This article will take you through; 

1. What is Account Balance?
2. How to set up Account Balance
3. Automatically collect overdrawn Account Balances
4. How to use Account Balance as a payment method
5. How to top up your client's Account Balance
6. The Account Balance Report
7. Account Balance on the transaction Report
8. How to use Account Balance to put a Gift card on a client's account
9. Subscriptions paid using partial Account Balance
10. Next steps and additional support

What is Account Balance?

The account balance behaves like a virtual wallet that can be topped up by staff on behalf of the client. The resulting credit can be used to make purchases within the Glofox ecosystem. 

Here's some examples of how you might use it;

• You can use the 'Account Balance' to reward loyal clients, add credit for winning a challenge, or even issue gift cards, check out more on that below. 
• You can process the sale of a credit pack, class etc. for your client with an 'Account Balance'. If the client didn’t have credit in their balance it would leave a negative balance on their account. Your client would pay the balance the next time they attend your gym/studio.
• Or, you could allow your clients to add a monetary value to their account, which they can use to purchase products like water or t-shirts without needing to bring their wallet with them.
• Any amount available in the 'Account Balance' can be used towards a subscription payment alongside another payment method (card or direct debit). 

How to set up Account Balance

To set up 'Account Balance', you will need to enable 'Account Balance' as a payment method; 

1. Go to 'Settings' in the bottom left your Glofox dashboard
2. Click the 'Payments' tab
3. Toggle on 'Account Balance'

Who can use Account Balance as a payment method? 

Currently, only staff can use this payment method on behalf of their clients; clients cannot see this as a payment option. 

Who can overdraw a client's Account Balance? 

Sales that cause a client's 'Account Balance' to be overdrawn requires a level of trust between you and your client. It also requires a level of trust for the member of staff who overdraws the account. You need to ensure your staff members make the right judgment call regarding the amount that your business is willing to be owed, and also what clients are reliable enough to make the repayment at a later date. 

When you enable Account Balance, any member of staff will be able to add a credit value to a client's account balance or use an existing account balance to process a transaction. However, you can restrict the permissions on who can cause a client's account to go into a negative balance. If you don't want to allow any transactions to result in a negative balance then go ahead and uncheck all the boxes. 

Automatically collect overdrawn Account Balances

Finally, you can take the manual work out of collecting overdrawn account balances. If you would like to collect the amount owed to the club automatically, then follow these steps;

• After you 'Edit Settings' next to the Account Balance toggle and switch on  'Automatically collect the amount owed to the Club'
• Then choose the frequency in which you will collect payments;
  • A set schedule using a number of days, weeks, months
  • At the next subscription cycle

If you choose the set schedule option, the first day of the schedule is the day it is turned on. So if your settings are to collect every five days automatically, and the client's account balance gets overdrawn today, then that will be automatically collected five days from now.

How to use Account Balance as a payment method

When using 'Account Balance' for purchases, select the option 'Account Balance' from the drop-down list for the Payment Method at the bottom of the cart. 

How to top up your client's Account Balance

Currently, the client's 'Account Balance' can only be topped up from the Glofox dashboard by those with a Receptionist, Admin, or Super Admin role. To top up, follow these steps;

1. Search for the client's name on 'Global Search' or find them within the 'Clients' tab
2. Click the 'Transactions' tab on their profile
3. You will see a new view on the transaction profile indicating the client's 'Account Balance'
4. Click 'Top-up account' 
5. Enter the payment details

If the client has a negative 'Account Balance', the amount will show in red. To pay off a negative 'Account Balance, follow these steps; 

1. To pay off the client's negative 'Account Balance', click 'Add funds.'
2. Enter the payment details and select the necessary payment method.

The Account Balance Report

Account Balance on the Transaction Report

A new column has been added to the 'Transaction Report' called 'Balance'.

A negative value means the client will be able to redeem that value for goods or services at your studio in the future. While this is money in your bank account, it may not have been accrued by you yet for a product or service. 

A positive value means they have used some of their account balance to pay for an item. The value will show as positive if the client draws their account into the negative. This is money that has been used for a product or service that has been sold.

This 'Balance' column can be summed to result in the studio's exposure to 'Account Balance'. 

When summed; 

• A negative value means this amount will be redeemed by clients in the future. Remember this value is in your revenue but hasn't been redeemed toward a service or product yet
• A positive value means that overall one or more clients owe you money

The 'Balance' column does not indicate the client's overall outstanding 'Account Balance'. It only represents the impact that 'Account Balance' transactions had on your studio's financial standing, i.e., did you get more money in your bank because of it. 

How to use Account Balance to put a gift card on a client's account

You can use 'Account Balance' to add a gift card value to clients' accounts. This is how that process might look;

1. You set up a gift card in your store (Click here to learn more about adding products)
2. A client purchases a gift card directly from you at your gym/studio and you add the purchase to their account from the dashboard. Alternatively, the client can purchase the gift card from the 'Store' on the 'Member App'. *
3. The client that purchased the gift card will receive a unique 'Purchase Code' and will share that number with the person they are purchasing the gift card for. **
4. The client that received the gift card will then present the gift card information or the hard copy of the gift card to you when they want to redeem it. (You can verify the purchase via the 'Store' tab on your dashboard)
5. Once you verify the purchase, you can hit 'Mark as Collected' 
6. Now you can top up the receiving clients 'Account Balance' with the value of the gift card so they can redeem it against products and services. Make sure to use the 'Complimentary' method of payment so you don't charge the receiver with the value, as this has already been paid for by the purchasing client. 

*Most gyms/studios will have their own hard copies gift cards which they will share with clients after they purchase one from them. If you have hard copies of gift cards, you can write the 'Purchase Code' down on the hard copy to make it easier to track. 

**If the receiving client doesn't have an account, you will need to set one up for them. 

More on setting up clients here; 

• Getting Started with Clients

Subscriptions paid using partial Account Balance

Previously, it was only possible to use the ‘Account Balance’ towards a subscription payment if the member had enough credit to cover the full cycle payment. Now, partial ‘Account Balance’ amounts can be used towards recurring unlimited memberships and recurring restricted memberships. Check out this article for more information.

Next steps and additional support

To monitor ‘Account Balance’, we advise using the 'Transactions' to see the amount used towards the purchase and the 'Money Owed' reports to see any outstanding negative account balance amounts.

Please note: Account Balance is for Stripe Custom and Platinum customers only. 

For additional support or to upgrade, please reach out to support@glofox.com, and we will be happy to assist you.