After you’ve made the right moves to get your CrossFit gym up and running, it’s a good idea to start putting together some strategies to use to attract and keep members engaged. You’ll need more than the CrossFit brand, a good location and some quality workout equipment to win over customers. Many successful gyms owners know it’s one thing to actively recruit new memberships, but without a solid plan to keep them engaged and increase retention, the propensity for failure is high.
The fitness industry is dynamic and so are consumer interests. In order to help your gym navigate the ever-changing whims of customers, it’ll need a solid engagement strategy, foundation, and community. Members want to feel valued, accepted, respected, and motivated. Consider utilizing the following strategies to improve CrossFit member engagement for 2022.
Establish Goals
In order to know where you’re going, you need to have a solid idea of what you’re starting with. This may involve a bit of trial and error. Don’t expect any particular measures to yield immediate success or a significant boost in memberships. Building and increasing member engagement take time, so prepare to commit to the task to enhance your organization’s sustainability.
Earn Their Loyalty
Keep track of birthdays and important milestones in their lives and fitness journeys that you can use for recognition and motivational purposes. Make announcements, ring bells, and use every opportunity you can think of to inspire loyalty amongst your staff and members. Give members a reason to come back. Think about what perks, services, and additional offerings you can incorporate into your gym to highlight its value.
Pay close attention to the way customers interact when they’re onsite. Now is the time to get to know them and build a solid and mutually rewarding relationship with them. Inquire about their interests to learn their fitness or health goals so you have something to use to improve their experience. Doing so helps to keep their interest and provides a sense of excitement at knowing that they are more than just a random face at your CrossFit gym. Hire the right staff from the start and provide a positive, rewarding, and fun work culture to minimize employee turnover. This in turn provides members with friendly and familiar faces they can trust and feel at ease with on their fitness journeys.
Promote Community Involvement
Remind customers that your gym is a community. Hold competitions, contests, and other events to build and strengthen your gym’s relationship with the local community and increase the fun, friendship, and social connection with members. Provide enrichment opportunities for members to increase social interests and interactions with others with like-minded individuals. Show customers the value of having a rewarding relationship with your CrossFit center. Increasing community involvement also increases new customer interest and provides continuous opportunities to increase member loyalty and engagement.
Incorporate Swag, Rewards, and Promotions
Encourage member and staff participation and gain free advertising with contests, swag giveaways, and social media promotions. Dig deep in your bag of marketing and advertising ideas to discover tactics you can use to boost CrossFit member engagement. For example, recognize member birthdays with an announcement, a highlight in the monthly newsletter, and a care package or toss in some freebies like a t-shirt or free membership month. Another example is to encourage members to participate via social media through contests, reviews, trivia and more to build interest and engagement in the community and beyond.
Encourage Communication and Feedback
Engagement requires communication. Get in the habit of using multiple avenues to communicate with and keep customers informed about your gym’s services, events, and promotions. Post flyers and notices around the gym informing members of current and upcoming events, contests, and opportunities. Incorporate tips and informational sessions and seminars as well for employee and customer enrichment. Also consider virtual opportunities to promote awareness about member milestones, achievements, birthdays, and communicate other important or relevant CrossFit and fitness information that helps increase the fun and excitement of being at your gym. Encourage members to sign up for text messages or emails and ask customers and members for feedback. Learn what they expect and desire in their ideal CrossFit setting and think about how you can use that information to improve engagement overall.
Be Consistent
Consistency is important. It’s one of the most differentiating factors that will set your organization apart from all others. Consistency is necessary to show customers you are serious and actively involved in their supporting them and their well-being. Instill in your staff the importance of treating everyone with respect and acknowledging each person by name. Set rules for trainers and staff to follow when interacting with customers to help them feel like they are among family.
Offer Guidance
Not everyone who walks through the door is going to be a CrossFit trainer, fitness amateur or expert. Make sure part of your organization’s mission is to help members meet their goals. Many people choose the CrossFit lifestyle because it enables them to push past their limits. Others become interested because they are on a quest for their ideal or perfect workout center/style or community. Use tracking software, schedules, and other millstones measures to identify member strengths, weaknesses, and areas for improvement. Provide classes, private training sessions, virtual classes, and other events to help them strive for more while utilizing a schedule or engaging in activities that work best for them.
These suggestions are recommendations for fitness professionals and CrossFit gym owners to increase customer engagement. For more valuable insights into the CrossFit member or professional community, visit our blog. Call 310-937-2007 for a quote on affordable CrossFit RRG insurance products.