Onboarding - Leave No Member Behind (Gym Owner Monthly Article Oct 2019)

On-boarding is the most important part of the member journey. If you get it right, your members will stick around longer, saving you time and effort chasing absentees or dealing with cancellations. Although only around 10% of your members will be new at any point in time, it's worth putting in up to 50% of your effort into on-boarding. Try to leave no member behind.

Think about your new members’ first experience. What standards do you have in place to ensure the joining experience is excellent, and how do you measure success? Simple things like a welcome message can give you early engagement insights. A welcome session [aka induction] will help retention. Other good examples of first experiences might include a first group exercise class, body composition analysis, new member challenge, myzone workout, or PT session. Choose 2 or 3 key actions that you will try to get every new member to experience, and then measure engagement.

Click the image below to read the whole article on Gym Owner Monthly...

Retention Conference announces 2018 date & speaker line up

GGFit has announced the launch of RRR – a dedicated Retention Conference focused on providing operators and gym owners with data insight and expert advice focused on improving member retention rates.

The event will take place at the Oxfordshire, a prestigious golf, hotel and spa venue, conveniently located just off Junction 7 of the M40, on Tuesday, October 9, 2018.

With a packed programme of expert speakers, opportunities to share best practice and a full complement of food and refreshments, the event is a must for anybody keen to retain members for longer and positively influence profit margins.

Speakers already confirmed are Alina Cooper, MD and Co-Founder, FitLinks, Paul Roberts, Founder of MyCustomerLens, plus Adam Whitchurch, CEO of Customer Clever. Event Founder and Director of data specialist company, GGFit, Guy Griffiths, will compère the day and will also share valuable insight and examples of best practice from his extensive work within the sector, working closely with operators on the ground, influencing retention rates.

Commenting on the event, Guy Griffiths, says: “This Conference is the product of our previously successful biannual Sales & Retention Convention.

“Retention remains a challenge for the sector with the industry reporting an average length of stay of 10.9 months (according to GGFit & the DataHub). We want to help operators to get their members to stick around longer.

“With a particular focus on the utilisation of new technologies and techniques, this conference will provide operators and gym owners with a wealth of data insight and practical solutions which can be easily applied with immediate effect to keep members engaged for longer. We have scheduled a mix of seminar sessions, workshops and networking opportunities to ensure attendees leave with a clear idea of how they can apply what they have learnt to their own business.”

RRR – Retention, Retention, Retention early bird tickets are available now, with discounts available for ukactive members. A free to access webinar series is also planned in the lead up to the event. More details about these can be found at ggfit.com/events

To enquire about the event or to book your tickets, visit ggfit.com/rrr. Preferential rates have been agreed with the venue for those who wish to incorporate an overnight stay on October 8.

LIW is dead, but the BP: Fitness Trade Show is alive and kicking

A lot of people had written off the new Body Power: Fitness Trade show in 2018 without visiting. It’s changed its name from LIW (Leisure Industry 'Week'), and they said it has changed too much, was not aimed at them anymore, or just that they were too busy to attend the event in 2017.

We found it to be as useful as ever, meeting with lots of our business partners, a few customers, and several promising new introductions.

Change is inevitable, and generally, a good thing.

ThinkDigital Event in Barnsley #DigitalRetention

A big thank you to eGym and Club Manager Central for inviting me to talk at their Think Digital event earlier this week in Barnsley.

A good turnout of delegates included health clubs and gyms in the private and public sectors, as well as a handful of industry consultants and press. Most were looking to learn more about digital retention, mixed in with some fun and competition around the Tyke Karting track in the afternoon. The mix of educational streams and demos, and the linkage between sessions received great feedback from delegates.

I presented an educational session on data driven member retention.

What does LIW stand for?

Having worked in the banking industry where exhibitions and conferences were very professional but also very overindulgent (all inclusive party on an aircraft carrier in San Fransisco bay anyone?), Leisure Industry Week has always felt more understated.

Workout Magazine July 2011 - Member Programme Reviews Get Results

Programming for Retention

The exercise programme review is a key part of most clubs’ member journey or retention strategy. Despite this, very few reviews are being completed, which leads to poor member retention. One of our strategies is to offer every member a programme review, when they want it, but allow them to defer it.

A couple of award-winning clubs I know pride themselves on their exercise programme renewal, but analysis showed that over 70% of members’ programmes had expired at both.

Workout Magazine June 2011 - Member Surveys for Retention

Member Surveys as a Retention Tool

A great way to engage more with your existing members and keep them coming back for more is to run regular member surveys.
Many clubs see surveys as a chore – the standard SERVQUAL questionnaires are printed out and 100 members are badgered to answer the questions.  However, if you make a member survey easy, quick, and interesting, it will reap retention rewards.

