Retention by Stealth (or The Hidden Retention Benefits of HealthSeekers)

HealthSeekers Wasn't Built for Retention. But It Helps Retention Anyway.

HealthSeekers was designed to engage people who want better health but aren't ready for traditional membership.

The goal wasn't retention... The goal was engagement.

Yet operators are consistently reporting retention benefits.... Why?

Make it Easy to Leave, and More People Will Stay

For years, the fitness industry has relied on friction to retain members.

Long notice periods. Hidden clauses. Phone-only cancellations.

It worked… on paper.

But that model is now under pressure. Regulation is tightening around “subscription traps,” customer expectations are shifting, and the tolerance for opaque cancellation processes is disappearing fast.

We asked recently: what’s the last subscription you tried to cancel?
The responses weren’t about price or value; they were about frustration.

That’s the real issue.

The problem isn’t that people leave.
It’s how they feel when they do.

The old model: friction as retention

There’s a long-standing industry assumption that if you make cancellation harder, fewer people will cancel.

This is technically true... but commercially short-sighted.

Friction doesn’t create loyalty.
It creates resentment… and that shows up somewhere else:

• Negative word of mouth
• Lower trust at point of sale
• Reduced likelihood of rejoining
• Brand damage that compounds over time

People don’t forget bad exits.
And in fitness, where rejoining is common, that matters more than most sectors. 

Your Retention Problem Isn’t Pricing. It’s Silence.

Recently, an article in The Guardian explored something simple but powerful: we’re losing the art of talking to strangers.

• Banks are digital
• Supermarkets are self-checkout
• Food ordering is app-based
• Even everyday services that once required conversation are now screen-led.

We’ve removed friction from modern life, and in doing so, we’ve removed conversation.

And that matters.

Because for many people, the leisure centre, health club or gym is now one of the last remaining places where real, human interaction still happens.

Photo by Mikhail Nilov on pexels

Why You Should Stop Trying to Upgrade Every PAYG Member

Pay-as-you-go members don’t always need upgrading. 

But they do need nurturing. 

And leavers can always visit again on PAYG.

Across the public and private sectors, we’re hearing the same story this autumn; strong membership sales and steady PAYG numbers. That’s good news, but it raises a question; are we nurturing PAYG visitors, or simply counting them?

While this might sound like a public leisure issue, it applies to many models, from low-cost gyms to boutique studios. If you sell day passes, 7-day trials, or 'bring a friend' offers, then PAYG customers are part of your ecosystem too.

For clarity, let’s call PAYG visitors casual members, and use members for those on monthly or annual payments.

Speedy Onboarding

Following Up: Why Onboarding Still Matters
In the last article, Inductions for Everybody, we explored why and how clubs should promote and encourage all new members to have an onboarding appointment; because members who do stay longer. That’s better for your business, and better for your members too.

The Airline Analogy

As many of us board flights over the summer, we’re given the option of Speedy Boarding; paying more to get on (and off) the plane faster than everyone else.

What if we borrowed this idea in fitness?

Inductions for Everybody

How can we be more efficient and offer a standard service when onboarding new members? And how can we deliver more? The standard industry term is still induction, but many clubs are changing to ‘activation’, ‘welcome appointment’, ‘step 1’, ‘getting started’, etc. If we’re shifting mindsets, let’s use new terminology.

“All of our members have an induction” is often the response when we ask about retention strategies, particularly onboarding.

Club operators and owners believe that they really are doing their best to ensure all new members have the maximum chance of sticking around.

But when we dig under the bonnet, either through further discussion, or analysis of club data, it often transpires that fewer than half of new members actually attend some kind of onboarding appointment.

 

We’ve looked at this issue many times, with many clubs; from leisure trusts and councils, private clubs and independent gyms, even low-cost, low-staff gyms, where inductions really aren’t popular at all.

Balancing Retention Efforts and Resources: Making It Work with a Smaller Team

Retention has always been more cost-effective than acquisition, but in today’s climate, it's no longer just a smart strategy, it’s a financial necessity.

With rising operational costs, including increases in employer National Insurance (NI) contributions, many clubs and gyms are facing the hard reality of needing to do more with less. Staffing budgets are tighter. Teams are stretched. Yet the pressure to deliver results, including higher member retention, is greater than ever.

