5 Best Tennis Club Management Software (In-Depth Comparison)

Olivier Rousseau
14 July 2024 Tennis 2 min read

If you’re reading this, chances are you’re in the market for a new tennis club management software, or at least exploring options.

Maybe you’re frustrated with your current platform. You might feel like it hasn’t adapted well to meet the current needs of your members.

We’ve put together a guide to the best modern tennis club management tools to help you find the ideal plateform for you.

Every Tennis Club Software on the list has its own set of features, so we’ll focus on how they provide more than simply taking online registrations.

What we’ll discuss:

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Author’s note: Olivier shares tips and tricks he’s learned over the past decade as the owner of a children’s sports program. Today, as co-founder of Activity Messenger, he helps hundreds of Tennis Clubs across Canada and the US automate and streamline operations and increase revenue.

DISCLAIMER: Activity Messenger is our product. We created it because we struggled for years as operators with the shortcomings of existing Tennis Club Software and believe that most Club Management Softwares are broken.

List of features you should expect

Before looking at best options for Tennis Clubs on the market, here’s a list of important features you’ll likely want in your software.

1. Membership Management

Effectively manage your members by tracking their registration, payment status and attendance history. Provide a seamless experience where members can book courts based on their membership level, update their information, renew their membership, and sign up for classes or events.

2. Tennis Court Booking

Simplify the tennis court booking process with an intuitive online system. Allow members to view real-time availability, make reservations & payments, and receive automatic confirmations and reminders. Include flexible booking rules, such as time limits and cancellation policies, to ensure fair access for all members at your club.

3. Email Marketing:

Create and send newsletters to keep your members and community up-to-date. Segment and personalize your marketing outreach based on registration status, age, level, or any other segmentation critical to your clubs marketing needs.

4. Integrated MailMerge:

Personalize your communications by integrating player-specific information into emails and SMS messages, such as their name, level, activity, start date, and more.

5. Waitlist Automation:

Automate waitlist notifications to ensure spots are filled as soon as they become available. This is critical for managing high demand classes and booking slots to increase your profitability.

6. Financial Reporting:

Gain insight into the financial health of your tennis club with comprehensive revenue, expense, and profitability reports.

7.Waivers with Digital Signature:

Securely collect required legal consents and include your digital waivers into the registration and membership process. Replace SmartWaiver to collect waivers outside of the registration process (for events such as non-member bookings, free trials, drop-ins, etc.).

8. Ticketing for your club tournaments:

Simplify ticket sales for your club tournaments with an integrated ticketing system that makes event management easier for players, parents, spectators, and staff.

9. Online Surveys:

Gather valuable feedback from your members to improve your offerings and skyrocket you customer satisfaction. Replace tools like SurveyMonkey and automate survey distribution via email or SMS based on the end of session or end of membership date.

10. Online Class and Camp Registration:

Provide a mobile-first, easy-to-use online registration process that makes it easy for parents to enroll in the tennis lessons, camps or clinics

13. Staff Management:

Manage your team efficiently with payroll, scheduling, onboarding documents, and communication tools all in one integrated platform.

14. Data and Analytics:

Make informed decisions about course offerings, marketing efforts, staffing needs, and more with comprehensive analytics.

15. Attendance Tracking:

Improve player and member engagement by keeping accurate attendance records with an mobile-friendly system.

16. Mass Texting:

Communicate urgent information or last-minute changes quickly and effectively with mass text messaging.

17. Player Progress Report and Report Cards:

Track and share players’ progress through customizable report cards to promote a transparent and supportive learning environment.

5 Best Options for Tennis Club Management Software

Here’s a review of the top Tennis Management Software you may be considering for your club or academy.

We’ve included a short demo video, direct links to the software’s website, details on pricing, key features, and a link to customer reviews.

1. Activity Messenger: The One-Stop Solution for Tennis Clubs across the US and Canada

Activity Messenger is designed to consolidate all of your tennis club’s operations into one streamlined solution, eliminating the need for multiple tools and workarounds.

It includes all the basic functionality of traditional Tennis  management software, but takes it a step further with seamless integration with your favorite apps such as Canva, ChatGPT, Zoom and Stripe.

We understand the challenges of managing a variety of tools such as SurveyMonkey, MailChimp, JotForm, EventBrite, and SmartWaiver. That’s why we’ve developed features to replace them. We make sure that we meet all the operational needs of a Tennis Club.

