How to Engage and Retain Members After the New Year’s Rush

|

December 30, 2022

|

category

minute read

PUblished

December 30, 2022

Woman in a blue tank top running on the treadmill.

Exercising more is one of the most common New Year’s resolutions, so your club may see an influx of new members in January. While they may start their membership with every intention of staying, not every member will stick around all year.

Studies show that only 8% of Americans will keep their New Year’s resolutions year-round, and 80% fail by the start of February. Losing that many new members can have a drastic impact on your club’s overall revenue and growth.

With the right member engagement strategy, you can retain more members come February 1st. Let’s go over how to engage the right members, increase your retention, and re-engage lost members.

Attract the Right Members With Your Brand Story

It’s easy for members to break their new health habit if your club’s experience doesn’t match their expectations. Don’t waste your time marketing to leads if their goals don’t align with your offerings. If you want more happy members post-New Year’s, focus on building relationships that are aligned with your club’s brand story.

Brand stories help members understand who you are and how your club will deliver on its promises. An authentic story humanizes your club, building trust between you and your members. As they consider their options, members will use your story to decide if your club is right for them.

A compelling brand story should be:

  • Personal
  • Focused
  • Authentic
  • Meaningful

Your brand story should help members understand how your club will meet their unique needs. Instead of promoting your offerings, share how those offerings will help them keep their New Year’s health resolutions. Your messaging will resonate more when your audience can clearly understand how your club will help them accomplish their health goals.

Engage Members With Curated Communication

New Year’s members are excited about reaching their health and wellness goals. To keep them motivated year-round, you need to be intentional about how you use each of your communication channels. Text messages, push notifications, and emails are three of the best ways to ensure members are receiving and engaging with your messages.

Text Messages

Texting is a quick and direct way to reach members. Texts have a 98% open rate and 83% are read within 3 minutes of being received, making texting a great way to update members on club events and encourage in-person visits. When paired with member segmentation, texting can drive upsells for your spa services, personal training, and new programming.

Push Notifications

Mobile devices are one of your members’ most frequently used communication channels. Similarly to texting, push notifications directly engage members with curated content. Use push notifications to remind members about their classes or pique their interest with helpful resources. Regular reminders will keep your club at the top of their mind.

Emails

Email marketing is a personal experience, and successful emails reflect the interests of the member receiving them. Segment your contact list so members always receive information relevant to their interests. Tailoring your fitness challenges, meal plans, and discounts to your member segments shows members you understand their needs.

Re-Engage Lost Members With a Win-Back Strategy

Not every member will stay after the New Year’s rush. Preparing a win-back strategy will help you re-engage lost members and recover your revenue.

Find Out Why

Before you can win back a member, you need to learn why they canceled their membership. Is there a service your club doesn’t offer? Could you have done something to encourage them to stay?

During the cancellation process, use a digital form to request and store their feedback. Understanding their motivation will give you an opportunity to offer assistance and plan how you’ll win them back.

Stay In Contact

Their cancellation email shouldn’t be the last time they hear from your club. Continue sending them valuable content to maintain your relationship. Instead of focusing on sales, show them you still care about their goals and create an opportunity for them to return when they’re ready.

Make It Easy to Return

A frustrating or time-consuming sign-up process can discourage lost members from returning. Your membership process should be quick, simple, and accessible online. The easier it is for lost members to restart their memberships, the more likely it is they’ll return.

Offer a Welcome Back Program

Returning members should receive the same level of care and attention new members do. Make it a priority to welcome them back to your club. Their motivations may have changed while they were gone. Work together to plan their new fitness goals and help them settle into a routine at your club.

Don’t let your New Year’s members slip away. With a solid engagement and retention strategy, you can keep them around all year.

Want to learn more?

Using your CRM to its fullest potential can increase retention by 14%. Learn how you can use your CRM to drive and engage leads from the Club Automation team.

Watch this webinar to learn:

  • How to nurture prospects after a free trial
  • Which tools you’ll need to reach leads at the right time
  • Why being the first to respond can convert more members 

What’s a Rich Text element?