So how can your club maintain or even improve member retention without adding headcount or burning out your existing team? The answer lies in working smarter, not just harder. Here’s how...

Who should deliver Inductions?

How to increase induction percentage with limited staff – have everyone deliver them?

If you read this blog regularly, you’ll know we encourage ‘inductions’ for new and returning members in order to improve early engagement, visits, habit building, and ultimately member retention. The question of who should deliver this important appointment came up at a recent workshop, and sparked an interesting discussion.

What’s an induction called?

Before we get into the discussion, and possibly some controversial hot water, let’s talk about the ‘induction’. This term is often used in the fitness industry, but more and more clubs are quite rightly using different names for this appointment, such as Activation, Welcome session, Step 1, Consultation. All have their merits, and we honestly believe anything other than ‘induction’ is a good name.

What’s in an induction?

First-Month Visits Predict Member Retention – Are You Paying Attention?

As we near the end of ‘the golden quarter’ (the period from January to March when gyms typically see a surge in new memberships), with many clubs reporting good sales at the start of 2025, focus must turn to member retention, if it hasn’t already. The real challenge now is ensuring your new members (and those who returned with new health and fitness goals) establish a consistent routine and remain engaged.

One of the most significant predictors of long-term retention is a member’s first month activity. Do they engage in a range of activities in your club, or more simply how many first month visits do they make?

It’s incredible to think that over 10% of joiners never make a visit at some low-cost fitness clubs. And almost another 10% make only one visit, ever. Budget gyms have done some great things in bringing fitness to millions of new members, but while online joining and optional inductions help sales, these practices hurt retention.

Retention Starts with Culture: The Power of Member Interactions

After a positive start to 2025 for many clubs, February is about maintaining membership sales momentum, but more importantly, focusing on retaining all your new members (and the existing ones) as long as possible.

Filling a leaky bucket doesn’t make sense—stop losing members by focusing on retention, not just sales.

Retention isn’t about complicated strategies—it’s about talking to people, consistently and meaningfully.

Boost Member Retention: The Power of Group Exercise for New Joiners

Looking for new ways of getting your new members to stick around longer? Group exercise could be the key.  

This article explores why group fitness classes are a game changer for retention and offers practical strategies to engage with more of your new members.

Onboarding focus

While onboarding often focuses on individual inductions, integrating group exercise into the process can significantly boost engagement and retention.

It may not be easy – many popular classes are full, and the timetable can be a bone of contention with members trying to book, so staff might avoid exacerbating the issues. But you have to work on the harder stuff to get greater success.

Class members stay longer; an average of 2 extra months

But most operators know that class members stay longer. Our research shows that booking a class is as effective as, or more effective than an induction at increasing engagement. 

Members who attend at least one class in their first month make 1-2 more first month visits (FMVs) than those who don’t attend any classes, and they will stay around 2 months longer on average. 

The HealthSeeker Movement

Introduction: A New Focus for the Fitness Industry

With industry bodies pushing to increase engagement in physical activity beyond 20%, the fitness industry must ask itself: Are we focusing on the right strategies to reach the majority? 

While some operator’s memberships are diversifying to include GP services and specialist health checks, these options often come at a premium, leaving many behind. 

If the goal is truly to improve public health, we need a more inclusive approach—one that extends beyond the 15% currently engaged in fitness facilities and reaches the broader population looking to improve their health.

Boosting Retention with Education: Empower Your Staff and Your Members

The more we explore the relationship between retention and education in health and fitness clubs, the clearer it becomes that they are deeply intertwined. In fact, a well-educated member is not only more likely to stay committed but also more engaged in their fitness journey.

As well as training, developing, and progressing staff, you need to educate your members on a wide range of topics, which helps with retention for both members and staff.

Staff Education - Technical and Soft Skills

Most staff have technical skills through training, whether a level 1, 2, 3, etc fitness instructor, or lifeguard qualifications, which have mandatory and regular updates to maintain safety standards.

Why People, Not Technology, Are the Heart of the Fitness Industry

At its core, the fitness industry is, and always will be, a people-driven business. Staff join, develop, and stick around to build relationships, with members and with their colleagues. The personal connections are stronger than most other industries, because of the people.

