Research showed 54 per cent of former members might rejoin if given an incentive
TERESA HURLEY Head of School of Management • DIT
“T
he lapsed member market represents an overlooked facet of
business that health and fitness operators need to pay greater attention to: it can prove easier to re-engage this market and is more cost-effective than finding new members. Research has shown the net return on a new customer from an external source is 23 per cent, compared to a 214 per cent return from the reinstatement of a defected customer. So maintaining and utilising an accurate database of lapsed members is essential. Establishing why members leave is the starting point of the
re-engagement process and crucial to the success of any re- engagement strategy. However, my research showed that only 52 per cent of health and fitness operators in Ireland complete an exit analysis to find out why members leave. Clubs should be implementing a short exit analysis survey of every member who leaves, finding out what incentives would help re-engage them. Importantly, this survey should form part of the overall
customer service menu on offer in the club, with members regularly being asked their opinion of the service. This can provide an advance indication of members at risk of discontinuing membership, and affords clubs the opportunity to salvage potential lost business.
” August 2014 © Cybertrek 2014
ROB BARKER President • Precor
“R
e-engaging lapsed members is not the only way to grow market
penetration, and not as important as club location and ease of access, for example. However, I’ve spoken to many operators who say the lapsed member database is a good source of members. All lapsed members once valued the offering and had the exercise habit, so this is a good start. One of the main obstacles to re-engaging lapsed members
is that clubs don’t usually have a deep understanding of why people joined, what they did when they were in the club, and what caused them to lose the habit and cancel their membership. If clubs can capture this information while people are still members, it gives them a much better chance of re-engaging them at a later date. In order to get lapsed members back in, clubs need to offer
easily consumable services that people will be interested in. Special offers can be a good way of getting people back into the club, but once they’re there, you need to have a habit formation plan to retain them. If not, they will just yo-yo in and out of the door. It’s worth investing in electronic ways to re-engage customers: you can still look after members even without lots of human resource.
” Read Health Club Management online at
healthclubmanagement.co.uk/digital 31
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