High-ticket courses and coaching programs lose potential students when the full price must be paid upfront. Offering a payment plan — such as 3 monthly installments instead of one lump sum — can significantly increase conversions. WP SmartPay Pro handles installment billing natively through its subscription feature with a fixed billing count.

Scenario

An online educator sells a 12-week business course for $597. To reduce checkout friction, they want to offer a 3-payment plan: $199/month for 3 months. After 3 payments the subscription ends automatically — no need for the student or admin to manually cancel.

What You Need

  • WP SmartPay Pro (subscription billing with fixed installment count)
  • A subscription-compatible gateway: Stripe, Mollie, or Paddle
  • Optionally: LearnDash, LifterLMS, or Tutor LMS integration for course access gating

Step 1: Create a Fixed-Term Subscription Form

  1. Go to SmartPay → Forms → Add New.
  2. Set the price to $199.
  3. In the Subscription settings, set billing period to Monthly.
  4. Set Subscription Length to 3 months (or 3 billing cycles).
  5. The subscription will automatically complete after the 3rd payment — no manual cancellation needed.

Step 2: Offer Both Options on One Page

Display two forms side by side: the one-time payment ($597) and the payment plan ($199 × 3). Use a simple two-column layout:

<div style="display:grid;grid-template-columns:1fr 1fr;gap:2em">
  <div>
    <h3>Pay in Full — $597</h3>
    [smartpay_form id="10"]
  </div>
  <div>
    <h3>3 Monthly Payments — $199/mo</h3>
    [smartpay_form id="11"]
  </div>
</div>

Step 3: Gate Course Access (Optional)

If you use LearnDash, LifterLMS, or Tutor LMS:

  1. Go to SmartPay → Extensions and activate your LMS integration.
  2. Map the subscription form to the course or group in your LMS.
  3. Students gain access after the first payment and lose access if a payment fails.
WP SmartPay subscriptions list showing installment plan subscriptions
Subscriptions list — payment plan subscribers appear here. Status changes to Completed after all installments are paid.

What Happens After All Payments

After the 3rd monthly charge, SmartPay marks the subscription as Completed. No further charges are made. The student's course access (if LMS-gated) remains active — completion of the payment plan doesn't remove access.

Handling a Failed Installment

If one of the 3 payments fails:

  1. SmartPay marks the subscription as Failing and retries automatically (Smart Retries for Stripe).
  2. The student receives a payment failure notification email.
  3. If retries are exhausted, the subscription is cancelled and LMS access is suspended until payment resumes.
  4. The student can update their payment method via the customer account page and reactivate.

Result

Students who couldn't afford $597 upfront can now enroll for $199 today. The payment plan runs automatically — SmartPay charges the student's card on the same date each month for 3 months, sends receipts, and marks the subscription complete when done. No manual invoicing, no spreadsheets.

Tips

  • Offer a small discount for paying in full (e.g., save $0 vs $597 all-at-once for $597 vs 3×$199=$597) — or deliberately price it so the plan costs more (3×$219=$657) to incentivize the upfront option.
  • Use the Revenue Report to see how many students are on payment plans vs paid-in-full, useful for cash flow forecasting.
  • Add a coupon code to your welcome email that gives a discount on a future course — a simple retention tactic.