Imagine this; all your classes are full, your members are happy, and your coaches are being kept busy. You’ve even had to set up a waiting list. So, what’s next?
Keeping it this way.
There’s lots you can do to achieve this, but it all boils down to keeping your members happy. We’re going to take you through various tactics you can use to your keep members satisfied.
Keep reading to discover 4 ways you can keep your gymnasts engaged and coming back for more.
Tip 1 – Stay in touch regularly
Establishing and maintaining regular communication with your members helps to build trust and keep them engaged with your club. Email is a great format for this but don’t forget about SMS too – both of which can be easily managed via LoveAdmin.
Did you know that 87% of parents consider communication to be an important feature to offer online? And almost a third of them said that they want better communication and visibility into how their child is getting on.
Ask yourself, are you providing that level of service to your members? If the answer is no, then it could be time to rethink your communication strategy. We recommend starting as you mean to go on by sending out a welcome pack. This makes your members feel instantly like part of the club and lets them know what they need to expect.
Examples of what you can include are:
- Your club’s background and history
- A timetable and important information they need to know like upcoming events
- What should be worn and brought to the session e.g. a water bottle, bun kit etc.
Remember, communicating with your members doesn’t have to be difficult. You can simplify your communication with LoveAdmin. Automatically send email or SMS messages when a new customer joins or makes a purchase. Email and SMS can be created from scratch, or you can use our customisable templates. Your customers can then stay engaged and up to date with minimal effort on your part – making it a win-win.
Tip 2 – Create positive experiences
It’s vital you’re giving members a safe, positive experience. 91% of parents surveyed in our report said their child’s enjoyment is a key factor in if they renew.
You’ve got to start working on these experiences from the first day. Making sure they feel welcomed and valued. Some questions to ask yourself are:
- Do you have a solid process in place to put new (and current) members at ease?
- Decide how you’ll introduce new members. Who will be responsible for this?
- Could you set up a buddy system? How will you communicate this is available?
- What is your body language like? Do you seem open and friendly?
- Are you following up with members to find out how their first day went?
- Are you being patient with inexperienced members, and do you regularly encourage them?
LoveAdmin has features you can use to easily identify new starters and trialists. Although you should be creating great experiences for all your gymnasts, giving new joiners a bit of extra attention will start them off feeling confident and positive going forward.
Tip 3 – Gather feedback
Feedback helps you understand how people feel about your organisation. It also gives you insights into how you can increase member retention and decrease common pain points.
The are a few ways you can gather feedback. You could try an online survey, looking at online forums or (if you have one) your own group on Facebook.
You can also monitor social media for feedback. Do you have profiles on social media? It’s important to keep an eye on your mentions and comments – you don’t want to leave anything unnoticed in the public eye, especially if someone isn’t happy or has a question.
With LoveAdmin, you can ask for feedback by sending links to websites like Survey Monkey or Typeform in your email or SMS comms. Learn more about how to gather feedback here.
Tip 4 – Managing your waiting list
With a waiting list you can keep an eye on how much demand there is for each session. However, to make waiting lists worthwhile you do have to apply some strategy.
By implementing a waiting list management strategy, you can help to improve future satisfaction. Think about it, a positive experience with your gymnastics club doesn’t need to start from the first session; it begins as soon as they show interest in joining. So, having a bad waiting list experience will limit the chances of converting them into paying members.
You can use software like LoveAdmin to make waiting list management easy. See how many people are waiting for a class and assign them a spot when it becomes available. Want to know how your classes are performing? The capacity feature shows you how full your classes are, so you know which classes are under performing or over performing.
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What’s next? It’s time to start planning and actioning the above. We recommend biting off small chunks to avoid feeling overwhelmed. Set yourself achievable targets. By doing this you’ll be able to adapt quickly if you feel like something isn’t working.
Curious about our gymnastics club software? Get started today with a specialist gymnastics consultant.
