We all hope to avoid a second wave of Covid-19 infections. A bigger worry for many gym owners and operators is the second wave of membership cancellations as we get closer to re-opening.
Communication is key to maintaining member engagement. Let’s talk about what happened as we entered lockdown, how you should be learning from lockdown messaging, and how to communicate your re-opening and flatten the second wave of membership cancellations.
“WE’RE CLOSING”
Nearly all clubs sent out that dreaded email shortly after 21st March on closing. Some announced their decision to pause payments, others reduced fees, and some kept taking membership dues, based on member feedback or business survival.
An important, but fundamental note is that this was a legitimate interest email, which should have been sent to all members, regardless of marketing preferences. Some clubs clearly did not write good GDPR policies back in 2018, and only wrote to members who had opted into marketing. (Mistake number one).
What happened next scared a lot of clubs into stopping all member communications, which was the second mistake. Some members cancelled their future payments, regardless of whether memberships were frozen or not. Analysis of the data shows that while the email caused a few to cancel, there were many more who cancelled because they didn’t get the email.
Cancellation due to lack of Communication
Email open rates in health and fitness are typically around 19%. The “Membership Payment” pause emails sent had better open rates than this (an average of 44%), but there were also a lot more email bounces (e.g. out of office) than usual, possibly due to members being furloughed.
So, members who received the email were less likely to cancel. Clubs that re-sent the message to non-openers saw fewer cancellations, depending on re-send timing.
Some businesses that did not analyse this data, but guessed that the email caused the cancellations, unfortunately stopped member communications.
LOCKDOWN LESSONS
If you continued talking to members through lockdown, you will have seen a few more cancellations, but there would have been even more with no communications. For starters, members who want to cancel are more likely to open a dialogue with you, rather than just cancelling at the bank. Your members will also feel connected, especially if your messages show empathy and build trust.
You should continue to monitor your email stats through lockdown – how engaging is your content? Do members read invitations to online workouts or classes, news about your business or staff, or plans and options for re-opening. No-one knows (at the time of writing) what the full re-opening plan will be. But you can tell your members what you hope to do. This gives them the chance to feedback on your plans, or at least look forward to re-opening. Don’t wait until you have the plan 100% in place, because it’s unlikely you ever will. If your members know what the plan looks like, they’ll help you with it.
You should also put these key messages, plans, and news on your website, social media, and include them in call scripts for when you are talking to members on the phone or in an online class. Email and social media alone will never reach all your members, so you need to use other channels.
“Wish you were here” postcards
Consider sending postcards out to members too, especially those who you know are not opening messages (e.g. because of furlough). A “Wish you were here” postcard is a nice touch that will keep members engaged with your club while it’s closed. Postcards were one of the most efficient ways of getting absent members to return, pre-lockdown.
SMS is another channel to test, ready for re-opening. Sending a couple of text messages to all your members will establish your delivery rate and prepare for your re-opening campaigns.
RE-OPENING
If the next communication you send after the “We’re closing” message is a “We’re re-opening” email, it is likely you will see another big membership cancellation peak. This will be exacerbated if the message also tells members that you will be taking their money again soon. Hopefully, you will follow the advice above, and keep members up to date with your plans, even if you start today.
Another email will produce similar stats to the previous pie chart, some members will still be furloughed, and open rates are unlikely to be much better. SMS is the channel to consider for announcing re-opening, and to ask members about paying again. You could notify members by email and postcard that they’ll be receiving this important SMS, to improve response rates.
Lead with SMS
SMS can present an option to your members… a couple of examples include a default “Payment resumes next month [DD/MM], reply FREEZE to keep your membership on Freeze for one month longer” or “Gym reopens on [DD/MM], reply YES to resume your membership, or FREEZE if you don’t want to come back yet”
Which option you choose will depend on your members’ needs, your business needs, re-opening plans, and capacity. While it would be great to turn all your members payments back on when you re-open, this is just not practical. It’s unlikely that all your members will be able to visit, and many won’t be able to afford to re-start payments. It’s better to have some of your members on freeze for another month or two, and have them come back when they can afford to.
You may want to have a cut-off time period for membership freeze, but this will be contingent on your new member pipeline and capacity, as well as your members’ needs.
WITHOUT COMMUNICATION THERE IS NO RELATIONSHIP
It’s imperative that you keep communicating with your members, otherwise they are more likely to cancel. Treat them with empathy and respect. Then they will give you feedback and help with your re-opening plans. Give them options to return to your club, and when they’re ready, they’ll be back.
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