Trial reminders and package revenue per session
How the Fitness pack reminds people before a trial and before a package expires, and spreads package revenue across the sessions actually delivered.
By Achekam · · 4 min read · For Fitness businesses in South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya
Launching soon. The Industry CRM add-on described in this article is launching soon. This article describes it as it will work at launch.
Two problems trouble most studios that sell trials and session packages, and at first sight they have nothing to do with each other. The first is people who book a trial and simply do not turn up. The second is a set of monthly figures that swing wildly: a great month when a batch of packages is sold, a poor one when those clients are using up sessions they paid for weeks ago.
Both come down to timing. A trial visitor forgets because nobody reminded them at the right moment. The figures swing because package money is counted when it arrives rather than when the work is done. The Fitness, wellness & spas pack in Achekam's Industry CRM addresses both, and this article covers how.
A reminder the day before a trial
The pack can remind a person the day before their trial visit.
The day before is the right moment for a trial. The booking was probably made on impulse, perhaps after a friend's recommendation or an online search, and the person has not yet built the visit into their week. A reminder the day before turns a vague intention into a plan: what time, where, what to bring.
It also gives people who cannot come an easy chance to say so, which frees the slot and the trainer's time for someone else.
A reminder fourteen days before a package runs out
For members on session packages, the pack can send a reminder 14 days before a package expires.
That gives the member two weeks to use the sessions they have left, or to talk about renewing, before the package lapses. It protects the relationship too. A member who loses sessions to an expiry date they had forgotten tends to blame the studio, fairly or not. A member who was reminded in good time knows they had the chance.
For the trainer, the reminder is a natural opening: the member already knows the package is ending, so a conversation about the next block of sessions feels helpful rather than pushy.
E-mail and in-app only
Reminders in the Industry CRM go by e-mail and in-app only. There is no SMS and no WhatsApp.
Plan around that. Make sure every trial booking and every package holder has a correct e-mail address on file, and capture it at the moment of booking rather than later. For the occasional member who never reads e-mail, a phone call from the desk is still the fallback.
Switched on deliberately, sent once, capped daily
Each customer reminder stays off until a workspace administrator switches it on. Nothing goes to your members automatically until someone at the studio has decided it should.
Once on, each reminder is sent at most once, so nobody receives the same reminder repeatedly. Reminders are also limited by a daily cap. Find out what that cap is in your workspace and compare it with a busy day: a Monday after a promotion weekend, for instance, could bring many trial bookings at once.
A short go-live checklist:
- Check e-mail addresses on upcoming trial bookings and active packages.
- Decide which reminders you want: trials, package expiry, or both.
- Ask the administrator to switch on only those.
- Check the first day's reminders arrive and read sensibly.
- Tell the front desk that reminders are going out, so they expect replies.
Spreading package revenue per session
The second half of the problem is accounting. When a member buys a package of sessions, the studio receives the money up front, but it has not yet delivered anything. Each session the member uses is part of the work the payment was for. Counting the whole payment as income on the day of sale overstates that month and understates the months in which the sessions are actually delivered. Investopedia's explainer on deferred revenue sets out why payment received in advance for services is a liability until the service is delivered, and how it is recognised over time.
The pack spreads package revenue per session. As sessions are used, the income is recognised a session at a time, instead of all at once when the package is sold. It is part of the Industry CRM's deferred-revenue features, alongside its handling of bookings, subscriptions and renewals.
Here is the effect in words. A member pays for a block of personal training sessions at the start of one month and uses them over the following months. Under the old approach, all of that money lands as income in the month of sale. With revenue spread per session, each month's income reflects the sessions delivered in that month. The studio's figures then follow the work its trainers actually did, which is what a lender, a partner or the owner needs to see.
Two points to agree with your accountant before you rely on it:
- Unused sessions at expiry. Decide with your accountant how sessions that are never used should be treated once a package expires, in line with your package terms.
- Opening balances. Packages sold before you switch this on may need a one-off adjustment, so the figures start from a clean position.
What changes for the studio
With trial reminders on, fewer slots sit empty. With package-expiry reminders on, fewer members lose sessions and more renewals start on a good footing. With revenue spread per session, the monthly figures stop telling the story of when packages were sold and start telling the story of when work was done. Payroll costs for trainers then sit against the income those trainers earned, which matters if you pay instructors per class. For collecting the money itself, see members paying by QR code at the front desk.
General guidance only, not advice on your own circumstances. Tax and payroll rules change: check the current position with the authority or your adviser.
