The beauty in owning a fitness business is that your relationship with your clients is ongoing – and can be nurtured and strengthened over the long term.
You aren’t just selling them a one-off physical product, you’re selling them a lifestyle.
So, this requires a bit of a different strategy to just capturing attention, convincing somebody to buy once, then potentially never speaking to them again.
It’s all about finding ways to keep people invested, loyal, and eager to maintain their relationship with you.
Get it right and they’ll provide a consistent stream of revenue, invaluable word-of-mouth referrals, and glowing reviews that will help you attract new clients.
Loyal clients are also more engaged, show up for classes, renew memberships, and are more likely to explore other services you offer – all of which contributes to your bottom line.
Get it wrong and you’re back to square one. Scrabbling around trying to fill those extra spaces in your gym or personal training calendar.
But loyalty isn’t earned overnight. It requires more than delivering results – it demands exceptional service, meaningful engagement, and a personal touch that makes clients feel valued.
This is where ScoreApp can help you shine.
So, if you want to…
- Understand your audience
- Personalise your communication
- Foster long-term relationships
- Really connect with your clients
- Deliver genuine (and targeted) value
- And keep your customers coming back for more
…keep reading!
Because we’re going to show you just how ScoreApp can help you turn one-time clients into loyal advocates for your brand, and enhance customer loyalty to create sustainable growth for your gym, fitness studio, or wellness brand.
Why customer loyalty is the backbone of a successful fitness business
Why should you concentrate more of your time and efforts on keeping current clients, then?
One key reason is because it costs far less to retain customers than it does to acquire new ones – so it’s much more cost-effective to keep regular clients engaged and happy.
If you do, they’ll remain loyal to you, which will pay off big time!
They’ll tell others all about you, leave good reviews, and foster a stronger sense of community within your gym or for your brand.
But to get people to that point in the first place, you need to offer them something irresistible – to make them genuinely excited to be a part of your world.
You need to create memorable experiences that keep clients returning for more. But, at first glance, this comes with challenges of its own.
Common barriers to building customer loyalty
Chopping and changing who they train with and which gym they’re a part of isn’t really what people want to do. They want some consistency, some balance to their lives – somewhere and someone they can rely on.
So, why can it feel so difficult to retain clients over the long term?
It could be a variety of things – inconsistent communication, lack of personalisation, or simply failing to meet customer expectations.
To make sure none of these things happen on your watch, you’ve got to give the people what they need for them to do an East 17 and stay another day.
If you can understand your customers’ needs, you’ll be able to overcome these barriers.
And we’re going to show you what to do to keep your clients on side and in your orbit.
Tips for building customer loyalty in your fitness business
Let’s build that loyalty then! Here are five ways to turn people into long-term fans, and how ScoreApp can help you do that.
1. Create a strong onboarding experience
Your first impressions will set the tone for your client relationships. So, you need to make sure you stand out and give a good account of yourself.
A great way to do this is by offering a fun and valuable onboarding experience.
ScoreApp can help you here by creating quizzes and feedback forms that allow you to understand new customers’ goals and preferences (and make them feel understood in return).
2. Offer personalised experiences
If you want to inspire loyalty in your clients, you need to ensure they don’t just feel like a number to you. It’s all about the personal touch.
Tailoring classes, workouts, or wellness programmes to their goals will foster that loyalty you’re looking for, as people will feel like you see and hear them on an individual level.
ScoreApp’s tools can help you segment your audiences and create personalised communications – instead of just sending out one-size-fits-all content and emails to everyone on your list.
3. Reward loyalty
Even if staying with you is the easiest option, that doesn’t mean people will – especially if your competitors are offering better incentives to go and join them!
So, you need to offer perks of your own to keep your clients sweet. Things such as loyalty programmes, referral discounts, and exclusive classes for long-term members can do wonders.
Not sure what would actually incentivise your clients? You could always set up a quick survey in ScoreApp to ask your client list what rewards they’d value most.
4. Maintain consistent communication
Along with those additional rewards and benefits, your clients need to know you’re still there for them generally.
So, it’s important to stay in touch with them through newsletters, updates, or social media. You don’t want them to forget about you or give them reason to look elsewhere.
Thankfully, ScoreApp integrates with email platforms, so you can easily send those regular, personalised updates that keep you in people’s minds.
5. Encourage feedback and act on it
The more you can improve your services, the more people will be inclined to not only sign up in the first place, but to stick by you for the long haul.
To do that, you need to know what’s working and what isn’t for your clients. So ask them!
Asking for feedback makes your customers feel valued and also helps you improve what you offer.
ScoreApp has plenty of survey templates you can use to quickly and easily collect the information you’re looking for, as well as analyse the feedback you receive.
ScoreApp: your tool for creating loyal fitness clients
We’ve mentioned a few things that ScoreApp can do for you already, but let’s have a proper recap of how it can support each stage of the customer loyalty journey. It provides you with…
- Engagement tools: ScoreApp has dozens of templates for interactive scorecards and surveys that can help you understand what your customers value most. And they can all be tailored to your unique branding and content in minutes!
- Easy segmentation: ScoreApp also gives you valuable data insights and allows you to group your customers by preferences or goals – making personalisation effortless.
- Follow-up automations: You won’t have to waste time manually emailing individual clients – ScoreApp can automate your emails and make it simple to keep in touch and nurture long-term relationships.
Plenty of personal trainers and gym owners are already using ScoreApp to tailor their fitness plans and boost their retention rates.
Akash from RNT Fitness has been making the most of the ScoreApp scorecard templates to pre-qualify leads, nurture personal connections, and enhance his conversion rates. As has Ben from Wittering’s Fitness.
And there are plenty more fitness businesses across the country doing exactly the same. Don’t get left behind!
Turn first-time visitors into loyal fitness enthusiasts with ScoreApp
Customer loyalty shouldn’t be seen as a bonus – it’s the cornerstone to long-term success and sustainable growth for fitness businesses!
Loyal customers provide recurring revenue and are more likely to refer friends, leave positive reviews, and engage with services – so it’s a bit of a no-brainer to keep people coming back for more, right?
But building loyalty requires consistent engagement, excellent service, and personalisation – all of which ScoreApp supports.
You can use the in-built tools and templates to create lasting relationships with your clients by understanding their needs and providing tailored experiences.
ScoreApp also simplifies the audience insights, personalisation, and communication to help you succeed and grow as a brand.
So, are you ready to build loyalty that lasts? Try ScoreApp for free today to discover how we can help you turn first-time clients into lifelong supporters of your fitness business.