Momentum is an important factor in health club member retention.

Once a member has made a commitment to join your club they have developed a small amount of momentum.

To maximise member retention, it should be your clubs strategic objective to take advantage of this momentum and help ensure members can build further momentum.

Once a member has joined your club and you have got them to starting point of your member pathway there are still roadblocks that can derail your success.

Let’s consider a member who has just joined your club.

Front desk staff are (at) your centre are well drilled and immediately book a member into their first appointment to see a trainer and receive some form of support. However, something gets in the way.

The member accidentally forgets their appointment and is a no show.

This simple mistake can really stunt the momentum that the member has built.

It is important for you to ensure that you minimise the chances of such a disruption occurring.

One way to achieve this is through SMS appointment reminders or automated appointment reminders.

Using FitDesk software you can automat an SMS reminder to be sent the day before an appointment which reminds a member and asks them to contact the club if they need to reschedule.

We have seen this improve appointment show rates instantly perhaps to 30% in some cases.

So, this helps continue the momentum and get more members through that initial phase of the support pathway
where they will receive ongoing support and assistance.

The good thing about SMS is that it has a high open rate or a high penetration rate much more certain then email and most people carrying around their phones so it really has a big impact in terms of adjusting the number of people that show up.

A way to take this further is through what we call a “no show reminder”.

If a member no shows to their initial induction appointment, you can set up perhaps an SMS that will go out and notify the member that missed their appointment.

This is particularly good because the member may have not been aware that they missed their appointment so this can stimulate people to rebook into and not slip through the cracks.

A third level can be added to this process of monitoring appointment no shows.
This can be called a “no show check”

The no show check is a weekly process of reviewing all your no show appointments and reviewing if the no show has been re-scheduled for another time. If not, you can follow up with a member and re-book them into an appointment.

You can get this information from your FitDesk appointment report and looking at the appointment log below the summary.

By implementing the strategies above you will help ensure members continue to progress through your support system.

Below are some recommended action steps that you can take to implement these strategies at your health club.

Action Steps
• Has your centre set up SMS reminders for appointments?
• What will the SMS reminder say?
• Would a no show reminder be helpful in re-engaging members?
FitDesk software helps health club improve member retention through innovative features designed to track, engage and retain.