Gym email marketing is a cost-effective, controllable way to build trust, reach, and retain prospects and members. This article has all you need to know about email marketing. And includes 16 gym email campaign ideas & gym email templates.
Email remains an essential part of a successful marketing strategy for gyms. In fact, the importance of gym email marketing continues to grow.
The Data and Marketing Association (DMA) 2023 Consumer Email Tracker found that 32% of UK consumers find marketing emails received useful. Up from 15% in 2021. When done well, email marketing is a powerful way to reach prospective and current members.
Some gyms choose to only focus on social media and app-based marketing. Yet, globally 83% of consumers say they prefer email when hearing from businesses. So, it’s important to have a strong gym email marketing strategy in place. And the right tools to support you.
At Xplor Gym, we’re here to help.
Let’s get stuck in!
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Get the guideWhat is gym email marketing?
The first email was sent in 1971 by computer engineer Ray Tomlinson. Since this very first very simple message, email has been on an upward trajectory.
The first marketing email was sent in 1978 by a marketing manager at Digital Equipment Corp. It let people know about a new product. Over the decades that have past, email has become a common marketing channel for businesses.
Is email marketing good for gyms? Yes! Gym email marketing is a form of direct marketing and digital marketing. It’s a powerful marketing channel. One that lets you promote the products and services that your gym business offers.
And you can use email marketing to let prospects and members know what’s happening in your club. Plus, you can provide helpful information like motivational, training, and nutrition tips .
For the most successful fitness businesses, email marketing plays an important role in a gym marketing strategy that:
- Attracts new members
- Builds brand awareness and trust
- Creates meaningful connections
- Engages members between visits
- Educates on health, fitness, wellbeing, gym etiquette, and more
Why is email marketing essential for gyms?
Email marketing is an essential way for gyms to build and keep strong relationships with members.
Cost-effective
As part of your digital marketing strategy, gym email marketing is a very cost-effective way to promote your business. Gym management software, like Xplor Gym, features in-built email marketing tools that you can use as part of your package.
Statista.com reports that UK marketers said the average return for each pound spent on email marketing stood at £38.33. That makes email marketing an attractive option for gym businesses.
Controllable
With social media channels like Facebook, Instagram and TikTok, you can reach a wide audience. The major benefit of email marketing over these channels is audience ownership.
Social media marketing success is often out of your hands. Instead you need to be able to cater to ever changing platform algorithms and trends.
On the other hand, with email you own the audience. And they’ve chosen to hear from you. That gives you greater control and the opportunity to have a bigger impact.
Educates, nurtures, & retains
Gym email marketing is also a fantastic way to educate, nurture, and retain prospective, existing, and past members.
With gym sales software features, you can capture leads through enquiry forms, abandoned sign ups, and via your sales staff. And then nurture them through to membership using email marketing.
And gym marketing software features, let you keep existing members engaged too. Take a targeted, segmented approach and personalise your messages to maximise your impact.
The DMA 2023 Consumer Tracker report found that consumers consider 32% of marketing emails received useful (up from 15% in 2021).
Why? Brands are shifting away from just sending promotional email marketing campaigns. Instead, brands are focusing on relevance, choice, and providing useful information.
Nail this approach with the right mix of personalisation, promotion, education, and more. And you’ll have the opportunity to attract and engage gymgoers.
Builds trust
Email is a simple way to win the trust of prospective and existing members. Create professional, relevant, useful gym email marketing campaigns. And you’ll position your gym business as reliable and trustworthy.
Make sure your emails are on brand – both visually and in the words you choose. 73% of consumers have said email is their preferred marketing channel. So, there’s a big opportunity to build trust with the right approach.
Inbound vs. outbound email marketing – what’s the difference?
It’s clear why email marketing is essential for gym and fitness club businesses of many shapes and sizes. When it comes to gym email marketing, there are two categories to consider:
1. Inbound email marketing
Inbound gym email marketing targets those who’ve interacted with your gym in some way. That could mean they are:
- An existing member
- A former member
- Or a prospect who has been in touch with you before (e.g. signed up for your fitness newsletter or enquired about membership)
Inbound email campaigns let you nurture and engage gymgoers who’ve expressed interest in hearing from you. Look to provide relevant, useful information and targeted offers for inbound success.
2. Outbound email marketing
Outbound email marketing targets audiences who didn’t request email from you. Similar to cold calling, outbound email marketing is sent to prospects who may be unfamiliar with your gym or haven’t actually engaged with you yet.
