NEW DATA FOR THE NEW NORMAL

Data is the new oil. In all industries, it is now more important than ever that you use your data wisely, understand how to mine it and refine it. 

For those of us who study fitness industry data, the COVID-19 pandemic has presented us with lots more data and some interesting new challenges. You now know more about your members than ever before. Consequently, you need to learn to treat them even more like the individuals that they are. If you manage this, you will be able to improve the service and support you provide your members, and to increase your revenue and retention.

More Visits In 2020

Although it might seem counterintuitive, many independent clubs recorded more gym visits (per member) in 2020 than before (in months that clubs were open). A soon to be released Independent Club report shows that the need for track and trace, booking gym sessions, and controlling access created a huge boost in visit data. In general, independent clubs used to lack visit data, relying on member rapport rather than turnstiles. You can argue the benefits of both, but now you need to know who has visited and when. Actual visits have most likely decreased, but recorded visits have significantly increased, particularly in the independent sector.

As a result, you have a better idea of how many of your members are active, and who is absent. Knowing when members become absent and contacting them promptly is one of the keys to a good retention strategy. You can read about it in plenty of my previous articles in Gym Owner Monthly. Monitoring your active member percentage is a great way to understand how engaged your members are each month.

Even More Activity Data

While visit data has improved, it has simultaneously become slightly less relevant. Many of your members are exercising at home and outdoors. And whether you like it or not, some will continue to do so when you re-open your club. 

If they are logging into your virtual classes, then you will do well to record this as an activity on your system, so you know which members are active. You need to ask those members who are running around the park to share their app data with you, an integration from your app to Strava would be a good place to start. Other members who are following an at home programme could log the session, or even tick exercises and reps through your app. 

This is your members’ data, but if you can persuade them to share it with you, and make the data flow as seamlessly as possible into your app or system, then you can provide them with motivation and support both inside and outside the four walls of your club.

Challenges are a great way of encouraging more members to connect their apps to your system, or simply sharing their activity data. Keep challenges simple, inclusive, and varied, and you will get more of your members engaged, active, and logging their workouts, walks, and runs with you. 

Member Visit Segmentation

Traditional (Pre-COVID-19) retention strategies focused on visit data. If a member has not visited the club for 2-3 weeks, it is time to try to get them back. It did not matter whether they last visited for a spin class or a coffee, as long as the visit was recorded. This visit data is still important, and you can still classify members as Recent, Recovery, Dormant (see table below for suggested timescales).

Following the last re-opening, we identified a small percentage of members who returned quickly, but only made one or two visits in their first month back. While they were classified as members who had returned, they were placed on a critical list when they quickly became absent again. Contacting these members as soon as possible is vital, as many of them had a bad experience, either with other members, or with staff. By recognising and addressing these issues, we reduced the chance of other members having the same problems.

Active Member Segmentation

With the proliferation of member activity data, it becomes more important to recognise that members are exercising outside your club. If a member has not visited for a few weeks, or has not returned since re-opening, but you can see that they are keeping active or joining classes, you must adjust your messaging accordingly. Substitute the ‘we miss you’ message with ‘keep up the great work’ to boost motivation and maintain member engagement. Talk about your virtual classes, online (or offline) workouts, programmes, challenges, and coaching. 

Not all members will want to come back to the club straight away, but you can keep them as members, particularly if you have flexible membership options (see Recovery & Growth in GOM January 2021).

Member Segmentation and Messaging

Quick Switch Memberships

As clubs gather more data about their members’ exercise habits, they will switch their members between more appropriate memberships with ease. 

An obvious example is the seasonal membership which moves indoors during the cold, wet, winter months, but continues to support the member as they run or play sports through the summer. 

Suggestions to switch based on exercise data will show you know about and care for your members. Offering simple ways of changing memberships will help your members to stick around.

There is more data than ever available to your business. A lot of it is owned by your members. But if you can get them to share it with you, then you can demonstrate the benefits to them and use it to improve your club and your member retention.

This article was originally published in Gym Owner Monthly Magazine, click here to read the full issue.

If you would like to discuss your club's data, member segmentation, or retention strategy, please get in touch.