How Push Notification Marketing Can Help Health Clubs & Gyms Stay Connected with Members

How Push Notification Marketing Can Help Health Clubs & Gyms Stay Connected with Members

Introduction

You already recognize that the best way to keep your members engaged is to stay connected with them.

We have collected a bunch of great ideas, examples, and tips from the best fitness marketers and packed it all into this article.

It will guide you on how you can use Push Notifications as a marketing channel to not just stay connected with your members but also drive higher retention and revenues.

Let’s dive right in.

Benefits of Push Notifications

The possibilities are endless

The connection possibilities are indeed endless. You can send content that is personalized, relevant, and timely. 

For example, you can send them a Happy Birthday message or a reminder message for a Group Ex class they have booked for at 4 pm.

Or,  you can send a Push Notification to all members interested in Yoga that there is an upcoming Yoga program. 

Superior reach with members 

The average open rates for Push Notifications vary between 30% and 60%. And per Asurion, a global tech care company, Americans check their phone 96 times in a day!! That is almost once every 10 minutes. You cannot get better reach than that, can you?

Encourages inactive members to respond

Push Notifications can help you connect  with inactive members and revive their engagement. Send them messages telling them you miss them, or about a community event,  new offers, or classes.

It is always a great idea to make your message cute and charming to grab their attention and form a connection! 

Higher Conversion Rates

Push Notifications can offer a guaranteed conversion rate since members can be prompted to take immediate action. For example, you can send a Notification about a new yoga class being launched with an early bird offer to those members who have previously taken a yoga class. 

 Push Notifications can be sent in real-time and can  invoke a sense of urgency.

Some important types of Push Notification campaigns

Imagine the potential that your Push Notifications can unlock when used properly. Below are a few campaigns that you can run at your health club to Boost member Retention and improve Revenue.

Notifications for Abandoned cart

You can send the members a Notification reminding them that they had added a particular service to their cart and give them a slight nudge with a message such as “Hey! We see you added your favorite Yoga class in your cart. Hurry up and confirm your spot as the slots are almost full!!”.

Limited Time Offer Notifications

Some Notifications that you send can be a limited time offer such as flash sales or a quickly approaching last date to enroll for a particular class at a discounted price and so on. Some examples are – “ Sign up for a 

Notifications to Remind Members

These types of Notifications can be used to send reminders to the members to not miss any exciting offers or new classes that you have introduced. You can send a message such as –  “This is a reminder message for the Zumba Group session you signed up for that is scheduled tomorrow between 6.30 and 7.30 in the morning.”

Notifications for Member Referrals

You can send Notifications to encourage members to referrals by giving them an offer for each referral. One such message you can send is – “Working out is better with a friend! Get 15% off on a monthly subscription, by getting a friend or family member to sign up with our promo code.”

Welcome Notifications

You can send a welcome Notification to your new members when they join. An example of the same is -” Welcome Jessica, Ready to crush your fitness goals? Let’s get you started. Get your complimentary orientation session now.”

Get 11 ready-to-use Push Notification templates, plus 29 email templates in our Free Guide

Some important types of Push Notification campaigns

Imagine the potential that your Push Notifications can unlock when used properly. Below are a few campaigns that you can run at your health club to Boost member Retention and improve Revenue.

Notifications for Abandoned cart

You can send the members a Notification reminding them that they had added a particular service to their cart and give them a slight nudge with a message such as “Hey! We see you added your favorite Yoga class in your cart. Hurry up and confirm your spot as the slots are almost full!!”.

Limited Time Offer Notifications

Some Notifications that you send can be a limited time offer such as flash sales or a quickly approaching last date to enroll for a particular class at a discounted price and so on. Some examples are – “ Sign up for a 

Notifications to Remind Members

These types of Notifications can be used to send reminders to the members to not miss any exciting offers or new classes that you have introduced. You can send a message such as –  “This is a reminder message for the Zumba Group session you signed up for that is scheduled tomorrow between 6.30 and 7.30 in the morning.”

Notifications for Member Referrals

You can send Notifications to encourage members to referrals by giving them an offer for each referral. One such message you can send is – “Working out is better with a friend! Get 15% off on a monthly subscription, by getting a friend or family member to sign up with our promo code.”

