As a gym owner, you know how important it is to get new members each month. But what you may not know is what your potential members are looking for for when they come and visit your studio for the first time.
But the stats do. Here are 8 statistics that tell you what people actually want in a fitness studio:
1. 95% OF FITNESS STUDIO MEMBERS COME BACK BECAUSE OF THEIR INSTRUCTORS
It’s important to get the right people in your team, especially if they’re going to be representing your brand in an important position like a group fitness instructor. Good instructors must not only give good classes … they set the tone for your members’ entire gym experience. As the frontliners, they should be able to motivate your members and get them to work harder for their fitness goals so they keep returning to class week after week.
When interviewing, here are some things to keep in mind:
- Set expectations right away. Let them know what’s expected of them by going over what your gym culture is, the expected hours, your level of customer service, etc. need to Knowing these things early in will likely help them succeed at your location.
- Get down and dirty. Ask the hard questions — when’s a time they missed a deadline or got fired? Why did it happen? Did they learn anything from it?
- Administer a personality test. This gives you more insight into their how they are going to be in the workplace, if they fit in with the rest of the team, how their work ethic is, and even how they prefer to be led and talked with.
2. 50% OF MEMBERS STAY AT THEIR CURRENT GYM BECAUSE IT WAS CONVENIENT TO GET TO.
Convenience is a big factor that determines whether or not people will return to your gym after their first visit. Remember, your members want something that fits easily into their routine.
Here are some ways you can make your studio more convenient:
- Offer more class times, and make sure you are covering the hours when people are getting off work, early in the morning, or maybe catching a quick workout during lunch hour.
- Offer child care or “mommy and me” classes
- Incorporate a snack or smoothie bar your members can visit after workouts
- Use a reliable scheduling software so that members can book classes from their smartphones
3. 46% OF FORMER MEMBERS CANCEL BECAUSE OF EXPENSES.
Let’s pause here for a minute.
Pricing is a tricky subject for a lot of fitness studios. When your members say the “membership is too expensive, they really mean they are not getting enough value from it.
Take a look at everything your gym has to offer. Do your members typically leave right after a workout, or do they hang around for a bit after class and chat? Do your instructors take the time to engage with each one of their students, or are they leaving some of them out? What is your gym culture? Does it match what you think it should be?
4. 60% OF MEMBERS WITH LAPSED MEMBERSHIPS WOULD CONSIDER REJOINING.
According to a Nielsen survey from 2013, 60% of fitness studio members who let their memberships lapse would consider rejoining. So your lapsed or canceled members provide a huge opportunity for growing your membership.
A simple way to stay on their radar is to add that member’s email address to a mailing list specifically for canceled members. Send this newsletter out less frequently than your main one, like once every other month or quarterly, and make sure you include:
- Offers or promotions that you are running
- Gym Highlights since the last newsletter
- Sneak peeks at upcoming events or challenges
- Features about your top performing members (challenge winners, most visits, etc.)
And if you offer an incentive for previous members interested in rejoining, this is the perfect place to mention it.
5. MORE THAN 40% OF FITNESS STUDIOS NOW OFFER GROUP FITNESS CLASSES LIKE YOGA, BARRE, OR KICKBOXING.
Currently, 36% of all people who go to gyms do some type of fitness class, and that number just keeps growing! Capitalise on that by offering group classes! If your fitness studio falls into this 40%, then you’re already on the right track. But simply offering group fitness classes isn’t enough … find a way to stand out from the crowd. Here are a few suggestions:
- Build an awesome playlist
- Increase the competition (and turn class into a game) with heart rate monitors
- Survey your paying members and ask what other classes they’d like incorporated into your studio
- Offer amenities that provide an experience, like cool lavender towels after yoga, a snack bar after TRX or bootcamp, and so on
6. APPROXIMATELY 44% OF GYM-GOERS EXERCISE WITH AT LEAST 1 OTHER PERSON.
Having a gym buddy doesn’t just keep your members motivated during their workout, but it may even bring them back to your studio for longer. According to a 2011 study, couples who worked out together had a 6.3% dropout rate over the course of a year, compared to a whopping 43% dropout rate among couples who worked out separately.
This opens up an awesome opportunity for a membership referral program that includes incentives for both the current member and the lead they refer. This also makes your job of recruiting new members that much easier.
7. WOMEN MAKE UP 52% OF FITNESS CLUB MEMBERS AND 62% (OR MORE) OF GROUP FITNESS PARTICIPANTS.
It’s super important to know who your studio’s audience is. Studies show that fitness members are overwhelmingly women, especially when it comes to group fitness. Women are also more likely to purchase offers from Facebook, which comes in handy when you start advertising online.
So be sure that your brand appeals to your biggest audience. This means that your advertising imagery and wording must be geared toward the kind of members you want to attract.
8. 81% OF MILLENNIALS EXERCISE (OR WOULD LIKE TO), COMPARED TO 61% OF BABY BOOMERS.
If you struggle to attract enough members, you might not be in front of the right demographic. Studies show that millennials, or those aged 18-34, have a stronger desire to work out than people between 51 and 69.
So now that you’ve seen the numbers, and a better idea of what people want in a fitness studio. Let me know which you plan to incorporate and what else has worked for you!
