Guest Blog: The Biggest Mistake with New Member Onboarding

TRUTH: You have a retention problem.

LIE: There’s nothing you can do about it.

Keeping your members around longer is a complex issue, but let’s face one simple truth…

Of all the things you could do to improve your profitability, member results, and overall business success, you won’t find any that would have a bigger impact than nailing your new member onboarding experience.

Now, if you’re thinking, “But I don’t have the staff or resources to dedicate to every single member who comes in” then you definitely need to keep reading. It’s not a lack of resources holding you back. It’s a lack of resourcefulness.

Onboarding and Retention

You may not need convincing that retention is a problem, but most clubs tend to dramatically underestimate the impact of a well-designed onboarding program.

Let’s take a look at what the data tell us…

Research by The Retention Guru himself, Dr. Bedford, shows that a properly structured onboarding could improve retention by more than 75%. Through engaging the member, understanding their goals, barriers, and level of confidence, we can improve their adherence and massively reduce their drop off rate.

If that didn’t convince you that onboarding should jump to the top of your priority list, how about this: research shows that increasing member retention rates by 5% increases profits by between 25% and 95%.

Plain and simple, if you don’t have systems in place to make sure each new member is supported on their fitness journey, you’re missing a massive opportunity.

The Free Consultation

I’d place a hefty bet that you probably offer new members some sort of free assessment, consultation, or training session.

Nice, I’m 1 for 1.

Let’s up the stakes…

I’ll bet my bottom dollar that most of your members don’t even take advantage of that session. Maybe less than 30%? 20%? Wait… less than 10%?!

Whatever the number, I bet you’d agree, it isn’t really working.

There are a few reasons why members aren’t jumping on these sessions.

1. They’re intimidated by it. They already likely feel embarrassed, nervous, and unsure of what to do. Sitting face-to-face with a trainer, while possibly helpful, might be too scary to start with.
2. They’re just busy. Having to schedule a block of time in their calendar can feel like a burden.
3. They don’t see the value in it. Let’s be honest, part of the “free” consultation is probably intended to get them to sign up for another program like PT. Many members see it as more of a sales meeting than something that will solve their problems.

“Well what, am I supposed to just get rid of it and not offer them anything?”

Nope… you just have to get resourceful.

The Promise of Automation

Much like the way cranberries somehow found their way into every known juice on the planet, technology is digging its digital hooks into almost everything we do.

In the right hands, technology can be one of the most powerful ways to ensure that every single member gets a consistently positive (and personalized) onboarding experience at your club.

Technology can’t replace people, but it massively magnifies their effectiveness and efficiency.

With the right tools, you can use automation to:

• Deliver personalized resources and support, much like the initial consultation is intended.
• Trigger outreach to at-risk members.
• Provide customized offers at the right time.
• Tailor your messaging to resonate with the member.
• Make data-driven decisions.

Will this type of automation-assisted onboarding completely replace the need for human-to-human contact? Never. And it shouldn’t

But if you aren’t using automation technology as part of your new member onboarding, a huge portion of your members are missing out on what could be an amazingly valuable helping hand during their first few months of membership.

Next week, we’ll be talking about why your emails are making you sound like a used car salesman.

Take Action

You have an email list, but how often have you used it to provide value without asking anything in return? If you haven’t sent a non-promotional email in a while, do it now! Start small, send it to everyone who has joined in the last month asking how they’re doing and if they need help. Or, make it even simpler and send an email that addresses common questions within the first month of starting to exercise. Watch the response you get!