One of the best ways to attract prospects to your website is to offer a free pass or discount online. But, as we spoke about last month, before you give them the actual pass or discount, you must capture their information. Additionally, before you can apply the techniques listed below, you must make sure your website is designed to capture prospect information – at least a name and email. Capturing prospect contact information is the first step to converting Web visitors into new members.
The primary secret to getting new memberships from your website, and the second step, which comes after you’ve captured the prospect information, has to do with follow-up – email follow-up, in particular.
Very rarely will a prospect visit your site, grab a free pass or incentive, and then run into your facility to join. Remember, prospects are procrastinators. The very act of visiting your website, in their minds, is a big step. It actually eases their conscience and makes them feel good that they finally took some sort of step towards fitness. It causes them to postpone visiting your club even more in some cases. You and I both know that visiting a health club website really means squat, for your bottom line and for your prospect. In order for either of you to benefit, the prospect must visit your website, and then visit your club to join. Email follow-up is the key to getting your prospect to actually take action and join your club after they’ve visited your website. Without it, you can actually postpone the joining process and do more harm than good. The email follow-up process is very important and without it, you’ll drop your conversion rates in half or more. With that said, your primary focus is to follow-up immediately via email once you’ve captured the prospect’s information on your website.
There are five crucial elements that your immediate follow-up email must possess in order to get prospective members to join your club as fast as possible:
1. The email should contain information about the incentive or offer they requested at your website. It should congratulate them on requesting the incentive, but it must not imply that they have the incentive just yet.
2. The email must explain to the prospect that they’ve taken the right step in requesting the incentive, but in order to actually possess the incentive, they must visit or call your club immediately to reserve it.
3. The email should contain an additional incentive if they respond within 24 hours. For instance, offer an e-book on something such as fat loss, and tell them they can get it free if they call your club within 24 hours to reserve their free pass or discount.
4. The email should tell them specifically how to respond. In other words, tell them exactly how to respond and to whom they should respond. Don’t just say, “Bring this email down to the club…” Tell them, “Call 444-444-4444 right now (or email right now) and ask for Sally, tell her you want your free gizmo and that you’re calling in time for the free widget!”
5. The email should tease them about your prices, but never reveal the actual price or rates you offer. If you give them prices in your email, you’ve ruined everything. Remember, price is the number one curiosity of a health club prospect. Make them come in to get prices! This is why “teasing and tantalizing” them with price information will get them to take action faster. Tell them they may have up to a certain amount off of the initiation fee, or discounted monthly rates for a limited time, but don’t give exact prices.
Once, you’ve sent the immediate followup email, give them 24 to 48 hours to respond. Then, about 48 hours later, contact them via email again, letting them know that their chance to get the additional incentive will expire, and they must take action now. Discuss procrastination in this email also. Let them know that taking the action is the hardest part and that they’re closer than ever to taking the right step, but they must take action now to avoid losing the incentive. By this time, 50% of your prospects will respond. What about the other half? Keep following up! Email them 10 to 20 times over the next two to six months, and overcome the typical objections in each email!
Pat Necerato is a Sales and Marketing expert with over 15 years of experience in the fitness industry. He can be contacted at 866.468.2832, or go to www.MoreNewMembers.com and get his FREE Marketing Video & Report.