Our approach is simple: Replace manual tasks with automated workflows to simplify operations and free up valuable time.

You can also see what people are saying about us on Activity Messenger’s Capterra profile.
(We’re proud of our 4.8-star rating and 100% likelihood to recommend.)

Most platforms for Tennis Clubs offer some combination of registration, communication and booking features and sometimes limited tools for email marketing, event ticket sale and progress reports. However, most simply integrate with tools like Mailchimp, SurveyMonkey and Eventbrite. They don’t offer a full suite of features within their software.

 

Discover why Activity Messenger is the preferred software for Tennis Clubs

 

Activity Messenger’s 3 Key Differentiating Features

Activity Messenger differentiates itself from traditional Tennis Software in a few ways.

#1. Personalized registration process for every member

What It Is: Activity Messenger guides members to the ideal membership quickly and efficiently. Based on preferences such as availability, level or class, the registration process adapts to display the most appropriate class or membership options tailored to their specific needs.

Why it matters: Most tennis software displays all options to every web visitor, which can be overwhelming, especially on smartphones, and may not address a new member’s specific needs and preferences.

Added Benefits: No one likes to create yet another online account. Activity Messenger eliminates the need to create an account, making registration hassle-free. Rest assured that your customers have seamlessly created an account during the process and can log in at any time.

Online registration for your tennis lessons

 

#2. Powerful Marketing Tools

What it is: Complete your marketing tasks in one seamless place without jumping from one tool into another. Activity Messenger lets you send newsletters, create marketing automations, and even retarget customers who abandon carts before completing purchases.

Why it matters: Think about the workflow of your newsletters. Typically, you have to manually export your subscribers from your subscription software to a newsletter platform such as MailChimp or ConstantContact. This process is tedious. It’s error-prone and expensive.

Added benefits: With Activity Messenger, you can use our built-in Canva feature to design your emails and seamlessly create email marketing campaigns without leaving the platform. You can also retarget abandoned carts. An analytics dashboard gives you clear insight into your marketing efforts, your conversion rates, and how they are directly increasing the number of registrations you receive.

Email Marketing for tennis clubs and academies

#3. Automation (like having an extra employee who never calls in sick to work).

What it is: From sending reminders for unsigned waivers to automating marketing for children’s parties, our system includes a wide range of automations tailored for Tennis Clubs and Academies.

Here are a few examples:

 

  1. End of session reminders
  2. Automated surveys
  3. SMS to people who have not opened an email
  4. Texting parents who have not signed waivers
  5. Welcome email automation
  6. Waitlist Automation

Why It Matters: Automated reminders for unsigned waivers can be sent using a class roster to ensure each player attends a lesson, camp, tryout or event with all necessary safety protocols in place. This type of precise and targeted automation will not only increase efficiency, but will also improve the safety and simplifies daily operations.

Automate repetitive tasks for swim school

Extra Perks: The automation is built in to the mail merge capabilities of the Activity Messenger. This ensures that each email is sent at the ideal time and tailored to each recipient.

Now let’s explore some of the other great options on the market.

2. Court Reserve

Court Reserve has established itself as a key player in court management software, particularly for tennis clubs and recreational facilities. Its extensive feature set includes everything from court scheduling to seamless online registration and billing.

Benefits of Court Reserve:

  • Offers a comprehensive set of features tailored for complex tennis clubs
  • Excellent customer service with a dedicated support team.
  • Highly customizable to fit any program, big or small.
  • Provides robust online registration and member portal services.
  • Easy tracking of court availability and booking.

Cons of Court Reserve:

  • Mobile app experience can be clunky.
  • Some administrative tasks, such as payment refunds or partial credits, can be a challenge.
  • Integration of the scheduling widget into existing websites can be complex.
  • Collecting fees for open court time split between multiple players can be more difficult than necessary.
  • Restrictions, such as booking limitations, have caused some users operational issues.

How Court Reserve compares to Activity Messenger:

Court Reserve provides strong court scheduling and basic communication tools. However, with a modern interface and advanced features, Activity Messenger offers more advanced functionality. Some of the key benefits include Canva integration for consistent branding and advanced communication tools that track engagement metrics and automate tasks such as meeting emails and surveys.

3. EZ Facility

EZFacility has become a household name in facility management software, especially for Tennis Clubs. Its extensive feature set includes everything from membership management to online registration and billing.

