Sponsored briefing
cash in the bank GoCardless has built a formidable reputation for its direct debit services with clients like The Financial Times. Now it's available for health clubs
O
ur aim is to make direct debit payments affordable for all companies, as well as ensuring they're predictable in terms of timing and success rates, which leads to a better customer experience,” says Ross Pert, payments specialist at GoCardless. “We strongly believe the customer experience is king and we live by that, by building a great product for our customers and their customers too.” Founded in 2011, the company counts giants such as TripAdvisor and The Financial Times amongst its clients, and processes £5bn a year in value and five million transactions every month. In the last year, GoCardless has turned its attention to the health and fitness industry and is already working with more than 1,500 gyms and fitness businesses in the UK, France, Germany and Spain.
“Our system works very well with the current trend in the health and fitness industry to take payments on a monthly basis, rather than locking people into rolling contacts," says Pert. "Our technology makes it easy to take payments at any time of the month, and for differing amounts, enabling operators to turn their membership options into a competitive advantage.”
the fitness space
Boutique operator, The Fitness Space, chose GoCardless for all of its franchises because it allowed the flexibility required to offer its highly personalised service. Operations director John Pye says the speed of the transactions and the ability to take payments at any time of the month is a huge advantage. “It's been particularly useful in the pre-sales stage, when the sales teams are often working out of a building site,” GoCardless processes over five million transactions each month
he says. “Previously they would have to buy a Point of Sale machine with a SIM to take a card payment, but now they can easily set up a direct debit payment system. Our studios are focused on member experience and our payment solution needs to reflect that.”
3-1-5 health club
The flexibility of the GoCardless direct debit solution has helped Lancaster-based operator 3-1-5 Health Club to manage its payments more easily. “With our previous provider, we were restricted in terms of cashflow, only getting two payouts a month," says finance lead Helen Parkinson. "We also found adding new memberships and payment types – like locker hire – was difficult, as was the taking of ad hoc payments. "Our ability to see payments was also very poor," she continues. “We're 100 per cent pleased with the decision to move to GoCardless. It's given us back the control we need to manage finances and offer a better service to members.” 52
healthclubmanagement.co.uk August 2018