How to Setup Subscriptions as an Instructor?

Overview

Subscriptions are recurring or one-time payment packages that learners can purchase to gain access to premium courses. Depending on the plan's configuration, subscribed learners can enroll in the included courses either completely for free or at a specialized, discounted fee. Setting up a subscription model is an effective strategy for creating continuous revenue streams, membership portals, or corporate training bundles.

Understanding the Subscription Plan Types

Before building a plan, select the structural model that best aligns with your catalog and monetization strategy:

1. Limited Access: Provides access to a predefined, specific number of courses for a restricted time window (e.g., access to any 3 courses for 6 months).
2. Limited-time access to all courses: A one-time or recurring payment that opens your entire course catalog, but access expires after a specified period of time (e.g., an all-access annual pass).
3. Lifetime access to a limited number of courses: Provides permanent, lifetime access to a predefined number of courses chosen by the learner (e.g., buy a bundle of 5 courses forever).
4. Lifetime access (All courses): A premium one-time payment that permanently unlocks your entire past, current, and future course catalog for the learner's profile.

Step-by-Step: Creating a Subscription Plan

Step 1: Navigate to the Subscription Workspace

1. Log in to your global administrative management panel.
2. From the main sidebar menu layout, open the E-commerce Site admin console view.
3. Using the top or side sub-navigation panel, select Subscription & Bundles.

Step 2: Initialize the Subscription Plan Wizard

1. On the Subscriptions index directory page, click the Create a new plan button.

Step 3: Configure Plan Properties and Metadata

Fill out the centralized form fields to dictate the duration, limitations, pricing, and structural behavior of your membership package:

• Plan Title: Enter a clear, learner-facing title (e.g., Full-Stack Developer Annual Membership).
• Plan Description: Input marketing summary notes, compliance details, or syllabus inclusions that display on the checkout landing block.
• Subscription Plan Type: Click the dropdown menu and select one of the four baseline models described in the overview section (Limited Access, Limited-time access, etc.).

[Image Placeholder: Step-by-step view of the Subscription plan properties window focusing on plan type selection and duration rules]

Step 4: Define Time Constraints and Course Allocations

Depending on your selected plan type, the form will dynamically adapt its required field rows:

• Subscription Duration Unit & Value: (Applies only to Limited Access and Limited-time access models) Set your duration unit metric to either Days, Months, or Years, and enter the corresponding numerical value (e.g., setting the unit to Months and value to 12 establishes a 1-year timeline). Note: These fields hide automatically if a Lifetime option is chosen.
• Number of Courses: (Applies only to Limited Access and Lifetime access to a limited number models) Enter the exact numerical cap representing the maximum number of paid courses a student can activate under this membership profile. Note: This field hides automatically if an All Courses option is chosen.

Step 5: Adjust Pricing, Visibility, and Order Layouts

• Price (USD): Enter the base financial cost of the plan.
• Marked-down Price (USD): (Optional) Input a discounted baseline price to display a promotional strikethrough price indicator on your public-facing catalog page.
• Subscription Display Order: Define a numerical layout priority to position this card on your storefront grid. Entering 1 assigns it the highest order, forcing it to display first on the learner-facing page.
• Subscription Active Status: Set the toggle switch to Active to push the plan live to checkout, or keep it Inactive if you are still formatting the catalog structures.
• Click Create Plan.

The subscription profile compiles instantly. The platform establishes a live structural link with your catalog database tracking matrices.

Learner Perspective and Storefront Interface

The system automatically generates a responsive subscription card layout within your catalog interface or checkout landing grids:

• Subscription Purchasing: When a student navigates to your live storefront directory, they can select and purchase the plan as a unified product row.
• Seamless Enrollment: The moment the payment gateway authorizes the transaction, the student's profile registers the subscription role flag. When they browse to any paid course run included under their plan parameters, the standard checkout call-to-action is replaced by a Purchase Course With Subscription button, allowing them to join instantly without additional credit card entries.