Grow your membership and create brand awareness
Health and fitness goals are not exclusive to New Year’s resolutions. How do you make sure your brand grabs your target audience’s attention, beats your competition, and lands that new fitness membership or training package year round? There’s a few key marketing automation practices and strategies that will help you capture the attention of your audience and get them excited about reaching their health and fitness goals with your brand.
Precise segmentation, precise messaging
Before we get into the four practices we’re suggesting fitness brands and facilities follow for better growth and brand awareness, let’s talk about list segmentation.
The idea of using customer segmentation is not new. Marketers have been using this tactic for years as a way to deliver more relevant emails to their customers. Most email service providers – from the most complex to even some of the free services online – allow marketers to use this strategy. Segmentation allows for more targeted messaging that will entice and inform potential members and get them running (pun intended) to your gym or facility!
When you segment your email list, you are adding personalization to each message. This is important for nurturing your leads, because personalized emails generate higher transaction rates than normal emails. The more you segment your lists, the greater you are able to personalize email messages and delivery times.
Sometimes, there are segments that may convert and be difficult to retain, which is a common problem in the f itness industry. But, this target could get a specific offer while those who are likely to convert and be steadily retained would receive a different offer. Segmenting allows you to reduce costs on offers, couponing and discounts in general by targeting the right offer to the right person at the right time.
It makes sense to implement list segmentation into your growth efforts to reduce costs and raise conversion rates, which lead to higher revenue.
There are a few best practices to keep in mind before diving into the list segmenting realm to ensure your efforts are successful:
- Make sure your data is clean
- Incorporate lead scoring as a foundation strategy in your email marketing plan
- Create targeted content within a journey automation to trigger based on behavior and ensure you’re considering their point within the funnel
- Continue to refine your segmentation system based on results
- Last but certainly not least—don’t forget to include criteria that will permanently disqualify poor leads
Incentive email
Now that we understand how list segmentation can impact your email marketing efforts, let’s discuss the email campaigns and best practices fitness brands should implement in their marketing plan to continue growth and optimization.
New subscribers may need an incentive to initiate a trial or purchase with your brand. There’s so many offers and ways to deliver them, but email can be particularly compelling. For instance, Peloton is known for its clean, simple emails where the offer is the primary message. Once the reader opts-in and gets their bike home, they have 30 days to decide to love it.
SoulCycle, who also welcomes new subscribers with speed in mind by soliciting that first booking, is another good example of the “once they’re in, they’re hooked” mindset.
Their best value-add is the mention of their app. It’s outside the email channel, but can be an effective tool for communicating if they engage more deeply in that channel. Any engagement becomes a win for email because that’s where the story began!
Welcome email
Welcome messaging should be triggered based on time from sign up. They may have signed up for a membership right away, be responding to an offer, or signing up for emails to learn more about the product and services. Make sure that you have a message that’s appropriate for each of these distinct audiences for maximum engagement and conversion. It’s also important to consider timing. Definitely within a max of 24 hours from sign-up, but usually within the first hour, or preferably real-time, is the most engaging and will provide the highest conversions. You know the old adage—strike while the iron is hot—or in this case, when they’re ready to sweat!
Naturally, welcome emails are truly paramount to establishing that initial relationship with a lead. For example, Peloton uses their welcome message to thank new members and help them onboard quickly and easily. From there, the next goal is to supply content that contributes to speedy results, the number one goal for most gym-goers. Results are the key to retention in the fitness industry, obviously.
After converting potential members to trial users, you’ve taken them over the most difficult hurdle—actually getting the bike home. Now that it’s in their home, the likelihood they’ll want to keep it and continue their membership is huge. It’s even stronger when they realize how well they did just in the first 30 days.
Peloton not only provides more information on their product and the Peloton difference between the competition, but they also share a story from a user during their first 30 days. What would be even more compelling is providing users with progress reports each week after they begin their trial. People love being reminded of how well they’re doing and seeing their own progress can truly push a trial to a membership very quickly.
Hot tip: Set up automations that will trigger at specific points in their journey to conversion, i.e. full paid membership. That shows you’re supporting them through their journey, providing the information they need at the right time, and connecting with them and their goals. It’s also important not to hard-sell at this point. Be your most present in the first 30 days of their subscription and create a bond that will convince them to become a member by being their coach every step of the way.
Here’s a few things to always keep in mind when writing your welcome and incentive emails:
- Always be timely! Initial emails should be delivered within 1–24 hours of an action—the earlier the better!
- Automate and trigger based off of actions taken to keep the conversation flowing in the right direction.
- Don’t hard-sell too soon! If they’re on a trial, help them use their product and get to know your brand. The conversion will happen more naturally and it won’t seem like you’re being too pushy.
- Everyone is different—treat them as uniquely as possible.
Engagement email
You’ve got them as new members, now how do you make them loyal members? You continue to engage them by treating them like VIPs, sharing exclusive content, tips and tricks, and by providing information about your service and product that is relevant to them.
Using behavior as the lead, send content that your member will find compelling and useful. If not, you’re wasting your members time and that won’t bode well for engagement growth.
Holidays and special occasions like birthdays and anniversaries can go a long way into solidifying brand loyalty as well. The key is to pick important moments in time relevant to your members and subscribers. Offers also associated with these special moments are often highly converted and wildly successful—when relevant!
Did we say relevant?
Newsletters
Newsletters are a great way to stay connected with your members. The hard part however, is making sure you’re providing relevant content to each recipient. Using behavior and engagement metrics to match content to the user is a great way to accomplish this.
Nike has a newsletter specifically for its Air Jordan collection. They’ve created a brand within the brand, if you will, warranting this collection its own series. How could this concept apply to your brand? Consider Peloton above—they offer bikes and treadmill programs. If a member has one and not the other, they probably don’t want to hear about them on the regular.
Fitbit takes the opportunity to provide health and wellness tips, recipes and workout ideas to help their users maximize both their time and their devices. This is a great engagement example as it incorporates audience behavior and related content for a well-rounded read that both informs and entices.
Also, during quarantine, providing some lockdown activities that are good for users health and fitness was an exceptional value-add. Merging the current environment with your brand and consumers can really connect your members to you, and this creates deep brand loyalty.
So, the key points are:
- Ensure that you’re segmenting your audience properly
- Welcome them promptly
- Engage them with helpful content and newsletters
Another key detail to remember when building your strategies, test planning and optimizations is to consider what success looks like. What is conversion for you? A purchased membership? A class taken? Email interaction? Ensure your strategy includes success metrics so you know what to report on to provide value.
Where relationships take root.
Marigold’s approach to Relationship Marketing stands alone in a world of one-size-fits-all marketing technology companies. Our solutions are designed for your specific size, industry, and maturity, giving you the technology and expertise you need to grow the relationships that grow your business, from customer acquisition to engagement to loyalty. And, with a team of strategists that provide insights into what’s working, what’s not, and what’s changing in your industry, you’re able to maximize ROI every step of the way.
Great marketing isn’t just about conversion, but true connection. Learn why 40,000 businesses around the world trust Marigold to be the firm foundation they need to help relationships take root.
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