Retention starts with knowing who hasn’t been in for five weeks
A score from 0 to 100 tells you nothing. A name with a reason next to it is what makes you pick up the phone.
Almost every piece of gym software nowadays has a retention score: a number between 0 and 100 that indicates how likely it is that a member will cancel. We tried it and took it out again.
Why a score doesn’t work. If it says 68, you don’t know what to do. Call? Email? And about what? A number without a reason leads to a list everyone looks at and nobody acts on.
What does work. A name, followed by what’s going on. "Hasn’t been in for six weeks, came twice a week before that." That’s a sentence that makes you pick up the phone, because you immediately know what you’re going to say.
The figures that matter are boring. How long ago was someone last in, and how does that compare with their own pattern? Someone who always comes once a week and has now been away for three weeks is a different case from someone who always came four times and is now skipping two weeks.
Timing matters more than the message. The window in which you can win someone back is short. After two weeks it’s a break, after two months it’s a habit that has been unlearned. That’s why, with us, who needs attention is at the top of the client list, and not in a report you open once a month.
What not to do. Send an automatic email to everyone who crosses the threshold. People notice, and a conversation that starts with a template doesn’t end with someone coming back.
