How 'Bulk Access' Works on Teachable

The first thing you need to know is that this is a manual process. Currently, there's no way to sell group access automatically on Teachable, unless you use third-party tools. There needs to be manual intervention when it comes to arranging access for end users.

But don't worry – the process for selling multiple seats is super simple!

There are just two steps:

1. Taking payment from the customer

2. Providing access for the group of students

There are a few implementation options to choose from for both of these steps, so let's explore each of them in detail.

Step #1: Taking Payment From the Customer

There are a few ways you might want to do this!

Option 1: Offer pre-defined pricing plans

If you already know how many seats customers will want to purchase, you can create your pricing plans up front and display them on your sales page ready for people to buy.

For example:

• Anyone can pay $100 for 1 seat pricing plan

• Anyone can pay $400 for 5 seats pricing plan

• Anyone can pay $700 for 10 seats pricing plan

This option allows you to display your prices on your sales page and let people go through the checkout without contacting you. They choose an option and then pay. Simple!

The downside is that this option doesn't allow for much flexibility. If you want to offer more than three options, your sales page can look cluttered quite quickly.

How to set up pre-defined pricing plans

1. Open your Teachable school.

2. Go to Courses.

3. Click on the name of your course.

4. Go to Pricing in the sidebar.

5. For each pricing plan you'd like to offer:

   1. Click Add Pricing Plan.

   2. Select a payment type.

   3. Set the currency and amount.

   4. Include the number of seats in the Pricing plan name (e.g. "Access for 5 staff members").

   5. Enrollment cap: Don't set the group size as the enrollment cap. Adding a cap here will limit the number of people who can pay for this option, not the number of people you'll give access to after payment.

   6. Access duration: Likewise, limiting the access duration here will only limit it for the person paying, not the group of people you'll give access to later. Just bear that in mind!

   7. Click Add Pricing Plan.

6. Click Sales pages in the sidebar.

7. Click Edit next to your sales page (the top one).

8. Click on the pricing block on your page (or add one if you don't have one).

9. In the sidebar, use the Select Pricing Plan dropdown to add each of your pricing plans to the sales page.

10. Click Update in the top right.

Now your sales page allows people to choose how many seats they want to pay for, then go directly to the checkout. After they've paid, you'll get a notification and can then arrange access for their group.

Option 2: Create a secret plan for each customer

Teachable allows you to create as many pricing plans as you like and they don't all have to be available on your sales page. This means you can create "secret" pricing plans that can only be accessed if someone has that specific checkout link.

So this option involves creating a unique (hidden!) pricing plan for each customer to allow them to pay. You'd share this with them manually after discussing the price with them.

For example:

• Anyone can pay $100 for 1 seat pricing plan

• Customer A can pay $1,400 for 20 seats pricing plan secret plan

• Customer B can pay $1,800 for 15 seats pricing plan secret plan

Then on your sales page:

• Display only the public pricing plans (or none at all)

• Explain your bulk pricing or ask people to contact you for a quote

This option allows you to be flexible with the quantity of seats rather than only offering pre-defined options. And because each customer's pricing plan is secret, you can offer different pricing for each customer. (This is useful if you're offering bespoke packages.)

How to set up a pricing plan for each customer

1. Open your Teachable school.

2. Go to Courses.

3. Click on the name of your course.

4. Go to Pricing in the sidebar.

5. When a customer is ready to pay:

   1. Click Add Pricing Plan.

   2. Select a payment type.

   3. Set the currency and amount.

   4. Include the customer name and number of seats in the Pricing plan name (e.g. "Customer A - Access for 20 staff members").

   5. Click the Limit enrollment by cap toggle.

   6. Set the Number of enrollments available to 1 (this is how many people can pay through this pricing plan, not how many seats they're paying for).

   7. Note: Limiting the access duration here will only limit it for the person paying, not the group of people you'll give access to later.

   8. Click Add Pricing Plan.

   9. Click Copy URL next to the pricing plan.

   10. Share the URL with your customer.

When your customer goes to that link, they'll land on the checkout page for the pricing plan you created. After they've paid, you'll get a notification and can then arrange access for their group.

Option 3: Arrange payment offline

Sometimes you might need to arrange payment outside of Teachable. This can be necessary if your customer has issues with online payments or if you/they have established payment methods that need to be used.

For example:

• Some customers might need to pay via check rather than online

• There may be some situations where you want to take a cash payment

If you need to use this option, there's nothing specific you need to do inside Teachable. Just arrange the payment and then jump to the next step for instructions on how to provide access for their group.

Providing access for a group of students

Once your customer has paid, you'll need to manually provide access to their group of students. There are a few different options for doing this.

Option 1: Create a free pricing plan for this customer

Find it: Open your Teachable school > Courses > [Course name] > Pricing

The simplest option is to create a (secret) free pricing plan for this group of students. You'd set a limit on the number of times it can be used, then share the link with your customer. They can then share the link with the people who need access.

