Below is the case of a pastry chef blogger who runs a Telegram community sharing valuable recipes and lessons on making all kinds of pastries and desserts.
Written by Vladislav Serebertsev, developer of Telegram bots and mini apps. Author of the @bot_is_love channel
The bot's task
Admit users who have paid for access to the channel. Charge the subscription fee every month as a recurring payment.
What problem the bot solves
Access to the community is paid, and payments for channel access have to be tracked every month. Approving join requests fell on the channel administrators, and as the audience grew, it took more and more hands and new administrators. A Telegram bot was a perfect fit for this problem: it automatically admits people to the channel after payment and keeps track of the monthly charges.
How the bot works
Right from the start, the bot lets users learn what the channel offers and then proceed to payment. It's important to let users read the bot's public offer before they go to payment.
After payment, the bot sends a notification that the subscription is active, along with links to join the channel and the discussion group. When the user follows the link, the bot automatically admits them to the resources.
Users can always manage their subscription from the bot's personal account section. This mechanic uses a condition button, which handles canceling or renewing the subscription.
To accept payments, we set up recurring payments via Robokassa. This is a monthly charge to the card the user linked when paying for the subscription.
To make communication with the client easier and to monitor the bot, we created a group and converted it into a forum (a group with multiple topics). The bot sends daily analytics to this group and also logs all key user actions: payments, subscription cancellations and failed charges.
Conclusion
As a result, the bot now admits users to the channel automatically, keeps track of when the next payment is due and provides full analytics on payments.
