Many YMCA and JCC organizations struggle with member retention, and 2020 has amplified these challenges. A study conducted of 17 YMCAs across the U.S. found that, without intervention, 63% of new members stopped exercising within six months of joining the organization and, unsurprisingly, member termination often followed.

We’re sharing a collection of tips and strategies to help you retain your members, even during these challenging times when in-person activities are limited.

Why Member Retention Matters

As the old adage goes, it’s more expensive to acquire a new customer than it is to retain a current one. How much time does your team spend reaching out to potential new members versus enriching and cultivating relationships with your current ones? And, how often does your leadership team review retention numbers and look for correlations with program usage, differences across facilities, age and gender distribution, and more?

6 Ways to Increase Member Retention…Yes, Even In a Pandemic

1. Prioritize Members’ Needs and Align Programs to Meet Them.

Your members have unique goals and needs and specific reasons that they joined your organization in the first place. This can include a gym with childcare options, group workout classes, programs for seniors, or summer camps for kids. When your members first enroll, leverage surveys and phone calls from your staff to identify their individual needs and guide them to programs that align with their goals.

Some organizations have used journey mapping to identify initiatives and programs that are most valuable to members. Front desk staff may hear comments and frustrations with limited pool access or crowded locker rooms during peak periods but mapping the full member experience may point to optimizing the workout class schedule as an improvement where you’ll get the most bang for your buck.

Additionally, what’s important to members may have changed over the past few months. They may want to know how many people will be in a certain workout class before they come to the facility and what percent of the time they’ll have to spend indoors. Have you shifted your communication efforts to share the information that’s most important right now?

The Y-USA finds that new members are 50% more likely to leave if they don’t make friends and cannot meet their wellness goals. And, if members have few or no interactions with staff in their first month after joining, they are 50% less likely to return the following month. Look for opportunities to make connections between members as well as staff and provide members with easy ways to track their goals and progress towards them. I’ll share more on tracking progress in a moment.

For your existing members, consider ways to keep them engaged with others at the organization. For example, a member referral program can provide a reduced monthly fee to members who recruit their friends or family to join the organization. Both members can take advantage of the reduced monthly rate, they have gained a workout buddy and your membership base has grown.

2. Reinforce the Value That You Provide to Members.

Make sure to highlight the results of your work in personalized emails and member newsletters, reminding them of the programs that are unique to them and that you care about their needs and are working hard to meet them.

This is especially important during the pandemic when members are able to take advantage of a limited number of programs and facilities. Make sure to communicate often about the changes that you’ve made to accommodate social distancing, which facilities are open, changes to processes such as booking classes and more. And, consider providing members with a year-end summary statement of benefits where you quantify the value of the benefits they’ve received.

3. Make Membership Affordable and Streamline the Renewal Process.

Membership affordability is always a concern, but it is particularly relevant this year when many families have lost their jobs, experienced pay cuts or had to prioritize their limited resources. Revisit your membership options to ensure that you can accommodate a range of budgets and options. While in-person interactions are still limited, consider membership options that allow people to take advantage of digital programming only and provide ways for people to pause their membership and resume billing at a future date.

Organizations tend to focus on retention every 12 or 13 months instead of thinking about it on a monthly basis. Instead, evaluate your member retention data and discussions during the time periods when people are making a decision to renew their membership. If the majority of your members are paying their dues monthly, they’re considering the value of that membership each month and not just at the end of their renewal cycle.

4. Is your organization a place where people know your name?

 Sometimes you wanna go

Where everybody knows your name…

Okay, but really. Your staff plays a crucial role in facilitating relationships and helping members feel welcome every time that they walk through the door. Emphasize the importance among your team of getting to know members personally. Remembering first names is important, of course, but it can certainly be difficult. Instead, focus on details that are relevant to that member such as why they joined the organization, their fitness goals, what’s happening in their lives, etc. Front desk staff and trainers can make notes about these details in the member’s record and quickly reference them when he or she shows up for a class or training session.

When a prospective new member is given a tour of your facility, encourage staff to introduce them to other people in the organization. In a socially distant world, you can make introductions via your member community or launching a virtual buddy program. By creating these connections prior to member enrollment, you’ve built a reason for them to come back and instilled a tight-knit community atmosphere in your organization. When that member comes back for their first program or workout, they’ve already met a few people and feel like they’re part of the community.

5. Get Members Plugged In.

Your member community is a powerful tool for member retention. Often, members may feel that they’re solely responsible to keep up their exercise program and training schedule. Find ways for members to collaborate with and support one another as they work towards their goals.

