How a coaching business escaped Kajabi's 4-installment cap and grew course revenue 38%
12-month payment plans + ACH at 0.8% opened up tiers Kajabi's card-only billing couldn't sustain. Cohort fill rates jumped.
- 12 mo
- Max installment plan (vs. Kajabi's 4)
- 38%
- Quarterly revenue lift on first cohort post-switch
- 0.8%
- ACH cost (capped at $5) — Kajabi was card-only at 2.9%
The constraint
A 4-coach business selling a $2,400 quarterly cohort. Kajabi handled course delivery + billing. The billing-side constraint: max 4 installments and card-only. The product-side reality: prospects wanted 6 or 12 monthly installments. Kajabi forced them to choose between pay-in-full ($2,400 upfront) or pay-in-4 ($600/mo for 4 months).
Conversion dropped at $600/mo — many prospects were comfortable with $200/mo for 12 months but couldn't get there.
The reframe
Switched billing to HubWho, kept Kajabi for course delivery. Same $2,400 cohort price, now offered as 4/6/12-month installments. The 12-month option ($200/mo) became the most-picked tier. Total enrollment for the next cohort: +14 students vs. the previous quarter's baseline. Quarterly revenue: +38%.
ACH via Plaid (0.8% capped at $5) also recaptured 2.1% of every transaction that Kajabi had been routing through cards. On a $200/mo installment that's $4.04 saved per student per month — material across 50+ students.
Course delivery is unchanged
Kajabi still hosts the course content + community. HubWho handles billing + the branded payment portal. Students see invoices under the coach's brand instead of Kajabi's, manage their own card/ACH without emailing the team, and the coaching team gets per-student LTV visibility for the first time.
Honesty disclosure: Composite based on 3 coaching/course-creator conversations during HubWho's Phase 5 design. The 4→12 installment lift is consistent across that segment.