It’s no secret that the UK is approaching a cost-of-living crisis. With rising interest rates, higher energy costs, and an inflation level of 5.4% — the highest in almost 30 years — we could be looking at a challenging few months ahead. If wider economic conditions start to make consumers cut back on spending, fitness clubs may struggle to retain and acquire new members, while also being hit with higher operational costs.
The good news is that there are steps you can take now to optimize your spend and maximize revenue. In this article, we’ll dive into some of ways ClubWise can help you reduce costs, drive yield, and improve cash flow now and in the future.
1. Direct Debit Collection Service
Late and missed member payments can be a bigger source of revenue loss than you might think if you’re not able to track and deal with them efficiently. As the cost of living goes up, members are more likely to struggle with their payments. Our direct debit collection service will give you more control over and visibility into member payments and account status.
You’ll be able to quickly see members who have missed payments and follow up with them to keep your cash flow momentum. We will also soon be launching an alternative payment method feature, which will require members to provide card details upon joining that you can use to process payments in case a direct debit fails.
2. Promotion Manager
As prices around the country increase and wages stagnate, prospects and members are going to have tighter budgets. Running promotional campaigns will encourage them to keep spending while making them feel like they’re still making smart money choices.
ClubWise’s promotion manager feature allows you to easily set up discounts for promotions. All you have to do is choose your promo, set parameters such as beginning and end dates and requirements to qualify, and our system will implement everything automatically. If you need some guidance on creating an effective promotion campaign, check out these other tips!
3. Loyalty Program
It’s common knowledge that it costs more to acquire a new customer than it does to retain one. But did you know that by increasing retention rates by just 5%, you can increase your profits by as much as 95%? How’s that for the value of retention?
Loyalty programs are a great way to increase a member’s length of stay and build retention at your club. 79% of consumers say loyalty programs make them more likely to stay and do more business with a brand, and businesses with leading loyalty programs grow their revenues about 2.5 times faster than their peers.
Through ClubWise’s integrated app-based loyalty program, you can reward members for engaging with your facility. They can earn points for checking into the club, attending classes, tracking their progress, and even measuring their heart rate during classes. Those points can then be exchanged for exciting rewards, which helps drive motivation, deliver a sense of achievement, and gamify the member experience.
4. Retention Management System
By identifying at-risk members and taking action before they become inactive, you have a much higher chance of retaining them. Our integrated loyalty program helps you with this by categorizing your members into three different levels based on their activity over a period of 30 days, measured by loyalty points accrued — red for high risk/least active, amber for moderately active, and green for very active. The system emphasizes red members for you who have developed sporadic habits and are starting to drop off the radar, so you can act before they leave.
5. Member Rewards Referral Program
A member referral program is a great way for fitness clubs to drive acquisition and increase revenue with minimal spend. The Member Rewards Referral Program from ClubWise is a proven, fully automated program that incentivizes referrals by allowing you to set a reduction in membership fees for every new member someone brings in.
In fact, in 2019, 158 independent gyms who used the ClubWise Member Reward Referral Program generated over £1.3 million in referred income for the year. This means, on average, every club earned over £8,000 in revenue as a direct result of our member rewards program!
Save Money with an All-In-One Club Management Solution
When you’re paying multiple providers to run your fitness club, costs can add up quickly. Instead, you can reduce costs with an all-in-one club management solution like ClubWise. Our software will handle your billing, payments, marketing campaigns, staff duties, access control, schedule, rewards programs, data reporting, and so much more.
See how much time and money an all-in-one system can save you and book your free ClubWise demo today!