It happens every year: January rolls around, and the gyms and fitness studios are flooded with sign-ups as people take on new challenges and make resolutions that this time they really mean it – they’re going to get in incredible shape and be healthier than ever before.
It’s great… It’s inspiring… It never lasts.
Because while those first few glory days of the year see gyms packed out all day, it doesn’t take long before people start dropping out and ditching those new year’s resolutions faster than that angry guy in the free-weights section dropping the barbell with an almighty crash (just to let you know how much he can lift).
What you need as a gym owner, personal trainer, or other fitness professional, are fresh ways to harness those initial good intentions people have once their Christmas chocolates have finally been devoured – and extend them throughout the year.
You want to turn those potential gym dropouts into long-term clients who stay with you all year round.
“Well, obviously!” we hear you scream at us. “But how the heck do I do that?”
Don’t worry, we’ve got you covered. We’ll be your spotter as you go through your reps (which, in this case, is creating interactive lead magnets, segmenting leads, and automating your follow-ups).
If you want to know how to increase gym membership sales over the long term, then keep reading, because we’re going to take you through some great sustainable business growth strategies to help you attract then retain those clients who tend to do a Houdini act as soon as week two of January kicks in.
We’ll also show you exactly how to implement those plans using ScoreApp to keep people engaged long after they showed initial interest.
Helping you keep gym members throughout the whole of January and beyond – that’s our resolution. And this is how we’re going to keep it…
The new year’s fitness surge and preparing for 2025
So, you know gyms get busier in January – with around 12% of the whole year’s sign-ups happening during month one of the year.
You also know that numbers quickly and sharply drop off once new year’s resolutions have flown out the window – around 14% of those new members will cancel before the month is even done, and more than half of new joinees (sometimes up to 80%!) will ditch their memberships within the first five or six months!
The question is then: How do you ensure you’re not just capturing interest and driving sign-ups, but you’re also converting those leads into loyal, long-term members?
It’s all about starting early and providing exciting offers that make people want to stick with you (and their fitness plans) for more than just a few weeks or months.
Challenges of attracting and retaining new year members
It might sound easier said than done to keep people interested and invested in themselves and what you have to offer.
The market is highly saturated, people have high expectations, and once the initial excitement has worn off, their patience starts to wear thin – and then those inevitable drop-offs happen, with gym members seemingly quitting en masse.
But is it actually inevitable that half your recruits will up and leave before we even reach summer?
It doesn’t have to be! Digital marketing for gyms can be simple and stress-free when you have a decent game plan.
Why planning in advance matters
Winging it may work from time to time, but you’re really just throwing stuff at the wall to see what sticks – which isn’t something you should be putting your time, effort, and money into. It’s not viable long term.
Having a well-thought-out plan that’s easily actionable and measurable is where it’s at.
Generating leads and engaging your audience is the key to setting your company apart from your competitors, and ensuring a smooth transition from leads to devout members.
Step one on this path is to create intriguing content that genuinely draws people in for the long haul.
Attracting leads with interactive content
You’re not just trying to stand out in an already crowded industry – your lead magnets are also up against every other piece of online content that could grab your audience’s attention.
So you’d better have something pretty special up your sleeve if you want eyes on your company and clicks through to your website.
This is where ScoreApp comes into play.
ScoreApp’s lead magnet options
We’ve got lots of great templates you can fill out with your own details and offers that are different to what the majority of other gyms and fitness professionals are putting out there.
We’re talking personalised and engaging lead magnets such as quizzes, scorecards, and other interactive assessments that create intrigue and engage potential clients so you can get those precious clicks while also capturing valuable lead information.
Let’s look at some examples and how you can create ones of your own to get the leads rushing into your gym.
Creating a ‘2025 Fitness Goals Assessment’ scorecard
One of the big reasons why people tend to cancel their gym memberships so soon after signing up (besides growing bored or tired of going) is that they aren’t seeing the results they wanted in the timeframe they expected.
This often comes down to a lack of solid plan for their goals.
If you can offer people insights into exactly what they need to do to achieve them, in a way that’s fun and easy to understand and follow, then you’ll already be putting yourself way ahead of every other gym or fitness pro on their radar.
One of the best ways to get people invested early on is with a quiz.
