Here is the Best Way to Boost Gym Member Engagement

Gyms typically benefit from seasonal surges in new members—people looking to fulfill their New Year’s Resolutions or get in shape for summer. But the real return on those surges depends on how long you can keep new members engaged and excited about continuing their fitness journey at your gym.

The current reality is that about 50% of new gym members quit within six months, costing gyms a potential 25% to 95% profit increase. Studies also show that 80% of members who visit the gym less than once a week in their first 30 days will cancel within six months. That’s why keeping members engaged is critical to your gym’s long-term success.

This article explains how you can use automation tools like Gym Lead Machine to boost engagement through emails and SMS.

Here’s what we’ll cover:

• The role of automation in building relationships with members
• How email can improve engagement
• How SMS can drive better connection and accountability
• 5 ways to combine email and SMS marketing strategies
• Best practices for using both channels to build long-term engagement

How Do Automation Tools Help You Develop Relationships with Members?

With automation tools like Gym Lead Machine, you can build and maintain strong relationships with your members through timely, consistent, and personalized communication via email and text. Best of all, you don’t have to manually manage every touchpoint—automation handles it for you.

Here are six ways Gym Lead Machine helps make your email and SMS campaigns more efficient and more effective:

1. Automated follow-ups: Gym Lead Machine can automatically trigger messages when members miss a class, opt in through a lead form, or pause or cancel a membership. This keeps communication consistent and ensures no one slips through the cracks.
2. Personalized communication: By using member data—like their name, goals, or sign-up date—Gym Lead Machine sends messages that feel one-on-one. For example: “Hi Mario, we missed you in spin class last night. Hope to see you Saturday at 10 AM!”
3. Targeting and segmentation: You can group members based on things like attendance, length of membership, or lifetime value. Then, you can send targeted messages—like a milestone check-in for long-term members or a re-engagement message for those who’ve dropped off.
4. Drip content: Deliver educational tips, motivation, nutrition advice, or success stories on a set schedule (daily, weekly, or monthly). This helps you stay top of mind and provide value beyond the workouts.
5. Two-way texting: Gym Lead Machine supports real-time text conversations. Team members can also jump in to reply, making the interaction feel more personal and connected.
6. Performance tracking: You can track open rates, clicks, and conversions to see what’s working. These insights help you refine future campaigns for onboarding, win-backs, and overall retention.

How Emails Help Increase Member Engagement

With evolving fitness technology and a crowded field of competitors, the competition for members is intense—even for the members you already have. There’s always the lure of new fitness trends, virtual workouts, and fitness apps. But building strong relationships with your members gives them a real reason to stay loyal to your gym.

Email marketing is a great way to build and nurture those relationships. It allows you to send messages directly to your members’ inboxes without distractions. It’s also highly cost-effective, with a strong return on investment, averaging $36 for every dollar spent.

How Emails Contribute to Relationship Building

A strong email strategy can play a key role in building relationships with your members and boosting engagement in several ways, including:

• Welcoming new members during the onboarding process
• Sending reminders and milestone check-ins
• Explaining changes or improvements in services
• Highlighting member success stories and testimonials

Trust is a major factor in building long-term relationships. In fact, 81% of consumers say they need to trust a business before committing their time and money. That’s why delivering valuable, actionable content can make the difference between keeping and losing a member.

And what better way to position your gym as a helpful authority than by regularly sending nutrition tips, injury prevention guides, and inspiring success stories straight to their inbox?

Why Do Emails Work So Well for Win-Back Campaigns?

One of the biggest challenges in boosting member engagement is reaching out to inactive members. Did you know that 67% of gym memberships go unused? While that stat may seem discouraging, it also presents an opportunity to use automated emails to re-engage members who have fallen off.

