If you want to grow your membership base, and build a profitable fitness business, you need to make sure you hold on to as many members as possible. And that means getting them out of the attrition danger zone…
The Gym Membership Sales Report* shows that 11.5% of first time members join clubs in January. That makes it the busiest month of the year with only September coming close.
When these new members join your gym, they’re at heightened risk of leaving just as fast as they joined.
Read on to get the lowdown on the risk, why new members quickly quit, and how to overcome the risk. So, you turn more ‘new’ members into ‘old’ ones!
Let’s get stuck in!
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Early days = The attrition danger zone
Marketing. Sales staff. Advertising. The cost of signing up new gym members can quickly stack up. In fact, the cost of getting a new member can be anywhere from 5 to 25 times more expensive than holding on to and existing one.
The big challenge is that those early days after a new member joins your fitness club are the danger zone. Almost 10% of first time members will have ended their membership within 90 days of starting it.
If you’re losing close to 1 in 10 of these new members within 3 months of their first membership agreement starting, you risk losing money invested in acquiring new members.
And you may miss out on the boost in profitability that retaining members can bring. A 5% increase in retention rates can grow your profits by anywhere from 25-95%.
Why do memberships come to an early end?
The amount of time that passes between a membership starting and it coming to an end impacts why a membership ended.
Early on cleanliness matters most – new members are scrutinising your standards. 24.1% of same day cancels are due to cleanliness issues. Whereas by days 60 to 90, 5.1% of cancellations are due to cleanliness.
For first membership agreements that end within 90 days of starting, over half ended silently. That means the member directly or indirectly cancelled without sharing a reason.
Silent cancellations include memberships that end with these ‘reasons’ recorded:
- 38.5% payment failed or was cancelled at the member’s bank
- 12% reason for cancelling not disclosed or left blank
- 0.8% cancelled without a reason recorded during a cooling off period
When members quietly quit and cancel silently, you miss out on valuable feedback. Feedback that can be used to help you prevent other new members leaving for the same reasons in many cases.
How to turn new members into loyal ones
Want to get more new members out of the danger zone and turn them into loyal long-term members? The right approach will help you cut early cancellations and increase retention.
Follow these tips for success:
Tip #1: Listen, act, communicate
Want to cut early silent cancellations (and overall attrition)? Build a feedback habit in members. So, they get used to and feel safe sharing honest leaving reasons at the end of their time with your club.
Ask for feedback at every opportunity. Even a simple ‘how was your session today?’ as they finish up a workout is a chance to find out how you’re doing. Discuss and celebrate feedback with your team.
Actively share both positive and negative feedback publicly with prospects and members. When you share negative feedback, explain how you’ve acted on it. When you do this, you show that you’re listening and feedback is valued.
“Personalisation can help you collect better feedback. Approach members in the most effective way and communicate action taken too.
Automation makes it easier to do this at scale. Your gym management software should include communication features that do the heavy lifting for you here.”
Dave Alstead, Xplor Gym
Tip #2: Keep it clean!
Everyone has different expectations of just how clean something is. And cleanliness is a common reason for cancelling, especially in those first few days and weeks after joining.
So, you need to meet even the highest of expectations everyday to prevent this from being a reason for leaving your club and never returning.
Start by walking through your club as though you’re visiting for the very first time. Take a careful look at just how clean and tidy every area and item is. You’ll quickly see where improvements could be made.
How do you keep everything clean and hygienic at all times?
The easiest way is to systemise cleaning tasks and create a strict cleaning rota. Set clear expectations of what clean means for each task that needs completing. And keep a record of tasks completed.
Regularly schedule deep cleans out of hours or during quiet times. That way you’ll be able to complete tasks that are just not possible to do with lots of members around.
And if you’re a bigger or busier club, consider investing in a part- or full-time cleaner to relieve other team members of cleaning tasks.
Above all, keeping your club clean should be every staff member’s job. Train your team to pay close attention to cleanliness and to take action to get issues resolved fast.