Outbound email campaigns have fallen out of favour in recent years and need a careful approach to avoid breaking GDPR rules in almost all cases. Sending unsolicited outbound email messages put you at risk of penalties. Plus, they can hurt your reputation, and are often seen as spam.
Common email marketing terms – speak the language!
When it comes to email marketing, it can seem like people are speaking a whole new language! The good news is that it’s easy as a gym owner or operator to learn the basics.
To help, here’s an A to Z of need to know terms (we’ve left out letters that don’t have any related terms):
A
- A/B test – this is where you compare the results from two+ emails on different recipients to see which achieves better results
- Abuse/complaints – sometimes this can be used to show the number of people who’ve marked your emails as spam
- Alt text – add this to your images. Alt text will show in your email instead of an image, if a member has image blockers set up, your images don’t show for some reason, and for accessibility reasons
- Automation – process that uses gym email marketing software features (ideally found within your gym software) to send emails based on preset triggers
B
- Bounced / bounce rate – number of emails that didn’t get delivered and ‘bounce’ back to you
- Bulk email – email sent to a large number of people
- Blast – single email sent to a specific group of recipients (often called a marketing blast email)
C
- Campaign – an individual email send
- Call-to-action (CTA) – buttons, links or other directions added to your message that tell the recipient what to do next (e.g. join now or book now)
- Click-through-rate (CTR) – a measure of the number of people who clicked on a link in your email campaign. Calculated by taking the number of people who clicked and dividing that by the number of emails sent
- Colour codes – universal codes that identify brand colours (e.g., black is #000000). These codes let you brand your email with ease
- Contact list – also know as a subscriber list, this is the list of prospects or members that your email will go to
- Conversion rate – percentage of people who complete an action or goal you’ve sent for an email marketing campaign (e.g., refer a friend or book a specific class)
- Copywriting – act of writing marketing emails
- Customer relationship management (CRM) – strategy and software (like Xplor Gym) used to convert leads into members and retain those members
D
- Delivered – who your email got delivered to
- Double opt-in – using a double opt-in subscription process means subscribers need to confirm the subscription signed up for again via email. Can reduce opt-out rates
E
- Email service provider (ESP) or email marketing service (EMS) – provides the functionality to send marketing (and operational) messages
- Email client – the application used to view a marketing email (for example, Gmail, Outlook, etc.)
F
- Footer – located at the bottom of your email message. Typically contains your business address, an unsubscribe link, copyright info, and website and social links
- Forms – added to your website to capture details of visitors interested in your gym and hearing from you (e.g. to book a tour or request more info)
J
- Joint photographic experts group (JPEG or JPG) – type of image file
K
- Key performance indicators (KPIs) – measurements used to assess the success of your gym email marketing activities
L
- Landing page – page that your emails link to. Focused on driving a sale or capturing more details. Designed to get your audience to convert or complete a certain action. Tends to be very simple with no links to other web pages
- List segmentation – act of grouping your leads and members into certain groups to make sure your emails are relevant and resonate with them. Segmenting your audience let’s you run targeted campaigns which typically result in higher response rates and fewer unsubscribes
N
- Newsletter – emails sent to prospects and members to let them know what’s going on at your gym. Typically includes news, tips, and updates
O
- Open rate – number of people who open and read your email. Often impacted by time of day or time between an action and receiving the email
- Opt-in – process where your audience signs up to hear from you via email
- Opt-out or unsubscribe – process where your audience chooses to be removed from your email list
P
- Personalisation – incorporating personal information into your email (e.g. a member’s name). Can increase conversion rates
- Portable network graphic (PNG) – file format that can be used for images. This type of image lets you add an image into your email with a transparent background – for example, your logo
R
- Re-engagement campaign – sent to members who show signs that they are likely to cancel their membership soon
- Return on investment (ROI) – measures what you’ve gained from your investment in gym email marketing
S
- Segmentation – process of dividing your prospects and members into groups based on similar interests (e.g. strength training) or characteristics (e.g. age group)
- Spam – also referred to as junk mail, these are emails sent without adequate consent
- Subscription – where a recipient voluntarily signs up to receive emails from you
- Subject line – subject of the email, equivalent to a headline in other marketing channels. Should capture attention and drive recipients to open your message
U
- UTM tags – can be added to links in your emails. So, you can track web traffic and conversions from emails in Google Analytics
- Unsubscribe – where a recipient decides to leave your email marketing list and doesn’t want to hear from you anymore via email. An unsubscribe link (or other way of unsubscribing) is required in every marketing email you send
Getting started with gym email marketing
Launching your first gym email campaign (or campaigns) is easy. Follow these simple steps and you’ll be all set for success.
