Your members don’t want a mediocre club experience, they want the best.  

For your club to succeed, you need to create an experience that engages members at every step in their customer journey. Sales and membership expert Nick Thornton shared how you can create a club experience that attracts and retains members in his webinar.  

Here are the highlights:

Step 1: Engage Prospects

You may have put a lot of effort into making your facility’s entrance exciting, but did you give the same attention to your digital experience?  

Prospects want to engage with clubs through websites and apps. If a prospect Googled “health clubs near me,” would they find your website? Your digital presence matters as much as your physical location.  

Upgrade your club’s online presence by updating your:  

1. Website

2. SEO

3. Digital Marketing

4. Messaging

5. Social Media  

Put It Into Practice

Investigate your outreach tools and experience your club from a prospect’s perspective. After filling out your own forms and searching for your club online, ask yourself:  

1. How easy is it for prospects to find my club’s information?

2. Are we letting prospects interact with us in the ways they want to?  

3. What’s causing friction and keeping prospects from converting?  

Step 2: Increase Conversions

How are you following up with leads?  

Your prospects are looking at other clubs, so you need to be the first one to follow up. You have a 90% more likely chance of converting if you’re the first club to reach out to them. Using different methods of communication can improve your response time and let your prospects convert in the way they want to.

Cover more ground by following up via:  

1. Email

2. Phone Call

3. Text Message

Put It Into Practice

Evaluate your member acquisition strategy and look for friction. After walking through each step of the sign-up process, ask yourself:  

1. How long does it take to sign up?  

2. How can we improve our response time?

3. How many clicks does it take to purchase a membership?  

Step 3: Activate Members

Are your members active within your club?

If you want members to engage with your club, you need to make it easy for them. On average, adults spend 3.5 hours on their phones per day. Make that habit work for you by engaging your members with a club app.  

An engaging app should be:  

1. Intuitive

2. All-In-One

3. Personalized

Put It Into Practice

Analyze your club’s mobile experience to find new ways to engage your members. After exploring your club’s app and website, ask yourself:  

1. How quickly can members receive updates?  

2. Is it easy for members to sign up for classes?

3. Can our app offer members personalized recommendations?

Step 4: Customize Experiences

Are you creating unique member experiences?

Your members want a club experience that reflects who they are as individuals. 71% of consumers say that how well a company understands their individual needs impacts their loyalty. Strengthen your member relationships and improve retention by personalizing their membership journey.  

Create unique experiences by customizing your:

1. Memberships

2. Programming

3. Facility Access

4. Communication

Put It Into Practice

Evaluate your full membership journey, and look for ways to tailor it to your members’ specific wants and needs. While brainstorming ways to create unique experiences, ask yourself:  

1. Can we create membership profiles?

2. How are we communicating with each member?

3. How can we use segmentation to personalize our member experience?

Step 5: Automate Admin  

Are your management systems slowing you down?

Your admin systems determine how efficient your staff and operations are. You need tools that manage your staff’s responsibilities while supporting your overall growth. Identify your inefficient processes and automate them.  

Your management system should:  

1. Prevent Terminations

2. Provide Guiding Data

3. Give Your Staff More Time  

4. Avoid Payment Decline Fees

Put It Into Practice

Take stock of your management systems and find pain points you can eliminate. While looking for redundant or inefficient systems, ask yourself:  

1. Are we getting the data we need?

2. Do our systems support our staff?

3. Does our software proactively update member data?

Creating a great member experience isn’t a one-and-done task – you need to engage members at every step in their club journey.