A well-structured quiz can lead people to right where they want to be. Your leads will get a chance to answer questions about their unique situation, and will be pointed in the right direction – not just given a one-size-fits-all ‘solution’.
This could take many forms. A smart way to generate early interest is to offer a ‘2025 Fitness Goals Assessment’ – where you give potential members personalised insights into their fitness goals based on their answers to your quiz questions.
This provides your leads with the information they need to get the most out of their gym memberships, and help you understand their motivations – which will allow for targeted follow-ups further down the line.
Fancy a few more examples to get your mind whirring?
How about setting up one of these to entice people in…
- Discover Your Fit for Life Score: 15 simple yes/no questions that show people what they should be focusing on to improve their health and fitness. Your follow-ups can give them exactly what they need. (We’ll have more on this below.)
- Discover Your True Athletic Profile: Random gym workouts aren’t necessarily enough for big results. This quiz highlights a person’s athletic preferences and style so you can provide them with the optimal information for how they can best achieve their goals.
- Identify Your Perfect Personal Trainer: Different people require different coaching styles, and sometimes specialist training in a particular area. Point your leads to the right places with this quiz.
- Do I Need a Physio?: Recovery is just as important as a workout for staying fit and healthy. This is your chance to provide personalised recommendations for physios who can aid that recovery process and help people overcome or prevent injuries.
- The Health Check Review: Show people where they currently are health-wise, then show them what they should do next regarding their fitness and nutrition for best results.
- The Personalised Nutrition Audit: Speaking of nutrition, it’s one very important side of the health and fitness equation. This scorecard allows you to provide detailed and personal guidance in this area.
ScoreApp has plenty of templates just like these – all of them fully tailorable to your branding and content.
It’s not just quizzes either – there are templates you can use to create fitness-based mini courses, as well as workshops, waitlists for your services when you’re fully booked up, and other interactive lead magnet landing pages.
When your leads have taken your quiz, you can then move them further through your funnel with personalised follow-ups.
Maximising engagement through personalised follow-ups
Once your leads have taken your quiz, they’ll have their feet firmly in the door. But to really make them feel at home with what you can offer them fitness-wise, you need to maintain contact with them.
When you follow up with personalised content, you keep new leads engaged and interested, which reinforces their commitment and increases the chance of them converting into paying customers.
With the built-in ScoreApp integrations, this becomes incredibly easy to set up and track.
You can send customised follow-up emails based on scorecard results to keep leads informed, motivated, and engaged – without requiring difficult technical skills at your end.
Between emails, SMS updates, and social media engagement, there are plenty of ways to nurture your leads and turn them into paying members – whether that be providing valuable fitness information, posting motivational messages, or sending out introductory offers.
Here are some ways to make sure you’re getting the best out of your follow-ups.
- Make it personal: Set up your communications to include each lead’s name to create a sense of connection. (ScoreApp can do this for you automatically.)
- Showcase your expertise: Provide useful tips and information that people can act upon to highlight why you’re the right choice for helping them smash their gym goals.
- Bring the motivation: Along with inspirational quotes and progress reminders, you could also share customer testimonials and success stories that prove their aims are achievable.
- Tempt people with introductory offers: Free trials with a PT, limited-time discounts, bundle deals (“Bring a friend and get a free session!”)… Lots of options here.
- Get involved on social media: Create polls, host Q&A sessions, throw out fitness challenges… Again, lots you can do with this.
- Have a strong CTA: Make sure your leads know what you want them to do next by writing a clear call to action (“Click here to book your FREE first session!”).
- Show social proof: Share before-and-after transformation pictures of your clients, highlight your PTs’ certifications and qualifications, include stats like “Join 500+ members who’ve already transformed their lives!”.
- Create a sense of urgency: Countdown timers and phrases like “Limited spaces available” or “Offer expires in 48 hours” will make people want to click as soon as possible so they don’t miss out.
Segmenting leads to tailor offers and experiences
Something else that’s important is segmenting your leads properly. If you’re able to funnel your leads based on their needs and fitness goals, you’ll be able to create more relevant offers and experiences.
People aren’t after the same solutions, so you shouldn’t push everybody to the same place once they’ve signed up or given you their contact information.
Sounds like hard work? Nope!
This feature is built into ScoreApp – so you can automatically group leads based on their quiz responses, making it easier to deliver targeted offers and actually convert those leads into clients.
