How to Increase Gym Memberships During the Slow Months

As February comes to an end, the rate of gym memberships also tends to decline. The start of the New Year is filled with gym goers looking to meet their exercise and health resolutions. Yet, busy lives and careers get in the way and most gyms see a sudden decline in attendees and gym memberships. This is the best time to attract new members with gym specials. These are some of the best offers to increase membership rates.

Free guest passes

There is a large group of people that are intimidated by joining a health club. They want to take advantage of a local health club but are concerned about their knowledge of the equipment, class schedules, and ability to regularly make it there. Guest passes can develop a sense of comfort with new members. While many health clubs do offer free guest passes, most do not make it an easy process. Requiring the new member to go through orientation or to speak with numerous people just to get a free guest pass will result in fewer new memberships.

BOGO deals

BOGO, or buy one get one deals are a great motivator. It might seem like a financially problematic deal to provide a free gym membership to people, but people are more likely to remain with a health club when they can enjoy it with others in their life. BOGO deals especially target couples and families. Also, 67% of people with gym memberships never use them. There will always be one spouse that does not use the membership as often. Yet, by offering them a BOGO deal, they feel like they are getting more for their membership cost. Additionally, if one spouse decides to quit, the other is also more likely to cancel. BOGO deals reduce the number of families canceling their membership.

Family discounts

Another common hurdle for using health club memberships is finding childcare. It is often not worth it to hire a sitter for an hour or two multiple times per week. Family discounts can encourage those with young children to use and keep their memberships. Many health club management professionals recommend free childcare. You can easily include the costs of staffing an on site daycare into the family membership fee.

Student deals

The largest gym demographic is adults between the ages of 20 and 64. According to a Nielsen Global Consumer Exercise Trends Survey, 45% of Millennials make up that exercise demographic. Students often have limited budgets and are more likely to cancel a membership if fees get too high, or if they do not feel that they are getting their value worth. Student discounts can be helpful in increasing memberships. With advanced health club software programs and billing systems for gyms, it also extremely easy to offer this discount. Simply request that those members getting student deals show their student ID yearly.

Senior discounts

There are periods throughout the day that have significantly fewer gym goers. Busy times are often early morning and just after the traditional workday. Slower times are between these hours when people are at work or school. Take advantage of this slow time and encourage senior memberships. You can offer them at a significantly reduced price because they are more likely to come during the day. They will not add to the gym crowds of busy times and are a great way to increase profits. Advanced management system for gyms can also track member times, giving you statistics of what demographic to target with reduced membership costs.

We are entering a slow period for gym memberships. New Year?s resolution goers have already fallen off and it will still be another couple of months until summer encourages a new group of memberships. Offering membership incentives and discounts can keep business steady throughout this slow period. Choosing the right software for gym management can help you track open gym times, getting you the most profit.