Credit pack or membership?

There are many choices to be made as a sports entrepreneur, ranging from the type of training (small group, boot camp, HIIT, yoga, personal training) to the type of product you want to offer. Below we list various options for the type of product and their advantages and disadvantages.

Credit packs

A credit pack has the characteristic that a number of strips/turns (also known as credits) are provided immediately at a certain price. These credits have a certain validity and can be used within this period.

The advantage of a credit pack is that an amount is paid in one go by the customer (e.g. via iDEAL or Bancontact) which becomes available to the sports entrepreneur (you can also have a ride card paid in installments within Trainin). In addition, it gives the sporting customer the flexibility when the customer wants to use these credits, making it possible for the athlete to use up the entire credit pack or event card in the first few weeks and then buy a new product.

This also has the immediate disadvantage for the sports entrepreneur: the flexibility means that a customer can decide for himself when he wants to come and train, as long as it falls within the period of validity. The danger is that an athlete comes to train a few times, after which the weather turns bad, easily cancels (by the way, you can set cancellation conditions for this) and then no longer comes for a period without good reason.

In other words: if you want to give the customer flexibility (for example with holidays, scheduling and validity period) it is best to opt for a ride ticket. Within Trainin you can easily create a ride card or turn card, where you can indicate how many rides someone gets, what the validity of the product is and what the price is. Naturally, the credit and the remaining rides are automatically updated when a customer schedules a training or session with you.

Membership

Another option is to offer a membership. With a membership, you receive a certain number of credits (for example 1x per week or Unlimited) per period in exchange for a payment. You have the option to choose the contract term and whether the subscription will continue automatically if there is no cancellation from the customer.

You can also choose the payment period of a subscription, varying between monthly payments, collection per 4 weeks or annual payments. Of course you can also collect per quarter or per week or send a payment link. With monthly subscriptions you can also determine the time of collection: is this the first of the month or will it continue throughout the month (i.e. purchase date). The advantage of the first of the month is that you will receive the total amount in 1x, whereby the first payment of a subscription will be made pro rata. If you opt for direct debit on the purchase date, you have a constant cash flow throughout the month.

If a number of credits are provided to the customer per period, the credits will in principle expire after this period (although you can always set unused credits to be carried over to the next period!). This 'forces' the customer to come and exercise and gives less flexibility ('The weather is bad, so I cancel'). Many entrepreneurs find this exciting to take this step, but it is also good to realize that it is also about your time that you take into account.

Here comes the biggest advantage of a membership: you can estimate what will come in monthly in terms of income, the cash flow (due to subscriptions you often have to deal with recurring income), regardless of who registers when during this period. This is a big difference compared to ride cards or turn cards. Another concrete advantage is that when offering subscriptions you are not dependent on the holidays and absences of customers, since customers pay a certain amount for the subscription per period.

Since the subscription is often continuous, the direct debit is only stopped as soon as there is a cancellation. Here comes the word 'dormant members': members who forget to cancel and still pay monthly.

A disadvantage is that with a membership, the sporting customer sometimes pays while he cannot come and exercise and it can sometimes feel 'unfair'. At the same time, offering a subscription also requires a lot of commitment from the athlete, as it acts as a stick behind the door ('I paid for it, so I'll go to the training!').

What should I choose now?

The answer is: there is no right or wrong here and it differs per company. For example, a personal trainer can choose to invoice the sessions followed monthly afterwards, where a fitness boutique for subscriptions per 4