Tip #3: Exceed expectations
It’s not just member expectations of cleanliness you need to live up to! To turn brand new members into loyal ones, you need to make sure that the reality of being a member lives up to or exceeds their expectations.
That means delivering on any promises made in your marketing and during the sales process.
Expectations to consider include:
- Physical and psychological safety – Facilities should be well maintained to prevent injury. And members should be safe from the bad behaviour of other members (including intimidation, sexual harassment and physical violence)
- Equipment – Having to wait around for popular equipment during busy periods is a common member complaint (and reason for cancelling). Make sure you have enough equipment to satisfy everyone as your membership numbers grow. At peak times, have your team recommend alternative exercise options if members are left waiting
- Classes – Many members will have signed up wanting to attend specific group fitness classes. It can be frustrating if they keep missing out on a spot. So, clearly set expectations around class capacity and availability if you know this will be the case. Also make sure your booking rules are fair and clear. Use waitlist functionality in your gym software to make it easy for members to know when a space is available for a fully booked class
- Parking – Lack of available parking space or extra parking costs are another reason for members cancelling. Be clear when members sign up how parking works for your club. If space is limited, provide details of alternative parking arrangements where you can
- Digital self-service – It should be easy for members to manage their membership online or via an app. That means they should be able to update their details, book classes and more
- Friendliness – Members want a warm welcome every time they visit your club and to feel comfortable asking for help whenever they need it. Make sure every team member is confident and proactive when interacting with members
Tip #4: Get personal
When it comes to welcoming new members, one size does not fit all!
Every new member will join you with different motivations, goals, and experiences. To set them up for success, you need to get personal and meet them where they’re at during onboarding.
Personalised onboarding journeys
Use your gym management software to build dynamically personalised onboarding journeys for new joiners.
Based on key milestones achieved cheer members on, celebrate successes, ask for feedback, and more. Use multiple communication channels – emails, SMS/text messages, phone calls, in-person appointments – to increase your impact.
High-value inductions
It’s also worth thinking about inductions. An induction can set new members up for success and lead to them sticking with you for longer.
Exactly what an induction consists of, and even what you call it, may need to change based on individual perceptions and experiences. For example, many new members will have had an induction before at another club and may feel they don’t need another.
If you can offer something different and of greater perceived value to these new members, you’ll have more take up of inductions.
“Setting up personalised onboarding journeys for new members is a resource and time investment for most clubs. And it’s an investment that’s well worth making in the long run.
Follow best practice – look to resources like the new member onboarding playbook. And work closely with your software partner’s customer success team to set up automated flows that work for your business.
Easy-to-use software will make it simple to quickly get these set up. Start small and adjust your approach as your business grows and scales.”
Dave Alstead, Xplor Gym
#Tip 5: One more visit
An important goal of your onboarding journey is encouraging each new member on to make their next visit.
Every visit a new member makes is a step towards building the habit of going to the gym. Even one visit a week is better than no visits a week!
Lacking use, motivation & time
Factukactive’s Consumer Engagement polling looked at why people cancelled a membership in the last few years. 12% said they weren’t using it enough, 8% had lost motivation, and 7% didn’t have enough time (averages across quarterly polling from September 2022-April 2024).
Start small and help new members be realistic about how often they can commit to working out with you. Overtime as they build a habit, you can help them increase their visit frequency (if that’s achievable for the member).
Celebrate visit milestones during your onboarding journey and throughout a member’s lifetime with your club. Celebratory emails. Virtual ‘badges’. Exclusive gifts. All are great ways to show members you see them.
Think about how you can encourage members to make their next visit in-person too. A simple ‘see you next time’ or even asking ‘when will we see you next?’ as a member leaves can help drive them on to that next visit.
#Tip 6: Show the value of a membership
When members feel the value of a membership, they’re less likely to stop paying or cancel for cost related reasons.
38.5% of memberships that end within 90 days of a first agreement starting are terminated due to a payment failure/incurred debt (33.9%) or a payment cancelled at the bank (4.6%).
ukactive Consumer Engagement quarterly polling between September 2022 and April 2024 also found that members who’d cancelled in recent years did so because of cost.