Step 1: Create a gym email marketing strategy
Do you have a bigger gym marketing strategy? Think about how email marketing can help you achieve your goals. Why? Know what you want to achieve (your goals and objectives) for gym email campaigns that are more successful.
For each email campaign, set a specific goal. This will help you measure the success and effectiveness of your efforts. For example, if you’re emailing existing members with a refer-a-friend offer, your goal may be to sign up 20 new members.
As you grow your gym email marketing activities, you can create bigger objectives each month, quarter, or year. Goals for individual email campaigns will then feed into these objectives. Make sure your objectives and goals are SMART.
Here are some examples of SMART objectives for your gym email marketing strategy:
- Increase open rates by 10% in the next 12 months
- Attract 1,000 new members from email marketing in the next 12 months
- Achieve a 7% conversion rate from email marketing campaigns in the next 6 months
- Increase click through rates from existing members by 5% in the next 6 months
Step 2: Choose the right software
You’ll need a way to send your email campaigns. Your gym management software should have email marketing features. And let you email both prospects and existing members with ease. No need for spreadsheets or to transfer data to a separate ESP.
Look for these features to support email marketing when choosing gym software:
- Ability to email prospects and members – the whole lifecycle
- Segmentation options – to increase relevancy for each recipient
- Automated pathways / nurture journeys – to automatically send the right message at the right time to prospects and members based on their journey with your club
- One-off email campaigns – schedule and send email marketing campaign to all or specific groups of contacts
- Lead capture forms – add forms to your website to capture details of prospective members interested in touring or learning more about your club
- Abandoned basket tech – when a prospect fails to complete a sign up, automatically follow up to encourage them to join
Step 3: Segment your audience
Once you’ve identified your goals and selected the right software, think about your audience. You could simply email all your members at once. Ideally, you’ll segment your audience into groups with shared interests.
Why segment your prospects and members? Segmentation helps you:
- Improve relevancy – if an email resonates, recipients are more likely to take your desired action. Segmented email campaigns can generate 30% more opens and 50% more click throughs than untargeted campaigns
- Increase ROI – targeted, personalised emails can increase engagement rates and sales too. Higher conversion rates = higher revenue for your business. Marketers who use segmentation have reported revenue increases of as much as 760%
- Strengthen and lengthen member loyalty – relevant emails that meet and exceed member expectations will increase trust and respect for your gym brand. And continue to encourage them to engage with you, making the most of their membership investment
Step 4: Nail your messaging & showcase your brand
Now you know who you’re targeting with your email campaign, it’s time to hit all the right notes with your messaging. Pick the images and words that will resonate.
Start with your subject line. Make this as attention-grabbing as possible. Inboxes are busy places, so you need to persuade your audience to open the message you’ve sent. Here are some subject line tips:
- Get personal by adding a name to speak directly to your recipients
- Keep it short and sweet – aim for 20 characters
- Use emojis thoughtfully to attract attention
- Make them laugh to generate intrigue
- Capitalise your first word for impact (or another important word – for example, ‘FREE protein bar today’). Avoid capitalising your whole subject line – you don’t want to shout at your recipients!
Make sure your emails meet your brand guidelines too to build recognition. Usually that means at least adding your logo and adjusting colours.
Step 5: Set up and send your email marketing campaign
You’ve got your audience and prepared your messaging, that means it’s time to bit the bullet and get ready to hit send!
When setting your message up in your gym email marketing software incorporate personalisation. Start small and add a member’s name to your email marketing. Personalisation can help you generate 5.7 times higher campaign revenue.
Think about when you’ll send your email campaign too. This can increase the likelihood of your email being opened. In the UK, the most popular time to open an email is 10am. And, unsurprisingly, 3am is the least popular time to open.
Generally open rates are steady during typical working hours, dipping slightly over lunchtime and falling as the evening progresses. Use scheduling features within your software to automatically send your campaign out at the ideal time.
Step 6: Track success
Tracking and measuring the performance of your email campaigns will help you:
- Get to know your audience
- Do more of what works
- Do less of what doesn’t work
- Optimise your strategy
Start by seeing how each email campaign performs against the goals you set in step 1. And then look at how email marketing is contributing to your overall marketing objectives and goals.
