Fitness club members leave because their expectations are not met

Fitenss survey result say members leave because their expectations are not met

Fitness club members leave because their expectations are not met

This year so far 12,810 members across Australia and New Zealand have responded to the survey.  Some interesting results are emerging. The Australian & New Zealand Fitness Industry Survey run by Ezypay, is the go-to place for fitness club member’s thoughts feelings and perceptions.  It is now 5 years old and is the largest of its kind in the world.

Twenty percent (20%) of members have told us that they leave their fitness club because the club never met their expectation.  What expectation are we creating when a new member joins?  That they will look amazing, feel amazing, lose weight, build muscle etc.  Something is going wrong here because one in five people who join a club have an expectation that is not met.

If you could impact any percentage of these people by helping them have a reasonable expectation of their membership or their exercise outcomes then you will stop members from leaving. Meet their expectations, create reasonable expectations or manage their unreasonable expectations and you will lose less members.

The survey is still open for members to respond.  If you would like to receive the full report, then help us by sending the link to your members.  For more information contact Simon Hall, Marketing Manager, Ezypay simon.hall@ezypay.com.au

About Ezypay

Ezypay is an outsourced direct debit service provider dedicated to offering a payment collection system that assists businesses in the regulation of their cash flow and revenue without the hassle of managing members’ bills.

With close links to the fitness industry Ezypay offer small to medium growth business of all types an easy online payment collection options at www.ezypay.com.au

Fitness clubs ignore a member’s motivation to get fit

Australian & New Zealand fitness Industry Survey results

Fitness clubs ignore a member’s motivation to get fit

This year so far 12,810 members across Australia and New Zealand have responded to the survey.  Some interesting results are emerging. The Australian & New Zealand Fitness Industry Survey run by Ezypay, is the go-to place for fitness club member’s thoughts feelings and perceptions.  It is now 5 years old and is the largest of its kind in the world.

Members are telling us that the biggest influencer on them to go to the gym on a daily basis is their own self-motivation (43%).  Again it is their self-motivation that is the biggest influencer on their long term commitment to keep coming back (39%). What then are clubs doing to impact a member’s self-motivation?

According to over 12,000 members – not much if anything.  The fitness test or a personal training session does not help the member increase or exercise that self-motivation which is driving their attendance. What if anything are you doing in your club to help your member’s with their self-motivation to exercise?

The survey is still open for members to respond.  If you would like to receive the full report, then help us by sending the link to your members.  For more information contact Simon Hall, Marketing Manager, Ezypay simon.hall@ezypay.com.au.

About Ezypay

Ezypay is an outsourced direct debit service provider dedicated to offering a payment collection system that assists businesses in the regulation of their cash flow and revenue without the hassle of managing members’ bills.

With close links to the fitness industry Ezypay offer small to medium growth business of all types an easy online payment collection options at www.ezypay.com.au.

Fitness clubs miss Facebook opportunities

Ezypay's fitness survey provides clubs with valuable social media information

Fitness clubs miss Facebook opportunites

The Australian & New Zealand Fitness Industry Survey run by Ezypay, is the go to place for fitness club member’s thoughts feelings and perceptions.  It is now 5 years old and is the largest of its kind in the world.

This year so far over 12,500 members across Australia and New Zealand have responded to the survey.  Some interesting results are emerging.

The survey has found that 73% of respondents had an active Facebook account.  However 51% of all respondents did NOT know their club had a Facebook page.  That is one out of every two members do not know about your club’s Facebook page.  This means that many fitness clubs are missing the opportunity to connect with members on Facebook.

The survey also found that 39% of members found the phone calls from their club annoying because they weren’t relevant or in their preferred communication channel.  Making an outbound call to a member costs a lot more than connecting with them on Facebook.  Hubspot.com recently reported for people with Facebook accounts 1 out of every 8 minutes on the internet is spent on Facebook.  What are you doing in your club to use this free marketing tool to connect with your members?

The survey is still open for members to respond to until the end of January 2012.  If you would like to receive the full report, then help us by sending the link to your members.  For more information contact Simon Hall, Marketing Manager, Ezypay simon.hall@ezypay.com.au.

About Ezypay
Ezypay is an outsourced direct debit service provider dedicated to offering a payment collection system that assists businesses in the regulation of their cash flow and revenue without the hassle of managing members’ bills.
With close links to the fitness industry Ezypay offer small to medium growth business of all types an easy online payment collection options at www.ezypay.com.au.

Motivational calls from fitness clubs annoy members

 

Ezypay fitness survey show members calls are annoying
Fitness members annoyed by so called motivational calls

The Australian & New Zealand Fitness Industry Survey run by Ezypay , is the go-to place for fitness club member’s thoughts feelings and perceptions.  It is now 5 years old and is the largest of its kind in the world.

This year so far 11,537 members across Australia and New Zealand have responded to the survey.  Some interesting results are emerging.

Traditionally we have been told that it will create a great membership experience or increase retention for members to receive a call from their club.  The Australian & New Zealand Fitness Industry Survey has found that 39% of members who responded find these motivational calls annoying.  That is 4 out of the 10 members would rather not be called by their club.  Does this mean that you can’t contact them at all?  No – instead you need to contact them in the way that they want to be contacted, about stuff that is relevant to them.

The survey has confirmed the importance of what many club owners and managers have long told their staff.  Fifty-six percent (56%) of respondents stated a personal greeting at the front desk when they arrive was a factor in keeping their membership.  The highest influencer for the long term commitment was location, and the second highest influencer in maintaining a membership was professional staff.  You can’t always change your location but you can work on the professionalism of your team.  So whether your members stay or go may come down to something as simple as a personal greeting from your reception staff.

The survey is still open for members to respond to until the end of January 2012.  If you would like to receive the full report, then help us by sending the link to your members.  For more information contact Simon Hall, Marketing Manager, Ezypay simon.hall@ezypay.com.au.

Thanks to our survey sponsors, who without their support we would not be able to run the survey.

With close links to the fitness industry Ezypay offer small to medium growth business of all types an easy online payment collection options at www.ezypay.com.au

Fitness For The People By The People: Is this the Future of Fitness Clubs?

I caught an episode of a documentary last week on ABC about the People’s Supermarket.  This is a London based food cooperative that aims to provide fresh seasonal food, at good prices and with minimal food waste.

Today I was reading Springwise.com and saw an overview of the concept.  Only members can shop at the People’s Supermarket, but they all get a 10 percent discount on prices as well as a say in how the store is run. In exchange, members pay an annual membership fee of GBP 25, and they also pledge to volunteer four hours of their time per month working as store staff. Because the supermarket’s workforce is nearly all volunteers, staff costs are kept low this way — an advantage that can be passed on in lower prices. Any profits that are earned, meanwhile, get put back into the store to bring down prices even further.

Why not a cooperative fitness club?  Same concept but fitness club not supermarket.  You would still need to sell memberships but each member would be an owner.  Each member would need to donate some time to working in the club for x hours per month.

“Fitness For the People By the People” – a fitness club owned and managed by its members.  Is this the future of fitness?

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