These days, people expect more from the businesses they buy from, especially their gym.
They want to feel seen, supported, and like their experience was made just for them. And when that happens? Gym members stick around longer.
In fact, a study by McKinsey found that businesses using personalization make 40% more revenue than those that don’t.
For coaching gyms, creating a personalized gym experience is a huge opportunity. But it’s also hard to do manually when you’re busy coaching, managing staff, and running the day-to-day.
That’s where automation tools for gyms help. The right ones can deliver a personalized experience to every lead and member through email, text, and your website—without spending hours doing it yourself.
In this post, we’ll cover:
- Why personalization helps with gym member retention
- How to use automation tools for gyms to personalize communication
- Easy automations you can set up to support leads and members
- Gym software that makes personalization faster and more consistent
- A real example from a coaching gym using automation to grow
Let’s get started. 👇
Why Personalization Helps With Gym Member Retention
Gyms lose members for all kinds of reasons, including poor programming, lack of results, or life changes that shift their priorities. But another reason is that members stop feeling connected. This is especially true in coaching gyms, where people are paying for more than just access to equipment. They’re investing in support, accountability, and a sense of community.
When the gym experience feels personal, members are more likely to stay engaged. Here’s why personalization matters:
1. It builds trust
A study by Salesforce found that 84% of customers say being treated like a person, not a number, is very important to winning their business. In a coaching gym, something as simple as remembering a member’s injury history or checking in after they miss a session helps build that trust. It shows you’re paying attention, which builds loyalty.
2. It increases motivation
When members get personalized feedback, encouragement, or progress updates, they’re more likely to stay motivated. For example, a coach sending a quick “Great job on your front squat PR today!” via text makes someone feel recognized and excited to keep going. Motivation improves when people feel like their effort is being noticed.
3. It improves the overall member experience
A personalized experience makes members feel like they belong. In contrast, generic programs or mass emails that don’t reflect their goals or schedule can feel impersonal. Think about the difference between “Hey, here’s a mobility routine for your tight hips” versus “Here’s a general warm-up.” One feels like it was made for them. The other doesn’t.
4. It reduces churn
According to IHRSA, 50% of new members quit within the first six months. But most don’t tell you they’re unhappy. A quick check-in after someone misses a week or an automated message based on low attendance gives you a chance to bring them back before they cancel. These small, timely messages can make a big difference between someone quitting and someone re-engaging.
💡 A 10% reduction in churn could save your gym over $30,000 a year. This article breaks it down.
The good news? You don’t have to manually write every message or remember every milestone. Automation makes personalization easier—and we’ll show you how in the next section.
How to Personalize the Member Experience With Email, SMS, and Your Website
Automation tools for gyms allow you to personalize communication through email, SMS, and your website without overwhelming your team. Here are three key channels you can use to personalize at scale:
1. Email Marketing for Gyms
Email is one of the most effective and flexible ways to communicate with your gym members. It’s perfect for keeping people engaged in between sessions and delivering the right message at the right time.
You can set up email workflows that:
- Welcome new members or leads
- Check-ins at key milestones (30, 60, 90 days)
- Share educational content based on goals like fat loss, strength, or recovery
- Re-engage members who haven’t shown up in a while
These emails can be personalized with details like the member’s name, goal, program type, or attendance history. When done right, they feel specific to them, even though they’re fully automated.
For example, a strength gym might send a 30-day “milestone check-in” asking how things are going and offering a quick goal review. It makes members feel supported without requiring gym trainers to track everyone manually.
💡 With automation tools like Gym Lead Machine, you can build these emails once and let them run in the background, so every new lead or member gets a personal touch without adding more to your team’s plate.
2. SMS Automation for Gyms
SMS automation for gyms is one of the most effective ways to deliver real-time, personalized messages. It feels direct, human, and immediate. And with open rates hovering near 98%, it’s a great way to stay connected with new gym leads or gym members between sessions.
You can use automated text messages to:
- Confirm intro sessions and appointments
- Follow up after no-shows or missed check-ins
- Celebrate personal records or attendance streaks
- Re-engage inactive members with a quick check-in
For example, if a gym member misses three sessions in a row, they might get a message like:
“Hey [Gym Member Name], we haven’t seen you in a bit. Want help getting back into a routine?”
💡 Messages like this take just minutes to set up in automation tools like Gym Lead Machine but still feel personal—as if they came directly from their coach.
For coaching gyms, this kind of support strengthens accountability and helps members feel seen. Even when someone hasn’t shown up in a while, these messages help maintain the relationship and improve gym member retention.
When paired with other channels, SMS is a simple but powerful part of a personalized gym experience.
3. Personalizing the Gym Website Experience
Your gym website has the power to create a personalized gym experience. It can respond to visitor behavior and trigger automations that guide gym leads or gym members through the next step.
With automation tools for gyms like Gym Lead Machine, which comes with a high-converting gym website and built-in marketing automation, your site can:
- Trigger follow-up messages when someone fills out a lead form
- Track visits to key pages (like pricing or programs) and send personalized follow-ups
- Highlight programs, testimonials, or case studies relevant to visitor goals
For example, if a lead visits your “Programs” page and fills out a form to book a free consultation, Gym Lead Machine can automatically trigger a follow-up email or text with next steps—along with a success story from a client with similar goals. That extra layer of personalization builds trust and encourages action.
When your website, email, and SMS channels all work together, you create a seamless and supportive experience that helps convert leads and retain gym members.
