In this article you will learn how to invite a new customer to sign up to a plan and add an existing customer to a plan.
View our video walkthrough on how to invite or add customers to a plan via your dashboard, or alternatively scroll down to read the article.
It's important to distinguish between inviting customers to a plan and adding them; they are used in different circumstances.
Inviting customers to a Plan
This option is used to send an authorisation request to a new customer who does not yet have an active Direct Debit mandate with you.
By sending the customer a plan invite, they will be automatically assigned to the corresponding Plan once they submit the online authorisation form.
To invite customers to a plan...
1. Click on the Plans tab in your dashboard and then select the plan you would like to invite customers to
2. Click Invite customers in the top right of the Plan overview page
3. In the window that opens you will see two options to provide the Plan link to your customers.
a). The first option (shown by default) is via a Link
You can copy this link and add it within a button on your website or newsletter campaign, send it in a message via our own business email, or share it via social media. (We also have some "Pay with GoCardless" buttons you can use).
b). The second option is to send the link via Email from within your dashboard.
i. Enter as many customer email addresses as you need, and then add a personalised message that will be included as part of the email they receive.
ii. Via Advanced options you can set the plan to require approval from the customer for each payment before it will begin processing. (Your customers would receive an approval button via email that they would need to click). You can also set the language for the email.
iii. Once you've entered all the information, click Add customers.
Adding a customer to a Plan
This option is used to add an existing customer (one with an active Direct Debit mandate) to a Plan.
1. Click on the Customers tab within your dashboard menu, then click on the customer’s name
2. Once on the customer’s individual page, click Add to plan in the top right
3. In the window that opens, select the Plan you would like to add this customer to via the drop-down menu
4. Then select the date you'd like to begin charging them
The charge date frequency would have already been set when you first created the Plan. A Plan can be set to collect weekly, monthly, yearly or using a custom option.
4. When you’re ready, click Add customer to plan at the bottom.
The plan will then appear on the customer's record as a subscription. The customer will receive an automatic notification to let them know about this action against their mandate.
Learn more about cancelling a plan or removing an individual customer from a plan.