Three jobs, not three steps
Recovery, Saves and Return, from inside the platform you already run.
Three jobs, not three steps. Each has its own rules, its own timing and its own definition of done. Messages go out from your platform under the sender your members already know, and every one says it was sent on your behalf by Keptly.
5
Touches per failed payment, at most, over 14 days.
Each one only if the last got no reply and the payment is still open. Then it stops, and the list comes back to you.
/ 01
Recovery
Every failed payment or dishonoured direct debit gets a short sequence of messages in your club's voice, with a one-tap way to fix it. Five touches over 14 days at most, each one only if the last got no reply and the payment is still open, then it stops. Payment messages state a fact and make no offer of any kind. It never threatens, never adds a fee that is not already in the member's agreement, and stops the moment someone says they are struggling or asks us to stop.
Where your platform’s payment page collects the missed amount as well as updating the card, the link does both. Each message says what the amount is, what it is for, and how to sort it.
| Day | Channel | Purpose | Fires only if |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | SMS | Tell them, give the fix | Payment failed, member eligible |
| 2 | Detail and the fix | No reply, still open | |
| 5 | SMS | Second nudge, timed after the platform’s own retry date where known | No reply, still open, retry did not succeed |
| 9 | A factual check-in with a person’s contact details | No reply, still open | |
| 14 | SMS | Last note, then hand back to the club | No reply, still open |
Rules that never bend.
- Touches per failed payment, over 14 days
- 5, at most
- Every touch after the first fires only if there has been no reply of any kind and the payment is still open. A reply, a payment, a dispute or a platform retry success cancels every queued touch.
- Messages to any member in any 30 days, across all sequences
- 8, at most
- Send window, weekdays
- 8am to 8pm
- Local time of the member’s state.
- Send window, weekends
- 9am to 8pm
- National public holidays
- Nothing
- New Year’s Day, Australia Day, Good Friday, Easter Sunday, Easter Monday, Anzac Day, Christmas Day, Boxing Day. A touch due on those days moves to the next eligible day.
- On every message
- The disclosure line
- “Sent on behalf of {Club} by Keptly. Questions: {Phone} or {Club email}.” No message claims a human noticed, checked or personally wrote anything a human did not.
- Words that never appear
- Debt, collection, overdue notice, final warning, legal
- No fee is mentioned unless it is already in the member’s agreement, and then only as a fact.
- Hardship, illness, job loss, a dispute, a cancellation, or any request to stop
- Stops. Manager the same day.
- A written “do not contact me” is honoured absolutely and permanently.
- Members in Western Australia or South Australia
- Excluded
- Until Keptly has legal advice or a licence in that state.
- After the payment is fixed
- One thank-you
- The log
- Kept 3 years
- Every touch. Every reply. Every suppression. Every outcome.
/ 02
Saves
A member who asks to leave has left, from the day they asked. Nobody has to answer a question, take a call, or visit to make that happen. Keptly’s job is to make sure the cancellation is done quickly and kindly, and to put one real alternative in front of them in the same breath, which they can take or ignore.
- Within one business day
- Processed, confirmed, one question asked
- All in the same message. The effective date is the date they asked, subject only to the notice period in their agreement. Sent by the channel they used.
- If they reply with a reason
- One alternative
- A pause first, then a cheaper plan or a change of times or location, then a fix for the thing that went wrong. A discount only when the member names price as the reason, only if the club has approved one, and never after another alternative has been declined.
- If they take it
- Done the same day, confirmed in writing
- Keptly owns the pause: a note a week before it restarts, a check that the first payment after the pause cleared.
- If no reply
- Nothing further
- The cancellation was already processed. No follow-up, no second offer.
- Inside a statutory cooling-off period
- Processed immediately, no offer
- With the refund the code requires. Nothing in Keptly may consume a cooling-off window.
The one alternative, by the reason they give 6 reasons
- Money, cost, budget
- A pause
- For as many months as the club sets, at no charge, rate held, rejoin without a joining fee. Not a discount.
- Injury, illness, pregnancy
- A medical pause
- For as long as they need, no charge.
- Moving, travel, work hours
- A pause, or a change of times or location
- Not using it, lost motivation
- One session with a coach, or a pause
- Never guilt.
- Unhappy with something
- Fix the thing, if the club can
- Otherwise thank them for saying so. The cancellation stands.
- Joined somewhere else
- Thank them
- Leave the door open. Nothing else.
