Get more members to Opt-in – Actions:

Your Systems / Sign-up process

Following our series of posts on how to get more members to opt-in, here's a few pointers that you can use to check in your club and communicate with more members.

Tell the member/prospect how you are going to use their e-mail/mobile, e.g.

• to send them occasional messages (newsletters) 
• to help motivate (remind) them if their visits slow down

Tell them this is part of the service they get at your club, and in the extremely unlikely event that they don’t find the messages useful*, then they are able to unsubscribe at any time.

* safe in the knowledge that all of your messages are awesome and always engaging!

If you feel you must give them the possibility of opt-out at the sign-up stage, then make the opt out box read along these lines:

• I don’t want to receive any of your awesome newsletters with health tips, offers for my friends and club news, or
• I don’t want you to help me with the occasional reminder text if don’t visit for a few weeks

Third Parties:
Unless you’re going to ‘sell’ their details to ‘carefully selected third parties’, don’t ask them if it’s OK! Just tell them that you won’t, period! And we’re not talking about your debt collection agency here… if they need to contact them, then they are going to contact them!

Your People / Staff Awareness

Three parts to this:

1. Face-to-face… Explain to staff how much longer members stay if you have their e-mail and mobile number, and therefore how important it is they collect them. Show them the process and communications that the members will get. Have them explain to prospective members why it is important too. 
2. Written… Print/e-mail a hand-out showing the process that staff can refer to 
3. Remind them… Send them the messages that the members receive… perhaps not all of them, but the key ones. Test staff on which messages have been sent most recently

Now measure how many members opt-in next month, and make sure you really are sending them engaging communications!