HealthSeekers Education - Reaching the 85%

One of the most positive shifts during HealthSeeker discussions is the focus on the 85% of the population who do not have a gym or health club membership.
To push this movement forward, we need three tiers of education, along with collaboration and coaching.

Today, let’s talk about education.

Rethinking the Fitness Industry

The fitness industry has traditionally focused on the 15% (now 15.9% according to the latest Leisure DB report) who are already active. The goal has been to help the fit get fitter, competing for the same demographic and often poaching members from other clubs. The low-cost model has exacerbated this, with budget clubs 'stealing' members from incumbents who then try to win them back.

Many see the ‘pivot to health’ as a way to bring ‘the 85%’ into our leisure centres, gyms, and health clubs. However, as Andy King suggests on The Conveners podcast, the term pivot could be replaced with "broaden" or "transform." Most HealthSeekers are not interested in working out, exercising, or ‘doing sport.’ No amount of pivoting, transformation, or special offers will change that.

Choice, Loyalty, and the once-a-month visitor

Some positive fitness industry numbers announced this week in the Leisure DB State of the UK Fitness Industry Report. 

The Headlines... 15.9% penetration, over 7,000 gyms, and 10.7 million members. 

There was lots of positive talk of health and pivots, yet some of the rhetoric around the report was still stuck in the past, particularly with respect to engagement and retention, and AI. We’ll cover the former in this article, leaving the latter to the experts.

People have more choice than ever when it comes to improving their health and fitness, which is both a blessing and a curse. As more clubs open, they compete with each other for the same members, via more channels, creating more churn as members chop and change. 

The Paradox of Choice with Retention Initatives

One of the problems that clubs face (and to be honest, that we retention consultants sometimes create) is that there are so many retention actions and areas to look at, it can be challenging to know where to start, or where to best focus your efforts.

This choice overload becomes harder still when you’re also looking at sales targets or dealing with day-to-day operational issues. Some lucky organisations have a retention manager, but for many it’s only part of their role, or the responsibility is split across several people. So, it’s no wonder that retention rarely comes to the top of the to-do-list. 

Putting it very simply, the key to good retention is talking to people. 

However, the secret to great retention is talking to the right people, in the right way, at the right time. 

What's Your Experience?

We’ve been talking a lot about selling experiences recently. 

As competition intensifies for people’s reducing disposable income, we’re seeing a slow rise in attrition from clubs.

Price increases are needed to meet rising operational costs, including increasing minimum wage.

Most readers will know that reducing service is a false economy – we need to maintain or increase customer service to retain more members.

Understanding, experiencing, and measuring your key customer touch points is critical for all stakeholders in your business. It’s no longer enough for gym staff to be the ones who know about inductions, group exercise instructors to understand what goes on in a class, or for the body composition device to be the domain of the exercise referral team.

When should you focus on retention efforts?

When is a good time to focus on gym member retention? 

Since loads of people join the gym in January, and “will be gone by April”, surely March is the month to work more on retention? 

Time for some myth-busting…

It’s true that lots of members join a health club in January, and even in the fitness industry, there’s an acceptance (at bad clubs) that they’ll be gone by April. Admitting this as the norm is poor business practice, and incredibly short sighted. You need to constantly work at getting members to stay (and therefore pay) longer. The days of retention through a 12-month contract and 3-month notice period are thankfully nearly all extinct, and nowadays most clubs work on retention through good customer service, added value and communication.

Motivation, Behaviour Change, and Health Coaching for the Fitness Industry

I’ve been thinking a lot about motivation over the holiday season, reading articles and listening to podcasts from inside and outside the fitness industry. Conversations with clients, partners, and trusted advisors feed and reinforce my thoughts on this, so here they are.

I’m talking primarily about motivation to be active, or to be healthier, of course.

It’s worth noting that behaviour change is very difficult, particularly when it comes to being active. It’s becoming more difficult too. Fast food or anything else we need can be delivered on demand to our door, while TV or social media sticks us to our couches, and AI is doing more of our actual thinking of us, while we sleep less. I’m not sure if we’re turning into the human characters in the film WALL-E, being softened up so that we can’t fight the Terminators.

So, behaviour change is difficult… we need more support and more motivation, to combat the evil kangaroos driving us towards an early grave.