THE 5 RULES OF RETENTION

Set Up Your Members for Success.

Walk into any health club and you’ll see men and women pushing through sets, trainers offering encouragement, staff cleaning the facility and equipment, and other familiar sights. But no matter how well managed your facility is, it won’t matter if members aren’t making any progress on their goals.

“The number one factor is results,” says Jim Thomas, president of Fitness Management USA. “A member might join for a great price or a cool new class, but they’ll only stay if they see tangible progress.”

It’s not always about losing weight or gaining muscle, Thomas adds. Mental clarity, improved energy, and stress relief often matter just as much. Whatever the goal, that sense of progress and accomplishment builds emotional loyalty—a bond that isn’t easily broken.

Dr. Paul Bedford, an international retention expert, agrees.

“Engaged members use the club on a regular basis and at regular times,” he says. “They participate in activities that they feel competent at and confident to perform.”

Don’t discount group activities and even gamification to help members bond with each other and your brand.

“Turning fitness into a game with leaderboards, challenges, and rewards can boost motivation,” Thomas says.

Done right, it creates community and friendly competition.

Keep Members Connected With Technology.

Stephen Smith, founder of HOTWORX, has built a business model around tech-driven fitness. At his infrared workout studios, every interaction is tracked and enhanced by digital tools.

“Everything’s in sync with our consumer app,” Smith says. “It opens the doors, schedules workouts, allows retail purchases, and tracks progress.”

The company’s proprietary Burn Off app is the command center for members, syncing with wearables and fitness trackers to help visualize calories burned and progress made.

“We’re going to expand our ability to sync through the Apple and Google ecosystems to include all devices—Garmin, Oura Ring, everything,” Smith adds. The future is complete integration.

AI is at the center of this movement.

“Hyper-personalization with AI on the member and business side is by far the biggest innovation on the horizon,” says Thomas.

AI, when used right, isn’t just reactive, it’s anticipatory, meeting members with solutions before they ask. Thomas sees massive potential in predictive analytics.

“AI can analyze workout data to suggest new classes, recommend specific trainers, or even predict which members are at risk of quitting, allowing staff to intervene proactively,” he says.

But tech alone won’t win the race. As Bedford says, actual progress will come from “behavior-change technology used in combination with human interactions.”

Smile—Old-School Tactics Still Work

Though the digital age dominates many conversations around retention, human touch points still hold power.

Terry Blachek, managing director at Franvest Capital Partners and a founding partner at Orangetheory Fitness, puts it simply: “Using people’s names, greeting with a smile, and making eye contact make a big difference.”

Bedford adds that simple human gestures, such as staff speaking to members, knowing their names, and giving positive feedback, often go further than operators may realize. They’re not high tech, but they are high touch and lead to stronger retention.

Don’t Just Track Behavior, Act.

When it comes to feedback, Blachek issues a caution to club owners looking to increase retention rates.

”Too often, owners react after the fact instead of planning ahead,” he says. “Another mistake is pretending to listen but not acting on feedback.”

Thomas agrees that ignoring feedback and data is a recipe for churn. So is relying on gimmicks without real value. “Discounting without adding value and using a one-size-fits-all approach with members are common mistakes,” he says.

Even popular trends can miss the mark if not properly integrated.

“Don’t copy what other operators are doing—they may have a different problem than you,” Bedford warns.

For Thomas, consistency is everything. He recommends operators track gym usage closely in the first 60 days.

“I like to see a new member use the gym 20 times in the first 60 days,” he says. “And follow up with members who used the gym four times or less over the previous 30 days.”

Have incentives and special offers in your toolbox. Be creative. Blachek takes a seasonal approach to incentives.

“Month one is your best offer. Month two, when excitement is high, give a personal gift. Month three, run a lead gen promotion with a big prize,” he says. “Then repeat the cycle.”

It may be old-fashioned incentivizing, but with strategic pacing, it delivers.

Keep Membership Terms and Payment Options Flexible.

Millennials, Gen Z, and Gen Alpha aren’t interested in rigid contracts. They want choices.

”Flexible payment options like Venmo, Cash App, or Zelle are important,” says Blachek. “Shared memberships, where one person pays and multiple people can be on the plan, also go a long way.”

Bedford is also seeing growth in pay-as-you-go and usage-based models, which provide financial flexibility.

Offering variety in workout programming is also key to appealing to Gen Z and Gen Alpha. These demographics are more apt to belong to more than one facility to engage in different workout modalities.

Bedford says that multi-activity users, made up of those who take classes, hit the weights, and use recovery spaces, tend to stick around longer.

Thomas also emphasizes the rise of hybrid and omnichannel services.

“Offering both in-person and on-demand virtual classes expands a club’s reach and provides flexibility,” he says.