What are the essential components of a gym marketing email?
As you create your email messages, including the right components will make your emails look professional. Here’s what to focus on:
- From label – Customise the address in your ‘From’ field so the email comes from you or your brand
- Subject line – Arguably the most important component of your email that encourages recipients to open and act on it. Keep it short and sweet, adjusting your approach each time
- Preheader or snippet – When viewed in an inbox, this is the initial text of the message that shows to entice your recipient to open
- Email body text – Bulk of your message that contains your copy (wording), headings, and relevant images
- Call-to-action – Gives recipients a quick and easy way to act on your email by suggesting the next step. Keep this clear and compelling
- Footer – Located at the bottom of your email, the footer will include your unsubscribe link, any disclaimers, company information and regular links to your website and socials
What makes an effective email campaign?
It’s well worth spending some time when creating marketing emails to make sure you have the right ingredients to achieve your campaign goals.
Focus on getting these components right for an effective campaign:
- Copy – The copy (wording) in the body of your email should sound like your brand and focus on one topic ideally
- Images – Choose eye-catching and relevant images that will appeal to your target group. Optimise images for different devices
- Call-to-action (CTA) – Your CTA should stand out from the rest of your email. Ideally stick to a single CTA destination/URL throughout your message, to encourage recipients to take the action you desire
- Timing – schedule your email campaign to increase open rates. In the UK, 10am tends to work best. Think about what would work best for your audience and review performance as time goes on
- Personalisation – write each email like you’re sending it to a friend. Even just addressing your recipient by name can go a long way
- Subject line – choose clear, enticing language that fits with the rest of your email message
Data & opt-ins
When you send marketing emails, you’ll need to comply with the GDPR and the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations 2003 (PECR). These are all about protecting the privacy of individuals.
Consent is at the heart of both GDPR and PECR. To comply, you need to have a ‘lawful basis’ for processing consumer data and sending communications. Consent must be freely given, specific, and informed.
For marketing emails, each individual should take an active step or ‘opt-in’ to consent to the use of their data in this way. Pre-populated consent boxes are no longer enough.
There is the opportunity for soft opt-in, if a recipient meets these 5 criteria:
- You obtained contact details
- In the course of a sale (or conversation about a sale) of a product/service
- You are marketing your similar products/services
- You provided the opportunity to refuse or opt out when you collected contact details
- You give an opportunity to refuse or opt out in each subsequent marketing communication
If you ignore consent, you could risk fines and other regulatory sanctions. Under GDPR, you could be fined up to 4% of your annual turnover. Plus, you could damage your reputation with prospects and members.
Automated email marketing journeys
One-off email campaigns are great for achieving specific goals. Also, look at creating prospect and member automated journeys (sometimes called pathways or flows).
An email journey uses automation to send out emails when the prospect or member meets specific criteria/triggers. Journeys help you meet each recipient where they are in their journey with your gym. Sending the content they need, when they need it most.
Set a journey up once and know that everyone who needs a particular marketing email will get it in the future. Saving you loads of time!
For prospects, create lead nurture journeys that nudge prospects through to signing up for a membership. For members, re-engagement journeys let you automatically engage members who might cancel soon.
Tweak and adapt email marketing journeys as you go. So, you stay on track to achieving your goals.
16 gym email campaign ideas (+ gym email marketing templates to inspire you)
We’ve got you covered! With campaign ideas and gym email marketing templates to help your gym business. Plus, the templates completely adaptable to suit your specific business.
Tip
In the example templates we share, any text with these brackets {example} suggests you personalise or edit the message to suit your club. Plus, remember to include a clear unsubscribe link at the bottom of each message you send.
Gym email templates for prospects/leads
Let’s start with leads who are yet to sign up to a membership.
Use your gym sales software to add lead forms to you website. So, details of prospects seeking a tour or more info on joining flow straight in to your CRM. Building a database of leads to nurture through to membership.
When a lead comes in, create a trigger to send them a ‘welcome’ style email. This could explain that you have their details and one of your team will be in touch. Include relevant details the may need about your gym, memberships available and more.
SUBJECT LINE: Nice to meet you!
MESSAGE BODY:
Hi {First Name},
Thanks for getting in touch! One of our sales team will be in contact soon to {arrange your tour / talk through membership options}.