Email marketing works well for win-back campaigns for several reasons:

• 59% of members who form a strong personal connection with a staff member stay engaged longer. Email gives your staff a chance to build those connections with inactive members—like offering a free personal training session or inviting them to a class.
• You can also include video content in emails, allowing you or your team to share actionable advice or a personal message. It’s a great way to showcase your coaches’ personalities and the gym’s vibe.
• Personalized emails see an average 42% open rate and a 5.4% click-through rate, so tailoring your message can make a big difference in getting people back through your doors.
• Email also pairs well with emerging tech. For example, AI-powered email campaigns can boost click-through rates by 13%, helping you reach and reconnect with inactive members more effectively.

How SMS Benefits Member Engagement

With an open rate of 98%, SMS marketing is one of the most powerful ways to connect with your members. Nearly every person who receives a text from your gym will open and read it—making SMS far more effective in reach than email, which has an average open rate of 21.33%.

But high open rates aren’t the only reason SMS is great for building relationships and boosting engagement. Here are six key benefits of using SMS marketing to engage your members:

1. Cost-Effectiveness

SMS marketing is often more affordable than other forms of communication, including email and traditional marketing. On average, each SMS costs around $0.25 to $0.50, depending on your message volume and service provider. Because of its low cost and high open rate, SMS can deliver a strong return on investment by allowing you to reach more members without breaking the bank.

2. Convenient and Real-Time Conversations

SMS communication is the next best thing to talking in person—and in some ways, it’s even better. It’s just as fast and convenient, but members can be miles away and still receive important updates, like class time changes, special offers, or workout tips.

If a member is busy, they can open and respond later, which keeps the conversation going on their schedule. This flexibility helps maintain ongoing engagement and ensures your members never miss vital gym updates or news.

3. Relationship-Building Exchanges

SMS marketing allows you to build real connections with your members through casual, informal exchanges—like sharing jokes, commenting on sports, or swapping funny gym stories. It’s also a great way to send personalized messages for milestones, event reminders, special offers, pep talks, custom exercise tips, and challenges.

You can also use group SMS to strengthen your community. Invite members to share their experiences or join conversations with others—whether it’s a motivational story, a lighthearted moment, or a reaction to current events.

4. Encourages Two-Way Communication

SMS makes it easier to support your members on their fitness journey through direct, personal, and accessible two-way communication.

For example, imagine a member who signed up at the start of the year but has only shown up once in a month. They’re hard to reach—but they’ll respond to a text. In this case, SMS gives you a way to check in and help them overcome barriers to engagement.

They might be dealing with concerns about classes, gym anxiety, slow progress, or time constraints—and a simple conversation can make all the difference.

5. Curbs No-Shows

Most Americans check their phones an average of 96 times a day. So it’s no surprise that SMS reminders have been shown to reduce no-shows by 38%.

SMS is one of the most effective ways to remind members about class times, coaching sessions, or membership renewals—making it a powerful tool for reducing missed appointments and boosting overall engagement.

6. Automate Marketing Tasks

Automated SMS marketing can handle a large portion of your retention-focused marketing efforts. Some of the key tasks it can simplify include:

• Pre-scheduled reminders
• Announcements
• Sign-ups for content or seminars
• Promoting membership specials
• Shout-outs for individual member achievements

By automating these touchpoints, you can consistently keep members engaged and actively involved in your gym community without adding extra work to your plate.

5 Ways to Apply Automated Email and SMS Marketing Strategies to Boost Engagement

By combining email and SMS marketing, you can take advantage of two of the most powerful digital communication tools available. Together, they help you reach your members quickly, consistently, and effectively.

Here are five marketing tactics you can use to boost engagement with an automated email and SMS strategy:

1. Segmentation and Personalization

Automation tools like Gym Lead Machine help you get the most out of your retention email campaigns through precise segmentation. This feature lets you divide your contact list into targeted groups based on preferences, member behavior, length of engagement, or past interactions. With these segments, you can personalize subject lines, visual and written content, and promotional offers to make each message feel more relevant to the recipient.

