Don’t want your product or plan to be available to customers right away?
Setting a start date lets customers purchase now, while access begins automatically at a future date you choose.
Introduction
Setting up a start date can be helpful in a few different scenarios:
You’d like to pre-sell your product and allow customers to pay for it before the launch date.
You’d like to have all of your customers start your product at exactly the same time.
You’d like to run your product multiple times per year (and have these different cohorts start together with every new start date).
With this feature, your customers will be charged immediately after they purchase.
⚠️ This is different from our waitlist option, which only collects email addresses of people interested in buying your product when it launches.
Member experience
Customers who sign up for products with a start date will see them in the Products tab of their account, along with the exact date the product will become available.
Until that date arrives, they won’t be able to access its content.
Podia does not automatically send an email when the product is made available to customers, so you might consider scheduling an email broadcast if you want to communicate to your customers that your product is available.
Setting up a start date
Here's how to set a start date for a product or a plan:
From your home feed, click on your site name and select Admin from the dropdown menu.
From the admin dashboard, use the sidebar menu and click:
Products, if you want to set a start date for a product (such as an online course, download, coaching session, or bundle).
Plans, if you want to set a start date for a plan.
Click on the Edit icon next to the product you'd like to set a start date for.
Navigate to the Availability tab.
Click "Edit" next to the Start date option.
Select the "Starts on future date" option and set up a start date for your product.
Once you’re done, hit "Save" to save your start date.
Pro tip: You can have these start dates displayed on your site pages if you want.
Add a Products, Table of contents, Featured, or Banner section to your pages, click to edit, and control it using the left-hand menu:
Viewing past start dates
Once your start date has passed, you can add a new start date if you’d like to run your product for another group/cohort of customers in the future.
As you add new ones, past start dates will show up directly from the start date menu, allowing you to view how many people signed up for each of these dates.
Giving customers early access
If you want certain customers to get access before your product's start date, you can give them early access.
Here's how to give specific customers early access:
From your home feed, click on your site name and select Admin from the dropdown menu.
From the admin dashboard, use the sidebar menu and click:
Products, if you want to give early access for the customer of a product (such as an online course, download, coaching session, or bundle).
Plans, if you want want to give early access for the member of plan.
Next, click on the name of the product or plan you want to give customers early access to.
Locate or search for the customer you'd like to give early access to.
Click "..." next to the customer name and select "Give early access".
You'll see a confirmation message saying they've been granted early access.
Important: Granting early access to a customer won't impact its delay schedule.
Delays you have set up for your course will still take the original start date into consideration.
FAQs
Do I need to publish my product so the start date works?
Do I need to publish my product so the start date works?
Yes. If you want people to be able to purchase your product and get access on the start date, you'll need to publish the product.
Can I add another start date?
Can I add another start date?
Yes, once your start date has passed, you can add a new start date if you’d like to run your product for another group/cohort of customers in the future.
What happens if I remove a start date?
What happens if I remove a start date?
You can remove a start date (and give everyone access immediately) by selecting “Remove” anytime before the start date passes.
If you do this, anyone who enrolls in your product will get immediate access, and anyone who has already enrolled before the start date will get access.
Do drips/delays start based on a course start date?
Do drips/delays start based on a course start date?
Yes. If your product is an online course with drip content, the delayed content won't start until the start date.
Once the start date has passed, delays will get back to triggering based on each customer's enrollment date.
How do start dates work with products/plans with subscription pricing?
How do start dates work with products/plans with subscription pricing?
Customers will be charged at the time of purchase, but access to the product won’t begin until the start date you’ve set. Future subscription renewals will be based on the original purchase date, not the date access begins.