Transcript Document
Membership retention in the fitness industry: A qualitative study and the development of a predictive model
Helen N. Watts Dr Jan Francis-Smythe
Overview
• Industry background/ the problem • Research questions • Approaches/ literatures • Design/ methodology • Sampling • Results (final template) • Implications • Limitations
Industry background
• 2004, 4.2 million adults - members of private clubs in UK •9.1% of the adult population (Mintel, 2005). 11% (2007) • Increased governmental campaigning to increase well-being and reduce health problems associated with sedentary lifestyles (Robinson, 2004; UK Government, 1999). • Rapid growth over the last 15 years to £2.5bn.
The problem
• Poor retention rates of members • Average retention rate- approx. 60% (Mintel, 2005, FIA, 2002) • Membership fees- 76% of revenue • Driven by economic competition 2000 – 2004 MV ↑ 43%, growth ↑ 30% (Mintel 2005)
‘any industry that is losing nearly 40% of its customers on an annual basis needs to scrutinise itself very carefully and ask if it can do more to try to retain their business.’
(Mintel, 2005) • Retention- cheaper than acquisition (Reicheld, 1996)
Research questions
• What determines cancellation decisions?
- satisfaction ratings?
- members’ usage levels?
- intention to cancel?
• What makes members give good ‘word of mouth?’
Existing approaches
• Health psychology - physical activity • Consumer psychology - satisfaction/ service quality • Mostly measure either activity levels or intentions, not actual cancellation decisions • Mostly descriptive or concurrent, not predictive
2. MRQ b) Longitudinal 1. Telephone interviews
Mixed design
QUAN
qual
Interpretation QUAN 3. SEM of questionnaire results (n=500+)
qual
4. Interviews at the end of/ exit from longitudinal study
A priori themes
Retention The club Commitment Brand identity Service quality Attitude The activity Subjective norm Perceived behavioural control
Telephone interviews
• Literature review- a priori themes • Recorded interviews (n=25) using Skype and Callburner • Approx. 23 minutes each • To avoid biased data and provide comfort • Manually transcribed and thematically analysed
Current members (n=12) Frozen members (n=3) Ex members (n=10)
Sampling
5 yrs (n=2) 1 yrs (n=2) 3 mths (n=2) X15 pm (n=2) x5 pm (n=2) X1 pm (n=2) Length of membership Monthly usage
• Maximum variation • Initial pool of 72, 24 current, frozen and ex members (expecting 50% response rate) • Most non-response due to invalid numbers
A priori
Commitment The club Brand identity Service quality Attitude The activity Subjective norm Perceived behavioural control
Commitment The club Brand identity
Final template
Service quality The activity Attitude Habit Subjective norm Perceived behavioural control Self determination Social Physique Anxiety The individual State anxiety Social identity Rapport
Service quality Brand identification Commitment Attitude Subjective norm PBC Habit Social identity Rapport Social Physique Anxiety “Well, I just think my club has got everything, good classes, cleanliness...
“I’m not one of those people that needs a really posh club… that’s what I like about it.
“The fact is, if another club as good as mine opened up closer to where I live, I’d cancel my membership in a shot. But at the minute, there’s you know, no alternatives for the same monthly price” “Yeah, I think going to the club really helps stop me from piling on the weight and stay a bit healthy!” “My boyfriend always tells me off if I’ve not been to the club this week, says it’s a waste of his hard earned money!” “The fact is right, that for some people, they can go to the club when they want, for me I can’t always go…when I’ve got to stay late at work…” “I’m one of these club nuts, that when the clock strikes 5pm, I say to myself “right, off to the club” “I just want to feel like I belong somewhere, some clubs I’ve been a member of are just really cliquey” “Not everyone’s like me , but I always feel like I want to belong somewhere. I like it when I go to my greengrocers and they talk to me... Whereas you don’t really get that in a supermarket do you... Which is what my gym is like really, a supermarket.” “For me, the best thing about going to my club is that no one is looking down their nose at you”
Implications
• The same club- different experiences for different members - different levels of rapport and feelings of identity - different levels/types of anxiety • A club can be also be a place of anxiety as well as well-being • The need for individual profiling and monitoring throughout membership
Limitations
• Low number of frozen members • Same interview technique used for different groups- concept mapping may have been better for ex members