5 Ways to Boost Retention

When outsiders look at our industry, they can find it hard to understand the poor retention rates that it often produces. While attracting and keeping members can be viewed as simply filling a bucket, it seems that we in the fitness industry often face the challenge of leaky buckets! Here are five simple ways to prevent members from leaking out of your club:

1. Monitor attendance. If you have a system that allows you to monitor member usage, work out the average weekly attendance for each member. Each month, publish those results so they are visible to everyone in the club. The secret here is that someone only gets onto the list if they used the club at least twice a week or more on average. This encourages members to focus on the process of actually getting on the list, rather than just the end result. You can even get staff involved by giving rewards based on how many more members appear on the board each month, once again encouraging everyone to focus on the process.

2. A long-term challenge. Have an activity that takes at least 12 months to complete, like having members ‘cross the state’ by logging miles on your club’s cardio machines. Have a huge map visible in your club and give everyone a pin with a little strip of paper that is long enough for their name and the date they started the challenge. They move the pin across the board in accordance with the amount of miles they ‘travel’ each time they are in the gym. Consider setting it up so that one mile on the map is equivalent to one mile on the treadmill, three miles on the bike, two miles on the cross trainer and 2,000 metres on the rower. This gets all of your cardio equipment involved and also provides a great way for members to break up their workouts. If the ‘route’ passes through your town, give members a free drink, juice or coffee on the house as they ‘pass by.’

3. Take photos of your members. Another great way to boost retention is to take regular photos of members’ progress – with their permission of course. This is an easy thing to do and one that can be started on a new member’s first day so they can refer back to it every six to 12 weeks, or whenever their program is reviewed. When members can see changes in their bodies and realize that every six weeks they will be due for another photo, you create accountability. This can give your members motivation to strive to see changes in their bodies beyond just what the scales say.

4. Publish member success stories. Member success stories highlight the goals people have reached from regularly working out in your club. It’s an impressive way to reward hard work and remind existing members what is possible, and it can also be a fantastic tool for new sales. The success stories can even simply profile what members have found to be easier after sticking to a workout regimen. For example, it could be the ability to walk up a set of stairs carrying shopping items by themselves, or the ability to play with grandchildren and not feel out of breath. Either way, it shows other members who are trying to achieve those results that it is possible! Publishing member success stories does not cost much (if anything), but it is something that can be truly beneficial to retention rates at your club.

5. Know your members. You should be able to engage your members so they feel like they truly belong to your club. We are in the service industry, so you must have members who feel welcome and appreciated when they come into your club. To do this, you must show them how much you care. Have your staff discover the reasons why each member does what they do. Why do they train? What are they really hoping to achieve? If members feel as though you really care and are there to help them reach their goals, they will be more inclined to use the club more frequently and get the results they are after. And when they get results, they stay!

Dave Wright is the President and CEO of Creative Fitness Marketing. He can be contacted via e-mail at dave@creativefitness.net, or go to www.creativefitness.net.