Workout Magazine May 2011 - Keeping in touch

Click here to read all Workout articles

External Communication for Member Retention

One of the easiest ways to improve your member retention is by enhancing communications outside your club. Sending e-mails, texts, letters or cards is a great way of keeping in touch with your members, especially those who have not visited lately.

A Friday evening text reminding a member that they’ve not been all week can be very powerful. It will no doubt be shown to friends or family, and hopefully persuade the lapsed member to visit over the weekend or early the following week. If the text is personalised, it shows you care, and that you’re trying to help with their exercise motivation.

Ideally, your members will be used to receiving various communications from your club. They should be able to opt-in or out of different types of message, and understand the benefits of your communication. Regular newsletters should hold their interest with offers and challenges. Confirmations of classes or promotions can be sent by text, and event invitations or special occasion cards will always be well received in the post.

E-mails are great for signposting your website, facebook page, or other web links to engage your members further. E-mail works really well if you have a lot of members, as it’s effectively free, costing only the time to set-up and manage templates and lists. However, open rates, read rates, and click-through rates are typically low, which is why you need hooks, offers and prizes in there too.

SMS text messages cost more, although prices reduce when you buy in bulk. If you have problems ensuring your classes are full, or if members are dropping out at a certain stage, a text reminder can be money well spent in the grand scheme of things. Again, it’s important than the text is right, especially if you’re limiting yourself to one text of 160 characters. Sending the message from the member’s trainer, and making it personal to the member is a key factor in getting it right.

Postal mail-shots and cards are more expensive of course, but you should be able to weigh up the cost against the goodwill value. Sending a member a 5- year anniversary thank you card is a small price compared to what they’ve spent at your club. And extending a membership by one month is surely worth a stamp. Nearly everybody enjoys getting mail; the trick is ensuring that it is well received, and not perceived as junk mail.

At the end of the day, nothing beats a phone call or face-to-face interaction, but when these are not possible because of timings or volumes, other methods can have a good effect, as long as you get the message right.

Rewarding Member Retention

Who should be rewarded for good retention? When we talk about rewarding retention at GGFit, we talk about rewarding club staff, but also about rewarding members.

Staff rewards can be tricky because a lot of people equate rewards with money. Of course, research shows that money does not create long term happiness or job satisfaction, and “motivation by pizza” does not work. Sure, some clubs employ sales staff and pay commission for new members, but the sales people are rarely interested in members after they join.

Most often, the staff best placed to affect retention are the instructors working on the gym floor, and good fitness professionals are motivated by seeing their members achieve results. And guess what, if members are achieving results, they stay longer.

As well as member results, instructors tell us they have a more interesting day by interacting with more members. Competition with each other for number of contacts made, or effectiveness of contacts is rewarding, when it is measured. For some, good motivators are being top dog on retention metrics, or getting a number of lapsed members back into the club. I’m not saying that a financial bonus is not rewarding, but it’s not going to be the prime driver for member retention.

The other person to reward for good retention is the member, of course. A few clubs fix prices for long term members, or have discounts or gifts when the member reaches a milestone, but again, the best motivation comes from achieving results.

Nuffield advertise a fantastic member retention scheme. You have a health MOT and design your personal action plan with your instructor. When you improve your personal health score, you get one month’s free membership. Your club is actually going to help you to get results, and when you do, they will also reward you with something of value, rather than a free (branded) bag.

This kind of offer is starting to shift the public perception of our industry towards clubs that want to invest in the member and make them stick around. Social rewards also help – clubs or instructors congratulating members on their goals, and supporting member by commenting on, or liking their fitness status updates.

Working towards results is what matters to both the instructor and the member, so you can reward retention by simply measuring results.

This is an extract from Workout Magazine April 2011

Workout Magazine April 2011 - Rewarding Retention

Click here to read all Workout articles

Workout Magazine March 2011 - Selling Retention

(How to use) Social Media for Member Retention

Social media channels like Facebook and Twitter are part of many clubs’ marketing strategy. The focus is often on getting more members. However sites like Facebook can also play a big part in member retention, or getting your existing members more active, more often.

The golden rule of social media engagement is to plan before you start. You should educate, encourage and acknowledge your members on the channels that they use.

Educating is relatively simple; let members know about classes, challenges, events and the like. To get the most from social media and extend your reach you need to identify the influencers and amplifiers among your members. These are the ones who forward invites onto their contacts; both existing members and prospects. Then reward these influencers – a thank you is a good start, and for some members will be all the reward they need to continue spreading the word.

Encouraging members towards their goals and congratulating them on reaching a goal is another great use of social media for retention. While all goals are individual, achieving a goal is something every member can do. Whether it’s visiting once a week for 2 months, running 20k a month, or bench pressing 10 x 100kg, a Tweet or Facebook message saying “well done” goes a long way, especially if 10 more of the members friends ‘like’ it.

