The VoicE Q4
the gym’s doors for several weeks. When an au-
tomated SMS campaign auto-recognizes this
occurrence and sends a brief SMS to schedule
a training session with that member, this opens
the doors for communication. Perhaps this new
member is intimidated and needs training with
equipment. When they send a response agree-
ing to book a training session, this enables staff
to get on top of the situation before the member
becomes increasingly frustrated or discouraged.
By automating campaigns to prevent drop off
in the critical early stages, successful gyms are
able to build relationships and retain more new
members.
The graphic to the right demonstrates the
reduced churn of engaged members, compared
to their non-engaged counterparts, showing the
value of regularly engaging with members
The End Goal is High Lifetime Value
What does higher happiness coupled with low-
er membership churn result in? Besides more
satisfied gym owners, the answer is higher life-
time value (or LTV). This metric indicates the rev-
enue you can expect per member throughout
the length of their tenure with your gym. Mea-
sure lifetime value against customer acquisition
costs (CAC) to ensure that you are recouping
your sales and marketing dollars with members
in the long term. On average, it is 5-7 times more
expensive to acquire a new customer than it is
to keep an existing customer. Knowing your life-
time value can drive informed decisions with
your customer acquisition budget. Most experts
agree that a desirable LTV to CAC ratio is 3:1.
Of course, It’s in your best interest to extend each
member’s length of stay with you. The automat-
ed drop off and feedback campaigns mentioned
above are two useful strategies to increase ten-
ure. Once you’re averaging high member tenure,
lifetime value can be driven even higher by incen-
tivizing members to upgrade their membership
packages, buy merchandise, or enroll in fitness
classes or personal training. Successful gyms
automate their campaigns to send special of-
fers periodically and upsell to loyal customers
throughout the customer journey. According to
Marketing Metrics, your chance of successfully
selling to an existing customer is 60-70%, com-
pared to just 5-20% with a new prospect. Keep
this in mind when considering which audience to
market new products and services to. Nurturing
relationships with customers and making them
feel valued throughout the customer journey is
powerful for your bottom line, and paying atten-
tion to happiness, member churn, and lifetime
value while automating engagement enables you
to successfully grow your gym business.
About the Author
Andrea Grbavac is head
of Customer Success at
Gleantap, an AI-enabled
customer engagement
platform that dramatically increases member
retention for gyms and wellness studios. She
works with clients in the fitness and wellness
space to craft campaigns that optimize their
marketing and engagement strategies. An-
drea is passionate about all things health and
fitness and is an avid yogi in the beautiful city
of Austin, Texas.
13