7 Best Practices For Better Gym Member Retention
If you’re a gym owner, your members are your lifeblood. Without them, you don’t have a business! Member retention is important at the best of times, but it’s even more critical after gyms have been hit with such a heavy blow from Covid-19.
So whether you’re recovering from the pandemic aftermath or you just want to keep your members happy general, we’ve listed some tips to help you increase your retention, revenue, and stability so you can future-proof your fitness business.
What Is Gym Member Retention?
“Member retention” refers to the number of members your gym retains in a given period. Basically, it means you’re keeping as many customers as possible and less are walking out the door.
Naturally, the higher your retention rate the better. It’s much easier to keep an existing customer than it is to find a new one, so nailing this one of the the two keys to your gym’s success (the other being sales, and bringing in new members, which we wrote a blog about HERE).
Why Does It Matter?
As we mentioned, it costs a lot more to get a new customer than to keep a current one (up to 5 times more costly in some cases), so prioritising your member retention will help you save costs.
The cherry on top is it will help you make more money. If your members are happy, they’ll tell their friends and family. As a result, you get a boost of word of mouth marketing… and that’s the best type of marketing there is!
Naturally, the higher your retention rate the better. It’s much easier to keep an existing customer than it is to find a new one.
How to Improve Gym Member Retention
Okay, you can see why gym retention matters. So how do you improve it? Here are 7 things you can do to keep your members happier and sticking around for longer.
1. Improve New Member Onboarding
Superior gym retention rates start with superior onboarding. If you make members feel welcome as soon as they join, and dazzle them the first time they spot in the door, they’re going to be much more likely to stay long term.
Have an onboarding session with a dedicated staff member to show them around, talk about their goals, give advice, make them feel special and part of the community. Invite them to a group class or introduce them to other staff members.
First impressions count, so really make an effort to make them feel like they made the right decision. There’s nothing worse than being hyped up by marketing or a sales team, only to be underwhelmed and have buyer’s remorse.
2. Use Email Marketing
Communication is key, and a solid email marketing strategy can help you welcome and retain new members (plus save time with automation).
For example, a lot of people feel intimidated about attending a new gym. However, if you send an email as soon as they sign up that thanks them for joining with all the info and resources they need, they will be less worried about showing up to their first workout.
Continue using email marketing for your existing members too. Reminder them about upcoming events, promotions, new equipment, even fun stuff like holiday themed recipes.
Sending members regular emails reminds them of the value your gym provides. They’ll want to renew their membership again and again if they feel your gym makes their lives better (and they would miss it if it were gone!)
If you make members feel welcome as soon as they join, and dazzle them the first time they spot in the door, they’re going to be much more likely to stay long term.
3. Engage and Seek Feedback from Your Members
Listening to someone is one of the most powerful things you can do. Your members are going to be much more interested in continuing to be part of your gym if they feel like you genuinely care about them, and you listen to their feedback.
Feedback and reviews give you a clear idea of what your members enjoy and what they would like to see change at your gym. Take prompt action in response to reviews (both positive and negative) to show members you care about them and value their business.
Pro tip — use Google Forms (a free tool) to send out a basic survey with a few questions about what they want to see more of, what they’d like to change, any tips etc. Keep it short (only 5-6 questions tops so it’s easy to fill out) and then follow up with your response.
4. Promote Investments and Upgrades
Have you recently invested in new equipment? Did you upgrade your sauna or add a new system that makes it easier for members to check-in and out?
Whenever you make an investment or upgrade something at your gym, celebrate it! Promote it on social media and through your community emails so everyone knows about it.
This shows members that you’re dedicated to making the gym better. It also encourages them to keep coming back so they can make the most out of it. Maybe you just installed a smith machine and they can use it, or you installed a dog pen and they can bring their dog along.
Whatever it is… let them know about it!
5. Automate Communications
Staying in touch can be challenging, especially as your membership grows. This is where automating emails, texts, and other types of communication comes in handy.
A good Customer Relationship Management (or CRM) system will automate and streamline communications. It also frees you up to focus on other aspects of member retention without worrying that important communications are slipping through the cracks.
There are a lot of CRM’s out there, but one of the best we’ve found is GymVue. You’re able to manage all of your members in one place, send communications, update their memberships, manage security access control and more. Plus, it’s affordable!
Nothing makes a member feel more special than when you brag about them! Celebrate their successes regularly and frequently.
6. Prioritise Maintenance and Cleanliness
Nobody wants to work out where it feels like there might be a lot of germs, even more so with COVID-19.
Prioritise cleanliness at your gym, make it obvious that they need to wipe down equipment and encourage them to do the right thing. Not only does it help people actually do it, it makes them feel safer knowing that other members are doing the same thing.
If they feel safe and protected, they’ll stick with you instead of going to the clean place down the street.
7. Celebrate Member Successes
v Maybe they just completed a challenge, lost a bunch of weight, hit a PB they’ve been working on for a while… whatever it is, show them off!
Display transformation photos (with permission) on the wall or share them in your email newsletter or on social media.
This helps these members to feel seen and encourages them to continue their hard work. It can motivate other members to retain their memberships so they can see similar results too.
The other key to success.
Keeping your members happy is one of two keys to success in a gym — the other is sales. You can’t retain a customer that never came in!
By using a tool like GymLeads you can convert more leads into customers. GymLeads allows you to dramatically increase your sales and stop money slipping through the cracks with streamlined lead management, marketing automation, reporting and more.
Click here to check out all the features, or book a demo to see what it can do for you.