Welcome Notifications

You can send a welcome Notification to your new members when they join. An example of the same is -” Welcome Jessica, Ready to crush your fitness goals? Let’s get you started. Get your complimentary orientation session now.”

Get 11 ready-to-use Push Notification templates, plus 29 email templates in our Free Guide

Best Practices for Push Notification Marketing in Health Clubs

Time them strategically

Provide ample time for your customers to respond and complete the action that you are asking them to do. For example, if you are sending the members a Notification about a new offer make sure you send it weeks in advance instead of just a day before it expires. Send them reminders of classes they are scheduled to take at least 24 hours in advance instead of 15 minutes before.

Personalize and target the right member

Almost all Push Notifications can be personalized. You will have to use the appropriate user attributes to personalize the message. So when a user clicks the message they would automatically be taken to the page where they need to complete the mentioned action.

 And target the right clients and segment the groups according to – what classes they attend, which trainers they work with, their goals, purchase history, and age group. When you send targeted messages based on specific groups you increase the chances of conversion of members significantly.  One such example could be –
“Hey Jake, We know you love attending our HIIT sessions and we thought you would like to know about our latest HIIT session happening next week! Click here to sign up and avail our early bird discount!.” 

Keep it between 60 and 100 characters long

The length of the Push Notification message is important and it should ideally be between 60 and 100 characters for Android and IOS.

Always add value

This may be easier said than done but it increases the likelihood of member retention when you do add value. Every message you send should be relevant and have valuable content. Don’t restrict yourself to just addressing the member by their first name. Instead, focus on the data you have about the member and frame your messages based on that. 

How Push Notifications Can Boost Member Retention?

Some creative ways to leverage Push Notifications to help with Member Retention include :

Invites for Class Bookings

This applies to both inactive and active members. You can send active members Notifications on the availability of a star instructor for their preferred class. Similarly, for the inactive members you can remind them about new classes that you have introduced, on-demand class options or even send them motivational messages to get them interested again.

Personalize Messages

Who doesn’t love receiving personal communication? Ensure to send your Notifications to the specific target audience so that it creates the required impact. For example – send a Notification about a new HIIT class to all members who have enrolled for such classes in the past.

Weekly Weigh-in Reminder and Reminders to celebrate achievements

Being accountable is something that most individuals struggle with. If you help your members to stay motivated it is a sure-shot way to retain them. Send reminders to your members to encourage them to enter their weekly weigh-in data. In case they have slipped and not lost weight that week you can redirect them to relevant content to help them overcome the same in the following week.

On the other hand, you must also ensure to celebrate the achievements of your members which can range from – weight loss, number of classes attended, beating a personal best, etc. to remind them of the progress they have made. This will in turn be a good factor for them and can keep morale high.

Ask for Feedback

Send surveys through Push Notifications and request your members to leave a comment or rate your club.

How Push Notifications can help increase revenue?

Very simply – Push Notifications help to increase sales for your club. This is because most of the members who opt to receive Notifications are doing so to avail special offers or access to exclusive deals on new classes or services at the club. Most of the members who open these targeted Push Notifications will make a conversion. This showcases the potential that Push Notifications have to increase revenue and bring in more sales.

A crucial point to remember is that to reduce user churn you need to build a trusting relationship with your members. They have to be confident that they won’t be bombarded with irrelevant Push Notifications constantly. You can form a creative pre-Push permission message that tells users why they need to opt-in for the Push Notifications.

SHC’s Marketing Campaigns Solution

Push Notifications can be extremely powerful on their own, but when used in conjunction with other marketing channels like Emails or posts, as part of integrated marketing campaigns, the benefits can be enormous. 

Our Marketing Campaigns solution is designed to help your health club deliver a highly personalized experience to your existing members spanning across multiple platforms and channels.

Some of our key features include: 

Plan and create campaigns with a few clicks

You can create your campaigns or use our templates. Visually enhance your emails or posts as you want. Send emails right away or schedule your emails and a series of emails for a campaign.

