Is there a secret ingredient when it comes to retaining gym members?
The answer is there is no holy grail or magic bullet, however, there is something that comes close.
Let’s explore some statistics from a survey of more than 13,000 health club members in the United Kingdom. This information was outlined in an IHRSA article called 15 surprising facts about health club retention.
Here are 10 of those facts.
Almost 90% of club members say they value communication from staff members.
Every two interactions fitness staff has with a member in a given month results in one extra visit from that member the following month.
Every additional visit by a member in a given month, in turn, reduces the risk of that member cancelling in the subsequent month by 33%.
Social interaction affects renewals. The risk of cancellation was 56% higher among members who just use gym equipment vs. those who exercise in groups.
Social interaction also affects overall member satisfaction; 70% of club members who had made new friends through their membership self-identified as club “promoters” rather than club “detractors”.
Frequent interaction between fitness staff and members results in more member visits, and members who visit more often have higher renewal rates.
Longtime members are the group most likely to become dissatisfied and convert from promoters to detractors. So don’t take your most established members for granted—keep them happy and engaged.
An analysis of 40,000 member surveys generated “word clouds” associated with both “promoters” and “detractors” at top-performing clubs. The word that promoters used most frequently was “staff.” The word that detractors used most frequently was “crowded”.
Reaching out to a member—whether by phone, email, text, or social media—more than doubles the likelihood that they will be a “promoter” rather than a “detractor”.
Doing something—anything—to try to retain members is better than doing nothing. Said Jay Ablondi, IHRSA’s executive vice president of global products, “Results show that any type of interaction with a member at risk of cancelling can reduce the likelihood of dropping out by nearly 10%”.
It is clear that retention has a lot to do with the communication between your staff and your members.
All of those points talk about interaction and communication between staff and membership.
And that’s the secret to success. Human to human interaction and communicating with your members.
This can be in the form of email, phone, SMS, messaging, face to face appointments, interactions on the gym floor.
This principle should be drummed into your gym floor staff and form the core of your retention strategy.
If you would like help improving your retention our FitDesk program has been designed to help your proactively improve retention by helping you more effectively communicate and engage with members.