The first 90 days are crucial to a new gym member’s experience. Since many of the PushPress team members are gym owners ourselves, we understand the importance of these first 90 days. Therefore, we’ve designed PushPress Grow to help you handle it LIKE A BOSS.
At first, intimidation is probably high for a new gym member. They’ll require lots of hand-holding as they they learn about your gym. And it will take time to get to know the community, feel out the vibe and the understand the culture. Ultimately, this is a time where they’re deciding if this is the place for them, long-term.
It’s on you and your coaches to make sure that first 90 days makes them feel comfortable, and welcome. But we get it: This can be time-consuming and sometimes unrealistic. If you’re coaching 20 classes a week, handling admin and trying to grow the business, where are you going to find the time?
“Each person has a limited capacity on what they can be doing from a follow-up perspective with members,” explained PushPress Grow Product Leader Marissa Paulsen. “And it’s easy for things to fall through the cracks.”
This is where Grow comes in. Grow is a CRM for gym owners designed to provide you helping hand to take care of new members properly. But the goal is not to take you out of the equation completely, since human relationships can only be nurtured by real humans.
Here are four ways PushPress Grow workflows can help with the new member experience:
1. Utilizing The 100-Day Workflow.
PushPress Grow offers a New Member, 100-day workflow that’s pre-built into the software. The workflow focuses on educating new members and connecting them to your gym community within the first 100 days.
When you first enter a new member into the system, they’ll start getting one to two automated messages a week, via email and text. The goal of the initial communication is to give them basic info, help them stay committed to goals and start connecting with others.
“When someone is really early on and maybe just testing the waters, they want to feel like this could be home,” said Paulsen. “That workflow and those automations allow that to take place.”
Texts and emails are appropriately spaced out based on marketing best practices. This ensures new members aren’t inundated and overwhelmed with too much information.
Further, communication will feel personal and authentic, as opposed to robotic and formal. While you’re trying to make people feel comfortable and supported in their first 100 days, this goes a long way.
Some of the communication is simply about checking in. For example, texts and emails will ask them how they’re doing, or request feedback about their experience. Other touch points are educational, from nutrition tips to recovery information. The goal is adding value to your member’s experience.
“The things they might not be getting in an actual class, but are very important, critical things that hopefully then allow them to feel more educated,” Paulsen explained. “And be changing their lives for the better.”
Even though the 100-day workflow is pre-built and ready to go, you can modify it at any time. Or if you prefer, you can create your own workflows to match your gym’s voice and brand.
2. Upselling With Workflows in PushPress Grow.
At first, it’s all about the basics for new members: How to sign up for classes in the app and how to track their workouts. But once they’ve got the hang of it, you can start to introduce them to other services at your gym.
While not every client wants nutrition coaching or personal training, some will find great value in these services. Many PushPress gym owners find it valuable to use Grow workflows to let clients know about these other options. And this provides the perfect opportunity to upsell a client.
“Things like nutrition coaching or personal training… You’re making it much easier for those individuals who are interested in something like that to actually be able to convert if they are interested in getting that additional value,” Paulsen said.
Further, you can also add things like links to videos, and decide how you want to deliver the communication. For example, if you find that texting gets a better response for new members than email, you can design workflows to be more text heavy.
“Everything is customizable to whatever unique things the gym has going on,” Paulsen said.
3. Spreading The Word About Events.
As a gym owner, you’ll probably attest to the fact that community affect retention. Those who become engaged in the community and forge relationships are more likely to stick around long-term.
One easy way to help people make friends is to organize regular community events and encourage attendance. Be it an in-house competition, trivia night, BBQ or Friday Night Lights, the key is to make it fun and welcoming for everyone.
There’s nothing more frustrating than planning an event and then realizing half your members don’t know it’s happening.
PushPress Grow is an effective way for you to promote events, from community nights to fitness challenges or workshops. You can even use it to spread the word about merchandise promos to really rock your gym retail sales. Grow workflows are designed to get info to your members quickly and easily.
ProTip: Find out how PushPress Grow can help YOU nurture your members’ journeys effectively. Book a demo with our team today!
4. Celebrating Milestones With PushPress Grow.
Last but certainly not least, Grow has milestone workflows to really show your member you care that they’re showing up. These workflows automatically check in with new clients at the 30-, 60- and 90-day marks.
You can also customize workflows based on your own onboarding process. For instance, you can set up celebration texts after 10 classes, 50, 100, etc. Or you can set it up to notify you personally at these milestones, so you can congratulate them in person.
This goes a long way in the nurturing process, because as Paulsen explained, as useful as automation is, the “human touch” is also critical. She continued, “The opportunities for personal touch and connection are endless.”
And having PushPress Grow in your corner helps make this personal touch easier, which ultimately enhances the client experience. This is how you ensure they become long-term, loyal members of your gym community.
