Pennsylvania Pool Dramatically Increases Winter-time Revenue with New Website Posted on December 28, 2018January 2, 2019 by Justin at PoolDues One of our newest pools, Neshannock Pool in New Castle, Pennsylvania, has seen an exciting uptick in earnings since switching to a Pool Dues website from their old and outdated website. Within 31 days of launching their Pool Dues website, the pool had over $14,000 in online sales thanks to a winter promo email and the ability for members to pay online. While recurring billing is a great feature for your pool’s members, this particular winter promo was such a good deal that the pool decided to remove the recurring payment option so as to not lock anyone into too good of a discounted deal. Not only did this one-time offer attract new members, but it attracted current members to renew their memberships early and pay online. Neshannock Pool’s secretary wanted to make the move to Pool Dues because he was tired, as the money person at the club, with dealing with check payments from the pool’s 300+ members. “My biggest pain was that most people pay by check, so I have to manually update my own database,” he said. Now that the pool uses a Pool Dues website and has integrated PayPal options, he said that most people are paying online! Imagine how exciting that would be for your pool’s secretary – no more dealing with checks mailed to some P.O. Box that has to be checked periodically. Not only does the mailbox not have to be checked with PayPal integrated into the website, but the secretary doesn’t have to go to the bank and deposit dozens of checks. And he or she doesn’t have to manually (and potentially incorrectly) update the books. What a time saver! Listen, your pool’s board of directors are most likely volunteers. They love the pool community so much they’re willing to give their time, talents, and energy to serving on the board. But no one wants to serve on a board that’s more hassle than it’s worth. Neshannock Pool’s secretary is a volunteer – he loves his pool and wants it to run smoothly; he doesn’t want to spend hours driving around town to the mailbox and the bank, and he doesn’t want to waste his precious time manually updating the pool’s books and database. By switching to a Pool Dues website, he can use his time and energy on the more important parts of being the club’s secretary – attracting new members, making sure current members are happy, and making sure the club has enough money to keep the facilities in good order. Do your volunteer board members a favor and make their lives easier – switch over to a Pool Dues website!
Using Paypal? Great! Now Use it Better Posted on June 13, 2018February 20, 2019 by Justin at PoolDues [spb_text_block animation=”none” animation_delay=”0″ simplified_controls=”yes” custom_css_percentage=”no” padding_vertical=”0″ padding_horizontal=”0″ margin_vertical=”0″ custom_css=”margin-top: 0px;margin-bottom: 0px;” border_size=”0″ border_styling_global=”default” width=”1/1″ el_position=”first last”] Fortunately, more neighborhood pools and clubs are starting to use PayPal for their member dues. Only collecting checks these days would be like choosing to only talk on a landline phone. The problem is that your club is probably just jumping straight from a Buy Now link on your website to PayPal’s site. And, as of June 2018, that problem gets worse. [/spb_text_block] [spb_blank_spacer height=”30px” width=”1/1″ el_position=”first last”] [spb_divider type=”standard” text=”Go to top” top_margin=”0px” bottom_margin=”30px” fullwidth=”no” width=”1/1″ el_position=”first last”] [spb_blank_spacer height=”30px” width=”1/1″ el_position=”first last”] [spb_text_block animation=”none” animation_delay=”0″ simplified_controls=”yes” custom_css_percentage=”no” padding_vertical=”0″ padding_horizontal=”0″ margin_vertical=”0″ custom_css=”margin-top: 0px;margin-bottom: 0px;” border_size=”0″ border_styling_global=”default” width=”1/2″ el_position=”first”] The main issue here is that PayPal isn’t a good member billing / reporting backend. It processes credit card and echeck payments for your customers just fine, but it doesn’t sort your payments by product. Or list what customers bought what. You can perform searches, but anyone that has tried searching PayPal knows how problematic that is. I’ve been accepting PayPal at CartoonSmart.com for nearly 20 years now, and I can’t tell you how many times I’ve tried searching for a customer by last name and I simply can’t find them (many times their business name nullifies a reasonable search). Doing a lot of business through PayPal is one of those “good problems,” but the more options / products / services your club chooses to sell, the more trouble it is to sort through payments if your backend doesn’t sort it for you. Keep in mind, I’ve talked to many club Treasurers that will say, “oh it isn’t that hard to just manually log each payment in Quickbooks (or whatever they use).” But every time I hear that, I think, “Even if it