Gym attendance patterns change in summer. Morning sessions fill earlier, evening classes lose numbers, and of course, member consistency can suffer. Today we will be looking at whether treating this as a retention crisis is to misread what is actually happening and what we can do to boost retention rates at this critical point in the fitness calendar.
We all know that despite the attendance stats, members and potential members are not becoming less active during summer months. As the days get longer and temperatures rise, it is simply that a greater proportion of their activity is able to happen outside the walls of a fitness facility.
As such, it makes some sense that your gym’s share of their time might decrease. So the real question is what can be done to make sure this disruption doesn’t become membership cancellation?
The Member Groups Behaving Differently and Why
Of course not every member and potential member will act the same way over the summer, so it is important to identify which categories your members are falling into and in what number. Today we are going to look at three distinct summer members archetypes that are likely to see their pattern shift.
Socially goal-oriented members
These are the ones training towards a holiday or an event…Not a sporting event mind you, we will cover that group later. This is more ‘getting in shape for the wedding’, the classic ‘summer bod’ rush. They often increase the intensity and frequency of their training in the weeks before their deadline, then disengage sharply once it passes. Their motivation is undoubtedly high but the timeframe they set themselves can sometimes be a little unrealistic.
Without a new goal to move towards, dropout after the holiday/event/wedding can be pretty swift unless they have really enjoyed your gym. These members respond well to structured programming and clear progress tracking during their active window, but either need something to move towards afterwards or to be taken in by the sense of community and value your facility offers if you want to retain them.
Members with Sporadic/Disrupted Attendance
Often these members aren’t even dissatisfied with your service.
Their day-to-day options for both fitness and socialising have expanded as the weather has improved and the gym is no longer their default. Some members get caught up in the rush of Spring and might keep their direct debit rolling over without actively thinking about it. Some have a summer full of travel, events and other disruptions to contend with.
Your attendance reports will highlight that these members are at real cancellation risk when they realise that they are paying for a service they are not using and have not heard from you in weeks.
Members Training for Sporting Events
This time we mean sporting events, not weddings. Whether they are charity runs, triathlons, cycling events, are often training more than they usually would in summer, not less. What they want is to know that your facility is providing the programming and expertise that will support their goals. Not only that, they should feel that they would struggle to get elsewhere, especially if they were to switch to either outdoor or home-workouts. Appealing to these members is a case of convincing them they are in the right place to achieve their goals.
Scheduling and Programming
If your class timetable has not changed since October, look at whether it still reflects when members actually want to train. Early morning demand increases in summer as members try to complete training before work and preserve their evenings. Sessions running at strong capacity through winter may be losing numbers if they now conflict with how members want to use their time.
Trial changes based on what your booking data is telling you. A 6am session that would not have been filled in January may run at capacity in June. An evening class at 6:30pm may be directly competing with the outdoor time members now want to protect.
On programming, the complementary relationship between gym training and outdoor activity is straightforward to communicate and easy to act on. Runners benefit from lower body strength work and injury prevention programming. Cyclists benefit from hip flexor mobility, upper back strength, and, of course, core stability. Swimmers benefit from shoulder health and pulling movements. For those goal-oriented members we covered earlier you can easily broaden your appeal by a combination of targeted messaging (as we will cover in the next section) and appropriate class offerings.
Building programming blocks around well-attended local events gives members a specific outcome to work towards. A six-week strength programme tied to a local 10k or event in September, starting in July, provides structure and purpose at a time when motivation can otherwise become unfocused. If done right it can create a community of members with a shared goal.
Communication
Communicating when attendance drops is vital. Members who feel included during periods of lower activity are significantly more likely to re-engage in autumn than those who have drifted quietly and now face an awkward return to a gym that has not been in touch.
It isn’t enough just to reach out, the content of the message matters. Promotional messaging about membership deals is poorly timed for a member who is already paying and simply training outdoors more. The first and most obvious principle should be to make sure the content is actually useful and pertinent to them, whether that is discounts and offers, training advice for maintaining gym progress alongside outdoor activity, or even event preparation tips keep you engaged with your members even as their habits shift.
Personal contact with members who have not visited in four to six weeks remains one of the most effective retention tools available to independent gyms and fitness clubs looking to retain members. It is much easier to manage this through a combination of reports and Customer Relationship Management software.
What Your Data Can Tell You
If you are reading this, you are likely someone who cares about the UK’s fitness industry. If so, we ask for another minute of your time as we discuss something important to all of us within the fitness industry.
Here at Ashbourne Membership Management, we have been proud to work with dynamic, innovative independent gyms for nearly three decades. At time of writing the UK government has decided to increase business rates as part of the latest budget. While we are always happy to pay our way, we believe that these rates do not acknowledge the incredible benefit that independent gyms and fitness clubs bring to society.
Every party manifesto claims that they want the people of the UK to be healthier, happier and more active. But when the time comes to match action to rhetoric, our industry is too often left out.
So if you want to make your voice heard alongside the hundreds who have already acted, follow the link here to Fair Rates for Fitness, a campaign being championed by our partners over at the Gym Owner’s Forum.
Fair Rates For Fitness
If you are reading this, you are likely someone who cares about the UK’s fitness industry. If so, we ask for another minute of your time as we discuss something important to all of us within the fitness industry.
Here at Ashbourne Membership Management, we have been proud to work with dynamic, innovative independent gyms for nearly three decades. At time of writing the UK government has decided to increase business rates as part of the latest budget. While we are always happy to pay our way, we believe that these rates do not acknowledge the incredible benefit that independent gyms and fitness clubs bring to society.
Every party manifesto claims that they want the people of the UK to be healthier, happier and more active. But when the time comes to match action to rhetoric, our industry is too often left out.
So if you want to make your voice heard alongside the hundreds who have already acted, follow the link here to Fair Rates for Fitness, a campaign being championed by our partners over at the Gym Owner’s Forum.
