retention series
ARE YOU EXPERIENCED?
Stuart Dyson investigates how the rise of experience management is leaving traditional member retention activities behind
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n 2000, The Fitness Industry Association (FIA) published its groundbreaking report, Winning the Retention Battle. Since then,
according to the FIA’s 2008 National Retention Report, these finding have been put to good use: overall, around 66 per cent of members have retained their membership for at least 12 months, compared with 61 per cent in 2000. What’s more, the median membership lifetime has increased from 9.5 months in 2000 to 16.7 months in 2007. However, these measurements tend to focus on rational and analytical
‘left brain’ information, with little consideration for the emotional aspects of customer experience, satisfaction and loyalty. We absolutely need to monitor our progress, but acting on numbers alone can create a sharp mismatch between the organisation’s approach to customer expectations and what customers actually want, often resulting in the failure of retention initiatives. The largely subconscious aspects of an experience that stimulate emotions
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and stir the senses play a tremendously important part in customer satisfaction and subsequent behaviour: there’s no question that talking to members more regularly – the most commonly touted strategy – can have a positive impact on retention, but surely we can do better than this? We need to counterbalance
‘left brain’ measurement with ‘right brain’ creativity to drive a genuinely member- focused retention strategy. However, at the present time
it would appear that few leisure operators factor this customer-centric thinking into their operations, and even fewer know how to go about it.
FROM CRM TO CEM
Traditionally, member retention – and indeed customer retention across most industries – has fallen into the domain of Customer Relationship Management (CRM), consisting of various planned cycles of contact to ensure members are ‘on track’ and not in danger of attrition. Those identified as ‘at risk’ receive an even more intense round of
Read Health Club Management online at
healthclubmanagement.co.uk/digital
Median lifetime membership across the sector rose from 9.5 to 16.7 months between 2000 and 2007
contact to ‘recover’ the member and move them out of the at-risk zone. Operators may even pay a company to do this on their behalf. But designing compelling experiences
requires a different set of skills – the application of creative ‘right brain’ thinking that focuses on the member’s point of view, stripping away any internal systems or attitudes that confl ict with this. Now known as Customer Experience Management (CEM), its
november/december 2011 © cybertrek 2011
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