This September is going to be make or break for many fitness businesses. It is time to deliver value to your members, and this starts with removing the concept of free.
Through lockdown, there has been a lot of free fitness. Many memberships were frozen or suspended. Clubs offered fitness for free through apps and online portals. Members and non-members alike have been following workouts and classes on Zoom, Facebook and YouTube.
The average UK club 12-month member retention was around 51% pre-lockdown. In other words, 51% of members typically stay for 12 months or longer. But member retention rates for free online fitness are significantly worse. Joe Wicks lost 50% of his viewers in just one month. Some say it was a fad, but so is joining a gym for many people.
Behaviour change is hard. Joe did an incredible job of motivating and activating the nation. But online fitness is a tough model. And it is even tougher when it is free. You need to be delivering value and charging for it in order to improve stickiness.
Get them paying
If you have members still on a free membership freeze, it is time to start moving them onto a paid suspension. You can perhaps give them another month, but the longer they remain members without paying, the harder it becomes to get them back.
What you charge for a paid suspension depends on the terms. Do they still get access to online content, your app, livestream or catch-up? Do they avoid a re-join fee, and protect their membership rate? Is there a time-limit (e.g. 3 months) on suspension? Once you have worked out your terms, pick a number somewhere between £5 and 50% of your regular rate, and ask some members what they think of the value.
Some members will cancel when they face this ultimatum. They were the ones who don’t see the value and were not coming back anyway. It is better to know now. Identify your real member numbers, then work on selling more and retaining the rest.
Convert the digital novices
If you have been playing your digital cards right during lockdown, you will have a new contingent of prospects. These could be brand new members, or relatives and housemates who have been exercising with your existing members.
An outdoor bootcamp instructor I’ve worked with over the last year despaired at the start of lockdown, but quickly pivoted to online Zoom sessions for her members. She retained over 90% on full membership, and offered a Sunday Wake-Up session every week for free. At 9am on Sunday 17th May, she had 193 logins on Zoom, many of whom were families and friends working out together, so 300 plus people!
Following lockdown, her Virtual Sunday Wake-Up sessions are still popular, with a monthly charge of £25. The value is clear, and she has increased ‘memberships’ by 25%. People are logging into sessions from holiday, or weekends away, and involving more friends and relatives.
In September, there is no doubt business is going to grow. Virtual sessions will remain a core part of the business, but more new members will upgrade and come to physical bootcamp sessions.
Will it blend?
It needs to! It is going to take a long time for some people to come back to clubs, and some will never come back. You won’t convert all the novices to a full club membership. This is another reason why the virtual membership must have a value, and therefore a sensible and reasonable price.
You need a blend of in-club, outdoor, and online experience for all your members. Only a few will engage in just one aspect of membership, and the new members will help you to build the blend, along with those existing members who are not yet willing to come back, but still want to be part of your club.
There is plenty of value outside the four walls of a club, as many people have already discovered this year. Support and motivation from instructors, and the other members in the community. Workouts, classes, fitness plans and programmes. Challenges and clubs within the club. A good club app helps a lot, but it’s not essential if you have good systems, social media, and member communications. Your club is a community – a collection of people who come together (physically and virtually) for a common purpose.
Free is a four-letter word
Check all your marketing material, online, print, and in-club, and remove the word free. Attach a value to all your memberships, inductions, first PT sessions.
Start to shift all your frozen or free memberships onto something of more value, for your members and your business sake.
Free is a four-letter word, but value scores much more. If you’re going to make it through September and grow your business going forwards, always be adding value.
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