Benefits of EZFacility:

  • Comprehensive set of features tailored for complex Tennis Clubs
  • Excellent customer service with a dedicated support team that resolves issues promptly.
  • Highly customizable to fit any program, big or small.
  • Provides robust online registration and member portal services.
  • Effective tracking of memberships and facility usage.

Cons of EZFacility:

  • Interface and layout are dated and not very user-friendly which can make initial setup confusing.
  • Lack of flexibility in customizing features, such as billing and membership management.
  • Challenges with integration into existing websites and optimizing for mobile use.
  • Administrative tasks, like handling price increases and cancellations can be cumbersome and time-consuming.
  • The absence of automated features for emailing receipts or processing direct debit transactions can be a drawback.

How EZFacility Compares to Activity Messenger:

EZFacility offers strong membership management and communication tools. However, Activity Messenger provides advanced features with a modern interface and enhanced functionalities. Key advantages include Canva integration for consistent branding and advanced communication tools that track engagement metrics and automate tasks such as session emails and surveys.

 

4. Club Automation

Club Automation offers an extensive feature set includes everything from membership management, court booking to online registration and billing.

Benefits of Club Automation:

  • Features tailored for complex sports facilities and tennis clubs
  • Highly customizable to fit any program, big or small.
  • Provides robust online registration and member portal services.
  • Effective tracking of memberships and facility usage.

Cons of Club Automation:

  • Software performance can be slow and buggy, causing frustration for members.
  • Inaccurate billing and difficulty resolving these issues have been reported.
  • Integration of customizable forms and automated processes could be improved.
  • Administrative tasks like updating billing amounts and managing delinquent accounts are cumbersome.
  • Limited flexibility in membership contracts and random billing errors for dormant members.

How Club Automation Compares to Activity Messenger:

Club Automation offers strong membership management and basic communication tools. However, Activity Messenger provides advanced features with a modern interface and enhanced functionalities. Key advantages include Canva integration for consistent branding and advanced communication tools that track engagement metrics and automate tasks such as session emails and surveys.

5. Jegysoft

Designed to reduce administrative tasks, Jegysoft helps tennis clubs focus more on coaching and player development. It offers features such as court and staff management, skill tracking, and event booking, all designed to simplify your operations. Custom branding options and a dedicated support team ensure that Club Automation supports your club and strengthens your brand every step of the way.

There are no online reviews about this software.

2 critical things to consider before making your final decision

When looking for a modern tennis club management platform, there are 2 critical aspects to consider:

1. Ease of registration (especially on mobile devices)

Sifting through traditional customer registration portals can be intimidating for customers, especially new ones. This level of complexity can often cause potential customers to give up and abandon the process altogether. Modern software, however, offers a solution that mimics the personalized assistance of a phone call by fully customizing the selection of memberships or classes based on the needs of each individual family.

By moving to an intuitive registration process, tennis club managers can help customers quickly find the type of membership or lesson that meets their needs. This increases the likelihood that they will convert to paying members. And in today’s world, your software should be mobile first, not just mobile friendly.

2. Reduce the number of tools you need to run your club.

Activity Messenger is all about simplicity, efficiency and forward thinking with a streamlined and easy-to-use registration journey. The platform is designed to consolidate functionality. It eliminates having to use separate services like Mailchimp, SurveyMonkey, BambooHR, and SmartWaiver.

And it’s not just the financial benefits that really resonate with our users. It’s the convenience of being able to centralize all of their needs – from registrations and communications to waivers and marketing campaigns – into one holistic view of their tennis academy.

Interested in learning about Activity Messenger?

Sign up for a free trial or book a 20-minute demo with Olivier; we’ll show you how Activity Messenger might be able to help modernize your Tennis Club or Academy.

Not ready to switch right away?

No problem. Many tennis clubs are using Activity Messenger as they slowly make the transition from their current class management software. Activity Messenger can complement your current solution for email marketing, bulk SMS, event ticketing, gymnast progress, bulk certificates, digital waivers, party booking, surveys and more.

Written by Olivier Rousseau Olivier is a kids sports programs owner who has been operating for over a decade with locations in Montreal, Quebec city & Ottawa. He also helps Gymnastics Club, Swim Schools and Dance Studios streamline their operations. He is the co-founder of Activity Messenger an online registration platform for the sports & leisure industry.

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