Many treatments only work as a course: six laser sessions, ten physio visits, a lash refill every few weeks. A package sells the whole course up front, so you are paid now and the client is committed to coming back.
It also means you owe that client every session you sold, at a lower price than a walk-in pays. This guide covers when that trade pays, how to price and time a package, and how to make sure the course actually gets finished.
Know what the discount buys you
A package discount has a cost and a return. The cost is the discount on sessions the client would have booked anyway. The return is the sessions they would not have booked: the fourth, fifth, and sixth visits of someone who would have stopped after three.
So a package earns most where clients tend to drop off partway through a course, and least where they already come back on their own. For a regular who never misses a refill, a deep discount mostly lowers your price.
Price it above your cost per session
Clients compare the package with paying per visit, so make the saving easy to see. Then check the other side: what each discounted session still leaves you.
Here is an example with made-up numbers. A single session is ₱3,500 and a course of six is ₱18,000. That is ₱3,000 a session, ₱3,000 off the course. If each session uses ₱600 of product and pays the provider ₱450, every discounted session still leaves ₱1,950 toward rent, staff, and profit. Run the same math with your own costs before you settle on a price.
In Onsuki, when you enter the Package price, the line under it shows the discount against buying each item on its own. If you price by provider, sell one package per staff level, such as six sessions with a Senior. Leave its price blank and it totals that level's price for the service. See Packages.
Build the package around the course
Clients buy a result, not a count. Start from the course you would recommend anyway, and name the package after it.
- A course of one service, such as 6 sessions of underarm laser or 10 physiotherapy sessions.
- A pairing, such as 4 facials and 4 LED sessions, when you would normally recommend them together.
- A maintenance pack, such as 5 lash refills, for clients who already come regularly.
Keep the list short enough that a client can tell the options apart in a minute.
Set the expiry from the schedule
An expiry keeps a course on track and keeps old credits off your books. Work it out from the time between sessions, then add room for a missed appointment.
For example, six sessions four weeks apart need 20 weeks from the first session to the last: five gaps of four weeks. A six-month expiry leaves about six weeks to spare. Use your own protocol's spacing.
- From the day they buy is simple, and suits a package sold at the end of a first treatment.
- From their first booking suits a client who buys ahead of starting. The clock waits for them, so the credits can sit longer before they're used.
In Onsuki, you set how long a package is valid in days, weeks, months, or years, and choose Start at first booking if you want it. Credits left when a package expires can't be used and nothing is refunded, so say that on the package.
Book the whole course before they leave
A package is a promise to come back. Dates on the calendar turn it into appointments. Book the remaining sessions at the counter, while the client still has the first result in front of them.
In Onsuki, a repeating appointment books the same service every week, or every 2, 3, or 4 weeks, ending after 4, 8, 12, 26, or 52 visits, or on a date you pick. For a course of six, end it on the date of the sixth. Each visit is paid when the client comes in: at checkout, Use their package takes one credit.
Decide what a cancel or no-show costs
A credit is a session you owe, so decide when a client loses one. Set the rule once, and apply it the same way every time.
- Canceled in time: the credit goes back to the client's package, and no money changes hands.
- Canceled late: inside your cancellation window, with Charge late cancellations on, the credit is used.
- A no-show: the credit stays used.
Welcome first-timers, then keep count
A small first-visit package, such as two sessions for the price of one and a half, lowers the risk for a new client without discounting your regulars. In Onsuki, turn on First-time clients only and One per client, and the package shows "First visit only" on your booking site. Only clients who have never booked with you can buy it.
With Sell on your website on, clients buy packages on your booking site. At the counter, sell them with Quick sale. Each client's profile shows "3 of 10 credits left" and the expiry. Expiring Soon lists packages ending in the next 14 days, and Intro Offer Conversion shows which first-timers went on to buy a regular package.
On the Clinic plan, a treatment plan in Charting can link to the package, so the chart shows "2 of 6 sessions done" beside the credits used.
