The Benefits of Using Direct Debit for Swim Schools

Chasing payments and getting paid on time is a huge issue for small businesses and swim schools as well. In fact, 62% of small businesses in the UK have seen an increase in late payments during the pandemic.

Did you know that direct debit is fast becoming the payment method of choice for swim schools offering swimming lessons and other aquatic activities?

Direct debit is a highly efficient, popular, and convenient payment method that has revolutionized payment collection for swim schools and customers alike. In this blog post, we will explore the advantages of using Direct Debit for swim schools, and why it is quickly gaining popularity over traditional payment methods.

What is Direct Debit?

Direct debit (known as ACH in the US) is an easy way of automatically collecting payments from your customers’ bank accounts. It’s a direct bank-to-bank transfer, with no cards or manual payments required. We’ve teamed up with GoCardless to offer direct debit payments in Sportimea swim school software.

Reasons to use Direct Debit

Direct Debit offers several benefits over traditional payment methods such as bank transfers or credit card payments:

• Saves time and hassle by automating payment collection
• Gives more control over when your customers pay you and makes the cash-flow easier to predict 
• Reduces costs associated with traditional payment methods, such as bank fees, chargebacks, and payment processing fees.(Direct Debit is the cheapest payment method in the UK, 1% compared to 1,5 – 3,5% for cards)
• Improves customer experience by providing a hassle-free and convenient payment experience (payment is automatic) and ensures quick and easy receipt of service. Customers could enjoy the benefits of not having to keep a continuous tab on payment dates and dealing with missed payments.

Direct Debit is easy to manage and can be set up in a matter of minutes. What is more, both swim schools and their customers can benefit from the ease of payment processing and simplified payment collection.

In our experience, once a swim school switches to Direct Debit collection method, very few, if any at all, switch back.

The only thing left for staff to do is to monitor failed and cancelled payments. With saved time your staff can focus their attention on more important areas of your swim school.

Migrating to Direct Debit

Transitioning from traditional payment methods to Direct Debit is simple and straightforward. Simply sign up for a GoCardless account or we can integrate your existing account. Then set up the integration in Sportimea swim school management software and during the checkout Sportimea will automatically share the direct debit authorisation form with your customers. Once the permission is granted, Direct Debit Mandate becomes active and payments will be automatically debited on the due date. Your customer will receive an email notification from GoCardless before every payment is collected.

Overall, we see Direct Debit as a game-changer for swim schools offering swimming lessons and aquatic activities. The benefits range from improved cash flow, streamlined payment processing, and enhanced customer experience to reduced administration costs. Swim schools adopting Direct Debit can enjoy improved cash-flow, streamlined payment system, and most importantly, more time to focus on what they do best - teaching swimming.

We urge swim schools to consider Direct Debit as their preferred payment method to simplify their payment collection system and streamline payment processing. Want to know more? Contact us today to find out how we can help you implement direct debit for your swim school.

Remember, adopting Direct Debit as your preferred payment method can have a significant impact on cost-savings for your swimming school in the long run.