Sometimes, some members will want to freeze their gym membership. Whilst a freeze is better than a complete cancellation, it doesn’t change the fact that it’s one less payment you’ll be seeing in your bank account each month.
We’ve already discussed why someone might want to freeze their membership, now let’s get into how you can prevent members from freezing their memberships altogether.
Help Your Members Build Good Habits
Did you know that nearly a quarter of people with a gym membership cancel because of non-use? To keep members using their memberships, create content focused on helping them build good habits. Once they’ve formed a solid habit of using your gym as their place of exercise, they’ll see their gym membership as a necessity rather than a luxury; a non-negotiable part of their weekly routine and are therefore less likely to want to freeze their membership.
Get To Know Your Customers
Understanding your members on a deeper level will help you pre-emptively identify reasons that they might want to freeze their membership. Perhaps they’re not achieving their goals as fast as they wanted, or maybe they’ve picked a style of training that isn’t quite right for them. Decisions like these can leave them wondering if it’s worth continuing with their membership.
Take premeditative action based on your knowledge and address concerns before they arise. That could be checking in with them while they’re on the gym floor to see how things are going. You could send out automated emails to customers that have held membership for a while to get feedback on their experience. Another great idea we’ve seen some gyms introduce is asking why they’re joining the club as part of the joining process so that you can offer guidance from day one.
Build A Community On Social Media
Engage with your members on social media to make sure they’re thinking about the gym even when they’re not at the gym. Share videos of how to use the equipment, tips to correct poor form and encourage post-session selfies tagging the gym.
FOMO (or Fear of Missing Out) is a powerful marketing tactic to show members that if they’re not attending the club, they’re missing out on something fun. Once your at-risk member sees what a great time the other members are having, they’ll perhaps think twice about freezing their membership. Promote member achievements and upload photos from fitness classes to show your customers they’re more than just a number at your gym.
ClubRight even offers a Share with Your Friends feature that allows members to publish a post straight to their social media feed sharing that they’ve just booked a class or bought a membership to your gym.
Let’s round up the most effective ways to prevent membership freezes. First, get to know your customers as much as possible. Next, teach them how to build positive habits around their workouts so that attending your gym becomes a non-negotiable part of their routine. Finally, use social media to build a community at the club for a more meaningful experience that your customers won’t want to miss.
ClubRight is the go-to member management software that takes care of everything from managing memberships and billing to class bookings and online joining – plus a whole lot more. Give us a call today on +44 (0)203 884 977 or book a free online demo with one of our product experts to find out why we’re trusted by more than 750+ fitness businesses across the UK.
