Is Your Automatic Renewal System (or Lack of One) Affecting Your Revenue?

What would you rather spend your time doing: tracking down payments and contracts from your members, or actually running your business and finding ways to make it better? If you answered the former, this may not be the article for you. But, if you answered the latter (and we’re betting you did), then read on.

An automatic renewal system is an easy and convenient way for your members to stick with your business and take the hassle out of renewing their contract. But, it’s crucial that your auto-renew runs seamlessly and offers the right features that make the system convenient for your members rather than a hassle.

First, Why Auto-Renew?

By setting up your automatic renewal system, you can take the grunt work out of keeping members on track with their payment schedules and memberships. With the WellnessLiving platform, members will automatically be billed when their subscription is up or their pack of classes has run out.

Clients that are opted into an auto-renew program are more likely to retain than members who have to manually renew their contracts. Plus, your sales predictions can be more accurate because you know exactly when you’ll get payments from specific members.

So, now that we can agree auto-renewal is a great option for your business to stay on top of contracts and payments, the next question is: What’s the right way to implement auto-renewal?

While it’s a convenient and helpful option for businesses, you may find clients are wary of it. And if clients are wary, they’re not going to sign your contract. They may feel like they don’t have control of their membership or feel like they’re locked into a contract. But, there are some crucial ways to put their mind at ease and make your auto-renewal system mutually beneficial.

Be Clear

People want to know what they’re signing up for. Make it easy for them to understand what the auto-renewal process is. Clearly outline in your contract when auto-renew will kick in (i.e. the end of the month, end of the year, when their pack of classes runs out, etc.), how they will be charged, and how they can opt out of auto-renewal if they decide it’s not the best move for them personally.

With WellnessLiving, you can also remind clients their membership will be automatically renewed soon. Our automated marketing campaigns allow you to trigger an email or text to go out to a client when their membership is close to expiring. That way, they know the charge is coming and can rest assured they’re still able to use your facility without any gaps in membership.

Give Clients Control

The best part of an automatic renewal system is that clients don’t have to think about it — our software takes care of it for them. But, clients still appreciate knowing they have control over their billing and membership.

With WellnessLiving, clients and staff can manually adjust auto-renew dates. So, if a client wants to renew their contract and get charged at the beginning of each month rather than in the middle, your team can easily make that switch. Plus, you have the option to give clients control of their auto renew. By selecting this option when setting up auto-renew, members can opt in or out of the automatic renewals without needing to go through a member of your team.

WellnessLiving also allows for auto-renewal of class packs. So, if your studio charges per class rather than offering monthly or yearly memberships, clients can choose to have their pack of classes automatically refilled when they run out. That way, they never have to worry about showing up for class only to realize they need to purchase another package before they can workout.

Be Reliable

If a client is counting on their membership to be auto-renewed, make sure the renewal and payment goes through as planned. Make sure you’re auto-renew is hosted in a software you can trust, like WellnessLiving. We work with thousands of wellness businesses across the country, so you can count on our software to be reliable, easy to set up, and uncomplicated to adjust.

But sometimes, clients’ credit cards fail or they didn’t update their information with your studio. With WellnessLiving’s reports, you can still easily see which payments went through and which failed. We’d also recommend investing in an automatic card account updater — a software that integrates with Visa and/or MasterCard to retrieve clients’ information securely and automatically so you can avoid the awkward follow-up calls letting clients know their credit card has failed. With WellnessLiving’s software, our Card Account Updater comes included in your membership. Our CAU will automatically retrieve any new or updated credit card information and sync it with that members’ WellnessLiving profile.

Make sure your automatic renewal system is boosting your sales, not hurting it. By being clear, reliable, and transparent with your memberships, you’ll ensure auto-renew is the best option for you and your clients.

Not already a WellnessLiving customer? Let us show you how easy it is to set up an auto-renewal system for your business. Schedule a free demo today!