What kind of merchant account does a life coach need? A life coach who runs a person-to-person coaching business might be considered a high-ticket item, and therefore needs a high risk merchant account. In-person coaching sessions or large events can have a big payout for presenters. Because a coach’s paycheck can be in the thousands of dollars range, there is a higher risk involved on the payment processing side.
The risk incurred with conferences or presentations is that they may be canceled, or certain circumstances such as low ticket sales or covid-related issues may cause a payment to be reversed. As such, many aggregate payment companies don’t provide accounts to companies in this sector.
Online coaching merchant accounts are perfect for people who sell a gamut of services, subscriptions, or physical products online. A life coach can be more than just a personalized advice session, it can be a subscription to a series of videos, or downloadable advice pieces.
Moreover, life coaches have expanded their reach to help many others by writing in the all-popular self-help book genre. This format continues to sell in mass numbers throughout the United States and also requires a specific type of merchant account.
Life Coach books include famous titles like “7 Habits of Highly Effective People” or “The Art of Leaderships”. Top selling life coach books are printed and distributed by major publishers, but new writers may be better off selling through private publications or as an online downloadable.
Another way to grow your audience and share your message is to record and offer webinars. Webinars are live video presentations on a certain topic that often have one or more participants who explain the details of a certain concept. This strategy has expanded to educational video series which can be billed via a subscription model or one time purchase. Each of these are considered high risk, because some payment processors see them as having higher chargeback rates
A life coach is all about delivering results by providing educational material. If the product you’re sharing doesn’t have the substance or lacks the message your customer was counting on, it may result in a chargeback. For new life coaches each sale is a win. If you’re charging hundreds or thousands of dollars for an item that promises a result, that may be difficult to guarantee, then chances are some customers will want a refund.
When customers that ask for refunds don’t receive them, then a chargeback can ensue. Charging back transactions that are over one thousand dollars can be detrimental to a business and a merchant account. So if you’re looking for the right resources to get your life coaching business started, be sure to reach out to Zen Payments who can help you through each step of the process.