Should you use a free pricing plan?

This option is simple because you only need to share one link with the customer. And they'll only need to share one link with their team.

But the downsides are:

• Security risks - If the link is shared with unauthorised people, seats get used up.

• Duplicate signups - If students sign up multiple times with different email addresses, it will count as extra seats being used.

You can always add more seats to the plan—it's just extra admin!

What will students experience?

When someone clicks the link you give your customer, they'll land on a signup page where they can set their name, email address and password.

After that, they'll be taken to a thank you page. Then they can enter the curriculum.

How to create a free pricing plan for a customer

1. Open your Teachable school.

2. Go to Courses.

3. Click on the name of your course.

4. Go to Pricing in the sidebar.

5. Once the customer has paid:

   1. Click Add Pricing Plan.

   2. Select the Free option.

   3. Include the customer name and number of seats in the Pricing plan name (e.g. "Customer A - Free access for 20 people").

   4. Click the Limit enrollment by cap toggle.

   5. Set the Number of enrollments available to the number of seats this customer has paid for.

   6. Limit the product access duration if you'd like to. This is how long each student should have access to the curriculum for.

   7. Click Add Pricing Plan.

   8. Click Copy URL next to the pricing plan.

   9. Share the URL with your customer and ask them to share it with anyone who needs access.

This link will give free access to the number of people you specified in the pricing plan.

Option 2: Share a CSV file of single-use coupons

Find it: Open your Teachable school > Courses > [Course name] > Coupons

For tighter control over who gets access, you can generate single-use coupon codes for 100% off and provide them in a CSV file. This method is more secure and makes sure each code can only be used once.

Should you use single-use coupons?

This option is the most secure way to give a group of students access. Each end user only gets given one single-use coupon code. So even if they share that code with someone else, it will only work once.

But the downsides are:

• Harder to distribute - Your customer will need to distribute one coupon code to each student rather than just sharing one link with everyone.

• Harder to track usage - Once you've sent the CSV, it's hard for both you and the customer to keep track of how many of the codes have been used. You can see who signed up and which coupon code they used, but you won't know which "batch" of codes they were in.

• Requires a public pricing plan - Coupon codes can only be redeemed against a specific pricing plan. So even if you don't want to allow people to buy on the front end of your school, you'll need to have a default pricing plan that is visible in some places on Teachable.

• Students can see the price - When a student is signing up, they'll see the price of the course before their discount was applied. The price will have a line through it but it will be visible, which isn't ideal in some situations.

• Students might pay by mistake - If your customer isn't clear with people, the students could pay in full rather than applying the free coupon code they've been given. You can refund them if this happens—it's just extra admin when it does occassionally happen.

What will students experience?

It depends on what your customer shares with them from the CSV file.

There are two columns in the CSV file:

1. The first column contains the single-use coupon code.

2. The second column contains a link to the course's main sales page with the coupon automatically applied.

If your customer just gives them the coupon code, students will need to go to your school, go to the checkout for this course, then apply the coupon at the checkout manually. When the price is knocked down to free, payment details won't be required.

If your customer gives them the couponed sales page link, they'll see the sales page for the course but the coupon code will be applied to your pricing blocks automatically. The price will have a line through it and the price will show as "FREE". If they click to enroll, they'll be taken to a free signup page rather than the paid checkout.

After that, they'll be taken to a thank you page. Then they can enter the curriculum.

How to create a CSV file of single-use coupons

1. Open your Teachable school.

2. Go to Courses.

3. Click on the name of your course.

4. If you don't already have a default pricing plan for this course:

   1. Go to Pricing in the sidebar.

   2. Click Add Pricing Plan.

   3. Select One-time purchase.

   4. Enter an amount that you're happy to be visible to the public. People won't be able to use this pricing plan unless you add it to your sales page, but the price will be visible in some places on Teachable.

   5. Enter One-Time Payment as the Pricing plan name.

   6. Enrollment cap: Don't set the group size as the enrollment cap. Adding a cap here will limit the number of people who can join total, not just the people your customer has paid for.

   7. Limit the product access duration if you'd like to. This is how long each student should have access to the curriculum for.

   8. Click Add Pricing Plan.

5. Go to Coupons in the sidebar.

   1. Click Add New Coupon.

   2. Select Bulk Single Use.

   3. Select Percentage as the Type of coupon.

   4. Enter 100 as the percentage.

   5. Set the Number Available to the number of seats this customer has paid for.

   6. Click Generate CSV.

   7. The file will be downloaded to your computer (usually into your Downloads folder but this depends on your device and browser settings).

   8. Send the CSV file to your customer and ask them to share one code or link with each person who should have access.

Each person with a code will then be able to access your course for free.