Retention Analysis Service

Forward thinking companies are aware of the importance of customer and membership retention to their economic success. Yet despite much talk about the importance of retention, the fitness industry has no accepted definition or standardised measure. In 2000, the FIA commissioned a research programme and a series of reports (Winning the Retention Battle) to provide an industry definition of retention and an industry benchmark. Whilst the reports were warmly received, individual clubs and operators have been unable to compare their performance with others in the industry, to benchmark themselves. This is due to the lack of technical knowledge about how to analyse and compute appropriate measures of attrition and retention.

Most clubs attempt to calculate an indicator of 'attrition' using the method described by IHRSA or something similar. This method counts the number of people with a quit date in a specified period and divides the figure by the number of members at the start of that period. This proportion is referred to as an attrition rate although it does not take into account how long people have been members. Indeed using this approach, two clubs can report identical attrition rates yet have entirely different average lengths of stay per member. This of course provides no 'actionable' data than can be used to policy or programmes.

Dr Melvyn Hillsdon and Paul Bedford have established a new service to provide forward thinking fitness organizations with the necessary information, advice and training to enable them to measurably improve their retention rates, membership revenues and surplus income.

ReAiM can provide clubs with data on retention, attrition and longevity using state of the art methods of analysis which will provide information that can best be translated into action. The data is presented in the form of a written report and includes three specific measures:

• Retention rates in 4-week intervals for periods of membership from 4-56 weeks.
• Attrition rates per 1000 members per month
• The average duration of membership per member

Plus:

• Benchmark individual club results against the UK industry norms (the only normative data in the world)

Results are provided in easy to understand graphical format, with clear explanations of what each measure is and what it means.

General guidance as the meaning of the results and how they might inform policy is also provided.