You can host community events and hangouts for targeted groups such as members who joined in a particular month, those recently signed up for personal training, parents of young kids, and more. Encourage people to come early to a workout session, whether it’s in-person or virtual, or stay later to get to know their classmates. Introduce new members to people who frequent your facility often and find ways for staff to engage with all members, both the newbies and veterans.

6. Communicate Often and Help Members Track Their Progress.

Communication can help keep engagement high for some members. Consider accountability programs where members receive notifications when they have missed multiple sessions or are visiting your facility less often. The first sign of a member not being engaged is missing a week or two of workouts. Consider having your staff reach out, ideally someone they already know, to find out if anything has changed with their goals and how your team can support them.

Tracking progress can be difficult and it’s hard to bounce back once you’ve missed out on a few sessions. You can integrate your member management software with tracking programs and apps on a member’s phone or smart watch. The YMCA of the Twin Cities did this by engaging Personify, NetPulse, and eGym to leverage an Apple technology program for their members. Members check into the facility by scanning their Apple Watch and log into equipment at the facility that track metrics and progress in wellness programs. Members are also able to renew their membership using their Apple Watch, which is integrated with all of the member’s information in Personify.

Want to Learn More About Member Retention?

Check out our Endurance Training eBook, which details Personify’s research on young members at YMCA and JCC organizations, and includes their perception of membership, the programs and outreach techniques most effective in compelling them to join and how they prefer to engage with your organization.

The post Member Retention Tips for YMCAs, JCCs and Member-Based Organizations appeared first on Personify.

While I’ve been running in the 90-degree heat and attempting to stream exercise classes in front of my TV with my dog barking and chasing me around the room the whole time, it’s definitely not the same. I’m eager to go back to the gym and attend classes, but I feel some hesitation about doing so…and with good reason. An early release of a report published in Emerging Infections Diseases traced 112 COVID-19 cases linked to workout classes across multiple facilities.

The researchers found that the moist, warm air combined with a turbulent airflow from exercising created an environment where droplets can spread rapidly. Aerosolized droplets can remain airborne for up to three hours, making crowded and confined areas like a fitness room a hotspot for spreading COVID-19. Additionally, the fact that workout classes are typically 50 minutes long means that there is a greater amount of time for droplets to spread among attendees.

Many gyms, fitness studios and community-based organizations such as YMCAs and JCCs are grappling with how to reopen safely during the pandemic. And, there are differing guidelines across the 50 states and D.C. for how a facility can reopen, and what preventative measures should be taken. It even varies within counties and cities in those states.

As you craft your reopening strategy, consider these steps:

Develop a Leadership Task Force

Assemble a team of leaders across your organization that can contribute to the reopening plan and highlight considerations and things to keep in mind. Do this before making any moves or decisions that will impact your staff and your members. You want to ensure that you have the right people in the room and that it’s a group of diverse, representative voices at all levels of the organization.

This team should revisit your vision, mission, values, goals, challenges and opportunities for your facilities and programs to reopen. Your organization may have been open throughout the pandemic providing childcare or other needs for essential workers, and those continued services may affect your program goals or present new opportunities and challenges for your reopening plan.

Consider sending a survey to members to understand which programs and activities they want to take advantage of when you reopen to help prioritize your staffing and reopening efforts.

Define Your Safety Plan

Your members are looking forward to attending the programs, classes and activities that keep them healthy and active. But they are also looking for guidance and reassurance on how they can do it safely.

Develop a plan of action with your leadership task force for how you will bring people back to facilities and the steps taken in each phase to ensure safety. Create plans for each of these categories as part of your larger safety plan:

Containment

• How will you limit the number of people in the facility at a time to comply with social distancing requirements, and how will this be monitored and enforced? Some organizations are having members book reservations in specific time blocks to ensure limited capacity and limiting the number of members that have to be turned away at the front door due to high capacity.
• Will you reopen group exercise classes with social distancing measures in place? Will you move exercise classes outdoors to limit the risk of exposure?
• Will you offer virtual classes instead? And, how will members sign up for group classes?
• How will you enforce social distancing on equipment, in the free weight area as well as in the locker rooms or pool areas?
• What changes will you implement to prevent people from congregating in certain areas? Will this affect the check-in process?
• For resident and day camps, will you limit movement between groups to reduce the possibility of transmission? How can parents sign up for camps online? And, will you provide (or mandate/enforce) temperature checks of campers each day upon arrival?

Cleaning and Sanitation

• How often will equipment and surfaces be cleaned in your facilities? How will you clean equipment used between group classes, if you offer them?
• Are there any hard-to-clean items you should remove from the floor such as resistance bands, foam rollers or other equipment?
• How will staff who are responsible for cleaning be protected from exposure?

