The Member Lifecyle allows us to take a step back and see the overall journey that a person takes over the course of their time as a member.
These should be the same for pretty much every high-ticket, coaching-led fitness business. We suggest that you use them as a general framework for designing your member journey.
The stages are:
- Marketing – getting your offering in front of your potential client and engaging their interest
- Sales – taking this engagement and converting it into the purchase of a trial membership
- Trial – letting your client ‘try before they buy’ so they sign up for a full membership
- Onboarding – creating lifetime loyalty to the business and brand
- Retention – making members want to stick around for years, and refer their friends
Get these right, and your average member yield and lifetime customer value will skyrocket.
Designing and delivering your Member Lifecycle demands an understanding of your client demographic, and careful planning (and experimentation) of the contact points in each of the stages.
Do it right, and you’ll create a business that can stand the test of time with these benefits:
- It gives the client a clear idea of the journey they’re about to embark on
- It helps the client feel less anxious about the ‘unknown’
- It makes it easier for all your staff to provide the same excellent experience to every single client
- It strengthens brand identity and core values – it’s a direct expression of what you stand for and ‘how things are done around here’
- It reduces the amount of client drop-off from initial contact (in the marketing stage) all the way through to years into their membership
- This increases yield per member and lifetime customer value, boosting your bottom line
- This excellent experience makes clients refer the gym to their friends and family
- It reduces marketing costs as you’re holding on to the same clients for longer, instead of having to shell out for a high number of new leads
- It gives clients multiple, structured touchpoints with the staff and other members – this helps build relationships and community in the gym
- It saves time and resource for the business owner and staff, as the process is streamlined and effective, not hit and miss
- It gives you a framework to measure how well your marketing, sales, and onboarding strategies are actually working – and gives you the data and insight you need to make them better
Simple but powerful, an effective Member Lifecycle will unlock long-term success and growth.
Want to upgrade your Member Journey – but don’t know where to start?
Download the JCV Operations Manual Framework – the basis for the successful Foundry business model, designed, refined, and tested by fitness industry experts with a proven track record of helping businesses thrive.
It’s an easy-to-follow template that allows you to tailor the content to your own setup, providing a solid foundation for sustainable growth and success.