Segmentation is just as powerful for SMS. For example, if you have a group of members who haven’t checked in for over a month, you could schedule a personalized message like:

2. Feedback and Internal Marketing Research

Boosting engagement is much more effective when your incentives and events are guided by internal gym research, like member feedback and survey results. And there’s no faster or more convenient way to gather that information than through an automated email and SMS campaign.

Email surveys are great for collecting detailed feedback and actionable suggestions. When you need quick, real-time input, SMS is ideal for short-form questions—like: “How would you rate our staff’s response to you, on a scale of 1 to 10?”

You can also use SMS to prompt members to complete your email survey or to send quick reminders. To increase participation, consider offering a small incentive like a free smoothie or entry into a giveaway.

3. Limited-Time Promotions

Email and SMS marketing are great tools for promoting time-sensitive offers that drive member engagement. These promotions can include things like short-term challenges, free personal training sessions, or a free group class day—anything that gets members excited and involved.

Because limited-time offers rely on urgency, email is ideal for grabbing attention with strong subject lines, vivid visuals, and even short videos. These elements help encourage your members to open the message and learn more about the promotion.

As the deadline approaches, SMS is perfect for sending reminders like: “Only 2 days left to sign up for a free HIIT class! Hurry and claim your spot!”

You can also use SMS to follow up with participants after the event to keep the momentum going.

4. Valuable Content Delivery

You can often inspire members to engage more by sharing valuable content that expands their knowledge and supports their fitness journey. Whether it’s ebooks, white papers, or videos, email is a great way to deliver fitness-related resources that educate and motivate.

Gym automation tools make this even easier by letting you segment your email list based on member interests and preferences. This ensures that each member receives content that’s most relevant to them. To increase engagement, include clear, compelling calls to action (CTAs) that encourage downloads or interaction with the content.

SMS can also play a key role by sending short teaser messages that alert members when new content is available. These quick notifications increase the chances your members will check out the content and see the added value your gym provides.

5. Invitations to Webinars

Email marketing is a great way to send well-designed webinar invitations to your members. Because webinars are typically interactive, they can be a strong driver of member engagement. Average attendance rates range from 35% to 45%, but you can increase those numbers by highlighting key features in your invitation emails, such as:

• Popular guest hosts or speakers
• Polls or quizzes
• Live Q&A sessions
• Themed chats
• Breakout rooms for deeper discussion

Just like with limited-time promotions, SMS reminders are a powerful way to boost last-minute attendance. They’re especially effective for encouraging members who are still on the fence about joining.

Here are a few sample SMS reminders you can use:

• Don’t forget to attend our special meal planning seminar on [date and time]. Special guest [name], a well-known nutrition author, will be answering your questions.
• This upcoming seminar can supercharge your fitness journey. Join us on [date and time] for an inspiring, info-packed session.
• The game-changing seminar we’ve been talking about is happening tomorrow at [time]. We’ll save your spot!

How to Optimize Your Email and SMS Engagement Campaign

Every marketing campaign—whether internal or external—comes with its own challenges. But following these best practices can help you avoid common pitfalls and improve results:

• Don’t send too many messages: Sending too many emails or texts can lead to audience fatigue. Make sure your automation settings send messages at a reasonable pace and at the right times. A general guideline is 1–3 emails per month and 2–4 texts per month.
• Track and analyze member responses: Tools like Gym Lead Machine give you access to valuable data on opens, clicks, and replies, so you can refine your campaigns and seize opportunities to improve engagement.
• Understand each channel’s strengths: Email and SMS both serve different purposes. Use each tool where it shines, and avoid overloading one channel with the wrong type of message.
• Optimize for mobile: Around 50–60% of emails are opened on mobile devices. Make sure all your messages are mobile-friendly so members can easily read and act on them.

Boosting the Numbers

Growing your membership base is one of the most cost-effective ways to increase your gym’s ROI and drive long-term growth. With automation tools like Gym Lead Machine, you can build stronger relationships with your members through well-crafted email and SMS campaigns.

Want to see how it works? Book a call — our team at Kilo will be happy to walk you through it.