How iClassPro powers global payments volume at scale with 95% merchant adoption
iClassPro is a renowned leader in the class management software space. The company helps gymnastics, swimming, dance, and cheerleading centers to run their businesses in a way that helps owners and coaches spend more time teaching students.
Former Olympian Chris McNabb founded the business in 2008, more than a decade after he was a member of the US trampoline and tumbling team at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. McNabb was running a gymnastics academy before launching iClassPro, and felt there had to be a better way for businesses like his to manage operations. This is how the business was born.
Nearing total payments adoption
Fast forward to today and iClassPro is serving class-based businesses across the globe. Greg Hatcher, the company’s Head of Payments, said iClassPro’s customers often have significant payments and other financial needs. “They’re often small business owners that really need our expertise to help them run their business better.”
“Payments are fuel for the rest of the business. The revenue we generate goes directly back into building the software out.”
A remarkable 95% of iClassPro’s customers use their payment capability. Few customers ever choose to run payments outside of their software. In fact, payments volume at iClassPro has grown significantly since the business first partnered with Payrix back in 2015. “In the last two years alone, we’ve had more than 40% year-over-year growth, just on the payment side,” said Hatcher.
Handling global risks and compliance
The company is lucky to have plenty of payments expertise in-house. But much of this is centered on the US market. The company operates in many countries around the world and looks to find partners that have expertise within different geographies.
Different countries typically have unique know-your-customer (KYC), anti-money laundering (AML), and transaction monitoring regulations. iClassPro relies on Payrix to manage the intricacies of the risks and requirements of the markets where they partner outside of the US.
“As a global company, you often have to partner with multiple people to get into various geographies. Because they specialize — and have that knowledge and risk tolerance — in those areas,” said Hatcher. “It’s nice to have a strategic partner that helps us consolidate significant portions of our volume outside the United States.”
“Payrix has shored up our understanding of how to do KYC in Australia and New Zealand and manage risk down there.”
Pouring revenue into customer value
“Payrix plays an important role for our business by providing access to AUS and NZ, helping us with economies of scale in APAC which is a key region for our growth.”
The payments revenue iClassPro generates goes directly back into growing its development team and improving the software so the business can better serve its customers. “That could be marketing tools for them to engage their customers better, or scheduling appointments, and private lessons,” said Hatcher.
Weighing up the PayFac® path
Could your software business follow a similar path? Hatcher’s advice to software businesses looking to embed payments is this: you may need to drive a lot of customer and merchant funds through your systems before you reap the ‘economies of scale’ of being a PayFac®.
“From my perspective, it’s all about the user experience. Being a PayFac® gives you end-to-end control over what that looks like for your software customer. And it can create an experience where they don’t feel they’re being taken somewhere else, or having to engage with another company, or a different software platform. It truly feels like it’s all you,” said Hatcher.