Publishing members’ photos when they achieve something (as individuals or as a team) can have a really positive effect. This can serve as a reminder of their achievement, particularly with ‘before and after’ photos. When you ask for a testimonial, ask to take a quick video as well. This reminds the member of the value they’re getting, and strengthens their bond with your club.

Location-based services like Foursquare are a great way of identifying and rewarding members who shout about your club. There’s more to it than the Gym Rat badge (awarded if you visit a gym more than 10 times in 30 days). Acknowledge or reward your ‘mayor’ (user who checks-in the most), and give specials to members based on number or frequency of check-ins.

These are just a few ideas of how to use social media for member retention. Many tools are free (check out Socialoomph, Cotweet, Howsociable), but they take time and resource to manage. Find out more, get some examples, or add your own thoughts as comments below. Most importantly, ask your members which channels they use and what interactions they would like.

This is an extract from Workout Magazine - February 2011

Workout Magazine Feb 2011 - Social Media for Retention

Open publication - Free publishing - More weights

Member Journey - video

a quick 2 minute video in case you don't want to read the 400 word article

Member Journey - how to keep your members on track

A member journey is for life, not just for the induction. Research shows that the induction is a major factor in retention, but the ongoing journey is also critical.

Many consider the journey to be the induction process, or first 6-12 weeks after joining. When considering your member journey, you should start from the day a prospect first makes contact and plan right through to what happens after the member leaves. If you like, split it into stages, but take in the whole membership lifetime.

Have a few standard new member journeys, for example based on previous workout experience; ‘brand new gym user’, ‘new experienced member’, and ‘returning member’. Each journey should have a number of contact points or milestones to check the member’s progress. Check the member is coming as many times a week as they pledged to and support them with their goals. Think from your members’ viewpoint when planning your member journeys.

It’s more important to ask your member what kind of journey they would like as they join or renew their membership. Building a bespoke journey around the member (or adapting one of your standard journeys) will help their buy-in and show your commitment to helping them toward their fitness goals. Some new members won’t know what they want; ask if they want to choose the standard journey, and they will generally be happy.

Your ongoing journey may also differ for different members, based on membership type, for instance. A common milestone for ongoing members is the exercise programme review. The standard 8-12 week programme review does not work for everyone, but is a good contact point, and you should adjust the timeframe for your average member. Rather than an exercise programme review, try a general review, and again, ask each member when they would next like to check their progress, review their goals, and perhaps modify their exercise programme. Getting their buy-in to the process and tailoring it to them will help them agree to the review, and help to motivate them.

Finally, know where members can drop out of the journey, and plan to catch them, or get them back on track. At any point in time you should be able to say where the majority of your members are on the journey; if you can’t, then you need to redefine the journey. Start with your new and returning members, and then move on to those members who are due a review.

This is an extract from Workout Magazine - January 2011

Rewards could hold key to retention war - Workout Magazine article

REWARDING loyal members with incentives if they bring in referrals could help independent gyms to win the war on retention, it has been claimed.

Energie Health and Fitness’ Innes Kerr spoke to independent operators at this year’s Leisure Industry Week – sharing his top tips for clubs which want to improve their retention figures.
His advice was to recognise members who show loyalty towards their gym – and reward them for their efforts.
His tips included:

• Try upselling to give people more value from their membership packages – encourage them to take add ons such as personal training and products which generate secondary income.
• Offer guest passes so members can bring friends and family to try your facilities for free – then try and convert these into memberships
• Reward loyalty by offering incentives for members who stay longer – examples include loyalty cards, booking priority for studio classes and free personal training taster sessions.
• Drive people towards areas in your club where they could spend more money.

The Retention People’s Mike Hills also urged gym owners to look at their members’ experience as a journey – and aim to make this journey as long as possible.
Mike – who works closely with clubs to help them retain members – added that it is easy to look at retention as the end result but operators should also look at the other factors which encourage people to stay – or leave – a gym.
He explained: “Look at the customer experience as a journey – we need to make that journey as long as we possibly can.
“It is critical that we engage with new members and add value in that early stage so people will stay.
“Take a sample of members who would recommend you. You will also get struggling members who are not getting value. One of the best ways to turn that around is to have a good conversation with them and target who needs help the most. You will get people who want to leave, but see why they are leaving the gym. Look at the inputs which go into retention and focus your efforts where it makes the biggest difference.”

Consultant Guy Griffiths from GG Fit added that clubs – particularly independents – should also be using retention systems in order to keep track of their members.
He added: “Use a retention system – it can be a card file system or a sign in book. It doesn’t have to be a computer. Gyms with a few hundred members can manage retention manually.
“You should also be recording visit history and members’ goals and writing them down. Staff goals are also important, so are working towards targets.”

This is an extract from Workout Magazine - December 2010

click here for a 4 minute video of Guy's talk