isn’t that hard, it doesn’t need to be done at all”. It’s 2018. Technology has got this! [/spb_text_block] [spb_column col_sm=”6″ padding_horizontal=”0″ width=”1/2″ el_position=”last”] [spb_image_banner image=”1076″ image_size=”full” content_pos=”left” content_textalign=”left” animation=”none” animation_delay=”200″ link_target=”_self” width=”1/1″ el_position=”first last”][/spb_image_banner] [spb_blank_spacer height=”10px” width=”1/1″ el_position=”first last”] [spb_text_block animation=”none” animation_delay=”0″ simplified_controls=”yes” custom_css_percentage=”no” padding_vertical=”0″ padding_horizontal=”0″ margin_vertical=”0″ custom_css=”margin-top: 0px;margin-bottom: 0px;” border_size=”0″ border_styling_global=”default” width=”1/1″ el_position=”first last”] What many clubs currently do. The membership is probably $530, but this club has added in $16 for Paypal fees [/spb_text_block] [/spb_column] [spb_blank_spacer height=”30px” width=”1/1″ el_position=”first last”] [spb_divider type=”standard” text=”Go to top” top_margin=”0px” bottom_margin=”30px” fullwidth=”no” width=”1/1″ el_position=”first last”] [spb_blank_spacer height=”30px” width=”1/1″ el_position=”first last”] [spb_text_block animation=”none” animation_delay=”0″ simplified_controls=”yes” custom_css_percentage=”no” padding_vertical=”0″ padding_horizontal=”0″ margin_vertical=”0″ custom_css=”margin-top: 0px;margin-bottom: 0px;” border_size=”0″ border_styling_global=”default” width=”1/1″ el_position=”first last”] Where a proper payment portal comes in… [/spb_text_block] [spb_blank_spacer height=”30px” width=”1/1″ el_position=”first last”] [spb_column col_sm=”6″ padding_horizontal=”0″ width=”1/2″ el_position=”first”] [spb_text_block animation=”none” animation_delay=”0″ simplified_controls=”yes” custom_css_percentage=”no” padding_vertical=”0″ padding_horizontal=”0″ margin_vertical=”0″ custom_css=”margin-top: 0px;margin-bottom: 0px;” border_size=”0″ border_styling_global=”default” width=”1/1″ el_position=”first last”] The Pool Dues backend will organize everything by product for you. You’ll quickly be able to see how much of each product has sold, how much those products have earned, and links so you can see details on each sale (including, of course, which customer purchased the item). And that’s just the beginning. Imagine being able to set up recurring billing options (automatic payments). Or, if the member does a 1-time payment, wouldn’t it be nice to automatically begin reminding them to pay again? And send another reminder….and another… Pool Dues can do that! You can export payment info to CSV sorted by date range and then by product or all earnings. You can export customer data as well. [/spb_text_block] [spb_blank_spacer height=”10px” width=”1/1″ el_position=”first last”] [spb_button button_text=”Find out more about Member Billing…” button_size=”large” button_colour=”accent” button_type=”standard” rounded=”yes” button_dropshadow=”no” button_link=”https://pooldues.com/billing/” button_target=”_self” align=”center” animation=”none” animation_delay=”0″ width=”1/1″ el_position=”first last”] [/spb_column] [spb_column col_sm=”6″ padding_horizontal=”0″ width=”1/2″ el_position=”last”] [spb_image_banner image=”1082″ image_size=”full” content_pos=”left” content_textalign=”left” animation=”none” animation_delay=”200″ link_target=”_self” width=”1/1″ el_position=”first last”][/spb_image_banner] [spb_blank_spacer height=”30px” width=”1/1″ el_position=”first last”] [/spb_column] [spb_image_banner image=”1083″ image_size=”full” content_pos=”left” content_textalign=”left” animation=”none” animation_delay=”200″ link_target=”_self” width=”1/1″ el_position=”first last”][/spb_image_banner] [spb_blank_spacer height=”30px” width=”1/1″ el_position=”first last”] [spb_divider type=”standard” text=”Go to top” top_margin=”0px” bottom_margin=”30px” fullwidth=”no” width=”1/1″ el_position=”first last”] [spb_blank_spacer height=”30px” width=”1/1″ el_position=”first last”] [spb_text_block animation=”none” animation_delay=”0″ simplified_controls=”yes” custom_css_percentage=”no” padding_vertical=”0″ padding_horizontal=”0″ margin_vertical=”0″ custom_css=”margin-top: 0px;margin-bottom: 0px;” border_size=”0″ border_styling_global=”default” width=”1/1″ el_position=”first last”] Paypal Fees Included… [/spb_text_block] [spb_blank_spacer height=”30px” width=”1/1″ el_position=”first last”] [spb_column col_sm=”6″ padding_horizontal=”0″ width=”1/2″ el_position=”first”] [spb_text_block animation=”none” animation_delay=”0″ simplified_controls=”yes” custom_css_percentage=”no” padding_vertical=”0″ padding_horizontal=”0″ margin_vertical=”0″ custom_css=”margin-top: 0px;margin-bottom: 0px;” border_size=”0″ border_styling_global=”default” width=”1/1″ el_position=”first last”] You’ll notice in the image above the odd price of $567.05. That screenshot is from a club whose membership price is $550 but they are adding in a 3% fee at checkout. Instead of displaying both the membership price and fee added