- 26% said their membership had been too expensive generally
- 12% couldn’t afford it due to the rising cost of living
One of the most effective ways to make sure members know the value of a membership is to help them set goals and track progress.
Help new members set goals when they join
These should be important to them personally – you may need to dig deep to understand their motivations for joining. And the goals should be SMART:
- Specific
- Measurable
- Achievable
- Realistic
- Timely
Break big goals down into smaller, achievable steps. And find ways to make it simple for members to track and see progress towards their goals. This will help members see the value they’re getting from their membership.
Consider offering follow up sessions for new members to review progress and goals. Regular reviews could also be a membership perk your club offers.
Tip #7: Verify payment details
As time passes after new members start their first Direct Debit membership agreement with your club, the chances of a payment failing increases. Often this is due to an error in the bank details entered when a member signed up.
33.9%
Factof memberships that end within 90 days of a first agreement starting are terminated due to a payment failure and/or incurred debt.
Members who experience a payment failure are at risk of never returning. Especially, if they’re not yet in the habit of using their membership.
Make sure you’re automatically verifying bank details provided for Direct Debits during the sign up process. Your digital joining journey should make this easy and seamless for new members.
That first collection will be so much smoother for you and your new member.
Handling payment failures
Incorrect details are just one reason for payment failures. Another common one is a member having insufficient funds in their bank account at the time of a collection
Let members know via email, and even SMS, when a payment fails. And make it easy to quickly make a catch up payment online using your member self-service portal. So, these members can quickly get back to using their membership.
“Choose gym management software with embedded payments and you’ll be able to see when a payment fails. No delays or need for reconciliation across different systems. And you can automatically notify affected members too.
Conversations around failed payments can be stressful for operators and members alike. Giving the member an option to catch up on a payment online, or even via your software partner’s contact centre team, removes awkwardness. So, members can quickly return to your club.”
Dave Alstead, Xplor Gym
11 strategies to increase gym member retention
Go deeperGet more tips to increase retention throughout the member journey.
Read nowThe wrap up…
The early days after a member first joins are the attrition danger zone. Close to 10% of first time members end their membership within 90 days of starting. And that can have a big impact on your ability to run a profitable, growing business.
Payment failures. Falling into debt. Payments cancelled via banks. Over half of those first time members leaving in the first 3 months of starting leave quietly. And that puts you in the dark with no feedback to act on.
If you want to take new members out of the danger zone and turn more of them into loyal fans, you need the right approach in those early days:
- Listen, act, communicate – Seek feedback early and often. Act on that feedback and let members know what you’ve done
- Keep it clean! – Cleanliness is a top cancellation reason. Everyone has different expectations of what clean means. So, put in place processes and standards to keep your club spotless
- Exceed expectations – Deliver on promises made in your marketing and sales process. Think about all the different types of expectations members have
- Get personal – Create personalised onboarding experiences that meet each new member where they are at
- One more visit – Focus on encouraging new members to build the habit of visiting regularly. Even one visit a week is better than none – help new members find the pattern that works for them
- Show the value of a membership – Help new members understand that investing in a gym membership should be a non-negotiable. Setting goals and tracking progress can help
- Verify payment details – Don’t let a payment failure be the reason a new member stops paying and visiting. Get the right bank details upfront by automatically verifying them during sign up
The right gym management software will equip you with the right tech to take new members out of the attrition danger zone. A partner like Xplor Gym.
Get in touch to chat with our team and see what we can do for you.
*About the research:
The sales insights in this article are from the Gym Membership Sales Report. The research looked at Xplor data from 929,169 first time Direct Debit membership sales from across the UK & Ireland.
These new members had membership agreements starting between January 2013 and March 2024.
Data from 2020 and 2021 has been excluded when reviewing the month and quarter that membership agreements started in. This minimises the impact of COVID closures.
The data was collected in April 2024.
by Will Cheeld Senior Growth and Accounts Manager, Xplor Gym
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First published: 30 December 2024
Written by: Will Cheeld