In the meantime, we wanted to give you a bit more information about {Your Gym Name}.
About our club
At {Your Gym Name}, you’ll find all this and more:
- {List facilities (e.g. A state of the art gym, sauna, chill out area, 2 studios, and luxury changing rooms)
- Give details of equipment (e.g. Gym packed with 10 cardio machines, 25 weight machines, and an extensive selection of free weights)
- Give details of classes (e.g. 25 classes a week to suit all tastes – cardio, combat, strength, balance, and more)
- Provide other perks (e.g. monthly social events, DJ nights, freebies, etc.)}
Membership options
As well as day and week passes, we offer a variety of membership options:
- 12-month full membership – this is our best value membership and gives you anytime access to the gym, as well as classes
- Flexible full membership – get anytime access to the gym and classes with the flexibility to cancel at any time
- Flexible gym only membership – simply get anytime access to the gym
Join online now {link this to your website or joining page}
Happy training,
{Your Gym Name}
An abandoned basket email (sometimes referred to as abandoned cart email) goes to prospects who almost joined online. These emails are all about getting the prospect to complete their sign up.
Your gym management software should make it easy to capture these leads. And automatically send an abandoned basket email. So simple!
For example, Xplor Gym includes online joining tech that integrates into your website. And when a prospect fails to complete a sign up, details are automatically sent to your software for follow up.
SUBJECT LINE: Still thinking it over?
MESSAGE BODY:
Hi {First Name},
It’s {Joe} from {Your Gym Name} here!
I saw that you started signing up for a membership at {Your Gym Name}, but didn’t quite get finished. I wanted to make sure you didn’t have any sign-up issues?
You might still be finishing up joining, so if that’s the case, please ignore this email. If you have any questions or need help, we’re here for you.
We’re passionate about supporting people just like you at {Your Gym Name}. And would love to welcome you to our growing community.
If you haven’t finished joining yet, you can complete your sign up here:
Join now {link this to your website or joining page}
Happy training,
{Your Gym Name}
Tip
you could also provide an offer code for a discount to encourage your prospective member to finish signing up.
Everyone loves an offer! And there are loads of options for offers you could run to engage and convert prospects into members. Here are some ideas:
- Free access pass – let prospects try your gym out before they commit to a membership with a free session, day, or week pass
- No joining fees – choose to let prospects join without a fee for joining
- Membership discount – give members some money off their membership (for example, 1 month free)
SUBJECT LINE: Here’s a FREE training session on us!
MESSAGE BODY:
Hi {First Name},
Fancy a workout? Join us at {Your Gym Name} for a free gym session before the end of {October}.
Simply show this email at reception and we’ll let you in for free.
Happy training,
{Your Gym Name}
PS. Once you’ve claimed your session, you can get 1 month free when you join up on a 12 month full membership before the end of {November}. Just enter the code {12345ABCDE} when joining online to claim.
If you sell day passes (or any other type of pass), promoting them to prospective members is a great way to give them a taste of what you have to offer. No big commitment for the prospect. And extra income for your business. It’s a win-win.
SUBJECT LINE: Give {Your Gym Name} a try this week
MESSAGE BODY:
Hi {First Name},
Want to try {Your Gym Name} out? Not ready to buy a membership?
No sweat! We’ve got you covered with {day} passes for just {£8.99}. So, you can test out the gym, sample some classes, and more!
Buy your pass today {link to relevant page on your website}
Happy training,
{Your Gym Name}
Black Friday 2023 takes place on 24 November. It’s the time when loads of people are on the lookout for special offers. Take advantage of this with a timely Black Friday themed promo targeting prospects.
SUBJECT LINE: Black Friday Sale – miss it, miss out
MESSAGE BODY:
Hi {First Name},
It’s that time of year again! Get ready to smash your fitness goals in 2024 with our limited time offer
Extra month free – 13 months for the price of 12
Sign up to a {12 month full membership} by Thursday 30 November 2023 and enter the code {12345ABCDE} to claim December for free.
That’s a whole month extra on top of your 12 month membership!
Join now {link this to your website or joining page}
Happy training,
{Your Gym Name}
Gym email templates for existing members
There are endless gym email campaign ideas for existing members. We’ve selected a handful of the biggest opportunities to help you engage and retain your members.
Not launched your gym member referral programme yet? There’s no better time to get started and exploit the power of word-of-mouth marketing than right now!
