Boost Member Retention: The Power of Group Exercise for New Joiners

Looking for new ways of getting your new members to stick around longer? Group exercise could be the key.  

This article explores why group fitness classes are a game changer for retention and offers practical strategies to engage with more of your new members.

Onboarding focus

While onboarding often focuses on individual inductions, integrating group exercise into the process can significantly boost engagement and retention.

It may not be easy – many popular classes are full, and the timetable can be a bone of contention with members trying to book, so staff might avoid exacerbating the issues. But you have to work on the harder stuff to get greater success.

Class members stay longer; an average of 2 extra months

But most operators know that class members stay longer. Our research shows that booking a class is as effective as, or more effective than an induction at increasing engagement. 

Members who attend at least one class in their first month make 1-2 more first month visits (FMVs) than those who don’t attend any classes, and they will stay around 2 months longer on average. 

The HealthSeeker Movement

Introduction: A New Focus for the Fitness Industry

With industry bodies pushing to increase engagement in physical activity beyond 20%, the fitness industry must ask itself: Are we focusing on the right strategies to reach the majority? 

While some operator’s memberships are diversifying to include GP services and specialist health checks, these options often come at a premium, leaving many behind. 

If the goal is truly to improve public health, we need a more inclusive approach—one that extends beyond the 15% currently engaged in fitness facilities and reaches the broader population looking to improve their health.

Retention Mastery: scalr Welcomes Guy Griffiths to Drive Innovation and Growth

In a strategic move to fuel growth, fitness software startup scalr has strengthened its advisory board by welcoming Guy Griffiths, founder of GGFit, a renowned expert in retention strategies.

This partnership combines vast expertise in retention and predictive behaviour analytics with data intelligence, offering gym operators an opportunity to leverage new insights for improving member engagement.

Michael Theodore, co-founder of scalr, says: "Our proprietary algorithm predicts individual member behaviours, allowing operators to spot early habit changes. This enables proactive interventions that can make the difference between disengagement and renewed commitment.

Noas Saghir, Guy Griffiths, and Michael Theodore

“Having Guy, one of the world’s leading retention specialists officially join our team as is really exciting. Combining our technology with the knowledge that he’s accumulated over the last 20 years in this industry gives our customers the best possible chance of supercharging their member engagement and retention.”

scalr partners with fitness facilities globally, promoting health and wellness through its trailblazing software. By harnessing behavioural analytics, scalr helps reduce member churn and extend the lifespan of memberships. Great not only for the health of the individuals but also for the bottom line of the operator. 

Guy Griffiths adds: "Member retention remains ongoing challenge for gyms. If we could collectively extend each member’s stay by just one month, the industry would see exponential growth. But achieving this requires more than just wishful thinking.

"By combining scalr’s technological solutions with real-world experience, we offer a powerful proposition for improving member retention. I’m excited to contribute to developing new methods that help people stay on track with their health and fitness journeys. This aligns with my core purpose of getting members to stick around longer, but also linking with my latest mission of engaging and supporting HealthSeekers.” 

Boosting Retention with Education: Empower Your Staff and Your Members

The more we explore the relationship between retention and education in health and fitness clubs, the clearer it becomes that they are deeply intertwined. In fact, a well-educated member is not only more likely to stay committed but also more engaged in their fitness journey.

As well as training, developing, and progressing staff, you need to educate your members on a wide range of topics, which helps with retention for both members and staff.

Staff Education - Technical and Soft Skills

Most staff have technical skills through training, whether a level 1, 2, 3, etc fitness instructor, or lifeguard qualifications, which have mandatory and regular updates to maintain safety standards.

HealthSeekers as a Retention Strategy

Implementing a HealthSeeker project can significantly boost member retention for fitness clubs.

While many gyms focus on upselling or premium memberships, the HealthSeekers model offers a fresh approach, prioritizing long-term engagement over quick gains. By thinking beyond traditional membership structures, fitness operators can discover numerous direct and indirect benefits, from reducing attrition to enhancing the overall member experience.

Future Fit for Business Partners with GGFit to Release Suite of Retention Courses

Future Fit for Business and GGFit Collaborate to Launch Comprehensive Retention Training Suite for Leisure and Fitness Clubs. [PRESS RELEASE]

Future Fit for Business, a leading provider of professional training and development in the health and fitness industry, has partnered with GGFit, a specialist in member retention strategies, to launch a new suite of retention courses. This new training is designed to empower leisure and fitness clubs with the tools and knowledge needed to significantly improve member retention, engagement, boost health and fitness outcomes and build overall business success.

The retention suite comprises three courses, each tailored to different levels of staff. 

• Membership Retention Essentials: Aimed at all staff, this course introduces the importance of retention, what it means to individual roles, and how daily actions can positively impact member retention. 
• Core Retention Knowledge for Fitness Professionals: This course delves deeper into effective retention strategies, focusing on member engagement and personalised support. 
• Advanced Retention Strategy for Management: This course offers in-depth training for managers, equipping them with the strategic insight needed to implement and oversee successful retention initiatives across their clubs.

Why People, Not Technology, Are the Heart of the Fitness Industry

At its core, the fitness industry is, and always will be, a people-driven business. Staff join, develop, and stick around to build relationships, with members and with their colleagues. The personal connections are stronger than most other industries, because of the people.

HealthSeekers Education - Reaching the 85%

One of the most positive shifts during HealthSeeker discussions is the focus on the 85% of the population who do not have a gym or health club membership.
To push this movement forward, we need three tiers of education, along with collaboration and coaching.

Today, let’s talk about education.

Rethinking the Fitness Industry

The fitness industry has traditionally focused on the 15% (now 15.9% according to the latest Leisure DB report) who are already active. The goal has been to help the fit get fitter, competing for the same demographic and often poaching members from other clubs. The low-cost model has exacerbated this, with budget clubs 'stealing' members from incumbents who then try to win them back.

Many see the ‘pivot to health’ as a way to bring ‘the 85%’ into our leisure centres, gyms, and health clubs. However, as Andy King suggests on The Conveners podcast, the term pivot could be replaced with "broaden" or "transform." Most HealthSeekers are not interested in working out, exercising, or ‘doing sport.’ No amount of pivoting, transformation, or special offers will change that.

Choice, Loyalty, and the once-a-month visitor

Some positive fitness industry numbers announced this week in the Leisure DB State of the UK Fitness Industry Report. 

The Headlines... 15.9% penetration, over 7,000 gyms, and 10.7 million members. 

There was lots of positive talk of health and pivots, yet some of the rhetoric around the report was still stuck in the past, particularly with respect to engagement and retention, and AI. We’ll cover the former in this article, leaving the latter to the experts.

People have more choice than ever when it comes to improving their health and fitness, which is both a blessing and a curse. As more clubs open, they compete with each other for the same members, via more channels, creating more churn as members chop and change. 

The Paradox of Choice with Retention Initatives

One of the problems that clubs face (and to be honest, that we retention consultants sometimes create) is that there are so many retention actions and areas to look at, it can be challenging to know where to start, or where to best focus your efforts.

This choice overload becomes harder still when you’re also looking at sales targets or dealing with day-to-day operational issues. Some lucky organisations have a retention manager, but for many it’s only part of their role, or the responsibility is split across several people. So, it’s no wonder that retention rarely comes to the top of the to-do-list. 

Putting it very simply, the key to good retention is talking to people. 

However, the secret to great retention is talking to the right people, in the right way, at the right time.