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The first 12 weeks are crucial for establishing exercise habits and member retention. In this blog, we share tips for automating and strategically utilising contact moments. Think of rewards, feedback, and motivation. Discover how a good onboarding process motivates members and increases their loyalty.  

The importance of the first 12 weeks in the onboarding of new members

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Manage multiple fitness clubs with ease using one clear organisational dashboard. Gain direct insight into performance, member engagement, sales and retention per location, compare results and make data driven decisions to improve every club.

Data-driven insights with an organisational dashboard

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<p>We all know that first impressions count. But it's the first 12 weeks that really make the difference. This is the period when new members either develop their exercise habits or don't. If they continue to come regularly during those three months, there's a good chance they'll stay members.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>In this blog, we share useful tips and tricks on how to give the right attention to the right members. We use practical examples to show you how to use and automate contact and attention moments. These insights will help you create an optimal onboarding process, allowing you and your members to build habits together that lead to long-term engagement and ultimately loyal members.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><figure class="image"><img src="https://cdn.clubplanner.com/media//image_4dbe0ab6fc.png" alt="image.png" srcset="https://cdn.clubplanner.com/media//image_4dbe0ab6fc.png 245w, https://cdn.clubplanner.com/media//image_4dbe0ab6fc.png 500w, https://cdn.clubplanner.com/media//image_4dbe0ab6fc.png 750w, https://cdn.clubplanner.com/media//image_4dbe0ab6fc.png 1000w" sizes="100vw" width="1000"></figure><h2>Habit formation in 21 days</h2><p>You may have heard that it takes 21 days to form a habit. But did you know that it actually takes longer? Research shows that it takes an average of about 66 days for something to truly become a habit. On average, it takes between 21 and 254 days, depending on the person and the activity. This means that the first three months of a membership are crucial for forming a fitness routine.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p><h3>The first 12 weeks: A critical period</h3><p>You may have noticed that the first few weeks at the gym can be challenging for new members. But with the right attention and guidance, you can ensure that they don't drop out and achieve their goals. The importance of the first 12 weeks in creating loyal members cannot be overstated. This is particularly evident when looking at the benchmark analysis of new customers.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>This report compares the figures of fitness clubs in the Netherlands that use ClubPlanner. Here you can see the relationship between the visit frequency of new members and the percentage of them who cancel their membership within a year of joining. This is called longitudinal retention, and it shows that members who consistently visit the gym at least once a week during this period are much more likely to still be members after a year. This emphasises the importance of good onboarding and continuous engagement.</p><figure class="image"><img src="https://cdn.clubplanner.com/media//image_4a23f29ba9.png" alt="image.png" srcset="https://cdn.clubplanner.com/media//image_4a23f29ba9.png 241w, https://cdn.clubplanner.com/media//image_4a23f29ba9.png 500w" sizes="100vw" width="500"></figure><h3>Longitudinal retention and behavioural change</h3><p>Longitudinal retention measures how loyal members remain by tracking them from the start of their membership. It provides insight into their behaviour and when they are likely to drop out. Especially in the first three months, we often see a significant drop in engagement. Members often start out full of energy, but other priorities and less frequent training can cause that engagement to slowly decline. Training less is often a sign that they are about to cancel their membership.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>It is therefore important to guide members during this period and help them build a new, healthy routine. This can be done by taking them by the hand and supporting them in their training habits. In reality, this often turns out differently than you might want. As the Research Director at Activity Workx, Peter Wolfhagen has noted: ‘No matter how hard you try, you cannot follow every customer on every visit.’ That is why it is essential to make strategic choices in distributing attention and guidance. Which members do you give attention to and which do you not? When are the best times to give them attention? And how do you give attention to your members?</p><p>&nbsp;</p><figure class="image"><img src="https://cdn.clubplanner.com/media//image_71b42e6df4.png" alt="image.png" srcset="https://cdn.clubplanner.com/media//image_71b42e6df4.png 245w, https://cdn.clubplanner.com/media//image_71b42e6df4.png 500w, https://cdn.clubplanner.com/media//image_71b42e6df4.png 750w, https://cdn.clubplanner.com/media//image_71b42e6df4.png 1000w" sizes="100vw" width="1000"></figure><h3>Three forms of attention</h3><p>There are three forms of attention that fitness clubs can use to support new members:</p><ul><li>Guaranteed attention</li><li>Necessary attention</li><li>Surprising attention</li></ul><p>&nbsp;</p><p>Applying all three forms of attention is an indispensable part of building a strong onboarding process and retaining loyal members. Would you like to know more about these forms of attention and their importance for member retention? Be sure to read Peter Wolfhagen's blog: Retention management is managing attention.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><h3>How can you apply all this in practice in your own club?</h3><p>You may be wondering how these insights can be applied in practice within your fitness club. Our onboarding report, for example, gives clubs insight into the status of their new members:</p><ul><li>Good status: Members who have been at least once a week in the past three weeks.</li><li>Status Caution: Members who have not attended at least once in the past three weeks.</li><li>Status Poor: Members who have not attended two or more times.</li></ul><p>&nbsp;</p><p>This report allows you to take immediate action, such as scheduling a call. This kind of proactive attention can make a big difference in retaining members.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><figure class="image"><img src="https://cdn.clubplanner.com/media//image_639cb1ba65.png" alt="image.png" srcset="https://cdn.clubplanner.com/media//image_639cb1ba65.png 245w, https://cdn.clubplanner.com/media//image_639cb1ba65.png 500w, https://cdn.clubplanner.com/media//image_639cb1ba65.png 750w" sizes="100vw" width="750"></figure><h3>Practical tips for implementation</h3><p>Here are some practical tips and tricks to make the most of the first 12 weeks and improve your customer journey:</p><p>&nbsp;</p><ul><li><strong>Automate contact:</strong> Use a messaging module to automatically send communications to members based on their status in the onboarding process. This ensures that each member receives the right attention at the right time, without you having to intervene manually. This optimises the customer journey and guarantees personal attention at crucial moments.</li></ul><p>&nbsp;</p><ul><li><p><strong>Rewards and motivation:</strong> Reward consistent members with small extras, such as a free shake or a thank you gift. This strengthens their motivation and commitment, which helps with retention.</p><p>&nbsp;</p></li><li><strong>Ask for feedback:</strong> Ask for feedback at regular intervals via automatic emails. This makes it easy to make improvements based on member experiences and ensures a better customer journey.</li></ul><p>&nbsp;</p><ul><li><strong>Monitor visit frequency:</strong> Set triggers for when members visit less often. By sending an email or scheduling a phone call in good time, you can take quick action and prevent dropouts.</li></ul><p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p><h3>Conclusion</h3><p>Finding the right balance between engagement, attention and guidance is difficult, but once you've achieved it, onboarding and retaining new members at your fitnessclub becomes a lot easier. By strategically using attention and the available tools, you can automatically reach the right members and increase the chance that new members will develop good habits and remain loyal. Whether it's giving a warm welcome, offering personal guidance or using surprising moments of attention, the focus should be on creating a positive and motivating experience for your members.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>So, what are you waiting for? The first 12 weeks are your chance to turn new members into loyal members of your club. Use the power of a good onboarding process to your advantage and see for yourself how your members stay longer and become more loyal.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>Are you curious to see how this could work for your club? Book a demo!</p>

