The fitness industry is highly competitive. Now and then you can see fitness studios springing up at an astonishing rate. With so many options at hand, members often sign up with ‘new’ studios in a bid to experiment and try new things. So, how do you stop your members from flocking to other fitness studios that recently opened down the street?

Additionally, the industry standard in the fitness business is that it is five times more expensive to acquire a new member than to keep an existing one. Thus, putting in efforts to retain your existing members is well worth the time and effort. Retaining members improve your ability to upsell services and since acquisition techniques can be pricey, it's critical to keep your current members and increase brand loyalty. There are several ways you could do this – discount, coupons, gift cards, fitness incentives, and trials.

According to a survey by Virtualncentives, nearly 75% of consumers favor companies that offer them rewards and about 65% of consumers view fitness incentives and rewards as bonus money. The old tested and tried a method of offering discounts is what most fitness studios have used traditionally but it does not seem to be much effective anymore. Excessive discounting can put a financial strain on your business. The fitness industry is saturated with discounts and coupons. Nearly every second fitness chain offers such discounts, what you need to do is something more irresistible and ravishing.

Well, valuable fitness incentives are what people want. After all your members are valuable to your business. It's critical to keep members on their toes and to express gratitude frequently. Your member retention strategy should include fitness incentive schemes. In this blog, we will discuss what fitness incentives are, what role such incentive programs can play in your gym’s success, and tell you 7 fitness incentive techniques to improve your customer loyalty.

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• What exactly is a fitness incentive program?
• Benefits of fitness incentive program
• 7 Incentive techniques to improve member retention

What exactly is a fitness incentive program?

Fitness incentive program customer incentives are rewards that a gym or fitness studio gives existing members or potential-interested clients for completing certain brand-building behaviors. Reward points, discounts, freebies, gift passes, and referral bonuses are a few examples. Often, fitness incentive techniques are designed to encourage and bond with existing customers and attract potential clients through lucrative offers. It is like a loyalty program aimed at rewarding your customers for sticking with your fitness business by injecting your brand’s unique flair into their conscience through rewards and activities.

Benefits of fitness incentive program

01. Promote customer loyalty

A fitness incentive program will help your existing clients feel more valued, appreciated, and connect emotionally with your brand. This will help you retain members and stabilize revenues.

02. Attract new customers

Fitness incentive programs can help you upscale your sales and generate new leads. Schemes like referral bonuses and community fitness challenges can help you find new customers and expand your membership.

03. Emotional connection

Fitness incentive programs allow your existing customers to emotionally connect with your gym brand. They feel that the program is not just there to try and attract them but benefits them more and not just you. It builds trust and respect.

04. Cascading effect

Fitness incentive programs also have a cascading effect, boosting consumer patience in the event of a bad experience with your gym. Even if a consumer has a bad encounter with you, they'll recall the great rewards they've previously had from your fitness brand and are more inclined to forgive you and move on.

7 Incentive techniques to improve member retention

When it comes to incentivizing your members, the options are endless if you can get creative. Here are 7 unique ways to offer fitness incentives to your gym members.

01. Members only events and gatherings

Hosting a members-only event as a part of your fitness incentive program could be a terrific way to build the link between your gym and its members. You may have the activities at your location or select a nearby venue such as a brewery, restaurant, or sports club. You could even plan a trip to nearby Adventure Park or go trekking. You can even organize a Rugby match or baseball tournament amongst your members and make it a fun occasion for everyone. Sports or eating together can be amazing to bond and connect with. It might cost you a little fortune but it is something you can afford once in a year or six months if you get good returns.

02. Referral bonuses and programs

Referral bonuses might help you sell more gym memberships and expand your membership base. This fitness incentive program can help you expand your membership base easily and quickly. Both the current member who made the referral and the new member who was referred to your gym can benefit from referral bonuses. When a new member gets his a friend a $25 gift card, the friend is more likely to convince his friends to come along and train with them because the gift card holds value. Other than this, you may provide a free personal training session to both current and new members. You might also give both members a discounted monthly membership rate. These tactics can help you gain new members and retain older ones.

03. Enrolment and birth anniversaries

This fitness incentive can help you build rapport with your existing customers. This might cause you nothing but can be a very touching gesture. It is rather a sweet and simple way to celebrate your members. You can accomplish this in a variety of ways, including sending out a monthly email newsletter or displaying images on your gym's wall. In any case, these small gestures are a terrific approach to increase member loyalty and appreciation. Token birthday gifts or cards can be another affordable option and come in many different designs with varying denominations. Just imagine, how effective it would be for your members to get a handwritten note and a gift card. Their best buddy could forget about their important day, but not their gym!

04. Fitness community challenge

Fitness challenges can be a nice fitness incentive to provide a good user experience. They can help you improve member engagement and retention. Running a fitness contest urges your members to continue their gym memberships and also attracts new members to the gym. The fun activities allow you to develop a personal bond with your clients and know them closely and if they are followed by a small reward or gift coupon might even encourage them more.

05. Partnership perks

This is a fantastic fitness incentive method can  to not only improve your marketing efforts but also to provide your members with a wonderful discount and build goodwill in your local community. Restaurants, breweries, sports leagues, dry cleaners, photographers, and any other customer-facing, local business that you believe might be a good fit are a few locations to try reaching out to. You can even partner with clothing or footwear brands. What you can do is provide your members with, special discount on these ventures. This can benefit both your partners and you. It can also help you generate and expand your member base.

06. Gamification

Gamifying can be an interesting fitness incentive technique making workouts for your clients more engaging by incorporating game aspects (scoring, rules, and competition) into them. You could do this by introducing a point system or deciding milestones. An example could be that once a member runs 100 miles on the treadmills they get a gift card or a small prize. A point system can work on the same principle, once members gain enough points, they become eligible to be rewarded in the form of gym swag or other prizes.

07. Early renewal incentives and guest passes

If a member's membership is about to expire, you might want to explore an early renewal campaign. It can be a good approach to stabilize revenues and retain existing customers. You give them a special 2-month gift card that they may use to renew their membership. Another fitness incentive trick can be to offer 2 or 4-week membership to your potential- interested customers to get new members into the gym.

You may go above and above to reward your members and support your member retention plan and upscale your sales. So now we have provided some fitness incentive programs that can make your customers happy, it’s time to use them in the best-case scenario possible.

If you run your own fitness center or a gym, its time for you to switch your business to Kenko app. Kenko is the best fitness management software laced with industry best features and everything your fitness business might need.

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