Overview

Payment Rules in Element451 offer a flexible way to customize how payments are applied to applications, deposits, events, or forms, ensuring each person is charged appropriately based on specific criteria or conditions. These rules can adjust the payment amount, enable discounts, and more once certain conditions—such as applicant type or registration date have been met.

Payment rules can only be used for conditional payment types. This article will teach you how to create, manage, and apply these rules to adjust pricing based on conditions like audience segments and dates.

Accessing Payment Rules

Navigate to Settings > General
Click on Payment Rules from the left menu.
Your payment rules are provided in a list format.

You can filter the list using the toggle in the header to show only the rules that work with a particular module.

Managing Payment Rules

Adding a Payment Rule

Navigate to Settings > General > Payment Rules.
Select the module to which you'd like to apply the payment rule. Payment rules can only be applied to one category/module.
Click either the + sign in the header or the + Add Payment Rule button at the bottom of the list.
Replace 'Name' in the header with a name for your payment rule.
Works For: You selected this module in Step 2. To change this, close out the side sheet and repeat steps 2-3.
Rule Description: Briefly describe the rule's purpose for internal reference.
Rule Settings: Configure the payment rule settings based on your needs. Details on each configuration are in the next section.
Conditional Logic: Configure the payment conditions based on your needs. Details on each configuration are in the next section.
When finished, click Create in the top right corner to save your payment rule.
As a final step, you must activate payment rules on your chosen payment(s). Details on this process are in the last section.

When adding multiple payment rules to a single payment setup, the order in which you arrange them matters. The system applies the first rule (working from the top down) that a student meets the criteria for and does not consider any subsequent rules.

Editing + Deleting a Payment Rule

Navigate to Settings > General > Payment Rules.
Locate the payment rule you wish to edit or delete, and click the three vertical dots at the end of that row.
Select edit or delete based on your desired outcome. If deleting, you'll be asked to confirm the action.

Payment Rule Configurations

When you create or update a payment rule, you'll encounter two main components to configure: Payment Settings and Conditional Logic. Understanding how these elements work together to customize the payment process effectively is important.

Payment Settings specify how payments are processed once a rule's condition is met. This can include enabling discount codes, setting a specific payment amount, and other configurations directly affecting the transaction.

Conditional Logic defines the precise scenarios under which the Payment Settings will be applied. These can range from targeting a specific audience, like re-applicants, to setting date-based criteria. When someone fits the criteria outlined by these conditions, the Payment Settings you've established for that rule take precedence, overriding the default payment settings for that application, event, etc.

Let's look at an example for clearer insight:

Suppose you have set your application fee at $100 in application settings. You then set up a payment rule that includes Payment Settings to reduce the fee to $25 for re-applicants. The condition for this rule is being in a segment that identifies the student as a re-applicant. Once the system identifies them as meeting this condition, the Payment Settings kick in, and they are charged the reduced fee of $25, overriding your standard $100 fee.

Payment Settings

Active: When enabled, the rule will run.
Discounts: Choose whether you want the discount to be a fixed amount or a percentage off.
Personal Check: Users can pay by check instead of credit card when enabled. This option is only available for Applications.
Payment Description: Describes the product or service purchased only for internal use.
Credit Card Provider: If you have multiple credit card providers, you will be prompted to select one.
Account: Input an account number or name for internal tracking.
Payment Type: There are four payment types to choose from: fixed, conditional, calculated, and user-defined.
- Additional fields will appear to configure the specific settings depending on the Payment Type chosen. You can explore our article, Payment Types, to gain further insight into each type and how to configure them.
- If you wish to use payment rules, you will need to select the Conditional payment type.

Conditional Logic

Click the + Add Condition button.
Select the condition type you wish to use:
- User Segment Reference: Utilize a pre-existing segment that you've created.
- User Segment: Create a custom segment of Contacts based on specific properties from their Contact record (e.g., demographics, interaction history).
- Date Condition: Evaluate date and time-based criteria.
- Application Custom Field: Evaluate an application property criteria. This applies only to payment rules for Applications.
If you want to add additional conditions, repeat steps 1-2.
At the top, select if you want to match on ALL or ANY of the conditions.
- With "ALL" (the AND operator), you specify that all conditions must be met. It's like saying, "Show me users who match ALL of these criteria."
- With "ANY" (the OR operator), you're casting a wider net. It's like saying, "Show me users who match ANY of these criteria."
click 'Create' in the top right corner when finished.

Enabling Payment Rules by Module

These instructions are meant for those who have already created an Application, Deposit, Event, or Form. If you still need to create any of these, you can enable payments and payment rules during the creation process.

Payment Rules only apply to the Conditional Payment Type. You must first activate payments and select the conditional payment type to enable or add payment rules.

To access each payment section by module, follow these steps: