Memberships are a massive part of where your profit is made. If you create memberships without understanding the different types, you may lose potential loyal members. Therefore, you must strategize and truly understand what kind of memberships there are so your gym/studio will benefit most.
In one of our previous blog posts, we discussed how to generate membership prices and how popular gym chains can do that. This post will cover popular membership types, how gym memberships work, and how they will help you attract your target customers.
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The best gyms have the best memberships. When strategizing your memberships, set it to where you can attract customers from various income categories. For example, if your gym/studio is more upscale, put it where there are different statuses, like gold or silver.
This is one of your more standard types of memberships and is very common today. These member types will pay a specific price monthly (and most likely will pay a fixed fee); however, they have it to where they can transfer it to quarterly or annually at any time. So, if someone likes your gym or a class, upgrading their membership should be simple and accessible.
These memberships are renewed four times a year. These customers will save more than those who may pay monthly. However, they will pay more than those who pay yearly. With these customers, you are guaranteed at least three months of membership.
These will be your members who pay once a year. Although these memberships are becoming less common, the great thing about this package is you are guaranteed a customer for a year. In other words, you have their loyalty. Members who purchase this will also benefit since they save more than those who pay monthly and quarterly.
When creating memberships, understand and determine how you want to offer your customers both limited and unlimited packages.
Those customers who work out more than three times a week will lean towards unlimited access to your gym or studio. When creating an unlimited membership, think of perks or a pointing system where your members will be even more motivated to return to your studio. What access will these members have? Are classes and trainers included? What about access to your snack bar or pool (if you have one)? Think unlimited!
You will have customers who are pressed for time yet still wants perks to go to the gym. When creating a limited membership, think of the limited amount of access for you. Will these customers have two-day limited access per week or eight days out of the month? How can you and your customer benefit from limited-access memberships? And what exactly do these members have access to?
These members tend to have unstable schedules and may, too, be pressed for time. And instead of paying monthly or limited memberships (losing money), they may want to pay as they go. And believe it or not, these customers are just as valuable since there is potential for a long-term commitment. Also, this membership type is a perfect way for customers to get introduced to your gym.
Tip: When creating these membership types, understand that you may want a small one-off annual fee. That way, they can also enjoy other perks and programs you must offer at your gym or studio.
When creating various memberships, you must also understand that you cannot foresee success and minor setbacks. Use dynamic pricing when looking at what single services you offer are popular and working for your studio, and then look at what isn't. Based on what single services, classes, or sections of your gym are popular, you may charge a higher price as opposed to what's not as popular. Prices can change based on demand (popular classes cost more while less popular are cheaper).
Tip: If your earlier class isn't as popular as your last class, price your earlier class at a lower cost while pricing your later class at a higher cost. With this strategy, you may be able to attract new customers to come in now since the price is slightly lower than your other one.
No matter the kind of gym or studio you own, it's unique, as are your customers. Offering memberships based on demographics will always bring you customers. Create special discounts for those who are students, retired, and who are veterans. Is your gym in the plaza or shopping center? Perhaps offer discounts to those who work in the area. What about partnerships and those you host events with? Maybe you can offer them memberships at a discounted rate too. The sky's the limit since everyone went here as well.
Tip: When running a business, you may foresee only some things. Your business is unique, so you must find software where one size doesn't fit all. Get organized and see results with Karmasoft. Karmasoft automatic reports will show you what is popular so you can make the best decision in pricing future services.
Your diverse customers will have diverse needs. When creating different gym membership types, be strategic about where you and your customers benefit from the package deal. What services/features will you offer? How big is your gym/studio? How many staff do you have on hand? How new/updated is your equipment/ How clean and maintained is your gym? When you take everything that makes your gym/studio what it is, you can better price all your membership types accordingly.
In addition, be sure to price everything accordingly based on the time of year. Whether your grand opening or anniversary is, offer tip-top memberships and perks in celebration. What about the holidays or even new year's? Memberships are a huge part of your profit, so go for it and create what works best for you and your gym/studio.
And when you have a membership strategy in place, use Karmasoft to create membership plans. Later, automatic reports will show which are the most popular. Collected info will help you to make informed decisions on how your membership plans perform, and how to make your services even better.