Don’t Offer Opt-In - Member Messaging

A few clubs we know don’t give their members the choice to opt-in or out of communications as they join.

Whether online or in club, member’s details are recorded, with address, e-mail and mobile as mandatory fields. They are told briefly about the communication journey that they will receive as new members, which sounds very attractive and valued.

Get More Members to Opt-in - Member Messaging

We’ve explored the value of data and collecting mobile numbers and e-mail addresses previously. Budget clubs are much better at acquiring good data with fulfilment rates close to 100% due to their online joining and confirmation process.

But even fulfilment rates of 100% are no good if half of those members opt-out of receiving communications. It is important to ask members’ permission, and there are good and bad ways of doing it.

How will you Fight the Summer Slump?

Are you prepared to fight the summer slump?

The recent hot weather in the UK is causing club attendance to drop, and the massive sporting summer which is around the corner is more likely to compound rather than reverse this effect. It would be great if the Olympics generated a load of newly motivated members, but in reality, we need to go the extra yard to keep them.

BHF Canary Wharf Jog 2012

The British Heart Foundation Canary Wharf Jog this week was a complete contrast to the Tower jog back at the start of May. The sun had been beating down on London for a couple of days, and by 6:30pm on Wednesday evening, the Tower lined streets of Canary Wharf were at least a little shady, but still very hot indeed.

The weather brought a good turnout of runners, with well over 1,000 people taking part.

BHF Tower of London Jog 2012

For the first time in recent memory (we’ve run the Tower Jog every year since 2004) a grey, stormy day faced us last Wednesday. The downpour that drenched us as we made our way to the Tower did not make running in a moat an appealing prospect! Umbrellas for sale outside the tube station were proving as popular as Boris Johnson had been a week before.

Incentivising Instructors

So you want to incentivise your instructors to provide better customer service and improve retention. What metrics do you want to use, and what is going to incentivise your instructors?

If you want to improve your 12-month member retention from 50% to 60%, it can be difficult for the individual instructor to see how they can have an effect. Asking instructors to reduce attrition or increase average length of membership can be a bridge too far. Instead, you can achieve better results by looking at daily or weekly actions that will provide a short term effect that builds up over the month or year.

Incentivising Instructors - FitPro Business Article

Open publication - Free publishing - More fitness

Communicating with Absent Members - Part 3, Who?

Calling absent members is one of the least popular jobs in the gym. Most instructors prefer cleaning to calling absentees. Sure, the gym needs to be clean, otherwise people will leave, but you could stop 6 people from dropping out by spending 30 minutes on a few phone calls.

The gym team are usually the ideal staff to call absent members and encourage them back into the club. They should have the best relationship with the members, having talked about their needs, goals, habits and exercise programme. Alternatively, you might have the person who signed up the member in the first place (useful for new absentees), or a retention officer or membership manager who makes all the calls.

Communicating with absent, paying members : Part 2, How?

Hopefully you now understand that contacting your absent members is a good move.  The next question is how to contact them…

There are lots of ways of communicating with individual members; a phone call, text, e-mail or good old-fashioned letter, as well as direct social media messages (if configured correctly*).

The phone call is proven to be the best way of persuading members to come back into your club.  However, it can be hard work and is time consuming.  We’ll discuss who makes the calls in the next article, but here’s how to make it easier.

Communicating with absent, paying members : Part 1, Why?

Opinion is still divided on whether you should contact paying members who are not visiting your club. The naysayers argue that you risk prompting the member to cancel, and that you should let sleeping dogs lie. We say contact absent members. Do your best to encourage them back into your club. Give your members more motivation by showing that you care about their health and fitness, that you want to help them achieve their goals. It is their responsibility to get down to the gym, so send them a reminder and then they are less likely blame your club. Business-wise, if half of your members have not visited for more than 3 or 4 weeks, you risk losing half your members tomorrow (contracts aside). If you do nothing about this, you could soon be looking at an empty gym. Contact your absent members, and you will get some back, and hopefully extend the membership of many more.

An empty gym, yesterday

Ethically, it is right to contact someone who is paying you for a service but not using it.  Regardless of contract (more of which later), it is simply a good thing to do.  Businesses that think ethically are on the up, whether offering discounts for reducing emissions or best plan reviews on mobile usage.