All About Subscription Renewals

Updated on Sep 03, 2024

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All About Subscription Renewals: https://help.pm.leapevent.tech/a/959403

Subscription renewals are the lifeblood of your organization; enfranchised patrons tend to be the highest donors, after all. Give yourself plenty of time to make sure your subscription renewals go smoothly - the earlier you start processing renewals, the better.

This article will serve as your hub for everything you need, from helping you estimate how long your renewal process will take, to providing you with links to step-by-step articles for each part of the renewal process.

We're diving deep into the world of the Box Office in this article. If you're not yet familiar with Event Inventory structure - the difference between a Ticketable Event and a Price Level, or between a Ticket Order and a Ticket Order Item - we recommend starting with Introduction to Ticketable Events in PatronManager.

How long do fixed renewals take to process, and when should I start?

That depends on many different factors, like whether or not you need to update your venue, how many subscription packages you offer, and how many Ticketable Events you plan for each season. Here's each step in the renewal process, from start to finish, and approximately how long each step might take. These are estimates, based on one person doing the work by themselves, and based on a season with:

5 Ticketable Events, each with 10 Event Instances
4 Subscription Package options
1 Venue

Don't worry if you don't actually know what each step means, since we'll go over each step more in depth in a moment:

Step #	Step Name	Approx. Time Required
1	Verify your venue and update it when necessary	Check current Venue Project timelines here
2	Create your season's Ticketable Events, Instances, etc.	5 hours, +/- 2 hours
3	Create your Subscription Packages	6 hours, +/- 2 hours
4	Build Series from your Subscription Packages	2 hours, +/- 1 hour
5	Manage Subscription Seat Assignments (if this is your first renewal in PatMan)	2 hours, +/- 1 hour
6	Use the Subscription Renewal Tool and manually fulfill Subscriptions when necessary	4 hours, +/- 1 hour
7	Print renewals and mail to patrons (only if not using Patron Portal)	4 hours, +/- 2 hours
8	Wait for patron's reply and enter completed renewal information	1 hour, plus an additional 2 weeks

Remember, if your events will use a new Venue or if you need edits made to an existing Venue, you will need to start a Venue Build paid project with PatronManager. For more about the Venue Build project, costs, and turnaround time, check out this article.

Total, we're looking at between 15 and 37 hours of in-office work, plus an additional two weeks of waiting for renewing patrons to mail back in their subscription information. This process must be completed before you can start selling packages to new subscribers or before you can sell single tickets.

All told, we recommend starting the renewal process at least four months before your season's first event. This will give you time to sort out any issues as they come up, mail out renewals, sell new subscriptions, and sell advanced single tickets.

What if we don't do fixed subscriptions? We only offer flex passes / choose-your-own / pick later subscriptions.

Good question! Your time table will look a little different, as you'll be renewing your patrons manually:

Step #	Step Name	Approx. Time Required
1	Verify your venue and update it when necessary	Check current Venue Project timelines here
2	Create your season's Ticketable Events, Instances, etc.	5 hours, +/- 2 hours
3	Create your Subscription Packages	6 hours, +/- 2 hours
4	Send letters to last year's subscribers, asking if they'd like to renew	4 hours, +/- 2 hours
5	Create subscriptions for patrons who reply manually	4 hours, +/- 2 hours

Although much of this article will focus on fixed subscriptions, we'll go over how to create and fulfill those other subscription types below.

What if this is our first season selling in PatronManager?

You'll need to sell and renew your subscriptions manually for your first year selling tickets in PatronManager, as the Renewal Tool doesn't play well with imported subscriptions.

Here's a ballpark estimate of how long you'll need to process renewals during your first year:

Step #	Step Name	Approx. Time Required
1	Create your season's Ticketable Events, Instances, etc.	5 hours, +/- 2 hours
2	Create your Subscription Packages	6 hours, +/- 2 hours
3	Send letters to last year's subscribers, asking if they'd like to renew	4 hours, +/- 2 hours, plus up to an additional week (if you require our assistance for various reports)
4	Manually create subscriptions for patrons who would like to renew	4 hours, +/- 2 hours

Series? Subscription Seat Assignments? How does all this work?

We're throwing around a lot of terms in this article that might be new to you. Let's take a look at an example of a patron buying a subscription, and then renewing it during the following season. Below, Lisa Simpson purchased a 2016-17 subscription for herself and for her grandpa, Abe Simpson, so they can go to the symphony together. She's going to renew her subscription for the 2017-18 season.

Lisa purchases her subscription order for the 2016-17 season Masterworks Fridays series. When her subscription is fulfilled, a Subscription Seat Assignment is created for each seat she purchases - one for Orchestra Seat A1, and one for Orchestra Seat A2.

Next season, you'll use the Renewal Tool to renew the Masterworks Fridays subscribers. The Renewal Tool asks Lisa's Subscription Seat Assignments what seats she sat in, and what price levels she purchased for those seats. Then, the Renewal Tool creates a reservation Subscription Order based on that information.

When Lisa decides to renew, you'll simply complete the Subscription Order, rather than having to build a new one from scratch.

OK, I'm ready; how do I handle my subscription renewals?

So very glad you asked! Follow the process below - we'll link you to more specific, step-by-step instructions as we go along.

1. Verify your venue, then create your season's events

First and foremost, submit any venue changes you may have by completing the survey at the end of our Venue Build Services article. These changes must be completed before you can create your season events.

Depending on what the changes are, it may take us several weeks to complete them, so be sure to submit them as early as you possibly can. Your subscription is going to be made out of individual events, so those have to be made before we can get started. If you need a reminder of how to build ticketable events in PatronManager, see How to Create a New Event (GA) and How to Create a New Event (Reserved) Seating. We'll go over how to create subscription pricing in the next step, but you can also create those price levels now, while you're setting up your other price levels. Also, note that the allocation names must match the allocation names from last year exactly if you're going to use the renewal tool.

2. Build your subscription packages

Once you've decided what type of subscriptions you'll offer your patrons, our Help tab articles can walk you through the process of setting up your packages:

For more information about these subscription package types, check out our Introduction to Subscriptions Help tab article.

3. Build series from your subscription packages

Chances are, if you already use the word "series" to refer to anything having to do with subscriptions, you're using it to mean the same thing we mean here: a set of subscription packages that, taken together, form a complete set of subscription seating for a given performance. In other words, it's a way to make sure two subscribers (buying subscriptions at two different price levels) don't try to sit in the same seat.

For help doing this, see Building "Series" From Your Subscription Packages.

4. Manage Seat Assignments (if this is your first renewal)

The first time you renew your subscriptions, you will need to create a set of seat assignments for your subscribers. After that, it will generally be taken care of automatically.

For help doing this, see Managing Seat Assignments.

5. Use the Subscription Renewal Tool

The Subscription Renewal tab in your PatronManager account will process your fixed subscription renewals.

For instructions, see Process Renewals. Then, to handle any unfulfilled subscriptions from the Subscription Renewal Tool, consult our Seating Guide.

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Next Article Subscription Renewal Tool: Building "Series" From Your Subscription Packages

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