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How to Increase Gym Member Retention Rates

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Katie Houston

Adventurer, scientist, yogi | co-founder of FytFeed

The Facts About Customer Retention in the Fitness Industry

Member retention is a critical metric for the long-term success of a gym or fitness facility. Over 80% of the revenue of a health club comes from membership fees, making member fees the sole driver of growth and profit for the business. It’s no wonder that many gym owners strive to bring new people through their doors to seal new memberships, especially considering the average churn rate (member loss) at a gym is 27% annually according to a study by the Association of Fitness Studios. However, according to the Harvard Business Review, acquiring new customers can be up to 25 times more expensive than retaining the existing ones. And a simple 5% increase in existing member retention rate can lead to a 95% increase in profits. With that in mind, how can gyms shift their focus to retaining their members instead of acquiring new ones?

Step 1: Understand Why Customers Cancel Gym Memberships

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Check out our FREE mobile app to help keep your clients motivated long-term:

Step 2: Help Gym Clients Maintain Motivation

  1. Not keeping track of progress
  2. Setting unrealistic goals
  3. Believing that progress isn’t happening
Boost engagement and increase motivation using FytFeed

Step 3: Generate More Community

Humans, by nature, are social creatures. In fact, a sense of community resulted in clients being 56% less likely to cancel their membership, than those who do not feel a sense of community (link). Whether your gym allows members to come and go as they please, or you have multiple locations, for some gyms and fitness facilities, this can be difficult. In these cases, you can create an atmosphere where clients see one another reaching for and achieving goals both in-person and virtually to provide an extra boost to the sense of community. In addition, if members can engage and encourage each other as they progress in their fitness journeys, they will be much more likely to stay motivated. On a platform like FytFeed, your clients and you, as the gym manager or employee, also can engage with member activities and encourage them to reach their challenge goals easily.

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The IHRSA Consumer Report referenced earlier says, “Success with member retention and member monetization are highly dependent upon the frequency of interaction between the business and the member; the more frequent the interactions, the greater the likelihood of success in monetizing and retaining members.” (link). The good news is that in today’s world, you can do this online. By providing your members encouragement to keep reaching their goals easily through an online platform or virtual messaging, you can strengthen the bond your client feels with you and the facility. If your clients feel like you are invested in their progress, they will be much more likely to continue their fitness journey with you. The key is to find ways to impact each member that are sustainable for you to maintain. Bonds like this lead to peer-to-peer marketing, which is the most effective form of marketing for obtaining new members.

Retain Your Gym Members!

Easy Tools to Retain Members

Click below for a quick consultation on how FytFeed can help you retain your members for free!

Check out our FREE mobile app to help keep your clients motivated long-term:

Shout Out!

This article was originally published by FytFeed on the Medium group In Fitness & In Health. We want to thank In Fitness & In Health for accepted our submission. They have tons of great authors and resources.

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