Club Industry's latest Master Class Series webinar addresses the ubiquitous challenge of retention through the lens of member experience. The latter concept can be just as difficult to understand as the former. Each health club member is unique, and not all members voice their concerns. Sometimes, they'll suddenly stop visiting or cancel their membership outright—leaving operators confused and searching for the point of disconnect.
In “Member Retention Strategies That Fuel Growth," Listen360's Katie Bossie defined that point of disconnect, for most club businesses, as the "delivery gap." While 80 percent of companies may believe they provide a superior experience, only 8 percent of those companies' customers agree, she said. Ideally, operators must strive to close this gap so that they and their customers perceive the same strengths and potential areas for improvement within the business.
"Clearly, this is a delivery gap between the expectations of a brand delivering an experience and the perception of those customers receiving that experience," Bossie said. "When your members signed up with you, they obviously signed up for a reason. They bought what you were selling when they joined. The question when we frame this conversation around retention becomes, ‘Are they now buying what you are delivering?’ If they're not, what can you do about that to keep them long term?”
Bossie outlines multiple strategies for improving both retention and the member experience throughout the 47-minute webinar. It can now be viewed for free here.
This webinar was the second installment of the Club Industry Master Class Series, moderated by Maria Turco. The next webinar, "An Invisible Element of Success No One is Talking About: Emotional Intelligence," is at 2 p.m. Eastern on May 16. Register here.
The Master Class webinars are brought to you for free because of the generous sponsorship of the following companies: Honor Yoga, ABC Financial, Listen360, Myzone, Simple Again and Upshow.