Did you know? 88% of people trust recommendations from people they know more than any other type of advertising. So, refer a friend offers are a powerful way to grow your business. The best referral programmes benefit everyone involved. Your business, your existing member and your new member.
Plus, giving members the opportunity to work out with someone they know can encourage them to stick with you for longer.
SUBJECT LINE: Get 1 month free when you refer a friend!
MESSAGE BODY:
Hi {First Name},
Do you have a workout buddy? Training with someone else will keep you accountable to keep showing up, encourage you to try new things and help you work harder.
And if you think your workout partner is better than you are, research found the intensity of your workout could increase by as much as 200%!
Get 1 month for free
Refer a friend who signs up before {1 December} and we’ll automatically give you 1 month for free.
Plus, your friend will get their first month for free too!
Just give your friend this code {12345ABCDE} to use when joining.
Happy training,
{Your Gym Name}
Just like referring a friend, giving members the opportunity to get a guest pass and bring someone else will get them visiting. The more visits a member makes, the less likely they are to leave you.
SUBJECT LINE: Bring a friend this month
MESSAGE BODY:
Hi {First Name},
Get social this month and bring a friend for free!
We’re giving you a free guest pass this month, so you can workout with a friend, family member, or colleague of your choice.
Simply show this email when entering with your guest to take advantage of this limited time offer.
What are you waiting for?! Put on your trainers, grab a friend, and get down to the gym!
Happy training,
{Your Gym Name}
Hired a new instructor? Changing class times? Extending your opening hours? All of these are the perfect chance to let members know. And encourage them to pay a visit at the same time.
Your fitness class management software should let you embed timetables into your website. Plus your gym member mobile app should make it easy for members to browse and book classes.
SUBJECT LINE: NEW timetable starts {1 September}
MESSAGE BODY:
Hi {First Name},
You asked for it and now we’re delivering! By popular demand, we’re making some changes to our timetable.
Extended opening hours
The gym will now be open every day of the week from 5am to 11pm.
New class timetable
We’ve also made some changes to the times and line up of classes on offer.
View the new timetable here {link to timetable on website or in app}
Happy training,
{Your Gym Name}
If you offer personal training at your club, increase take up with an attractive offer to get members hooked. Grow incremental revenue. And help members reach their goals.
SUBJECT LINE: Score a great deal on personal training this month
MESSAGE BODY:
Hi {First Name},
Need workout inspiration? Want to make better progress towards your goals?
A personal trainer can help:
- Create an expert workout programme just for you with your goals in mind
- Make sure your form is correct to prevent injury, target the right muscles, and increase strength and endurance
- Keep you motivated even on days when you’d rather skip the gym
- Identify weak spots and bad habits in your workout regime
PT session bundle – buy one session, get one free – saving you £{60}
This month, we are offering an incredible buy one get one free deal on personal training sessions.
Act now – this deal is only available until {30 November}!
{Add details of how the member can buy – e.g. – click here to buy your bundle online or call us on 08000 000000 to purchase your bundle.}
Happy training,
{Your Gym Name}
When you add new classes to your timetable, make a fuss and let members know! This will help you get as many sign ups as possible (and hopefully a healthy waitlist too!).
SUBJECT LINE: Exciting news! New {Functional Fitness} class at {Your Gym Name}
MESSAGE BODY:
Hi {First Name},
We’re excited to let you know about a brand new group fitness class launching on {3 January} at {Your Gym Name}.
Join us for {Functional Fitness, a class designed to help you live a longer, stronger, and more functional life. Gentle strength training will safely challenge your balance and coordination.}
Here are the details:
- Day: {Wednesday}
- Time: {7-8pm}
- Instructor: {Joe}
- Location: {Studio 1}
- Class capacity: {20 spaces}
- Waitlist available
Secure your spot by booking online or via the app. Don’t miss your opportunity to {invest in your future}.
Happy training,
{Your Gym Name}
Want to build an engaged community and get members interacting more? A fitness challenge is a fantastic way to spark healthy competition. And get members making the most of their membership investment too!
SUBJECT LINE: Join the {January} fitness challenge to win
MESSAGE BODY:
Hi {First Name},
Want to take on a new fitness challenge? Join our {January} challenge and take your workouts to the next level. This challenge will push your limits, motivate you, and bring you results.
Here’s what to expect:
- Special workout plans and challenges
- Nutritional tips and delicious recipes
- Weekly progress tracking – and an interactive leaderboard
- Prizes for top achievers – including {a £100 high street gift voucher}
Spaces are limited, so secure your spot today by registering online {add link}.
