How Passes and Categories Work

In Union, Events are scheduled programs that your customers want to sign up for. Passes are what customers buy so that they are granted access to those scheduled programs. To learn more about Event Categories, visit our video tutorial How to Create an Event Category.

When a customer chooses an Event (class) they want to attend, Union checks to see whether that customer has a valid Pass attached to their account. If they do, they can proceed without buying anything.

If they don't have a valid Pass, Union presents them with choices of what to buy.

So how does Union know which Passes are valid for which Events? The answer is Categories. Passes and Events (classes, workshops, trainings) are linked together via Categories.

Example of Using Event Categories and Passes

Imagine you are opening a wellness center that offered meditation classes, vinyasa yoga classes, and yoga nidra.

Your classic pricing offerings, like a drop-in, a 10-Class Pack, and a New Student Special could be used for your meditation and vinyasa classes.

Your yoga nidra classes have a slightly higher drop-in price. However, your 10-Pack and your monthly subscription (auto-renewing pricing option) could be used to register for all class types.

Here's how you would build this in Union. Visit Products > Categories > New Event Category.

Create an event category called Classes and one that's called Yoga Nidra.

When creating your pricing options, your Drop-In price for meditation and vinyasa classes would have the event category Classes selected.

Your yoga nidra drop-in, would only include the event category Yoga Nidra. When creating your 10-Class Pack and your Monthly Subscription (auto renewing pricing option), you would choose BOTH categories.

Now, if someone tries to sign up for a Yoga Nidra class, Union will know to check for any pricing options that are assigned to the Yoga Nidra event category (Yoga Nidra Drop-In, a 10-Class Pack, and the Monthly Subscription). If Union sees there are no such passes on the customer's account, it will show them all of the appropriate options to make that purchase so they can complete the registration for that class.

The same is true if someone wants to purchase a pass for a Vinyasa Class.

In short, Passes and Categories work together to provide infinite flexibility for your business and your customers.