Here are a couple of examples for you:
- Leads interested in weight loss could receive tailored information about cardio programmes.
- Strength-training enthusiasts could get invites to weightlifting classes.
- Those completely new to fitness could receive encouragement to join an introductory programme.
- People with more of an interest in low-impact workouts or flexibility could be funnelled towards yoga classes or Pilates sessions.
Once they’re in the right place, they’ll be far more likely to convert than if they’re sent generic content and offers along with everybody else.
Building momentum with social proof and testimonials
Once your leads are segmented into optimal funnels you can really start to build momentum and get them excited to take you up on your offers.
One of the best ways to do this – particularly when it comes to health and fitness – is to show other people’s achievements and how they can expect similar results if they sign up with you.
We’ve touched upon this already, but it bears repeating because it’s such a great way to build hype and show people what they’ll be missing if they don’t take you up on your offer.
This is another area where ScoreApp can make things incredibly easy – as it can collect feedback from existing members to use as positive testimonials.
You can also use our scorecard templates to request further reviews or success stories, adding even more credibility to your gym’s ability to change lives for the better.
Make sure you shout about your successes – they’re powerful indicators of your potential to get clients into shape.
Your website’s homepage is an obvious place to display your testimonials, as it’s the first thing prospective clients will see when they visit your page. Likewise, you should post client transformations and feedback on your social media channels and in follow-up emails.
Get the word out wherever you can to make people eager to join you.
It’s also important to showcase diverse success stories to resonate with demographics – there’ll be a large cross-section of people looking for the best fitness trainers online or a new gym to join in January, so make sure you cater to them all and make everyone feel welcome.
Retaining members beyond February
So, you’ve done all that and got them through your gym’s doors. Now how the heck do you keep them coming back for more – and for longer than just a couple of weeks?
Your first step is to set up automated email reminders and segment-specific content in ScoreApp to keep your gym members engaged and encourage them to stay committed to their goals.
It’s harder to quit if you’re being regularly motivated and inspired to keep a streak going.
If you aren’t keeping in contact with your leads once they’ve signed up, then there’s far less incentive for them to come back for more. You’ll be very much out of sight and out of mind.
Here are a few ways to engage people after they’ve already joined your gym:
- Monthly check-ins with progress scorecards (people love to see clear evidence of how far they’ve come)
- Exclusive content such as nutrition tips or home workout ideas
- Inviting members to community events or challenges
- Partnering up with other companies (like gym wear or sports nutrition brands) to provide unique discounts or offers
There’s a lot you can do to maintain a high level of enthusiasm in your clients, so use your imagination and get creative!
Measuring success and refining your strategy
Doing this is all well and good, but how do you know if it’s actually working?
Measuring the effectiveness of your new year campaign is a skill in itself, but it’s one that ScoreApp does for you – so you don’t need to worry about trying to track and analyse a load of different metrics manually.
ScoreApp’s analytics tools make tracking lead generation, engagement, and conversion rates ridiculously easy. All you need to do is check the data and you’ll have a clear idea of where you’re having the most success and where you might need to adjust your strategies to improve outcomes.
Some of the key metrics ScoreApp can monitor for you include:
- Conversion rates (from incoming leads to converted members)
- Retention rate of new members past March (or any month you want to check)
- Engagement levels on follow-up emails and SMS messages
Then, if your retention rates are low, for example, you’ll know you may have to consider offering additional support or resources to motivate new gym members.
How to get more gym members for 2025 with ScoreApp
From a business (and wellness) perspective, it’s always great to see so many people signing up to your gym in January.
But it can feel pretty demoralising to watch your packed gym suddenly empty out before February rolls around.
It would be absolutely ideal if at least some of those new members stayed with you for the long haul.
That’s what ScoreApp is here to help you with.
ScoreApp supports every stage of the customer journey – from lead generation and sign-ups to retention and engagement. Every step of the funnel is covered.
There are dozens of lead magnet templates for you to tailor to your branding, and a range of tools built into ScoreApp to help gyms and other fitness businesses grow their memberships, generate more sales, and increase customer loyalty.
The end of the year is quickly creeping up on us, so make sure you don’t get left behind and spend the first month of the year playing catch-up or losing out on long-term memberships.
Start your free ScoreApp trial today to get your gym ready for a prosperous new year – and beyond.