💡 With Gym Lead Machine, your plan includes 1,200 SMS segments, unlimited emails, and unlimited calls—all built into one system. Book a call to learn how it can work for your gym.
5 Easy Ways to Personalize the Member Experience at Your Gym
You don’t need a big marketing team or complicated systems to give your gym members a more personalized experience. With a few smart automations, you can start building stronger relationships with both leads and members right away.
Here are five simple but impactful ways to get started:
1. Set up an automated welcome sequence
When someone opts in or fills out a form on your website, they should immediately get a personalized message that introduces your gym and sets expectations. This could include your gym’s story, what makes your coaching different, and how to book their first visit. It’s your chance to make a strong first impression and build trust right away.
💡 Pro tip: Always use the person’s first name in these messages. It’s a small detail, but it makes the message feel more personal and direct.
2. Create a “missed check-in” workflow
Not every member who disappears is ready to cancel. Sometimes they just need a little nudge. If that’s the case at your gym, set up an automation that sends a friendly SMS or email if someone hasn’t checked in for 7-10 days. It can be as simple as:
“Hey [Gym Member Name], noticed you haven’t been in this week. Want help getting back into a routine?”
You can also set up automations for birthdays or gym anniversaries. These small, personal touches remind members that you care—and they only take a few seconds to set up.
If you’re using Kilo’s gym management software, birthdays are automatically flagged on the reservation list with a 🎁 icon next to the member’s name. It’s an easy way to recognize someone’s special day without relying on memory or spreadsheets.
3. Segment your email list by training goal
Tag your members based on their goals, like “strength,” “fat loss,” “performance,” or “general fitness.” Then use these tags to send targeted messages that feel more relevant. A member focused on strength doesn’t need the same content as someone trying to lose weight. This level of personalization keeps people more engaged and helps them feel like their journey matters.
4. Use your website to trigger follow-ups
Your gym website isn’t just a place to collect leads—it can also be a powerful tool for personalization. If someone fills out a form, visits your pricing page multiple times, or clicks into a specific program, that’s a strong sign that they’re interested. You can use this behavior to trigger an automated follow-up that feels timely and relevant.
For example, if a lead visits your small group training page, you might automatically send a testimonial from a current member in that program, along with a link to book a free intro. These small, behavior-based touchpoints show you’re paying attention and help convert leads into members by creating a more personalized experience.
5. Start small, then build
You don’t need to automate everything at once. Start with one or two workflows, like a welcome sequence and a missed check-in, and see how they perform. As you get more comfortable, you can layer in milestone emails, program-specific content, success story highlights, or re-engagement campaigns.
Over time, these small steps add up to a more personal, more effective member journey—and a stronger, more connected gym community.
Gym Software Options to Personalize the Member Experience
If you’re trying to create a more personalized gym experience, you don’t need a dozen tools or a marketing agency to make it happen. You just need the right system.
That’s where Kilo comes in.
Between Gym Lead Machine (your lead follow-up and marketing engine) and Kilo’s gym management software (where you run your sessions, check-ins, and much more), you have everything you need to personalize the member experience from start to finish.
The big difference between manual vs. automated personalization comes down to time and consistency. Manually writing every follow-up, remembering birthdays, or checking in with no-shows takes time—and it’s easy to forget when things get busy.
With automation, those touchpoints happen automatically. A missed check-in triggers a text. A birthday shows up on your coach’s schedule. A website form submission kicks off an email sequence. You stay consistent, and your members feel supported.
Getting started is simple. Kilo comes with pre-built templates, workflows, and integrations that make setting up your automations quick and easy, so you can focus on running your gym.
💡 Want to see how it works? Book a call with our team to see how Kilo helps automate personalization and improve gym member retention.
How CrossFit Gyms Use Gym Lead Machine to Automate Follow-Ups
Lisa and Dai Palmer of Gas Station Fitness & Nutrition run two successful CrossFit gyms that stay at capacity year-round. They’re well known in the Two-Brain Business community for their lead nurturing system, and despite generating more leads than they need, they limit themselves to 300 per month.
Why only 300?
Because they’ve learned that nurturing every lead properly matters more than just volume. Without a system in place, most gyms burn through leads by not following up fast enough or sending generic messages.
Lisa and Dai use Gym Lead Machine to automate that process. As soon as someone fills out a form on their website, they’re entered into a follow-up sequence that includes custom SMS, emails, and timely check-ins. It feels personal—but it all happens automatically, without adding extra work for the team.
Watch how their system works in this episode of the Gym World Worldwide podcast:
Or read this article for a 4-minute summary. 👈
Make Every Member Feel Like a Priority
Personalization doesn’t mean writing every message by hand or tracking every milestone yourself. With the right systems in place, you can create a gym experience that feels thoughtful and supportive, without adding more to your plate.
If you’re just getting started, here’s a simple 3-step approach to make personalization easier:
- Pick one channel to focus on, like email, SMS, or your website.
- Set up one automation like a welcome sequence or a missed check-in.
- Add more over time as you get comfortable, like goal-based content or milestone messages.
And remember, it’s not about sending more messages. It’s about making every message count. When communication feels timely and relevant, members stay engaged, get results, and stick with you longer.
Tools from Kilo help you personalize at scale, strengthen relationships, and improve retention, while keeping your team focused on what matters most.
Want to make retention easier and more consistent? Book a call with Kilo today to start building stronger member relationships.
