How much time could you save if your clients could handle their own scheduling with online booking? Managing a sports facility or training business takes
Innovation Issue: Upper Hand Product Update October 2024
We may have had a few tricks up our sleeves last month, but we have a lot of treats to share with you! From new functionality to feature enhancements, we’re excited about the changes to the app, and we think you will be too!
Here’s an inside look at what’s new to our sports scheduling app and a sneak peak at what’s coming soon!
Have clients RSVP for Upcoming Sessions
We’ve added the ability for clients to RSVP yes or no to upcoming sessions. Especially for longer-term commitments, like teams, we understand that not every athlete on the roster can attend every practice or session. With this new RSVP functionality, you won’t have to text or email parents to find out who is attending on a given day.
This feature works independently from the event check-in feature, as this is a client-facing action. So, this feature will give you an idea of who to expect at your upcoming sessions. Clients are able to edit their responses up until the session, so as plans change, they are able to keep you updated accordingly!
Additionally, we know that you and your clients have a lot going on at any given time. We will automatically send out a reminder email to RSVP for sessions 48 hours before the session is set to begin. But, if you’d like to send an additional reminder email before or after, you are able to send one additional reminder email out at your discretion.
Save Marketing Campaigns as Drafts
Thank you to our customers who have provided feedback on our new Marketing Campaigns feature! In response to this feedback, our team rolled out an update to save marketing campaigns as drafts. This gives you more flexibility to work on these campaigns when your schedule allows, and return to them at a later date and time as needed.
Additional Account Credit Flexibility
Within our Account Credit feature, we’ve made a few additional upgrades to improve the flexibility and efficiency of these features. First, you are now able to apply an account credit at checkout for the first payment of a membership or payment plan. Previously, account credits could not be used for that initial recurring payment.
Similarly, we’ve added the option to enable an account credit as a default payment method. If a client has an account credit (that can cover the balance of their cart), the account credit will be applied to the cart as opposed to charging their default card on file.
Set Scheduling Timeframes for Classes
We’ve seen some clients get very eager when scheduling out their classes or lessons. If you want to limit how far in advance you’d like someone to be able to sign up for a class, you’re now able to set that limit! This will help you keep more control over your class schedules while keeping registration open for clients.
Even more updates coming soon
Our team is still hard at work making upgrades to our sports management software. While we can’t share too much yet, we wanted to put together a few highlights of what you can look forward to soon.
Client Membership Management
In response to new laws regarding membership click-to-cancel, we are working on a “Manage Membership” feature that will allow clients to request a membership upgrade, downgrade, or cancellation.
Set Buyer Limits on Private Events
While most of your clients will act with integrity, we know there are ways to manipulate the system to score a deal. So, we are working on an upgrade that will allow you to set a “buyer limit” on your private events. For example, if you offer a free trial for someone’s first session, once a client has the link to the private event, nothing is stopping them from repeatedly registering for it. This new update will limit them to one free trial, where they will then need to book your available sessions.
Last time out
Our team is still hard at work making upgrades to our sports management software. While we can’t share too much yet, we wanted to put together a few highlights of what you can look forward to soon.
Send Marketing Campaigns
Marketing campaigns empower you to create and send marketing emails without leaving the Upper Hand app. Build and save templates, and send campaigns to your contacts in just a few simple steps.
Save your commonly used email communications as templates, making it easy to recreate and send similar emails to your contact groups. Include images or colorful text, links, and other engaging elements to make your emails pop.
Offer Tiered Memberships
We’ve revamped the way you can create and manage your memberships inside Upper Hand. Now, you can set various tiers within a single membership. For example, if you want to offer a similar membership but with varying levels of credits or discount amounts, you can do so.
Accept ACH Payments
You now have the option to accept ACH payments in the software. This option allows for even greater flexibility for your clients, as they are able to directly connect their bank account information to the software as opposed to paying by card or check.
Click here for a full list of updates that went live this summer!
Like what you see?
We’re always working to enhance the Upper Hand app, and we’d love to share the latest features with you on a personalized demo! Click here to schedule a demo and chat with our team.
Prefer to explore on your own? No problem! Check out our interactive product tours for an inside look at the new updates.
Already an Upper Hand customer? Good news! These new features are already available in your account. Log in to start using them today!
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In our latest edition of The Huddle, we outline the most frequently asked questions regarding memberships with Upper Hand. Why aren’t memberships automatically cancelled when they reach the commitment length? This not only gives Staff Admins the ability to lock in business for a certain amount of time, but it also gives the client the flexibility to continue their membership at a given rate. This is another way to keep steady revenue flowing into the business.