Behind the Numbers: Why New Members Leave and How to Make Them Stay

Wodify is the leading all-in-one gym software, trusted by 5,000 of the world’s top businesses. With one of the largest & most accurate datasets in the industry, we decided to create this blog series in order to share specific metrics that are proven to drive results, insights from the most successful gyms, and how Wodify customers can track their progress. 

In the last Behind the Numbers blog we announced our newest feature, custom reporting, which allows you to customize how you gather and report your business’s data. Aside from all of the reasons cited in the blog post, keeping track of data is crucial to your business’s success because it can help you nurture leads and new clients.

Why is lead and new client nurturing so important? After analyzing 14 million Wodify attendee data points, this Behind the Numbers blog reveals that new clients are 68% more likely to cancel their memberships if they haven’t attended class in 20 or more days than long-term clients.

We want to share more of this data, explain why it’s important to know it, and, most importantly, give you tools to manage your gym membership effectively.

The Data Uncovered

To reach this conclusion, over 14 million Wodify attendee data points were analyzed and categorized. This data revealed the following conclusions regarding how likely it is for a client to return to class:

The graph above shows the difference in average return rates among clients with varying membership lengths. The sharp decline of the blue line represents the rapid decline in the likelihood of clients returning in their first month; the longer the time goes on, the more likely they are not to attend a class. In other words, we see an additional 20% decline in the likelihood that a client in their first month will return to class for every 5 days they have not attended class.

On the other hand, the graph clearly shows the less-steep lines for clients who have been members for a longer period. For example, in a client’s first month, the likelihood of returning drops almost 80% from not attending class in 5 days to not attending class in 30 days. Whereas a client in their 18th month’s likelihood to return drops only 12% from not attending a class in 5 days to not attending a class in 30 days.

The Impact to Fitness Business Owners’ Bottom Line

Maybe you’re asking yourself what exactly this is telling you as a fitness business owner. It’s telling you that the longer your client has held a membership at your business, the more likely they are to return despite not having attended class in a while. The greater the attendance gap for newer clients, the more you should nurture them, because their likelihood of renewing their membership is fragile.

The Bottom Line: NURTURE YOUR NEW CLIENTS. 

This data should sound intuitive to you, as sources online constantly tell you to pay closer attention to newer clients. Because if you treat them the same as people who have been clients for over a year, you will lose thousands in potential revenue.

Moving The Numbers

Now that you have this enticing and motivating information, where do you go from here?

1. Use Custom Reporting to track attendances of your members
   Tracking clients’ number of days since last sign-in is not a report that static reporting systems typically include. This is why you should take advantage of Wodify’s Custom Reporting feature.Our previous  Behind the Numbers takes you through exactly how to create this report in order to keep track of these new clients.
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2. Call your newest members & speak to them in person
   A good old fashioned call has not gone out of style. In fact, clients appreciate it even more now that texting and emailing has become more of a common thread of communication.Calling your members personally shows that you really care about them and they are more likely to come back when they feel they have a personal connection. 
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3. Use automated emails
   Automated emails can come in handy as your membership continues to grow since it will be hard to keep track of all of your member’s milestones. Small milestones, such as their first 5 classes or their first month of being a member are huge wins for clients. As a business owner, you want to show them that you’re keeping track of them too.‍Check out this article to see what else you can do with Wodify’s automated emails and stay tuned for an upcoming webinar on automated emails as well!
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4. Offer your newest clients/leads a new client special that lasts over 1 month
   Finally, to get your clients to stay past the “one-month mark”, try offering them a new client package that lasts longer than one month, such as a 10-class pack or a 2-month special. This way, the longer they remain clients of your business, the more likely they are to return to class!

We hope you found these insights & advice useful for your business! Keep an eye out for more posts in this series as we continue to explore the data in Wodify.

If you aren’t using Wodify yet, you can book a free consultation here.

Want to keep learning? Check out our most recent Behind The Numbers posts:

The Secret To Saving Time & Money as a Fitness Business Owner

How to Optimize Your Fitness Class Schedule

Why Every Gym Needs Client Performance Tracking 

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