This article introduces plans and subscriptions, and explains how they relate to user groups.
Topics covered here:
- What are plans?
- Plan types explained
- Create a free plan
- Create a subscription plan
- Edit plan details
- Set a plan as featured
- Retire or reactivate a plan
Note: Deals and offers are usually ingested or set up by the backend team on a per-project basis.
Within Presentation Manager, the term rules is used to group together three related features: deals, offers, and plans.
The diagram below illustrates how rules, assets, users, and user groups interlink. Here we're focussing on the rules that relate to plans and, in particular, subscription plans.
You can also check out our rules infographic, which explains how rules work together to give you control over the content your users can see and consume.
What are plans?
Plans are used to segment users into specific user groups during the registration or subscription process, and to control the customer messaging and billing rules. There are two types of plans; free and subscription.
When your end-users sign up for a plan, whether it's free or paid, they're added to a user group.
In turn, offers, which control the assets that are available to view and when and how they can be viewed, are also mapped to a user group.
Signing up for a plan, therefore, gives users access to content offered to the user group they're in as part of their plan.
For further information about how this works, read our user groups article.
Plan types explained
| Plan Type | Description |
|---|---|
| No plan | If there are no active plans available, a user is automatically assigned to the registered user group during registration. Users are shown all available plans during registration (if one or more plans are published). |
| Free plans | Use free plans to assign users to default user groups. Users selecting a free plan do not need to enter any credit card information during registration. This is typically the difference between a register only and paid subscription - effectively offering a freemium SVOD service. You can use free plans to give users multiple non-billable registration options - such as allowing them to pick from a set of different regional user groups. |
| Subscription plans | Use subscription plans to define a specific set of billing rules associated with a user group (incl. currency, amount, recurring billing period, and trial period.) You can create multiple subscription plans for the same user group, for example with different prices for monthly vs. annual subscriptions. |
Configuring Plans
In Presentation Manager, navigate to Rules→Plans to create new or display existing plans.
This opens the page, shown below, where free and subscription plans can be viewed and managed.
How do I create a new plan?
You can create new free plans as well as plans with a subscription cost. You can also create multiple plans for each plan type.
Create a free plan
- Select the
button
- The new free plan screen displays
- Enter information into the relevant fields
Free plan details include:
| Field name | Description |
|---|---|
| Title (mandatory) | The name of the plan. |
| External ID | The unique plan identifier. |
| Tagline | A short description of the plan (85 character limit). |
| Assigned user group (mandatory) | Select an existing user group, e.g., basic or visitor. Users signing up to this plan will be added to the selected user group. |
| Add benefit | Add listed benefits, e.g., number of devices, delivery type, etc. If you've added multiple benefits, you can drag and drop them to re-order. |
| Segmentation tags | Target various groups of users. Read applying segmentation tags for more information. |
Once you've added all relevant information, select to add your new free plan.
Create a subscription plan
- Select the
button
- The new subscription plan screen displays
- Enter information into the relevant fields
Subscription plan details include:
| Field name | Details |
|---|---|
| Title (mandatory) | The name of the plan. |
| Delivery type (mandatory) | Select either; stream or stream or download. |
| External ID | A unique plan identifier. |
| Tagline | A short description of the plan (85 character limit). |
| Assigned user group (mandatory) | Select a pre-existing user group, e.g., premium or standard. Users signing up to this plan will be added to the selected user group. |
| Currency (mandatory) | Select the required currency for billing. |
| Amount (mandatory) | Specify the plan billing cost. |
| Billing period (mandatory) | Specify a number and interval to define the frequency of billing, e.g., every month, week, or year. |
| Trial period days | Specify the duration in days of the plan's trial period (if applicable). |
| Billing terms & conditions | Specify any billing T&Cs. |
| Add benefit | Add listed benefits, e.g., number of devices, delivery type, etc. If you've added multiple benefits, drag and drop them to re-order. |
| Segmentation tags | Select one or more existing segmentation tags to target this plan at specific groups of user. Applying segmentation tags explains more about this feature. |
Once all required fields are complete, select to save your new plan.
How to manage your plans
To make changes to a plan, hover over it and select the triangle icon to display options.
Edit plan details
Select Edit to modify plan details.
Note that once you've created a plan, certain fields are locked and can no longer be edited. This includes the assigned user group and the billing details. If you need to make changes to these elements you'll need to retire the plan (see below), and create a new one with the required details.
Set a plan as featured
Select Remove as featured/Set as featured.
A featured plan is highlighted by default in your apps. Set a plan as featured to promote it and encourage user take up. You can have more than one featured subscription plan at any one time.
Any plans not featured are shown as alternative options.
Retire or reactivate a plan
Select Retire this plan/Reactivate this plan.
Retiring a plan deactivates it and removes it from being offered in your apps. This doesn't affect any users who already signed up to it, however, no new users can subscribe.
Retired plans are not deleted. They are moved to a Retired Plans section on the page, and can be reactivated and offered to users again if required.
If you select the option to retire a plan (or reactivate a retired plan) you'll be shown a message asking you to confirm the action. Select Confirm to proceed to retire/reactivate the plan.