Manage trial bookings — reschedule, convert, and close
Trials are client-initiated. Clients book their own trial via the website booking form. You cannot create a trial booking manually on behalf of a client — this is by design. Instead, send the client your booking link and let them choose a date. If you need to adjust, transfer, or reschedule after they've booked, use the steps below.
What happens after a client books a trial
Once a client submits a trial booking, their status is Trial started. From that point, you have full control:
| Situation | What to do |
|---|---|
| Trial went ahead — client wants to enrol | Convert to full booking |
| Trial went ahead — client is not continuing | Mark as Trial Lost |
| Client didn't show up — wants to try again | Reschedule to a new date |
| Client wants a different class or time | Transfer to another class |
| Trial was booked as a regular registration by mistake | Convert existing booking to trial |
Trial statuses — what each one means
| Status | What it means | Set by |
|---|---|---|
| Trial started | Client booked a trial; session is upcoming or in progress | Client (at booking) |
| Trial attended | You confirmed the client attended the session | Admin (manually via Change status) |
| Trial won | Client enrolled after the trial | Admin (when converting to full booking) |
| Trial lost | Client did not continue — no-show, declined, or no response | Admin manually, or automatically by the system |
| Trial cancelled | Trial was cancelled before it took place | Admin |
When does the system automatically set Trial Lost?
Zooza marks a trial as Trial Lost automatically after a configured number of days have passed since the trial session without you taking any action (converting, marking attended, or rescheduling).
The auto-lost timeout is set at the account or programme level. If you see a trial flip to Lost unexpectedly:
- Go to Programme → Settings → Trial and check the Auto-lost after X days setting.
- Increase the value if you need more time to follow up with clients before the trial is auto-closed.
A trial marked Lost by the system behaves the same as one you mark manually — it releases the capacity spot and stops follow-up messages.
How to confirm a trial session was attended
If a client came to the trial but the status is not yet updated:
- Open the booking detail.
- Click Change status → Trial attended.
This records attendance without converting to a full booking. Use this when you want to mark the session as completed but have not yet decided whether the client will enrol.
How to enrol a client after their trial was marked Lost
A Lost status does not prevent you from enrolling the client — it just closes the trial flow. To re-enrol:
- Open the booking detail (the Lost trial booking).
- Click Change status → Enrolled (or use Transfer to move them to a different class first).
If the booking is already too old or you prefer a clean start, create a new regular booking for the client from scratch.
How to convert a trial to a full booking
When a trial client decides to enrol:
- Open the booking detail.
- Click Change status.
- Select Enrolled (or the appropriate active status for your programme).
- Confirm.
The booking stays on the same class. All existing attendance records are preserved.
If the programme uses paid trials, any payment already collected counts towards the total — you'll see the balance reflected on the booking.
How to mark a trial as lost
If a trial client is not continuing — they didn't show up, decided not to enrol, or you've had no response:
- Open the booking detail.
- Click Change status → Trial Lost.
- Optionally send an email — the client receives a message with a link to book again if they change their mind.
Marking as Trial Lost:
- Releases the reserved capacity spot immediately.
- Stops any automated trial follow-up messages.
- Does not delete the booking — it stays in the history.
If the trial was paid: The payment record remains on the booking. If you need to issue a refund, do that manually via your payment provider (Stripe or GoCardless) after marking as lost.
How to reschedule a trial session
Rescheduling is a two-step action: first hide the original date, then book the new one. These are separate because hiding removes the session from the client's view and from reports — it's not a cancellation of the booking, just a removal of that specific attendance record.
- Go to the booking → Attendance.
- Click Hide on the original session — this removes it from reports and the client's profile.
- Click Book a session to add the replacement date.
The client receives a notification with the new date. The booking status stays as Trial started.
How to transfer a trial to another class
Use this when a client wants to trial a different class, time slot, or location.
Move one session only: Open the booking → Attendance → Book a session, then select the new date and class.
Move the entire trial to a different class:
- Open the booking detail.
- Go to the Class section and click Transfer.
- Select the new class (filter by programme or location if needed).
- Click Transfer to another class → Continue.
- The booking status stays as Trial started.
- Choose the next session date.
- If the client has already paid, tick Do not change payments to leave the payment untouched.
- Choose whether to notify the client.
- Click Continue.
- Go to Attendance → hide the old sessions and add new ones.
How to reschedule a trial that falls on a cancelled session
If you cancel a session that had a trial booked on it, the trial booking is not automatically moved. You need to reschedule it manually:
- Find the affected trial booking (check the cancelled session's booking list before cancelling, or search by client name).
- Follow the reschedule steps above.
This is intentional — Zooza doesn't auto-move trials because the right replacement date depends on what you offered the client.
How to convert an existing booking to trial status
If a booking was created as a regular registration or a waitlist booking but should have been a trial:
Prerequisite: The programme must have trials enabled — Trial type must not be set to None.
-
Open the booking detail.
-
Click Change status.
-
Select Convert to trial.
-
Choose a trial date.
After converting, the booking enters the standard trial flow — the same automation applies (follow-ups, auto-lost). Enrol the client into a specific trial session from the Attendance section.
This is a one-way conversion. A trial booking cannot be converted back to a regular registration or waitlist.
Controlling which trial dates appear on your website
Go to Programme → Settings → Trial → Sessions Shown in Form.
Options:
- Show a fixed number of future sessions
- Show sessions within a specific date range (e.g. always the next three weeks)
Trial duration, paid trials, and multi-session trials
Go to Programme → Settings → Trial to configure:
- Trial type: free or paid, single session or multiple sessions
- Unit price per session (for paid trials)
- Reserve seat: whether a trial booking holds a capacity spot until the trial is resolved
Which classes the trial covers
Underneath the trial type is Classes included in trial, and it decides where a prospective client can actually be placed.
- Automatically add newly created classes to trial — on, every class you create in this programme is open to trials from the moment it exists. The setting's own note adds the important half: "you can change individual settings per class at any time", so this is a default, not a lock.
- Selected classes lists the ones currently included, and says "No classes are currently selected" when there are none.
If trials are switched on but nobody can book one, look here first. A programme can have a perfectly good trial type set and still offer nothing, because no class is included. That reads to the admin as a broken trial and to the parent as a full class.
Restricting a class to trials only
If you want clients to book only trials from the website (not full enrolments):
Go to Programme → Settings → Online booking (Edit) → Booking Options Shown on Website → select Trials only.
Trial capacity and overcapacity with Blocks
If a class uses Blocks, trials can cause overcapacity. This happens because the system can't determine which Block to reserve capacity for — trials then hold spots per individual date, not the full period. Subsequent full-period bookings may then exceed total capacity.
How to avoid this: Set trials to use Extra Capacity. Without Extra Capacity, you'll need to monitor capacity manually when trials are active on a Blocks class.