Absentees are back!

Dormant memberships were mostly wiped out in the COVID Pandemic. But old habits die hard, and the member absentee problem is back to normal. How do we affect this new normal, in new ways?

This is tip number 8 in a series to celebrate GGFit’s 15 years in business. Stay tuned for more

What is an absent member?

Cut-off times vary from business to business, but the typically accepted benchmark is that if a gym member hasn’t visited for the last 30 days, then they’re an absentee. Setting a cut-off time is important so that you can set KPIs, then measure and try to improve your active member percentage.

The old business model of having lots of members paying, but very few visiting is now widely accepted as unhealthy for an operator. All those dormant members could cancel tomorrow, contracts aside (and we know contracts are not the best method to retain members in the long term). Yet few clubs do anything to affect the absentee issue despite the lessons of recent years.

How many absentees is normal?

Looking at a live (paying) member database, around 60% are typically active, having visited in the last 30 days, meaning 40% are absent. 

As clubs closed during the COVID lockdowns, some absentees cancelled, but as many memberships were frozen, not all dormant members left. In fact, many cancellations were from active members too, who had not read (or received) the communications that payments were paused.

It was when clubs reopened and operators restarted taking payments that many more of the dormant members cancelled, triggering another attrition spike. This left clubs with fewer members, but more active members. Usage was up too, as existing members and new members were all keen to visit, to resume or boost their health and fitness. Using these KPIs, many clubs’ performance looked buoyant, although financially it was tough with membership totals still recovering.

Over a year on, many clubs are getting back to pre-pandemic membership totals. However, all the membership datasets we’ve analysed thus far in 2023 show that clubs active member levels have reverted to ‘normal’, with around 40% of members absent once again.

What happens next?

Once a member stops visiting, it’s going to go one of two ways… either they come back, or they soon leave. The difference between length of stay (join to last visit) and length of membership is a valuable comparison for any club, as it shows you how much time you have to recover your absentees. Xplor’s forthcoming Report: Winning the War on Attrition covers this comparison in detail – look out for it in July 2023, or get a preview at the Elevate conference on 14 June.  

If you do nothing, it’s more likely that an absentee will cancel. If you contact them in a timely fashion (as they become absent, rather than 3 months after they last visited) and do so consistently, then they are much more likely to return. A few absentees will cancel when you contact them, but if you have alternatives, you can save them or keep in touch to recover in future. See progressive actions below for more ideas…

Traditional actions

More clubs are starting to contact and care for absentees, it’s one of the key ways to improve your member retention. The GGFit Stick Around Service manages this for clubs, sending SMS, email, letters, postcards, and providing call lists for absentees (as well as new joiners, and more). Absent members are split into two phases: recovery for focused communications, then dormant, where communication is usually more limited due to the cancellation risk. The recovery phase window is usually around 24 days absent to 45 days absent, although some extend to 75 days for the final contact. Dormant is the time after the final recovery contact. 

Phone calls are the most effective way of recovering members, but are resource heavy, so SMS is usually first, with a 69% recovery rate (return within 10 days of message), compared to email at 66% and postcard/letter at 76%. One contact is often not enough, so follow-up comms are important if members don’t return straight away.

Progressive Actions

Your primary objective for an absent member is to get them back into the club, whether for a workout, class, programme review, or just a coffee and chat. It’s worth having other options available too though, which can be communicated via messages as well as conversations.

A membership freeze is tactic used by many operators, and can work well as long you maintain contact with the member through the limited term of the freeze and welcome them back afterwards (a ‘new’, or re-activation session on return).

For members who were not visiting regularly before they became absent, it may be prudent to offer a reduced membership, whereby they are only eligible to visit 4-5 times per month, or even once a month for their “HealthCheck” (see HealthSeekers). A downgrade is better than losing a member, as demonstrated by many popular subscription services. 

Keep members engaged, perhaps only digitally, especially through the summer, and you can automatically restore them to full membership in the autumn.

Imperfect Action is Better than Perfect Inaction

In summary, do something about your absentees before they cancel. Or to quote former PotUS Harry Truman, “imperfect action is better than perfect inaction”. By contacting absentees, one or two may cancel immediately (but are much more likely to return). However, most will stick around longer because you showed you care about their motivation, fitness, and health.

Find out more at the Xplor War on Attrition session at Elevate on Weds 14 June in The Business of Physical Activity theatre, or at the Independent Gyms Conference on Thurs 6 July. 

Here to help

If you would like advice on strategy, definition, or implementation of your member challenges, please get in touch. This is what we do at GGFit. We work with public, private, and independent clubs, bringing learning and experience together from different models with a single focus on getting your members to stick around longer.