Get ready to elevate your fitness and have fun at the same time! With the support of our expert team an a community of like-minded individuals.
Happy training,
{Your Gym Name}
If a member hasn’t visited in a while or has changed their visit patterns, the race is on to encourage them back in. Start by sending a simple re-engagement email, letting them know that they’re missed and your at hand to help them get back to activity.
SUBJECT LINE: We miss you!
MESSAGE BODY:
Hi {First Name},
We missed you {this week} at {Your Gyn Name}. Hopefully you’re just taking a well-deserved break and we’ll see you again soon.
If you do need some help, our team is here to support you. Just pop in, email {email address} or call {phone number}.
We look forward to welcoming you back soon.
Happy training,
{Your Gym Name}
General gym email templates
These gym email campaign ideas could be used for both existing members and prospects.
A fitness newsletter is the perfect way to let your members and prospects know what’s going on at your gym. You can include things like:
- News of new classes and other changes happening
- Profiles of instructors, PTs, and other team members
- Fitness tips and tricks
- Recipe ideas
- Equipment quick how-to-use guides
- Member of the month/fortnight/week
- Special offers
- And more
SUBJECT LINE: {Your Gym Name}: Monthly Fitness Newsletter
MESSAGE BODY:
Hi {First Name},
Welcome to the {January} edition of our fitness newsletter.
New this month
{Highlight a new trainer, class, or feature in your club.}
Meet our team
{Include an image of a team member, name, role, and quick bio}
Member of the month
{Include an image of a member of the month and details of what they’ve achieved.}
Fitness tip
{Give a quick fitness tip for the month.}
Special offer
{Highlight any special offers running. You could also highlight any events you’re holding.}
Happy training,
{Your Gym Name}
Provide value and showcase your expertise by sending quick emails with fitness and wellbeing tips. These could be occasional or on a regular basis. Theming these around seasonal events, like Christmas and New Year, is also a fantastic idea.
SUBJECT LINE: Focus on recovery to nail your next workout
MESSAGE BODY:
Hi {First Name},
Whether you hit the gym or take a class, training hard can leave you feeling sore in the days after your workout!
Here are some tips to help you speed up recovery:
- Start with a warmup – it’s tempting to get stuck straight in but warming up will help prevent any strains. Start with some joint rotations, then 5 minutes of cardio (like jogging to get your blood flowing), and finish with some dynamic stretching.
- End with a cool down – spend 5 minutes or so walking to gradually cool down and lower your heart rate. Finish with some static stretching to prevent tightness.
- Hydrate well – drinking water helps muscle repair. Aim for 2 litres a day. If you’re active, sweat a lot, or are in a warm place you may need to drink more.
- Have a post-workout snack – choose a snack that combines carbohydrates and protein to get the nutrients you need for muscle tissue repair.
- Get a good night’s sleep – getting enough sleep is essential to recovery. Sleep recharges your nervous system and replenishes energy stores so you’re ready to work out again. Find the sleep routine that works for you and try to stick to it.
- Take regular rest days – this can help you speed up muscle repair, so you perform better when you next workout. Aim to take a complete rest day every 7-10 days and listen to your body if you feel like you need more rest.
Get these recovery basics right and you’ll be on your way to lasting results.
Happy training,
{Your Gym Name}
Do you run events in your gym that are open to everyone to attend? Or perhaps you’re holding an open day to showcase everything your club has to offer? Boost attendance by promoting your event via email.
SUBJECT LINE: INVITE: How to train like a pro with {athlete name}
MESSAGE BODY:
Hi {First Name},
We’re excited to let you know about a special event taking place at {Your Gym Name} on {Friday 2 February}.
{Athlete name} will be joining us for a special talk. {The 5-times Olympic gold medal winner will be sharing exclusive tips and tricks to help you train like a pro and achieve your fitness goals.}
This will be followed by a question and answer session and chance to mingle with our special guest.
Here are the need to know details:
- Day: {Friday 2 February}
- Time: {7-8pm}
- Location: {Studio 1 at Your Gym Name}
- Spaces available: {20 spaces}
- Ticket price: {£20}
Secure your spot by {booking online}. Spaces are limited so act now.
You don’t want to miss this one!
Happy training,
{Your Gym Name}
Help prospects and members work towards their health and fitness goals. This will get them motivated to be successful in their fitness journey with you.
