Engaged members are happy members. Happy members are more likely to be retained than unhappy members. It’s a simple concept, isn’t it? The harder part is creating a strong member engagement strategy from the moment a member considers joining your gym and throughout the lifetime of their relationship with your gym.
An estimated 290 billion-plus emails are sent worldwide every single day, according to Statista. That doesn’t account for all of the other forms of communications including SMS, social media, phone calls, or push notifications. In a world with so much noise and information at our fingertips, it’s exceptionally important to create meaningful interactions that cut through the clutter and build loyal relationships with your members.
These tips will elevate your communication strategy by increasing relevancy, and building a sense of community and connectedness to your fitness business:
Communicate Early and Often
We only have one chance to make a first impression. Aside from ensuring your staff is friendly and welcoming at your facility, onboarding messaging can give a virtual hug to your new members. A simple “Welcome” or “Thank You” email to new members can kick off their journey on the right foot. Leverage your CRM to create automated communication pathways to share information on events at your facility, information for new-joiners, motivational quotes, or fitness and nutrition tips.
Personalize Messages
Write messages as if you are speaking directly to the intended reader. A surefire way to make a member feel disconnected is to ignore the importance of their personal fitness journey. Put your member in the center of the message and communicate why they should invest their time to read it. Including “You” or “Your” in subject lines or SMS or name personalization with email content makes the message feel less generic and more relevant to the individual.
Support Your Members’ Goals
Fitness goals are unique to every individual. Whether it is increasing strength, losing a few pounds, or working on a balanced and healthy lifestyle, take the time to ask about your member’s goals and be ready to support them. If you have a mobile fitness app, this is a great opportunity to create and share workouts and training plans, or to set and track progress on their goals. Set up trigger-based automated emails congratulating members on the number of workouts they’ve achieved or number of visits to your facility. These kinds of simple things can be ‘set-and-forget’ on your side but never forgotten by your members.
Continual interaction and communication with members doesn’t have to be complicated. With automated solutions to help manage and engage your members year-round, you can easily prevent attrition, increase retention, and grow your business.
Ashley Gibson is the Senior Director of Global Brand Marketing and Strategy at TSG. She can be reached at ashley.g@transactionservices.global for additional insight about software solutions to manage and engage your members and to help you grow your fitness business.