Not allowed.
- Holding, delaying or conditioning the cancellation on anything.
- A second offer, a discount ladder, “what if I gave you 20% off”, fake deadlines.
- Making them call, visit, or fill in a form the platform does not require.
- Any message that implies cancelling is harder than it is, or that the pause is the only option.
- Any offer inside a cooling-off period.
- Any message to a member who left over hardship, except the confirmation.
The confirmation comes from your manager’s name and replies go to their real inbox. What Keptly automates is the noticing and the timing. The talking stays human.
/ 03
Return
Members who lapsed in the last one to six months get three messages over three weeks, from your club, with an unsubscribe on every one. The offer is whatever you approve, and it differs by how long they have been gone. Nobody who opted out, left over hardship, or lapsed more than 12 months ago is contacted.
Whatever the club approves, and it must be true and available. Rate held at what they paid, no joining fee, a free week, a specific new thing. Never invent scarcity.
Who is eligible 6 rules
- Lapsed
- 30 to 180 days ago
- Cancelled, membership ended, or a pause never resumed.
- Was a member for
- 30 days, at least
- Opted out, replied STOP, or left over hardship, a dispute or a complaint
- Not contacted
- Contacted by a Return sequence in the last 6 months
- Not contacted
- Already contacted the club about rejoining
- Not contacted
- Checked against the club’s inbound log before the first message.
- Lapsed more than 12 months ago
- Never contacted
- The consent is stale and ACMA says so.
Three messages, three weeks.
| Day | Channel | Purpose | Fires only if |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | SMS or email | The door’s open. Rate held, no joining fee. | Eligible |
| 8 | What’s changed at the club, one true specific | No reply | |
| 21 | SMS | Last note. Held rate ends {Date}. | No reply |
Then nothing, for at least 6 months. Every message carries the club’s name, a way to contact a person, the disclosure that it was sent on the club’s behalf by Keptly, and an unsubscribe. Opt-out rate above 3% per sequence means the offer or the tone is wrong; pause and rework before the next batch.
How messages are sent.
Keptly is not “your data stays in your platform” unless it does. There are two configurations and the difference matters.
Either way, the fix link resolves on your own domain or your platform’s known payment page, never on a Keptly page.
Every template is classified as factual or commercial before it is approved. Payment messages are factual and make no offer. Saves confirmations, pause notes and Return messages are commercial, so each carries your identity, a way to opt out, and rests on a recorded consent basis.
- From your platform
- The default
- Keptly drafts and schedules; your platform sends under your existing sender. Members see the sender they already know. This is the preferred configuration and the only one used in the first test.
- From Keptly’s gateway under your name
- The fallback
- Only where your platform cannot send sequences, and only once your sender ID is registered under your name. A text from an unknown number asking for card details is the pattern people are trained to ignore, so this is a fallback, not a default.
- Payment messages
- Factual
- State a fact and make no offer.
- Saves confirmations, pause notes, Return messages
- Commercial
- Each carries your identity, a way to opt out, and rests on a recorded consent basis.
What a member actually receives.
The first two touches and the thank-you, from the Recovery playbook, as they are drafted for a club.
-
Day 0, SMS. Fires if: payment failed, member eligible. Variant: insufficient funds or dishonour.
Hi {First}, it’s {Club}. Your {Amount} membership payment on {Date} didn’t go through. It happens. You can fix it here in about a minute: {Link}. Or reply to this and we’ll sort it with you. Sent on behalf of {Club} by Keptly. Questions: {Phone}.
-
Day 2, Email. Fires if: no reply, still open.
Subject: Your {Club} payment on {Date}
Hi {First},
Your membership payment of {Amount} on {Date} didn’t go through. Nothing has changed with your membership, we just need the payment sorted so it stays that way.
The quickest way is here: {Link}. It takes about a minute.
If something has changed for you, or you’d rather talk it through, reply to this email or call {Club} on {Phone}. Happy to help.
{Club}
This message was sent on behalf of {Club} by Keptly, {Keptly email}. If you’d rather we didn’t message you about this, reply STOP.
-
After the payment, once.
Thanks {First}, that’s come through. All sorted. See you at {Club}. Sent on behalf of {Club} by Keptly. Questions: {Phone}.
Placeholders in braces are replaced per club. Every template is a draft the club approves before anything is sent. The day 5, 9 and 14 touches follow the same rules and are in the timing table above.