Thi sis a

Static and dynamic content editing

A rich text element can be used with static or dynamic content. For static content, just drop it into any page and begin editing. For dynamic content, add a rich text field to any collection and then connect a rich text element to that field in the settings panel. Voila!

dadasd

Static and dynamic content editing. A rich text element can be used with static or dynamic content. For static content, just drop it into any page and begin editing. For dynamic content, add a rich text field to any collection and then connect a rich text element to that field in the settings panel. Voila!

Static and dynamic content editing

A rich text element can be used with static or dynamic content. For static content, just drop it into any page and begin editing. For dynamic content, add a rich text field to any collection and then connect a rich text element to that field in the settings panel. Voila!

ddddd

A rich text element can be used with static or dynamic content. For static content, just drop it into any page and begin editing. For dynamic content, add a rich text field to any collection and then connect a rich text element to that field in the settings panel. Voila!

dsadadasdas

A rich text element can be used with static or dynamic content. For static content, just drop it into any page and begin editing. For dynamic content, add a rich text field to any collection and then connect a rich text element to that field in the settings panel. Voila!

A rich text element can be used with static or dynamic content. For static content, just drop it into any page and begin editing. For dynamic content, add a rich text field to any collection and then connect a rich text element to that field in the settings panel. Voila!

  • Just drop it into any page and begin editing. For dynamic content, add a rich text field to any collection
  • Any collection and then connect
  • This i any collection and then connect

Into any page and begin editing. For dynamic content, add a rich text field to any collection and then connect a rich text element to that field in the settings panel. Voila!

other articles

continued reading

How to Generate Team Buy-In When Switching Club Management Software

read article

How to Generate Team Buy-In When Switching Club Management Software

Transitioning to new club management software is a big decision, and getting your staff on board is critical. Follow these steps to encourage confidence and team buy-in during the transition.

Read Article

Introducing Our Newest Partner: Easalytics, the Analytics and Data Science Platform for Health Clubs

read article

Introducing Our Newest Partner: Easalytics, the Analytics and Data Science Platform for Health Clubs

The Club Automation team is thrilled to announce our partnership with Easalytics, the ultimate analytics and data science platform for health clubs. With Easalytics, health clubs can gain deeper insights into member behavior and improve the member experience, value, and retention.

Read Article

How to Launch a New Group Fitness Program at Your Health Club

read article

How to Launch a New Group Fitness Program at Your Health Club

Introducing a new group fitness program at your club may seem like a quick and simple process. You add the new classes to your schedule, post some flyers and classes get booked. Right? As a club leader, you know that’s not the case. However, if it’s not that easy, is there really a right way to introduce a new group fitness program? We think so, and this post outlines a blueprint to successfully starting a new program at your club.

Read Article

Here’s How Your Club Will Thrive with Full Service Billing

read article

Here’s How Your Club Will Thrive with Full Service Billing

You understand the importance of a robust health club management solution because it’s how you run the back office of your facility. You also know that a huge component in running your business is the most important factor affecting your bottom line: billing solutions. CSI Spectrum’s Full Service Billing enables your health club to maintain positive cash flow, while saving you time so you can focus on fostering meaningful member relationships on the floor.

Read Article

Build Your Club’s Brand in 6 Steps

read article

Build Your Club’s Brand in 6 Steps

In an effort to offer guidance and support to the people in our industry, Club Automation and CSI Spectrum partnered with IHRSA to present the webinar “What’s Your Story?: Shaping Your Fitness Club’s Brand & Value.” In the presentation, Joe Grieshop and Ron Campbell discussed concepts of positioning your club to attract members though emotional engagement, the key to successful branding.

Read Article

Knowledge of Payments Promotes Growth in Health Clubs: History of Payments

read article

Knowledge of Payments Promotes Growth in Health Clubs: History of Payments

To know where we’re going, it’s useful to look back at where we’ve been. Reliable, optimized payments solutions are essential to any member-based health, wellness, and fitness organization. Before we dive into the Xs and Os of retaining revenue, let’s take a look at the history of payments and relevant terms.

Read Article

Payments Security is Vital to Your Club

read article

Payments Security is Vital to Your Club

How can you know for sure your club’s payments are secure? We break down the various aspects of payments security to avoid the costs of a security breach, and help you choose a robust system best suited to your business practices.

Read Article

Ready to outrival
the best?

Talk to our team and unlock your full potential.

Get a Demo
Get a Demo