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Retention@yourclub.com
Would
you like to renew your membership? “Let
me think about it”. “I’ll
fill out the forms next time I come in”.
“I haven’t been using the gym”.
Sound familiar? Retention is the ability to keep your members
coming back. Getting them to continue their memberships.
Once a customer has put their faith in you it is essential that you
make every effort to meet their expectations and retain them for the long
term.
To a degree this can be achieved through a well organised
follow up system. The six direct media – phone, mail, fax, email,
web and text – both individually and collectively are very powerful one
to one communication mechanisms at your disposal. In particular, Email
gives you the ability to correspond with your members quickly, personally,
and for a low cost.
Non-attendance equals non-renewal. It
is a simple equation, and one all club managers should be aware of.
If your members are not using your facility, generally they will
not renew their memberships. Email marketing is a useful tool for
clubs to motivate members to attend, up sell members with new products or
services, or to persuade current members to attract friends to the centre.
“Email
gives you the ability to correspond with your members quickly, personally,
and for a low cost."
A large proportion of individuals and households now have email addresses
that they check regularly. The
challenge is to build a permission-based database of members who
opt in to receive your emails, whether they are reminders, offers,
newsletters or referrals.
Consider the following email retention programme aimed at ensuring
your members ongoing use of your facility. Welcome
Email. An email
welcoming the member to the facility, outlining special features that may
be available during the course of their membership. Email
Survey. An email
survey asking how the member is enjoying the facility, or if there is
anything you can do to be of service.
Perhaps give the member the opportunity to come in for an upgrade
of their programme or an assessment. Referral Email.
Another general check up on how the member is enjoying the
facility. Perhaps giving them
the opportunity to bring a friend along for a trial workout with them. Giveaway
Email. An email
outlining some sort of giveaway the member can redeem by attending the
facility. Perhaps another
opportunity to upgrade their programme, a sunbed, half price massage or some other perceived benefit. With
regular contact, members will see value in their membership.
Email is an easy way to ensure regular contact with members.
However, it must be understood that this medium will not suit
everyone, and that a combination of approaches will be more effective than
single channel marketing.
If the steps designed to encourage members into the facility are
unsuccessful, the email medium can also be adopted as part of a member
rejoin campaign. Consider the
following email rejoin system as a method of reactivating those members
that have terminated. Drop Off Email.
“The management are very sorry that you have terminated
your membership…”
Follow Up Email.
“We thought you may be interested in the following offer that we
currently have available…”
Initial Phone Call.
A phone call from a membership consultant.
“Did you receive our offer?” Giveaway
Email. Offer the
member a personalised free gift, something that they can redeem on renewal
of their membership. Last Chance Email.
A final email, perhaps including a free trial if the member ever
decides to come back to facility.
“With
regular contact, members will see value in their membership.”
Last Chance Call.
A final phone call from a membership consultant.
Even if you are unsuccessful in convincing the member to rejoin,
take this chance to complete an exit interview to determine the member’s
reasons for terminating their membership.
This is valuable information for the ongoing evaluation of the
service you offer your members.
Marketing
on a Shoestring
Its
budget time again and all the worrying signs are there.
You require more members to cover the upcoming expenses, however,
you have limited capital available to assist you in wooing potential
customers. “Marketing on a
shoestring” is designed to give you marketing
ideas that will attract a significant number of new members but will not
cost your club the earth.
This
months marketing tip: Find-
a-friend
What
to do: Hand out / give
to all
of your current members four free trial passes to your facility. These passes need to reflect value, as the quality or
otherwise will be a reflection on the quality of your facility. Have the members name on all of the passes (to track
referrals), and you could even have a barcode pre printed so trial members
can use them as a temporary membership card.
Objective:
The objective is for your members to pass them on to their friends
to encourage them to come along and trial your facility.
Once you bring these trial members in the door then it is up to
your membership consultants to encourage them to join.
In the letter accompanying the trial passes, give your members
encouragement to “sell” your memberships.
Consider the following as an example.
“For
every trial member that joins on a 12 month term membership you will
receive one months extension to your membership”
“For
every 2 trial members that join on 12 month term membership you
will receive one months free membership and two personal training
sessions”.
Perhaps if they refer 4 friends you might even give them a weekend away or
something of considerable value. This
may mean up to $4,000 to your facility, so reward them their commitment to
your club.
Try
this marketing tip at your club, but remember, marketing gets potential
members in the door… however you must have appropriate sales systems in
place to ensure they join your club!!
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