SUBJECT LINE: Go for your goals – tips for success
MESSAGE BODY:
Hi {First Name},
Make the most of your workouts by setting clear goals to work towards.
Goal setting tips to get you started
The best goals are specific to you – keep this in mind when following this guidance:
- Think about your overall aim or goal – what you want to achieve. You’ll be more motivated to achieve your goal if it’s personally important to you.
- Work out how to achieve your goal. Do you need to train a certain number of times a week, add in certain types of exercises, or make nutritional changes? This is where our qualified trainers can help.
- Set smaller, specific goals that will add up to you achieving your overall goal. This could be slowly adding on extra weight to strength exercises, increasing the number of/speed of cardio exercises, or increasing the amount of water you drink over time.
- Regularly monitor your progress (but not too frequently). Think about the metrics that matter to you. If your goal is weight related, consider taking body measurements and progress pictures. If your goal is skill based or you have a fitness event in mind (like a half or full marathon), think about the milestones along the way.
- Adapt to changing circumstances. This could mean switching to a different exercise or reordering your programme if equipment isn’t available. Finding an alternative way to keep active when travelling. Or, revisiting how to get to your goals if you need to.
Don’t be too hard on yourself when setbacks happen – in the grand scheme of things missing a few sessions or falling off plan won’t matter. Adjust if you need to and get back on track.
We’re here to help when you need it!
Happy training,
{Your Gym Name}
Measuring the success of gym email marketing
Want to get to know your audience? Build on what works? Eliminate what doesn’t? And make your gym email marketing strategy the best it could be?
You need to continuously track and evaluate the performance of each campaign. And know how your emails are doing by finding the right key performance indicators (KPIs) to focus on.
Select the KPIs that will best help you achieve the objectives and goals you’ve set for your email marketing programme.
Here are the top KPIs to consider:
- Open rate – The percentage of recipients who’ve opened each email. Look for a high open rate to show your subject line and content is attracting audience attention
- Click-through rate (CTR) – The percentage of recipients who clicked on a link in your email. Look for a high CTR to show you’re engaging your audience with relevant content
- Click-to-open rate – The percentage of recipients who opened and then clicked on a link in your email. Look for a high rate to show your emails are motivating your audience to both open and then click through
- Conversion rate – The percentage of recipients who’ve completed the desired action having received your email. For example, joining online or referring a friend. A high conversion rate shows your campaigns are effective
- Unsubscribe rate – The percentage of recipients who unsubscribe and choose not to receive future marketing emails from you. Look to keep this as low as possible, a high unsubscribe rate shows your audience is not interested in the content you’re sharing via email
- Bounce rate – The percentage of emails that can’t be delivered (usually due to invalid email addresses or full mailboxes). High bounce rates need your attention to find the right email address and/or remove old prospects/members from your lists
Typical KPI benchmarks for gym businesses
Want to understand how your email marketing performance measures up? According to recent research, globally fitness and wellness brands report these average KPIs:
- Open rate: 2%
- Click-through rate: 1.2%
- Click-to-open rate: 0%
- Unsubscribe rate: 4%
This research also showed that across all industries in the UK these are the averages businesses can expect for email marketing:
- Open rate: 9%
- Click-through rate: 4%
- Click-to-open rate: 6%
- Unsubscribe rate: 1%
The wrap up…
Email marketing is essential for gyms. It’s a cost-effective, controllable way to build trust, educate, nurture and retain both existing and prospective members.
As a gym and fitness club you should focus on inbound gym email marketing to reach people who’ve chosen to hear from you.
Getting started and launching your first email campaign is simple:
- Set a clear goal outlining what you want to achieve
- Segment your audience to improve relevancy, increase ROI and boost member loyalty
- Get the messaging and branding just right
- Use personalisation
- Hit send (or schedule a send) at the optimal time (try a 10am send to start) using your gym management software
- And continuously track and measure success
Use the gym email campaign ideas and gym marketing email templates in this article to inspire your first few campaigns. Adapt and optimise to suit your specific business and audience.
Build automated email marketing journeys for prospects and existing members. So, you make sure everyone gets the right message at the right time based on their exact needs.
Xplor Gym makes email marketing simple for gym businesses just like yours. No marketing background required! Book a demo to see Xplor Gym in action.
by Joanna Ashton Content Marketing Manager, Xplor Gym
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First published: 16 October 2023
Written by: Joanna Ashton