Fine-tune your Segments/Targets

Segment your members based on groups – Default/Public/Private or Membership Tier. Further, filter members by Class, purchase history, Age/Gender, and even goals. More importantly, exclude some members who have not checked into the club. Or any other group.

Reach members across multiple channels

Send targeted messages across many channels such as Emails, Posts, and Push Notifications. Automate campaigns based on member behavior at every stage, right from the time they join.

Make purchases friction-free with Deep Links

Imagine at the bottom of one of your promotion messages, a button saying BUY NOW. And that button leads to the page

where the member can buy the service. No more phone calls or emails to make purchases.

The clear advantages of our solution include and are not limited to –

Revenue Generation

Promote your offers, your deals, and your services with ease. Make the purchase as simple as a click of a button. No lines at the Front Desk. No calls. No email inquiries.

In our software, you do this with the help of Deep Links. This is how they work: Imagine at the bottom of one of your messages, a button saying BUY NOW. And that button leads to the page where the member can buy the service. 

Combining this ability with the Purchases ability of our software gives you an unsurpassed ability to promote and monetize your offerings and capacity; upsell and focus on non-dues.

Frictionless Member Onboarding using multiple channels

You can run Onboarding Campaigns for new members over multiple channels, such as email or posts and Push Notifications on the Club App. Using this solution, you can share content with them, invite them to a group and build relationships from early on. 

Real-time Analytics

You can track key analytics in real-time, watch the success or failure of your campaigns, tweak them, or make quick pivots to drive the results you are seeking. Or, you can track your campaigns’ performance midstream and make quick pivots. Unlike other solutions, with our Marketing Campaigns solution, your campaign data will be fully integrated with your member data and offerings, and you will have the ability to track multi-channel campaigns in one place, saving you a lot of time and hassle.

SHC’s Marketing Campaigns Solution

Push Notifications can be extremely powerful on their own, but when used in conjunction with other marketing channels like Emails or posts, as part of integrated marketing campaigns, the benefits can be enormous. 

Our Marketing Campaigns solution is designed to help your health club deliver a highly personalized experience to your existing members spanning across multiple platforms and channels.

Some of our key features include: 

Plan and create campaigns with a few clicks

You can create your campaigns or use our templates. Visually enhance your emails or posts as you want. Send emails right away or schedule your emails and a series of emails for a campaign.

Fine-tune your Segments/Targets

Segment your members based on groups – Default/Public/Private or Membership Tier. Further, filter members by Class, purchase history, Age/Gender, and even goals. More importantly, exclude some members who have not checked into the club. Or any other group.

Reach members across multiple channels

Send targeted messages across many channels such as Emails, Posts, and Push Notifications. Automate campaigns based on member behavior at every stage, right from the time they join.

Make purchases friction-free with Deep Links

Imagine at the bottom of one of your promotion messages, a button saying BUY NOW. And that button leads to the page

where the member can buy the service. No more phone calls or emails to make purchases.

The clear advantages of our solution include and are not limited to –

Revenue Generation

Promote your offers, your deals, and your services with ease. Make the purchase as simple as a click of a button. No lines at the Front Desk. No calls. No email inquiries.

In our software, you do this with the help of Deep Links. This is how they work: Imagine at the bottom of one of your messages, a button saying BUY NOW. And that button leads to the page where the member can buy the service. 

Combining this ability with the Purchases ability of our software gives you an unsurpassed ability to promote and monetize your offerings and capacity; upsell and focus on non-dues.

Frictionless Member Onboarding using multiple channels 

You can run Onboarding Campaigns for new members over multiple channels, such as email or posts and Push Notifications on the Club App. Using this solution, you can share content with them, invite them to a group and build relationships from early on. 

Real-time Analytics

You can track key analytics in real-time, watch the success or failure of your campaigns, tweak them, or make quick pivots to drive the results you are seeking. Or, you can track your campaigns’ performance midstream and make quick pivots. Unlike other solutions, with our Marketing Campaigns solution, your campaign data will be fully integrated with your member data and offerings, and you will have the ability to track multi-channel campaigns in one place, saving you a lot of time and hassle.

