Retaining members is the number one challenge all fitness studio owners face. With more and more gyms opening up and new fitness crazes emerging, staying competitive and holding onto your existing members has never been more difficult.
Fortunately, Fitness Audio is here to help. Here are our top tips for staying competitive, retaining your members, and getting more sign-ups along the way.
Build a Community
Tennis clubs have the highest levels of member retention than any other type of fitness club in Australia. This is because they nail community building. Most tennis clubs encourage their members to play against the same people, which instigates the formation of bonds and relationships between members, making them more loyal to their club.
Building a strong sense of community is a tactic all fitness centres can employ, not just tennis clubs. You may go about this by offering free group fitness classes to members so they have an opportunity to meet and train with one another, run competitions or other social events, or offer group training sessions.
Personalise Your Member’s Experience
Treating every member of your gym as a valued part of your community will also help improve member retention. People like to feel special and not like a means for your gym to make money. Simply remembering their names, greeting them, making regular small talk, and sending happy birthday emails or texts will go a long way!
Make Sure Your Members are Comfortable
If you want your members to keep coming back to your gym, you should make it easy for them - especially if they are beginners. Providing them with helpful guides and posters regarding your equipment, different workouts, and exercise dos and don’ts will make them much more comfortable and willing to come back.
Always ensure you have experienced and friendly staff around the gym floor who can lend your members a hand, too.
Invest in the Best
When it comes to investing in equipment, you need to think outside the box. Investing in state-of-the-art and high-quality exercise equipment is fairly obvious in maximising member retention. Investing in new software is not as obvious, however will also make a huge difference in improving member retention.
You want to make it easy for your members to book in a training session or fitness class, so ensuring you have simple and easily accessible software online or on an app to do so will make a difference. Similarly, investing in software that tracks your members performance and compares their results throughout their journey will inspire them to come back again and again.
Create an Unforgettable Workout Environment
Last but not least, you need to build an atmosphere that motivates your members and creates an enjoyable workout experience. To do this, you want to ensure you have a quality sound system that compliments your space and delivers crisp music and voice audio. The best way to go about this is to invest in a custom sound system for your gym. This will involve an audio specialist conducting an assessment of your studio and designing a custom sound system that will compliment your space. Don’t forget fitness microphones too if you’re teaching classes!
You also want to install the right lighting in your gym. For group fitness class rooms, such as Spin and Pilates studios, having dynamic, colour-changing lighting will create an unforgettable workout environment for your members that inspires them and keeps them coming back!
Maximising member retention will play a massive role in the overall success of your business. Although it may require some up-front investment, having the right equipment, software, and atmosphere will make a big difference!
If you’re wanting to install a new sound or lighting system in your fitness studio, get in touch with Fitness Audio today. Our expert designers and installers will help you create the perfect environment that will set you up for long-term member retention!
