Over the past several years, my firm, the Health Club
Development Company, has spent hundreds of hours
researching and analyzing the attitudes of current health
club members, as well as the behaviors that pose barriers
to joining for nonmembers. Our ultimate objective has
been to ascertain, and intimately understand, what people
truly “value” with respect to joining, utilizing, and remain-
ing members of clubs.
We’ve conducted this research by reviewing existing scientific studies, consulting with authorities in
exercise physiology, interviewing hundreds of club members, and conducting Web-based
Member Satisfaction Surveys in 2008 and 2009 that, in all, involved more than 7,500 respondents.
Recently, we’ve been assisted in these efforts by our professional partners, including IHRSA,
Advance Health Solutions, LLC, and Les Mills International, Ltd.
The following report represents a “snapshot” of some of the key points and findings that we’ve
discovered in analyzing our data set. These notions, ideas, observations, opinions, trends, and
conclusions—in short, all of the elements that are part of the membership-decision equation—
reflect what members value most about the health club experience.
u
What do members LOVE about
the overall health club experience?
“LOVe” About Health Percent
Club experience & rank
Members lOVe variety:
Variety of equipment 63.90%
One of the questions on the 2009 Member Satisfaction
Variety of Classes 42.40%
Survey asked people what they “loved” most about
the overall health club experience. More than 6,500
Motivating Atmosphere 41.60%
individuals responded. Exercise “variety” was the top
Access to Knowledgeable Staff 34.70%
consideration, as “variety of equipment” and “variety of
Getting Away from Home or Work 33.50%
classes” were ranked No. 1 and No. 2, respectively. The Healthy, Happy Club Culture 32.50%
Video entertainment
31.70%
While exercising
Being Around Other Healthy People 25.70%
The Fun Social Appeal <10%
v
Rate the following factors in their
overall importance in making a
decision to join a health club:
a professional staff has a positive
Service
Highest
effect on membership sales:
Value

A knowledgeable, professional fitness staff is an essential
Professional Staff &
1
Knowledgeable Trainers
element in convincing prospects of a club’s value during
the membership sales process. Club members made this
Multiple Group-X rooms w/
2
Great Classes
point loud and clear on more than one occasion during
several recent surveys. For example, in one conducted in
Over 100 Pieces of Cardio equipment
3
the summer of 2008, they were asked to rate the most
Impressive Strength Training Area 4
important factors influencing their decision to join a club.
Huge Facility with Many Amenities 5
There were 1,336 responses. “Professional Staff and
Mind-Body Classes: Yoga & Pilates 6
Knowledgeable Trainers” was rated No. 1 out of the list
of 10 possible choices.>
Includes Pool & B-Ball Courts 7
Appealing Style and Décor 8
Quality Programming for Families 9
Quality Child Care Programs 10
www.ihrsa.org | SePTeMBer 2009 | Club Business International
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