this:
- So that a human can verify that it filled successfully, and
- To prevent the system from automatically emailing print-at-home tickets to the subscriber if the Delivery Method is "Email". Many organizations sell subscriptions early with placeholder events, and wait to email tickets to subscribers until after the event information (e.g. show names) are confirmed.
After you mark the subscription as fulfilled, you can email tickets from the "Print" tab on the Order.
2. The subscription is NOT fulfilled, but it never will be
For example, if this is a Pick Later subscription and there are still vouchers remaining, but the patron has moved away or the season is over and the vouchers have expired.
You can mark the subscription as fulfilled in this case in order to remove it from the list of Ticket Orders Awaiting Fulfillment.
Once you've marked an unfulfilled subscription as fulfilled, it's very difficult to find it again if you change your mind. Use this option only if you're absolutely sure the subscription won't need to be fulfilled later.
3. You clicked "Re-open" on a fulfilled subscription, made no changes, and want to set it back to fulfilled
Perhaps you clicked the button by accident, or the patron decided not to change their seat selections after all.
Pay attention to any warning messages
If you click "Mark as fulfilled" and the subscription is truly fulfilled, you won't see a warning message. Easy!
If, however, you click "Mark as fulfilled" and the subscription is NOT fulfilled, you'll see a warning like this. Click "Cancel" unless you're absolutely sure you want to mark it as fulfilled:
Subscriber seat preferences track where subscribers like to sit if you use the Subscription Renewal Tool to automatically renew and seat Fixed subscription packages each year. For more information, check out this article.
Sometimes you might see a section on the fulfillment landing page with a mismatch, like this. What gives?
This happens if you've used manual fulfillment to place the subscriber outside their originally-purchased subscription component - don't worry, it's normal!
- The header row ("Six Characters in Search of an Author" in this example) indicates the Event and Instance that the subscription package contained when the subscriber purchased it.
- The indented rows underneath it (three tickets to "King John" in this example) indicate the tickets that are filling that subscription package 'spot'.
Only the 'real' tickets will print, and no inventory is tied up in the original placeholder Event.