Knowledge BaseMembership pricing and trials
Choose between trial periods, introductory pricing, and member-specific discounted periods, and understand how they affect recurring membership billing.
Recurring memberships can move through several prices over their lifetime. A new member may begin with a trial, continue through a set number of introductory-priced renewals, and then move to the normal recurring price. You can also add free or discounted periods to an individual member later.
These tools all change what the member pays, but they serve different purposes and follow different timing rules:
- Trial period: a free or discounted length, in days or in months, at the very start of a recurring membership.
- Introductory pricing: a free or discounted price for a set number of the new member's first renewal periods.
- Goodwill pricing: free or discounted future billing periods granted to one existing member.
Trial periods
Offer free or discounted days or months before the normal paid contract begins.
Introductory pricing
Set a launch price for a new member's first renewal periods.
Goodwill pricing
Grant free or fixed-price future periods to an individual member.
Choose the right pricing tool
| If you want to... | Use | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Let a new customer try the membership for a set length before it bills | Trial period | A trial has its own unit, days or months, and postpones the start of the paid commitment |
| Charge a smaller amount for the first few renewals | Introductory pricing | The offer follows complete billing periods and then returns to the normal price |
| Give one current member a free billing period or temporary lower rate | Goodwill pricing | The adjustment applies only to that member's upcoming recurring charges |
| Suspend benefits as well as charges | Membership pause | Discounted pricing changes the charge but does not suspend membership benefits |
| Discount reservations made by members | Membership benefit | Reservation discounts and custom pricing affect bookings, not membership renewals |
| Reduce only the initial purchase price | Purchase discount | Applicable discounts and promo codes affect checkout, not later recurring charges |
See Membership pauses when the member should temporarily lose benefits or access. See Memberships for membership benefits and the full product configuration.
The recurring price lifecycle
When all three stages are present, billing follows this order:
Membership starts
→ trial price for the configured trial length
→ introductory price for the configured renewal periods
→ normal recurring membership priceGoodwill pricing is not a separate automatic stage. When you add it to a member, it joins that member's Pricing order after any active discounted periods that were added earlier.
Example
Normal price: €50 every month
Trial: 14 days for €10
Introductory pricing: first 2 renewals at €30 each
Goodwill pricing added later: 1 free renewalThe member pays €10 when joining. At the end of the trial, their first renewal is €30. The second renewal is also €30. The next renewal is free, from the goodwill pricing added later. Billing then returns to €50.
Without a trial, the initial purchase uses one introductory period at the introductory price. With a trial, those periods begin at the first renewal after the trial.
At-a-glance comparison
| Feature | Trial period | Introductory pricing | Goodwill pricing |
|---|---|---|---|
| Configured for | The membership product | The membership product | One member |
| Available for | Recurring memberships | Recurring memberships | Active recurring members with periods left |
| Unit | Calendar days | Complete billing periods | Complete billing periods |
| Price | Free or one fixed tax-inclusive price | Free or fixed tax-inclusive price per period | Free or fixed tax-inclusive price per period |
| Who receives it | First-time customer purchasers and staff-added members | First-time members of that membership | The selected member |
| Initial purchase affected | Yes | Yes, without a trial | No |
| Paid commitment affected | Starts after the trial | Continues normally | Continues normally |
| Benefits available | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Can be added after joining | No | No | Yes |
| Can be stopped for a member | By cancelling during the trial | Unused periods can be deactivated | Unused periods can be deactivated |
Eligibility for new-member offers
For customer purchases, trials and introductory pricing are first-time offers for a specific membership. A customer is not eligible if they have held that same membership before, even when the earlier membership has expired or been cancelled. The same prior-membership check also controls membership purchase discounts and promo codes.
This rule is tied to the membership product, not to the customer being new to your venue. A returning customer can still receive an offer on a different membership they have never held.
Thril checks eligibility again when the customer signs in and at checkout. An offer that appears while browsing anonymously may therefore disappear after sign-in if the customer has previous history for that membership.
Goodwill pricing has no first-time rule because staff add it directly to an eligible member. When staff add a member manually, the selected payment status controls the initial payment. The configured trial is applied even if that person held the membership before, while introductory pricing remains first-time only.
Promote an offer on the venue page
Customers usually find a trial or introductory price only when they open your membership list. You can also show one membership's offer as a card on your venue page, for example "14 days free, then €49/month" or "First 3 months €9.90/month, then €49/month". The card always ends with the normal recurring price. When the membership has a regular price, the card shows it struck through next to the introductory price.
- Open the membership for editing and go to Basic details.
- Set up a Trial period, Introductory pricing, or both.
- Turn on Promote this offer on the venue page and save.
The memberships list marks the promoted membership as Promoted.
Promoting a membership available in all venues puts the card on every venue page of the company in one go. A venue can still promote one of its own memberships, and its page then shows that one instead.
Each venue promotes one of its own memberships at a time, and the company promotes one membership available in all venues at a time. Turning the switch on for another membership of the same kind replaces the current one.
Who sees the card
- Signed-in customers who have never held this membership and hold no current or upcoming membership at your venue. This is the same first-time rule checkout uses, so the card only promises what the customer gets.
- Visitors who are not signed in on the web. Their card has a sign-in button and opens the membership after they sign in.
The card opens the membership in your shop, where the customer buys it with the offer applied. After the purchase the card disappears. A customer can also close the card, and it stays hidden on that device until you promote a different membership.
The card sits next to the welcome offer card, and both can show at the same time.
When the card is hidden
Thril hides the card while customers cannot buy the membership online with the offer:
- The membership's shop visibility is Hidden or Not available.
- Memberships are hidden from the shop in Shop settings.
- The membership is for Only children added by a guardian. The card speaks to the signed-in customer, not to their children.
- The membership is deleted, or its trial and introductory pricing are both removed. Removing them also turns the promotion off.
- The membership is sold out, or outside its sale window.
Billing periods, charges, and pauses
Introductory and goodwill pricing are used in Pricing order, oldest active adjustment first. One discounted period is used when Thril creates that renewal charge. If payment later requires customer action or fails, the outstanding payment keeps the discounted amount; the period is not returned to the queue.
A renewal skipped by a payment-pausing date-based pause or a period-based pause creates no charge and therefore does not use an introductory or goodwill period.
A benefit-only date pause is different: recurring billing continues, so the discounted period can still be charged and used even while membership benefits are suspended.
Changes to trial or introductory pricing apply to future members. They do not rewrite an existing member's trial end, assigned introductory periods, normal recurring price, or commitment.
Membership access integrations
Configure and diagnose membership-based access codes, lock groups, gates, allowed times, and remote-opening actions.
Membership trial periods
Configure a free or discounted trial in days or months, choose whether termination is allowed during the trial, and follow the member from checkout to the first renewal.