Examples of how our customers are using Push Notification Campaigns

Here are a few excellent examples of how some of our best customers used Push Notifications to engage with members and increase revenue!

  • Send info about fitness challenges through the Push Notifications. One such example is –  “ Spring into Fitness 2023.” You can include event registration details, the cost of the program, and the point of contact for the event.
  • Send information about upcoming classes, sports sessions, and Group Exercise classes too.
    • Get a free session on the massage chair by showing this message.
    • Enjoy a free soda at the club by showing this message at the front desk.
    • Get one free session of tanning, Show this message at the front desk to redeem. 
    • Refer a friend and get a monthly subscription free of charge. 
    • Buy products at discounted prices. One of our clients exceptionally utilizes the Push Notifications feed to encourage members to download the app by providing incentives. Some of them include:
  • As you can see from the above examples, these are some great ways to increase the club’s revenue as well as improve member engagement and retention. All of this can be done through Push Notifications. 
  • The Push Notifications have been used to send reminders or check in on new members. A short message such as – How was your first week? What can we do to help you? can also be sent. Furthermore, these Notifications have been used to upsell platinum tier membership or higher-level training. The Notifications can also give basic information about existing and new trainers to members so that they are aware of the background information and are more comfortable while booking sessions with them.
  • Finally one of the most innovative Push Notification campaigns that we have seen so far is the 12-day Fitmas campaign by one of our favorite clients. They had come up with an impressive and smart campaign that ran for each of the 12 days leading up to Christmas. Each day the Notification sent details and instructions about the regimen or workout that had to be followed. This sort of creative Notification campaigns is certain to help you with high member engagement and increased retention as well.

Tips from our customer, Mesa Fitness, Colorado

Here is how Dylan Bennett, Regional Marketing Director from MESA Fitness, Colorado uses  our Push Notifications feature.

    1. Club News – Push Notifications are a great way for us to directly connect with our members for club news like maintenance issues, closures, club updates, new classes/amenities, etc. 
    2. Staff anniversaries – We put our staff anniversaries out each month at the beginning of the month, and Push Notifications are one of the many ways we use to give our staff some love!
    3. Social Media-Style posts – In the past, I have used Push Notifications (more sparingly to not detract the members from having the Notifications) as another social platform through the feeds. We post trainer tips, motivational posts, and quotes to help provide additional value to our members. 
    4. Member Onboarding – Set up a Push Notification sequence for auto-scheduled posts for new members after they join that includes a multitude of posting options, like motivation, trainer tips, promos for each of our departments to encourage them to try new things in the club, and links to our blog.

To summarize, in Dylan’s words, “We use Push Notifications as a way to keep our members informed with club news or updates as well as to provide additional value through motivation, trainer tips, and nutritional help!”

Push Notification Mistakes You Can Avoid

1.Too many or too few 

The most common mistake – when you send a barrage of Notifications, the member either stops reading them or opts out entirely of receiving these Notifications. 

When you send too few, you lose out on the opportunity to engage with members. 

Experiment and find the sweet spot!

2. No CTA 

No CTA=No results. 

If you send these Notifications without the CTA then again you miss the chance to capitalize on converting members.

3. Trying to do it all manually

If you try to do it all manually, they could go at odd hours with the risk of members opting out. By automating and scheduling Notifications in advance you can send them at the right time for your audience to drive higher conversions. 

4. Missing Onboarding Notifications 

Onboarding is the right time to start a fantastic relationship with members. Missing to send Notifications in the Onboarding phase to acquaint your members with your club, your app, and your team are all lost opportunities.

Summing Up

Push Notifications are an untapped marketing channel for keeping members engaged and driving more revenue. You can use them independently or use them in conjunction with other marketing channels to deliver personalized messages to your customers.

The reach of Push Notifications makes them a powerful ally for you to build connections with your members, engage with them consistently eventually generate more business.

Summing Up

Push Notifications are an untapped marketing channel for keeping members engaged and driving more revenue. You can use them independently or use them in conjunction with other marketing channels to deliver personalized messages to your customers.

The reach of Push Notifications makes them a powerful ally for you to build connections with your members, engage with them consistently eventually generate more business.

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