The ability to pay and book immediately makes customers more inclined to buy, increasing bookings and more than offsetting commission fees, resulting in higher profits.
A few minutes of reading will show you – with real, numerical examples – how enabling payments will bring you more profit, despite the fees.
1. Motivation of the moment
Think about the difference between shopping on a full stomach versus an empty stomach. It’s a basic psychological phenomenon: the impulse to buy is stronger when we’re in a moment of desire.
Now, apply this same mechanism to when your customer is booking one of your activities.
Consider a concrete example: a customer is on our system at 7 p.m. and notices an upcoming class or activity scheduled for the next morning. At that moment, they feel motivated to participate.
If they can’t pay and therefore book immediately, it’s likely that by the next morning, they might no longer feel like going or may lack the same motivation from the previous evening—or they might simply forget.
2. Guaranteeing a reserved spot
By booking immediately, the customer doesn’t have to worry about the activity filling up before they can make it to the facility.
Think about a customer who wants to book a class a week in advance at a center where bookings must be made days prior (because the administrator has set a cancellation limit and because that class tends to fill up quickly). Without in-app payments, the customer has to visit the facility days earlier to pay, allowing them to book via the app. This results in a senseless loss of both time and money for our customer. Are we really sure they will do it? Clearly, no.
3. Higher inclination to purchase
Direct in-app payment is a well-documented strategy to increase conversion rates, with an estimated increase of 10% to 30%. The simplicity of purchasing or booking directly through an app, without additional steps, makes the experience smoother and encourages users to complete the transaction without hesitation. This mechanism reduces possible interruptions and obstacles along the purchase path, a key factor for many modern users who value speed and convenience at every stage of digital interaction.
4. Ease of payment
According to the Baymard Institute (one of the leading institutes analyzing user behavior online), one of the main reasons for cart abandonment in e-commerce is the complexity of the checkout process. The ability to pay immediately without complications can therefore be crucial in encouraging more bookings.
In the case of BookyWay, credit purchases are completed in just a couple of clicks!
So… profit or loss?
Let’s go through a concrete example:
If a yoga class costs 10 euros, the fees on BookyWay would be:
- Stripe: 0.25 euros fixed (+VAT) + 1.5% (+VAT) = 0.305 + 0.183 = 0.488 euros
- BookyWay: 0 fixed + 1% (+VAT) = 0.122 euros
- Total fees on 10 euros = 0.61 euros
This means that just one additional class generated thanks to in-app payments covers the fees on up to 15 classes!
Assume a minimum 10% increase in bookings, starting from a base of 100 classes for a total of 1,000 euros. With a cost of 61 euros in fees, the additional 10% brings a net profit of 93.9 euros.
Thus, with a conservative estimate, in-app payments – for every 100 classes – would bring an extra net profit of 32.9 euros thanks to in-app payments.
Now imagine a truly more optimistic forecast.
Also, consider that enabling in-app payments does NOT REQUIRE managing all payments through the app, as customers can still pay in person.
Multiply the above calculations for a year of work, and you’ll see that enabling in-app payments…
…IS NOT A COST BUT A TRUE PROFIT!
BookyWay: minimal fees for a big return
BookyWay’s fees are among the lowest on the market, and with automatic registration of each transaction, delays are eliminated, and the risk of errors in manual payment management is reduced. This results in greater efficiency for the facility, especially for those managing many classes and appointments.
In conclusion, the costs of in-app payment fees are largely outweighed by the benefits in terms of simplicity and increased bookings, making digital payments a highly advantageous option for you and your customers.
To see how to enable in-app payments on BookyWay CLICK HERE.
To see how to use credits for classes and in-app payments CLICK HERE.