together, the shopping cart displays them separately. You can label this 3% fee anything you want (and change the %). So it could read: – Tax – Tax / Fees – PayPal Fee – Convenience Fee – Credit Card Upcharge [/spb_text_block] [/spb_column] [spb_image_banner image=”1089″ image_size=”full” content_pos=”left” content_textalign=”left” animation=”none” animation_delay=”200″ link_target=”_self” width=”1/2″ el_position=”last”][/spb_image_banner] [spb_text_block animation=”none” animation_delay=”0″ simplified_controls=”yes” custom_css_percentage=”no” padding_vertical=”0″ padding_horizontal=”0″ margin_vertical=”0″ custom_css=”margin-top: 0px;margin-bottom: 0px;” border_size=”0″ border_styling_global=”default” width=”1/1″ el_position=”first last”] Most people just ignore tax because we are used to seeing it added in. So if your concern is that members will question the PayPal fees being added in, you can keep this labeled as Tax (which is the default cart setting). Also, if your members are already used to seeing the PayPal fee added into the final price, they’ll understand what the fee is regardless of how it is labeled. [/spb_text_block] [spb_divider type=”standard” text=”Go to top” top_margin=”0px” bottom_margin=”30px” fullwidth=”no” width=”1/1″ el_position=”first last”] [spb_column col_sm=”6″ padding_horizontal=”0″ width=”1/2″ el_position=”first”] [spb_text_block animation=”none” animation_delay=”0″ simplified_controls=”yes” custom_css_percentage=”no” padding_vertical=”0″ padding_horizontal=”0″ margin_vertical=”0″ custom_css=”margin-top: 0px;margin-bottom: 0px;” border_size=”0″ border_styling_global=”default” width=”1/1″ el_position=”first last”] And how do you get to the shopping cart… [/spb_text_block] [spb_blank_spacer height=”30px” width=”1/1″ el_position=”first last”] [spb_text_block animation=”none” animation_delay=”0″ simplified_controls=”yes” custom_css_percentage=”no” padding_vertical=”0″ padding_horizontal=”0″ margin_vertical=”0″ custom_css=”margin-top: 0px;margin-bottom: 0px;” border_size=”0″ border_styling_global=”default” width=”1/1″ el_position=”first last”] As you can see, here at Pool Dues we place a lot of emphasis on design. So take a look at one of our example buttons to sign up… Unfold and you’ll find details about that specific membership option. The beauty of this is that you can have many options listed on the same page without cluttering it up with too much detail. [sf_button colour=”accent” type=”standard” size=”large” link=”https://democlub.pooldues.com/member-dues/” target=”_blank” icon=”” dropshadow=”no” rounded=”yes” extraclass=””]See our demo site for an example Member Dues page…[/sf_button] [/spb_text_block] [/spb_column] [spb_column col_sm=”6″ padding_horizontal=”0″ width=”1/2″ el_position=”last”] [spb_image_banner image=”1095″ image_size=”full” content_pos=”center” content_textalign=”center” animation=”none” animation_delay=”200″ link_target=”_self” width=”1/1″ el_position=”first last”] Family Membership – One Time Payment [/spb_image_banner] [spb_toggle title=”Unfold for details…” open=”false” width=”1/1″ el_position=”first last”] Got kids? This is the membership for you! Make a one-time payment for your Yearly dues. Click below to pay this fee through Paypal (the final cost includes Paypal charges). First year members, don’t forget to include your initiation dues if you haven’t already paid them. [/spb_toggle] [/spb_column] [spb_blank_spacer height=”30px” width=”1/1″ el_position=”first last”] [spb_divider type=”standard” text=”Go to top” top_margin=”0px” bottom_margin=”30px” fullwidth=”no” width=”1/1″ el_position=”first last”] [spb_blank_spacer height=”30px” width=”1/1″ el_position=”first last”] [spb_text_block animation=”none” animation_delay=”0″ simplified_controls=”yes” custom_css_percentage=”no” padding_vertical=”0″ padding_horizontal=”0″ margin_vertical=”0″ custom_css=”margin-top: 0px;margin-bottom: 0px;” border_size=”0″ border_styling_global=”default” width=”1/1″ el_position=”first last”] PayPal is requiring more security on YOUR end… [/spb_text_block] [spb_blank_spacer height=”30px” width=”1/1″ el_position=”first last”] [spb_text_block animation=”none” animation_delay=”0″ simplified_controls=”yes” custom_css_percentage=”no” padding_vertical=”0″ padding_horizontal=”0″ margin_vertical=”0″ custom_css=”margin-top: 0px;margin-bottom: 0px;” border_size=”0″ border_styling_global=”default” width=”1/2″ el_position=”first”] As of June 2018, PayPal began requiring SSL certificates from merchants and other upgrades. You can read more about this on PayPal’s site (tap here). Obviously, your Pool Dues payment portal has an SSL certificate out-of-the-box, and we are hosted on servers that include their other required protocols. [/spb_text_block] [spb_image image=”1103″ image_size=”full” frame=”noframe” caption_pos=”hover” remove_rounded=”yes” fullwidth=”no” overflow_mode=”none” link_target=”_self” lightbox=”no” intro_animation=”none” animation_delay=”200″ width=”1/2″ el_position=”last”][/spb_image]
