RETENTION
Figure 2: Cancellation rate (number of cancellations per 1,000 members per month) by level of motivation and reported progress
40 35 30 25 20 15 10 5 0
35 31 25 23 19 20 15 19 23 19 21 15 16 24 26
PROGRESS NOTED IN THE LAST THREE MONTHS
YES 44 NO
Low
High Motivated by fi tness
Low
High Motivated by appearance
progress on a wide range of factors. The areas that most members report progress on are enjoying exercise, and feeling fi tter and healthier. Factors where the lowest proportion of members report progress are losing weight and making new friends. On average, members report progress
on eight of the 10 factors in Figure 1, with no real differences by gender, age group or length of membership. However, members who use their club at least three times a week report signifi cantly more progress than members who visit less than once a week. But is the level of progress related
to retention, and what are the most important factors? For each factor that members report they have made progress on, the risk of cancelling during the seven months after answering the question
Table 2: Measures of progress ranked by risk of cancelling (1= lowest risk)
Factor I made new friends
I attended the club as often as planned
I am healthier
I improved my muscle tone I have enjoyed exercise I lost weight I feel fi tter
I improved my appearance I have more energy I feel happier
Rank 1 2
3 4 5 6 7 8 8 8
Low
High Motivated by enjoyment
Low
High Motivated by friendship
reduces by 10 per cent. This is true for members at all periods of membership. This suggests it’s always important for members to feel they’re making progress, however long they’ve been a member. Table 2 (see below) shows each of the
measures of progress ranked by how much they reduce the risk of cancelling. Members who made a friend in the last three months were least likely to cancel during the seven months after being surveyed – they were 40 per cent less likely to cancel their membership than members who did not make a friend. In fact, if all members had made a friend in the last three months, 14 per cent (214) of the 1,526 cancellations during the study’s follow-up period would have been avoided. Attending the club at the level
planned came second to making a friend
– this reduced the risk of cancelling by 11 per cent. Improved appearance, having more energy and feeling happier were perhaps surprisingly not related to the risk of cancelling.
Motivation & progress Do members need to make progress on the things they’re motivated by to reduce the rate of cancelled memberships? The orange columns in Figure 2 (see
above) represent the rate of cancellation for members reporting high and low levels of motivation, and who also report progress on the same factor. For example, there are 19 cancellations per 1,000 members per month among those who aren’t really motivated by fi tness, but who nevertheless see progress in this area. The blue columns represent the rate
of cancellation for members who report levels of motivation but do not report
50 Read Health Club Management online at
healthclubmanagement.co.uk/digital
any progress on things they’re motivated by – eg, there are 35 cancellations per 1,000 members per month among those who report being highly motivated by fi tness, but who do not see results. The fi rst thing that can be seen is that
all of the orange columns are lower than their corresponding blue columns, indicating that reporting progress always reduces the rate of cancelling compared to making no progress. Secondly, members who report
being highly motivated for each type of motivation – but who fail to report progress on those motivations – have the highest rates of cancellation. This group of members might be referred to as disappointed optimists. They might have had overly optimistic expectations about how much change they would see, and are then disappointed when they fail to achieve these anticipated changes. This is particularly true for members
motivated by enjoyment, who then fi nd they’re not enjoying their exercise. These members are more than twice as likely to cancel compared to those who are motivated by enjoyment and who report they have enjoyed their exercise. The lowest levels of cancellation
are seen among members who report having made friends in the last three months, irrespective of whether this was one of their stated motives for exercising in the fi rst place.
July 2014 © Cybertrek 2014
Cancellations per 1,000 per month
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