Whether you already manage a gym or you have dreams of opening a fitness business, having an integrated payment solution is essential for long-term growth. This is especially true if your venture involves interfacing with customers in different locations — i.e., in the gym, at their homes or even through online classes conducted remotely.
Equally important, whatever fitness merchant services you choose should be industry-specific so that the features allow you to overcome the unique challenges of managing and growing a gym.
What to Consider When Choosing a Gym Payment Solution
Below are some of the most important criteria to consider when researching potential fitness credit card processing and payment options.
1. Business Needs
The first step involves thinking about how your customers will pay for your services. This includes one-off charges and membership subscriptions. It also includes whether you plan to accept payments in-person, online or even over the phone.
In addition, it’s not uncommon for some gyms to sell refreshments, merchandise or supplements at various stations throughout the fitness center. If yours does as well, you’ll need a POS machine at each customer touchpoint.
2. Customer Experience
Some clients prefer to use cash. Others favor credit or debit cards. Still others might choose to link their bank accounts.
As a result, maximizing sales requires choosing a solution that supports all these payment options.
Moreover, payment processing should be fast. This is why gyms increasingly prefer to use contactless NFC terminals instead of legacy magstripe card readers. With the former, customers only need to wave their contactless smart devices or credit cards across the NFC terminal to initiate payment.
3. Operations Integration
You want a payment solution that integrates seamlessly with your existing operations. For example, letting customers book appointments, pay online and receive automated reminders removes the need to actively manage any scheduling on your end.
This is just one example, but a fully integrated payment solution can help automate even more of your operations.
Features to Look for in a Gym Payment Solution
Once you understand the broad strokes of what makes a good fitness payment solution, you can begin diving into the nitty-gritty. For example, below are some of the more common features and add-ons that can help take your gym to the next level.
1. Flexible Payment Methods
We’ve already touched on this, but it’s worth repeating. Your customers have varied payment preferences. The more options you provide, the fewer sales you’ll have to turn away.
So, when choosing among potential solutions, prioritize whichever payment processing platformcomes with the fewest limitations.
2. Recurring Billing
You could manually send invoices every month and wait for payments. However, with recurring billing, you can invoice payments automatically — without any direct intervention from you. In addition to saving valuable time, recurring billing can also help reduce late payments and improve cash flow.
3. Integrated POS Systems
Many businesses (including gyms) use two separate payment solutions — one for in-person transactions and another for online sales. With this approach, you must actively manage two payment silos — each with their own accounting requirements.
By contrast, a truly integrated POS platform can bring all on-site, off-site and online sales under a single roof. That way, your bookkeeping automatically stays in shape. This frees you up to do the same for your clients.
4. Membership Management
Recurring billing is what allows your members to sign up for subscriptions. However, you also need membership management tools to send reminders, award loyalty points and let clients schedule their training sessions. Ideally, those tools should be automated so that you don’t have to manage any moving components by hand.
Lighten Your Load With the Right Payments Solution
Growing an existing gym can be difficult. Getting a new fitness business off the ground is even harder. However, with the right payment solution driving sales and automating more of your operations, the journey becomes much easier.
To discover how CardConnect’s integrated gym payment solutions can help boost sales and save time, schedule a free consultation with our merchant services team today!