A gym that is not able to retain the majority of its members will have a difficult time turning a profit year after year. And acquiring new members is five times more expensive than retaining existing ones, according to the Health & Fitness Association.
To put that into actual numbers, Athletech News reports that the customer acquisition cost (CAC) for gyms is approximately $437 for new members when factoring in the organic and paid channels. However, for lower-cost operation fitness centers, with some careful planning, the CAC is hovering right around $100 per new member. In any case, it is not cheap.
To put it simply, keep your current members happy, and it will save you a lot of money down the road. There is a huge difference between revenue and profit. Revenue is total sales, and profit is what is left over after total expenses. Revenue may be high, and you may think your gym is financially in great shape, but if you are spending serious money on acquiring new members because the veteran members are not feeling appreciated and are walking out the door, you could still be in the red.
There are dozens of retention strategies gym owners use in the hope of keeping members from leaving. What might work for you may be different than what works for other gyms. There is a great line from the film Anchorman that relates well to this:
“60 percent of the time, it works every time.”
You can’t be sure what will work until you give it a try. Here are five tactics that are easy to deploy that you may have never considered up until now.
Freeze Yearly Membership Rates
Remember the first time you bought a yearly gym membership when starting your fitness journey? I can. It cost me $150 for the year as a student, but a couple of years later, it was soon up to $300. Ouch.
Gym managers will try to get new members by offering special yearly deals, but in doing so, they often ignore their veteran members who have been true to the gym year after year.
Instead, offer such a great deal that no one will ever want to cancel their gym membership. Whatever the price they originally signed up for will be their yearly membership fee from here on out. If it originally cost them $300 for a yearly membership, then this price will continue until they cancel. So while membership rates are going up for everyone else, theirs will remain the same!
Can you imagine if they did this with car insurance? Very few people would ever want to cancel their policy. The same will be true for members at your gym. Even if they have something come up where they can’t get to the gym nearly as often, they will not want to cancel their membership because when they start up again, their rates will be higher. Everyone wants a great deal, and this will help you retain a high percentage of your members.
Free to Bring a Friend During Staffed Hours
People are much more likely to keep to their workout schedule if they have someone to train with. A University of Pennsylvania and University of California research study showed that training with a friend for workouts increased gym attendance by 35 percent. If someone is using your gym often, they will continue to be a faithful paying member.
By offering members the deal that they may bring a friend for free (only during staffed hours), you will have a happy member on your hands. After a while, friends’ schedules don’t always match up, so the friend that you used to let in for free will now be purchasing a membership of their own. Soon, they will be bringing in a friend of their own to work out with them for free, and their schedules won’t always match up either. This snowball will keep on rolling down the hill, getting larger and larger, and you will be retaining seasoned members and signing up new ones.
Retention Means Rewarding Consistency
People like to be recognized for hard work. Even if they act like they are embarrassed by the recognition, inside, they are eating it up. Reward members who have shown commitment to you and your gym. Whether they have clocked in at the gym the most during a month’s time or have been with you for five years, show your appreciation. A whiteboard on the wall with their names on it, validating their devotion, is nice, but a little swag can go a long way as well. Plus, if the gym name is on the merchandise, it is free advertising. They will be less likely to leave you if they know you consider them a star member.
Forge a Relationship
I have kept my membership at a couple of gyms over the years simply because the owner had taken the time to know me. Too many managers stay in their offices and let their workers patrol the floor. Get to know names, introduce yourself, ask their fitness goals, ask their life goals, ask whatever… Just don’t make them feel like you are stalking them or interrupting too many workouts.
Listen to your members. Ask their opinions on how to make your gym better. If there is an issue, take care of it quickly and don’t let it linger. Gym members want to know they are being valued. By taking the time to know everyone by name, they will realize you are just as invested in them as they are in you.
Create a Social Club
Everyone knew Norm’s name as soon as he entered the Cheers bar on that famous television show. It was a social club for him, and he kept coming back day after day. Create a social atmosphere for your gym.
It can be tricky to do since many people want to get in and get out within an hour without all the chit-chat. But the socializing does not have to take place at the gym itself. Once every few weeks, invite all the members out to a social gathering at a local place for dinner and drinks. Perhaps the chosen establishment will provide special deals as well if they know it will become a monthly thing. You don’t have to pick up the tab for everything, but just buying someone a drink can do wonders. In fact, that is how a lot of marriages started.
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