Human Interaction is Key

Human interaction is key. Key to what? Retaining members.

Human interaction and a sense of community is what will create a great gym environment that motivates members. Selling memberships gets you people coming in the front door. However, most clubs face the attrition problem of just as many members going out the back door through cancellation. By developing relationships and keeping up with people’s goals, it’s proven to go a long way in retaining those members. Here are a few simple steps you can take to motivate and keep them coming back.

3 Ways to Retain Gym Memberships

1. Create a Community

Everyone likes the feeling of belonging in an environment. Gyms are often a place where your members feel like they stand out. As you attain new members, start developing relationships with them. Sit in on a class and meet them face-to-face; start a Facebook group and share upcoming club events and new classes. Make people feel like they belong to your community. Members will see familiar faces, and know the people around them. Creating community makes the gym a fun and motivating place to be and can help to eliminate excuses when it comes to avoiding a gym workout.

Clubs can also utilize online tools to engage and integrate members into your community. Today, you and your staff can leverage this technology to continuously inspire members. They all don’t necessarily workout at the same time. You have the ability to engage them all at once, and more importantly, these members can engage themselves within a common forum such as a mobile app or social media.

2. Know People’s Goals

Every gym is a melting pot of people. There are gym rats, and then there are people who just want to drop a few pounds. Whatever the reason, everybody has personal goals in common. Meet your members as they come in the door. Inquire what their workout routines are to achieve their goals. Offer encouragement, recommendations, and really show you care! Thank them for being a part of your club community. Encouraging your members’ goals and helping them is the greatest way to live in the community you’ve created.

By providing fitness challenges for every level of exercise, you are improving member engagement through friendly competition. This creates so much more excitement and innovation for your club. By leveraging technology such as mobile apps and wearable devices, you can measure progress through calories burned, distances travelled, time spent in a workout and the number of workouts in a given time. Also, progress can be measured at each member’s level of fitness, so it’s a level playing field for all members to participate. Creating incentives and rewards for your member challenges will help to build camaraderie.

3. Educate Members

When people go to the gym and haven’t found that comforting community of workout companions, all too often they miss out on learning the importance of how to properly exercise in a way that will meet their goals. Re-engaging and re-motivating members through education is an excellent way to retain gym membership. People often leave a gym because they’re feeling discouraged and the gym doesn’t offer them what they need to succeed.

Moreover, the gym has what people need and the members just haven’t been educated on what’s being offered, or what’s needed for an effective workout. Create a gym environment that motivates your members by educating them on classes, programs, nutrition, and groups that will help them reach their full fitness potential.

Stephen Wilson is the marketing manager at ASF Payment Solutions and a 20-year veteran of marketing and advertising. His focus on branding and strategic communications in the health and wellness industry for over 20 years has earned him numerous accreditations and awards on national marketing and advertising campaigns. For more information, e-mail steve.wilson@asfpaymentsolutions.com, or visit www.asfpaymentsolutions.com to learn more about products and services.