TALKBACK
Kath Hudson • Journalist • Health Club Management EVERYONE’S TALKING ABOUT . . .
Engaging ex-members I
Your ex-members have already bought into the concept of paying for a membership at your club once, so it should be easy to convince them to do it again. Right?
n a panel discussion at the European Health & Fitness Forum in Cologne in April, the question was asked how we can move the
fi tness sector beyond 12 or 13 per cent penetration in the UK. Precor’s new president, Rob Barker, argued that one way to do this would be to target lapsed (ex) members: there are legions of people who have once been members of a gym, but, for whatever reason, have left. These people are already converted
– they’ve already bought into the idea of exercise, and gym membership, once – so surely the industry stands a good chance of re-engaging them? Or does it? Are these people once bitten, twice shy? Did their experience
put them off, or was it just a case of other factors getting in the way that caused them to leave? Did their experience as a club member springboard them into another type of out-of-club activity, or have they already joined another club? Evidence suggests that, when people
leave a club, they tend to stop exercising. Research by Teresa Hurley, head of the school of management at the Dublin Institute of Technology, revealed that 85 per cent of the lapsed members they surveyed had not joined another health club – but 54 per cent said they would consider rejoining if given an incentive. In our bargain hunting society, a price
reduction was the most popular sweetener to rejoin: 38 per cent said
they would be tempted by money off, while 8 per cent said a salon gift token would be enough to get them to reconsider. Hurley tested this finding further: a gift token received a 3 per cent response rate, while a price discount received a 27 per cent response rate. So is a money-off voucher the way to
go about re-engaging lapsed members, or does a cheaper membership devalue the experience and fail to get true buy-in? Are there other ways to go about getting people back into your gym? Most lapsed members start to disengage with the gym weeks or even months before they cancel their membership, so can they be caught earlier? We ask the experts....
HOW CAN WE GET EX-MEMBERS BACK INTO OUR GYMS? EMAIL US:
HEALTHCLUB@LEISUREMEDIA.COM
GUY GRIFFITHS Director • GG Fit
“C
lubs with 1,000 members will probably have about 1,500 ex-
members, many of whom are thinking about re-joining and just need a push. We regularly survey clubs’ ex-members about their current exercise habits and usually find that over 50 per cent are currently doing nothing. When making contact, email is the cheapest, easiest and
provides intelligence in terms of opens and clicks. But email is also the easiest to ignore, so it’s important to mix the communication up – for example, SMS, a phone call or even a hand-written postcard if you have some news that will really resonate with the person. In order to do this effectively, you will need to find out about their goals while they are a member. Don’t make messages too sales-like, or full of special offers:
you risk devaluing the club with lots of discounts. Instead, talk about news that might be relevant, such as a new class or refurbished showers. Make sure the focus is on how you can help them as members if they come back. The key is to focus on what the member is trying to achieve.
Find out what they are interested in early on and use that to make the message more personal later on. You need to make them feel special and re-enthuse them about their goals.
”
IAN HASSETT Group sales & marketing manager • The Health Club Collection
“W
hen the circumstances are right, lapsed members can be
a significant source of new business and can be brought in with little effort and resource by using electronic communications and automations. We maintain a high level of lapsed member communications
for a variety of reasons: with our City clubs, people often relocate and come back after a few years, so we aim to be the first port of call on their return. Also, by maintaining positive engagement, they might still recommend our clubs to friends who live in the area. We also inform lapsed members about circumstantial changes. For example, when we launched a pay- as-you-go option for studio classes, we targeted lapsed members who had cited lack of use as a reason for leaving the club. There was a significant uptake, and many have since rejoined. A lapsed member strategy should involve an online exit
survey, then stay in touch via social media and keep them engaged on their own terms. Our e-newsletters contain non-club specific communications, such as different training techniques, and we use personal preferences so people can opt out. When you have a reason to contact them about rejoining, use your data to make it specific and personal.
” 30 Read Health Club Management online at
healthclubmanagement.co.uk/digital August 2014 © Cybertrek 2014
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