Five reasons why the learning curve on digital payments is shorter than ever

Manual payments have always been a bit of a pain for aquatics clubs and swim schools. 

Picking through bank statements to see who’s paid and picking up the phone to chase anyone who hasn’t. These are the kinds of jobs no-one wants.

Despite the frustration, aquatics clubs and swim schools might be worried that the alternative, digital payments, will be too expensive or complicated. 

But it’s always a good sign that something is easy to use — and useful — when it’s been adopted by other organisations like yours. 

And more aquatics clubs and swim schools than ever are going digital.

So here’s five reasons to believe the digital payments learning curve isn’t as steep as you might think.

If you can use a website, then you can use a modern digital payment platform

Most of today’s digital payment solutions are built around simple, intuitive dashboards and clear prompts. 

That means staff and volunteers need minimal technical knowledge to get started. 

In fact, if you can use a website then you can probably use a digital payments solution.

To help you get started, and address any teething problems you encounter, many providers offer step-by-step setup guides, short ‘how-to’ videos and interactive tutorials in plain language. 

The sign-up process for members and customers is also usually entirely digital and heavily automated, so there’s no need to fear being drowned in yet more admin.

You don’t have to do it all at once

Digital payment solutions are highly flexible and can grow with you. 

So before rolling out digital payments to the entire membership or customer base, you can start with a small ‘trial run’ of a few customers or a specific group of payments. 

This helps new users gain confidence, troubleshoot any hiccups, and get excited about the benefits. 

It also provides an opportunity to get vital feedback from customers ahead of a wider rollout.

You don’t have to do it on your own

The best solution providers will be invested in your success with digital payments, because if you and your customers aren’t using it then they’re not getting paid (there tends to be a small per transaction fee involved). 

That’s why many have dedicated support teams ready to help clubs and swim schools with queries and technical issues — and there’s no such thing as a silly question when you’re getting started.

In short, you won’t be on your own if questions come up – there’s always an expert at the other end of a phone line or email.

Keep your eyes on the prize

The practical, time-saving benefits of digitising and automating payments will make the project extremely rewarding, and the initial plunge worth it — your staff and volunteers, members and customers will thank you!

Most aquatics clubs or swim schools invoice customers either in advance or in arrears for their membership or lesson fees, competition fees, and shop purchases. 

These kinds of recurring payments are ideal for automating with Direct Debit, for example, which puts you in control of collecting payments. 

And instead of staff and volunteers spending late nights wrangling spreadsheets and manually tracking down who’s paid and who hasn’t, Direct Debit paves the way for automated reporting and reconciliation.

Here’s how one club did it

Tiverton Swimming Club automated payments with GoCardless to free its volunteers from spiralling admin around collecting squad and competition fees, payments for club shop purchases and Swim England memberships.

Sara Dilks, the club’s Chairwoman, said: “Now the club’s leadership can all see exactly what’s going on, and we’ve reduced payments admin by at least a day a week – no more late nights spent picking through spreadsheets and bank statements.