The topic of retention seems to be a never-ending story and it is one of those things that keep marketing specialists awake at night. Marketers and salespeople who work in the fitness industry often treat this subject in a superficial manner. Trying to get results in the shortest possible time they focus on simple repetition of purchases by customers which leads to net profit directly. But only this. Customer loyalty, however, is more complex and multifaceted, and looking at the behaviour of young people, it is even more complex. Lately, there have been several surveys conducted among the youngest fitness customers aged 16-24 and it turned out that this group of customers is the least loyal one. This may come down to the fact that those people often change schools and jobs. On the other hand, we have customers aged over 55 who prefer annual subscriptions and are extremely loyal. Knowing the customer loyalty profiles and understanding their behaviour is crucial for any entrepreneur. Gym customer’s base can be pretty wide unless it's a strictly narrow-focus club, and as mentioned earlier, the degree of their loyalty between different member groups varies so different strategies should be implemented to strengthen it.
Music as stimuli
One of such super incentives, acting on the youngest audience which we already know is the most difficult, is music played during group classes. The importance of music in the service industry is well known and clearly defined. The issue of using music while doing various businesses has been and is widely explored. It has been proven to be used to stimulate emotions, to evoke feelings, to focus attention or to stimulate customers’ imagination. Several other studies have proven that music plays a key role in the lives of young people. If we combine the impact of music on customer behaviour and the musical awareness of the youngest members of fitness clubs, and we put these two facts into practice by choosing the songs we play, we can build loyalty among this group which obviously will increase our revenue.
Musical bonding
It can be proven that the use of specific music styles during group activities specifically for young club members can lead to a stimulating atmosphere where participants become more engaged, more attentive, and more satisfied. According to those customers, the right choice of music could result in a positive attitude to training and increased pleasure from exercising, and consequently increased satisfaction with training which translates into better retention. Putting it straight-forward the division of classes into musical styles and not just only the type of exercise can significantly increase the percentage of loyal members in the group of youngest customers. There is also a second reason why this group would highly welcome such musical division: respondents said that it would be easier for them to meet people with a similar musical taste and possibly same style, subculture and so develop new friendships and meet potential partners.
Do you want to check what type of music would suit best your group classes audience? Try out sending questionnaire from Prefect Gym management system automation centre. This tool will help you to save time and gather feedback quickly.