Three operators share how they’re winning back former members in the most recent Thought Leaders panel.
Fitness operators know member attrition is inevitable. Life changes, financial pressures, shifting priorities and lack of motivation all contribute to cancellations. But as shown during our Thought Leaders panel, successful operators aren’t just focused on retaining current members. They’re also focused on reengaging former members in a meaningful way.
While some cancellations are unavoidable, many former members can be won back when operators focus on personalization, community and rebuilding habits rather than relying solely on discounts.
Kelly Lynn, the vice president of member experience at acac Fitness & Wellness, said many cancellations stem from declining usage, which eventually leads members to question why they have the membership in the first place.
“If somebody’s not finding value in the club, it’s because they’re not visiting,” said Lynn. “And if somebody’s not visiting the club, they’re not finding the value.”
That reality has pushed many operators to focus more heavily on proactive outreach and engagement before members disappear completely. Lynn explained that clubs need to identify disengagement early and reconnect members with activities, people or programs that make the facility feel valuable again.
Chez Misko, the COO and co-owner of Wisconsin Athletic Club (WAC), said his team categorizes cancellations into controllable and uncontrollable reasons. While relocation or health issues are unavoidable, most other departures can be influenced by the member experience.
“The reality of it is, if you provide enough value, your price really doesn’t matter,” said Misko. “It really goes back to are they getting that value or not.”
Misko added many members leave because the experience failed to meet expectations or because fitness simply fell lower on their priority list during a particular stage of life. That’s why WAC emphasizes helping members stay connected throughout changing life stages.
For Khaled Elmasri, the director of fitness operations for Excel Fitness, a Planet Fitness franchisee, one of the biggest issues is a lack of belonging. “They feel like they just come in and they’re on their own,” he said. “How do you create some of that sense of belonging, sense of community, get results, all that?”
The panelists agreed generic win-back campaigns often fail because they don’t address why someone left in the first place.
Elmasri said previous “we want you back” campaigns produced little lift because they treated former members like cold leads instead of people with an existing relationship to the club.
Instead, operators are finding greater success with personalized outreach tied to members’ previous interests, goals and behaviors. At WAC, sales teams review notes and historical usage data to reconnect former members with programs they previously enjoyed.
“If they were a yoga member, ‘Hey, we got a new yoga workshop starting next week,’” said Misko. “Those are the best times to reach out to people, when we can connect them to something we know they had some interest in in the past.”
The panel also discussed the limitations of discount-heavy recovery campaigns. While discounts can motivate members to return temporarily, they rarely solve the underlying issue that caused the cancellation.
“Cancellation is just paperwork because a habit broke,” said Elmasri.
Instead of relying solely on lower dues, some operators are experimenting with creative incentives and lifestyle-based programming. For example, acac uses its youth programming — swim lessons, camps and afterschool activities — as a pathway to bring former members back into the club ecosystem during different stages of life.
Lynn also highlighted the company’s Physician Referred Exercise Program (PREP), which partners with healthcare providers to encourage inactive former exercisers to return to fitness in a supportive environment.
“We’ve had people pull in our parking lot, see how busy we are, and pull out and not come in for their appointment,” said Lynn. “We have people on the phone who ask, ‘What do I wear for the first day?’”
The success of the program, Lynn explained, comes from simplifying the experience and helping people feel comfortable rather than intimidated.
The panel also talked about how operators are balancing technology and human connection. While AI is being used more now to identify at-risk members and automate repetitive tasks, technology works best when paired with authentic staff engagement. Elmasri said Excel Fitness uses predictive analytics to identify declining usage patterns and cancellation risks, but employees still handle the actual outreach.
Misko echoed that, saying AI should free employees to spend more time interacting with members rather than sitting behind desks.
“We still want to make sure that our people are doing the things our people should be doing,” said Misko. “Get the tasks done by the AI and then get the human connection points done by people.”
Ultimately, the panelists agreed the future of member recovery is less about aggressive sales tactics and more about creating environments people genuinely want to return to. Whether through personalized outreach, community-building events or supportive onboarding experiences, clubs that prioritize connection are giving former members more reasons to come back and stay.
Watch the full conversation here.
