Why More Fitness Studios Are Using Texting to Reach Members

Fitness businesses rely on effective communication to reach members—whether it’s to share class schedules and studio announcements or notify them about billing updates.

However, when communication methods fail—emails get buried or phone calls sent to voicemail—members can miss important information. That’s where texting comes in.

More and more fitness studio owners are finding that texting is a fast, effective way to reach members. In a recent survey of the fitness industry, 87% of fitness businesses said they use texting to communicate with members and prospects.

Here are some ways gyms and studios are using texting to increase revenue and retain more members.

1. Sales and marketing

The effectiveness of your communication will ultimately impact your bottom line. If your marketing emails end up in junk folders, how can you expect to drive new revenue?

Texting works well for marketing and sales messages because it’s a high-priority medium. Eighty-three percent of consumers say they respond to texts within 30 minutes or less.

Texts can be used to:

• Follow up with prospects: Keep prospects engaged by scheduling texts after their first visit to your gym.
• Upgrade existing members: Have a member who consistently takes drop-in classes, but hasn’t pulled the trigger on a monthly membership? Send them a text after they’ve visited that highlights your membership benefits and their potential savings.
• Encourage canceled members to re-join: Send special offers to your canceled members to sway them to re-join your gym.

2. Customer service

Texting makes it easy to answer simple questions fast. Don’t make clients wait on hold for simple questions like, “When is your next power yoga class?” Texts are a great way to answer questions about classes, billing, facilities and more. Plus, many texting tools after automation tools to handle common questions like your gym’s hours of operation.

3. Alerts and reminders

One of the most effective uses of texting in the fitness industry is for class reminders. Schedule a text message to go out to everyone who has registered for your class to increase your attendees. If a member responds and says they can’t make the class, you can use texting to notify members on a waitlist that a spot has opened up. It’s a great way to reduce no-shows and keep your classes full.

If you need to alert members of a class cancellation or gym closure due to a weather event, schedule a group text rather than trying to call members or risk your message going unseen in their email inboxes.

Why texting?

Gym members want the option to text. In Zipwhip’s fitness survey, 69% of respondents who don’t currently have the option to text their gym or studio said they would like to. Members and prospects are more likely to engage when they can reach you the way they prefer.

Texting enables you to save time, retain more customers and improve your bottom line.