It’s amazing how many sites I end up on these days that have still not embraced the interactivity available online. What does your site offer? I understand that you are an expert in the area of your business and not necessarily in Web marketing. You may not even have an idea of what is possible online.
Take a look at the below ideas for a health club webisite. Don’t stop reading this just because you don’t own a health club. Put on your thinking cap and see if you can come up with at least two or three ways to modify these tactics to fit your own business.
Create a Community
People who join health clubs are typically looking to either lose weight, gain strength or just live a healthier lifestyle. Just joining the club doesn’t mean any of these goals will be hit. In fact, a high percentage of people who join health clubs never actually begin their membership. Once someone gets in the habit of not going, it’s only a matter of time before the procrastination ends and they cancel their membership.
I don’t think there could be a better retention strategy than using your website to create an online community that will put them in touch with active members. The easiest way to begin this community is to create an intranet on your website. An intranet is a special section of your website where people cannot access the information unless they enter a username and password. You should use this section of the website to provide valuable information and tools that only a member can receive.
Educate Your Community
Knowledge is power, right? If that’s the case…provide valuable information for your community members. What about creating videos to show your community exercises they can do at home or while they are traveling?
The purpose of running your health club should not only be about collecting membership dues. If your community can tell you care about them and their well being, you will help improve your retention numbers and ultimately create more healthy members.
Provide Tools for Goal Setting/Tracking
Most people don’t just wake up one day and say, “I think I’ll join a health club today.” They typically think about it until some life event happens, like a new year or bad news from the doctor helps persuade them. One fact always remains true: the better you engage customers within the first few days of joining, the better the chance they’ll become an active member.
The best way to get them off and running is to provide a way for them to track their starting weight, measurements and goals. Additionally you can provide a calendar for scheduling their workout plan. Providing a personal blog so participants can write about their experiences will help them realize the benefits they receive from their new health plan.
The bottom line is to understand that it's your job to make sure your community grows and you provide as much interaction between like-minded members as possible. The universal law of association is true. The more people you associate with who are in the type of physical shape you’d like to be, the better the chances are that you’ll change your behaviors to reach that point.
