Offering a "Bring a Friend for Free" option is a great way to build community and attract new customers to your classes. This guide will walk you through three possible methods to set up a free guest pass for your students.
Who can use this feature?
Automations are available on Willow, Banyan, and Redwood plans.
Discount codes and gift cards are features of Banyan and Redwood plans.
Method 1: Assign a Bonus Pass Automation
The Assign Bonus Pass automation allows you to give an additional pass to a customer when they purchase a specific pass. In this case, the customer buys their own pass and gets a bonus pass they can use for their friend. However, there are some important details to consider when using this approach:
Steps:
Enable the Assign Bonus Pass automation in your Punchpass settings.
Choose the type of pass that will trigger the bonus pass (e.g., a Drop-In pass or a class package).
Set the bonus pass to either be a regular pass for the paying customer or a gift card that can be redeemed by their friend.
Inform the customer that to bring a friend, they will need to book themselves into the class twice and the instructor will change over the second pass after the class.
Pros:
Allows you to automate the process of giving an extra pass when a purchase is made.
Ensures that each student is accounted for in your class.
Easy to track within the system if the customer uses both passes for themselves.
Cons:
The customer might need to book into the class twice or reach out to an admin to transfer the pass to the friend.
The instructor might need to manually adjust the passes afterward to ensure the correct pass is used for the friend.
Method 2: Bonus Pass as a Gift Card
Another option is to use the Assign Bonus Pass automation but have the bonus pass issued as a Gift Card. This allows the customer to gift the pass to their friend, who can then redeem it to sign up for class themselves.
Please visit this guide on creating gift cards
Steps:
Set up the Assign Bonus Pass automation, but instead of issuing a regular pass, issue a gift card for a free class.
When the customer purchases a pass, they will also receive a gift card to share with their friend.
The customer will share the gift card code with the friend to use and sign up for a class themselves.
Pros:
The friend can sign up on their own, making it easy for you to collect their contact information.
The customer doesn’t need to book the class twice, reducing confusion.
More professional and user-friendly, as the friend handles their own booking.
Cons:
You need to ensure the customer understands how to gift the gift card to their friend (by sharing the gift card code and/or a link to the class).
Method 3: Discount Code for 100% Off
Another approach is to create a Discount Code that covers the full cost of a class pass. You can limit the discount to one use per customer, allowing them to give the code to their friend. This method requires the customer to book their own class and pass the discount code to their friend.
Please visit this guide for details on creating a discount code
Steps:
Create a discount code for 100% off of the eligible pass (e.g., a Drop-In pass).
Limit the discount to one redemption per customer.
Set up the Send Email After Pass Purchase automation to send the discount code to the customer after they purchase their pass.
The customer gives the discount code to their friend, who redeems it to sign up for the class.
Pros:
The friend handles their own booking, which simplifies your class management and collects their contact information.
Flexible: you can apply the discount code to any type of pass.
No need to adjust passes after the class, reducing manual work for your instructors.
Cons:
You need to monitor the discount code to ensure it’s only used by friends, not for multiple free passes.
The customer must be responsible for sharing the discount code with their friend.
Additional Consideration: Selling Free Passes
In some cases, your customers may want to purchase a free pass for their friend directly.
You can set up a pass with no cost using the method outlined in How Can My Customers Buy a Free Pass Online?.
This article explains how you can:
Create a pass that is 100% discounted for specific customers.
Offer free passes via the customer portal or by directly assigning a free pass to a customer.
Pros:
Offers a direct way for customers to get a free pass for a friend.
You can keep this offer off the public Purchase a Pass page if you'd like to share the purchase link by email.
Ideal for promotions or limited-time offers.
Cons:
If you're sharing a purchase link, you might have additional considerations to make to restrict access!