<p>The fitness industry is changing rapidly, and as the owner or manager of multiple venues, it is essential to always have a clear overview. With an organisational dashboard, you can not only track the performance of a single club, but also compare multiple locations against one another. Whether it’s membership management, sales, or customer satisfaction, the organisational dashboard provides a clear overview of where you need to make adjustments. This allows you to act proactively and respond quickly to challenges, ensuring you always stay in control.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><figure class="image"><img alt="image.png" src="https://cdn.clubplanner.com/media//image_e3d9e6b6a6.png" srcset="https://cdn.clubplanner.com/media//image_e3d9e6b6a6.png 245w, https://cdn.clubplanner.com/media//image_e3d9e6b6a6.png 500w, https://cdn.clubplanner.com/media//image_e3d9e6b6a6.png 750w" sizes="100vw" width="750"></figure><h3>Insight into the figures that really matter.</h3><p>Running multiple fitness clubs requires more than just good classes and modern equipment. The success of your clubs depends on the data that reflects your performance. How often do members visit, how many new sign-ups are there, and do those new members stay active? With an organisational dashboard, you not only gain access to these figures per location, but you can also compare locations with one another. This allows you to quickly see which branches are performing better than others and enables you to implement targeted improvement measures.</p><p>For example, if you see that one of your locations has fewer sign-ups than the others, you can analyse this quickly and take immediate action to improve results. In addition, the dashboard provides insight into the membership overview per location, including the number of new customers, recent visitors, non-recent visitors, and dormant customers. This helps you to quickly see where action is needed.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><h3>Efficiency: Get a handle on your daily results at a glance.</h3><p>As a manager, you have many responsibilities, and keeping track of multiple locations can be a challenge. An organisational dashboard helps you quickly and efficiently identify where adjustments are needed. It not only provides insight into daily tasks, such as outstanding tasks per location, but also immediately shows where your expertise can make a difference.</p><p>For example, does a particular location have a higher percentage of missed appointments or more tasks completed late than other clubs? You can then delve deeper into the figures, identify the cause and apply those insights to your other branches. The dashboard also helps you to immediately identify and address tasks that have been followed up late across all locations.</p><figure class="image"><img alt="image.png" src="https://cdn.clubplanner.com/media//image_791cb2db67.png" srcset="https://cdn.clubplanner.com/media//image_791cb2db67.png 245w, https://cdn.clubplanner.com/media//image_791cb2db67.png 500w, https://cdn.clubplanner.com/media//image_791cb2db67.png 750w" sizes="100vw" width="750"></figure><h3>Member engagement: Compare and improve by location.</h3><p>Attracting new members is important, but the real success of your fitness clubs lies in retaining these members. With an organisational dashboard, you gain insight into member movements per location, including a complete overview of the number of active, new and dormant members.</p><p>You can also easily see how many new members have returned for another visit within two weeks of signing up.&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>This early engagement is a key indicator of retention, and by comparing this data across locations, you can quickly identify where the onboarding process is working well and where it could be improved.</p><p>If a specific location has a lower percentage of returning new members, you can respond immediately by adjusting your communication or support. This helps to address issues quickly before they affect member satisfaction and loyalty.</p><p>By comparing the membership overviews of all your locations side by side, you can see exactly where extra attention is needed. Whether it’s a lower retention rate or more inactive members at a particular branch, the dashboard helps you take targeted action. This allows you to effectively address the unique challenges at each location and ensure your membership base remains strong and engaged.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><h3>Customer satisfaction: Local insights for better decisions.</h3><p>Satisfied members are at the heart of every successful fitness club. With an organisational dashboard, you can measure and compare customer satisfaction across different locations based on concrete data such as:</p><ul style="list-style-type:square;"><li>Number of new customers</li><li>Number of recent visitors</li><li>Number of non-recent visitors</li><li>Number of dormant customers</li></ul><p>&nbsp;</p><p>By analysing these figures, you can quickly identify where extra attention is needed and how to improve customer satisfaction at each location. This helps you to intervene early and prevent problems from escalating.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><h3>Sales and lead follow-up: Consistency across all your locations.</h3><p>A structured sales strategy requires consistency and clear lead follow-up. The organisation dashboard provides an up-to-date overview of the sales pipeline per location, allowing you to see exactly which leads have been followed up and where further action is required. In addition, the dashboard provides insight into the return on prospects per location. This makes it easy to measure how effective your lead follow-up is and which locations achieve the highest conversion rates.</p><p>If you notice that a particular branch is struggling to convert leads into paying members, you can take immediate action by investigating where the process is stalling.&nbsp;</p><p>By comparing the performance of leads across all your locations, you gain insight into the strengths and weaknesses of your sales strategy, enabling you to optimise it and apply it to other branches.<br>&nbsp;</p><figure class="image"><img alt="image.png" src="https://cdn.clubplanner.com/media//image_12ac88fbd9.png" srcset="https://cdn.clubplanner.com/media//image_12ac88fbd9.png 245w, https://cdn.clubplanner.com/media//image_12ac88fbd9.png 500w, https://cdn.clubplanner.com/media//image_12ac88fbd9.png 750w, https://cdn.clubplanner.com/media//image_12ac88fbd9.png 1000w" sizes="100vw" width="1000"></figure><h4>Personalised follow-up: Make a difference for your members at each location.</h4><p>Personalised follow-up is essential for retaining members. The organisation dashboard provides you with a comprehensive overview of how well your teams are performing in this area, by location. For example, you can see which locations benefit most from automated reminders or personal contact moments.</p><p>In addition, the dashboard helps you combine efficiency with personal attention, which is essential for maintaining high engagement and ensuring members feel welcome everywhere.</p><figure class="image"><img alt="image.png" src="https://cdn.clubplanner.com/media//image_e1f7b8b9e5.png" srcset="https://cdn.clubplanner.com/media//image_e1f7b8b9e5.png 219w, https://cdn.clubplanner.com/media//image_e1f7b8b9e5.png 500w, https://cdn.clubplanner.com/media//image_e1f7b8b9e5.png 750w" sizes="100vw" width="750"></figure><h3>Make a difference with an organisational dashboard that provides an overview of all your locations.</h3><p>Having a firm grasp of your figures, engaging with your members and keeping track of your daily processes are the building blocks of a successful fitness club. An organisational dashboard allows you to manage not just one location, but multiple branches, and compare performance. By organising your processes effectively and evaluating them regularly, you can stay ahead of problems and ensure all your clubs continue to grow.</p><p>Club management is not just about figures, but above all about understanding the unique challenges of each location and responding to them. The more control you have over these processes, the better you can capitalise on opportunities in the ever-changing fitness industry</p><p>&nbsp;</p>

<p>Would you like to find out more about how an organisational dashboard can help your fitness clubs? Please get in <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://clubplanner.com/en/contact">touch with us</a> for a no-obligation chat or book a demo!&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p>