How Do We Calculate ROI For Clubs?

A return on investment calculator is usually an estimate based on a number of assumptions. This page provides more information on how Site Caddy ROI calculator works, the assumptions we make, and a number of Site Caddy benefits that are not included in the ROI calculations.

Member Attraction and Retention

Times are tough. Golfers that previously belonged to 2 clubs now keep a membersip at only one. Golfers that used to belong to a Club have downgraded to a society.  Fighting this sort of attrition, and even increasing membership numbers during a tough economy, is not easy.

Site Caddy provides clubs with tools to attract new members, and services to keep your club ahead of the offerings of other clubs. And member services such as business-to-business directories and online sponsorship opportunities can make the financial benefits of club membership more obvious to members.

The Site Caddy ROI Calculator assumes the ability to reduce member attrition by 10% each year, and the ability to increase new membership by 10% each year. The total figure is based on the value of the annual subs you entered for one member.

Increase Revenue

Every golf club in Ireland is missing out on significant opportunities to sell online, both in terms of improving on what you are already doing, and of making sales you never previously considered.

Golf Clubs typically increase their online sales revenue by anywhere from 10% to 1000%, depending on how aggressively you currently sell online.  The ROI calculator assumes that Site Caddy can increase your online sales by 10%. This would include golf bookings, society bookings, reservations for dining and bar, participation at events, lesson bookings, and shop sales.

Print and Postage Costs

It's not the most "exciting" way to cut your costs, but Site Caddy's ability to drastically reduce the costs of print and postage - while actually increasing communications with your membership - is the first way most new clients see an improvement in their bottom line.

This ROI calculator assumes Euro 1 per letter sent which includes 55 cents for postage, 15 cents for letterhead paper and envelope, 5 cents for printing, and the remainder for staff processing time. The ROI calculator assumes a 75% reduction in print and postage volume, to be replaced with bulk e-mailing and online content.

Marketing

Modern online marketing strategies cost pennies on the Euro compared to the traditional print-based alternatives. Magazine, newspaper and mailer advertising can still be effective for the domestic market, but every year more golfers make their booking and membership decisions online.

The ROI calculator assumes a 50% reduction in traditional marketing costs, to be replaced by Site Caddy functionality (at no added expense) and a 2% increase in costs for online marketing.

Staff Time

Site Caddy will never be able to replace a Club's most valuable asset: its staff. But when staff are spending time on the phone dealing with member and guest issues that can easily be handled by Site Caddy or your website, they are not adding value to the Club!

Site Caddy includes dozens of tools that minimise the need for staffers to engage in repetitive activities, and increase members' abilities to "help themselves".  For example:

• Communicate course conditions online and via SMS
• Allow members to get password reminders via the website
• Allow members to update contact their own contact details
• Allow members to find each other's current contact details
• Allow committee heads to post their own results/news/events online
• Simplify invoicing and payment tracking

This section assumes that your staffs time costs approximately €50 per hour.

To keep things simple, the Site Caddy ROI Calculator assumes an hourly wage of 50 Euro for a staff member. Staff costs are reduced by 50% across these simple tasks, and the ROI calculator adds back a percentage of the costs for e-mail and text messaging costs.

Current Website Costs

Site Caddy cannot make your IT costs disappear, but for most clubs it can help to dramatically reduce them.

The ROI calculator eliminates your current domain*, hosting and maintenance fees to zero - replaced by Site Caddy's all-inclusive monthly subscription cost.

* A Site Caddy subscription includes one domain name, e-mail accounts, hosting, and full Site Caddy support.

How Are The Savings Actually Generated?

It's not magic, and Site Caddy does not do all the work for you. Site Caddy is simply an online service that gives your staff the ability to improve their onlne marketing capabilities, reduce their dependence on expensive contractors, decrease the time spent repetitive tasks, and improve the level of service and communications provided tomembers.

Most of these savings and benfits will be generated by the time your staff spends working with Site Caddy, and that time is factored in the ROI calculations.

In addition, our experts in online sales and marketing for Irish Golf Clubs will work with your club to establish the online ads, campaigns, and content your Club needs to compete in today's busy market.

And while the actual return on investment will vary from one Club to another - most clubs see a significantly greater return than the conservative estimate provided by the ROI calculator.

Intangibles

There are many benefits of Site Caddy that cannot be measured in Euros. For example, it's difficult to measure the benefit of improved member communications. And what is it worth to your club to be able to tell your members and the local media that you are "running a green club" by converting 75% of your printed messages and marketing to online alternatives?

Hopefully most Clubs would find benefits far beyond the bottom line returned by the ROI calculator!