One of the biggest commonalities between the world’s leading companies today is the use of technology. Technology allows companies to perform repetitive tasks with less cost and effort.

One area technology has helped most is communication with customers.

Technology now allows companies to automate communication and “touch points” with customers.

Automation in the marketing space has been common practice for the last few years. In 2016 49% of companies were using some level of automation to communicate and deepen relationship’s with their customers.

Now the same concept of automation is helping companies communicate with their customer’s post sale to help them receive greater support and to drive improvements in member retention.

The concept automation is a must for any health club that is focused on improving member retention.

Onboarding and supporting new members is very time-consuming. In fact, some experts recommend the ideal number of touch points for new members who have never been to a health club before to be between 12 and 15 touch points in the first 90 days.

In a large health club, there can be as many a thousand touch points needing completion each month. Staff trying to manually make each of those touch points with new members is next to impossible. This is why so many clubs battle to improve retention results.

This is where automation comes in. With the right software in place, you can automate a number of “retention touch points” with new members to ensure they feel supported.

An added benefit of automation is that it can be set so touch points with members are actioned at the appropriate time. This eliminates the need for staff to remember to follow up certain member’s after a certain time period because the automation does it for you.

Here are some tips to effectively using automation in your health clubs retention strategy.

Retention Automation Tips

Use automation to help “on-board” and educate members – consider automating a welcome email and FAQ frequently asked questions document.

Use a combination of different media including email and SMS to increase chances on engagement.

Combine automation with your face to face personal touch points and appointments.

Include a reply email in automated communications so a dialogue can be started if the member need’s assistance.

Automated communications should be personalised with the member’s name etc. For example, Hi Luke rather than Dear member.

Make automated communication’s seem personal by keeping them short. Eg. Hi Luke, How is your training going? Do you need any assistance?

For help implementing an automated retention strategy for your health club, you need the right technology and expertise for the development of an effective strategy.

FitDesk software is used widely throughout Australia and New Zealand in more than 100 facilities and allows health clubs to established an effective automated retention pathway.