Get your membership platform in better shape for New Year

The post-festive season is a time for taking stock and getting back into shape after the over-indulgence of the holiday season, for both individuals and for businesses too.

One sector that sees significant uplift in sales is the health club and gym sector – every January sees significant spikes in the number of people looking to fulfil New Year’s resolutions to get in better shape. According to the US-based International Health, Racquet, and Sportsclub Association (IHRSA), 12 per cent of all gym memberships are taken out in January compared to around 8 per cent during other months.

Such spikes in registrations mean an increase in traffic not just on the gym floor, but on gyms’ online channels too – this is particularly true of their membership platforms. Many gyms rely on their membership platforms not just to manage their customers’ account details, but to engage with them when they are outside the facility and even to process their subscriptions and one-off payments.  

With this in mind, it’s vital that the membership platforms they rely on are able to cope with these spikes in activity, particularly when it comes to processing payments. So, if you provide a membership platform used by gyms, what do you need to bear in mind to make sure your system is in good shape for the New Year and ready to help your gym customers maximise sales? Here are my tips for getting Resolution Ready:

1.       Beef up your member signup tools

Quick, effective signups for new members is always important, but never more so than during peaks in subscriptions. Any delays in getting new members set up, and the gyms using your platform could see customers going elsewhere to rivals. This could have a knock-on effect on your business, seeing your merchants leaving your platform.

There is a range of features available designed to help create a seamless onboarding experience for gym customers. Having your membership management software integrated with Paysafe’s system, for example, you can empower your gym clients to quickly onboard members and start collecting payments immediately. We provide your platform with the tools needed to gather required information from members to quickly and efficiently set up their accounts. These include solutions to tokenise card and banking information to ensure gym users’ data is protected and managing membership billing cycles to ensure your gym clients’ customers are billed safely, securely and on time.

2.       Aim for seamless payments – on and offline

If your gym or health club merchants have to process one-time transactions from day users, as well as recurring payments from members, then you need to make sure your membership platform features integrated payment capabilities that are capable of organising gyms’ purchases with ease.

Look for solutions that will help your platform integrate your gym merchants’ offline and online payment needs seamlessly, so they can easily handle all of their transactions, from their members’ subscription fees, to the one-off payments from irregular visitors or in-location purchases.

3.       Incorporate new payment channels

Consumers are increasingly turning to their mobiles as a way to manage not just their busy lives, but their banking, their subscriptions and other payments too. For your platform, adding a mobile capability can be an ideal way to support your gym or health club clients to boost engagement with their members, adding an extra payment channel that really meets their needs. A payments partner with mobile SDKs will significant enhance your capability for achieving this.

4.       Risk and Fraud

With an increase in activity comes an uptick in the risk of fraud. You should check that your membership management platform has the right fraud tools in place to fully protect your gym or health club merchants and their customers.

The ones offered by Paysafe, for example, will scrub transactions on your platform using tools like IP and geolocation, velocity logic, negative database scrubbing, all helping to maximise the defences around the transactions taking place on your system as they occur.

Time for a New Year’s resolution

The Post-Festive season is a key time for your gym and health club merchants, offering an exciting chance for them to secure new members for the year ahead. If you want your membership platform to be able to support your customers in harnessing the opportunities the New Year brings, you should talk to your PSP to make sure your system is in peak condition.

If you want to learn more about what Paysafe can do to help get your membership platform fighting fit for your gym and health club clients, visit: www.paysafe.com/uk/platforms/membership-management.