Staffing

• How many staff will you have present at facilities in each phase of reopening?
• Which staff members will you bring back for these roles, and how will you communicate changes to responsibilities or roles?
• What will you do to ensure your practices protect returning staff from exposure to COVID-19?
• Will you test employees for COVID-19 before the return to work if testing is available?
• Will you do daily monitoring of employee health (e.g. temperature checks)?
• Do staff need additional training before your facilities reopen?

Operations

• How will you time the reopening of different sections of your facilities? Will you reopen all at once, or in stages?
• Do you need to make any upgrades or changes to your current services to meet new needs that come with a limited reopen? For example, are you able to track capacity limits with your member-management software and allow people to sign up online for classes, activities and camps?

Broadly Communicate Your Strategy

Share your plans for reopening and what will be included at each phase to your members, staff and partners, and provide regular updates as policies change and as you’re able to roll out new programs.

• Revisit the survey that you sent to members and create targeted messaging based on their previous program engagement. For example, if you are planning to keep aquatics programming closed until phase 3, send a message to your members who have participated in aquatics activities in the past six months and let them know about what to expect in your reopening plan.
• Provide regular updates to members in your member newsletter or in weekly emails that details reopening schedules, any new processes for check in, which facilities are open, your daily cleaning and sanitation efforts, how members can sign up for virtual programs, and more.
• If your organization is continuing to provide childcare services for essential workers, be prepared for questions on how those programs will be managed and safety standards that are in place.

Revisit Your Plan Often

As of mid-June, many states such as Texas, Florida, South Carolina are starting to see a significant rise in the number of COVID-19 cases and local and state governments are considering whether the pump the breaks on their reopening plans. We will likely be coexisting with the virus for a while and organizations should regularly revisit their opening criteria to see if adjustments need to be made. Criteria can include:

External

• What local and state restrictions are currently in place?
• Are the cases in your area declining or increasing over the past few weeks? Is there adequate testing available?
• Is there enough capacity in area hospitals for the number of patients who need them? Are non-essential health services available?

Internal

• How do members and staff feel about returning to facilities? How many staff and members will need to be in the facilities to effectively (or sustainably) operate at a given time?
• Which staff can continue to work from home?
• Which programs and services can be replicated in a virtual environment?

I discussed more about this topic in free webinar with Jonathan Panter, Chief Financial Officer at the YMCA of Metropolitan Chattanooga. We shared how community-based organizations can develop a safe approach to reopening and leverage technology for more effective facility management. The discussion includes:

• A review of reopening approaches across the U.S. along with best practices and tips from member-based organizations that have opened recently.
• The strategy that YMCA of Metropolitan Chattanooga took when they reopened in mid-May and lessons learned over the past month and a half.
• How to leverage your member-management software to ensure limited capacity, manage reservations, communicate with members about changes due to COVID-19 and more.

Watch Now

The post Open for Business? Tips to Safely Reopen Your YMCA or JCC appeared first on Personify.

If you’re attending General Assembly, please stop by booth #665 to visit with our team. I was perusing the conference agenda earlier today and thought I would share some of the sessions that we’re excited about seeing:

Michelle Poler/Social Entrepreneur and Founder of Hello Fears

Friday, July 19 from 10:30-11:45 AM

Born to a family of Holocaust survivors, Michelle Poler was accustomed to living with fear. But when she moved to New York, she realized that the Big Apple was not for the fearful. To change her approach to life, Michelle decided to face 100 of her fears in a period of 100 days, sharing every experience on YouTube. Through humor, storytelling, engaging visuals and her “100 Days Without Fear” experience, Michelle will show you how to challenge your comfort zone to tap into your full potential. In this session, you’ll learn how to deal with the unknown, see growth over safety and redefine fear—from obstacle to opportunity.

Jia Jiang/Rejection Training Expert and Author

Friday, July 19 from 3:15-4:30 PM

Several years after Jia Jiana (also known as “The Rejection Guy”) began his career in the corporate world, he stepped into the unknown world of entrepreneurship and faced everyone’s biggest fear—rejection. As CEO of Wuju Learning and author of the bestselling book, Rejection Proof: How I Bear Fear and Become Invincible Through 100 Days of Rejection, Jia now helps people and organizations to become fearless through rejection training. Discover how rejection can be much less painful than we believe and how it can be conquered.

Digital Happiness: How to Be the Boss of Technology

Saturday, July 20 from 8:30-9:45 AM

What does it mean to be happy in a digital world? Start with understanding the effects of technology on our minds, bodies, relationships and culture. Assess your relationship with technology and develop a set of philosophies to guide your behavior as you learn concrete tactics to help you use technology to flourish and thrive.

The Board’s Role in Advancing Equity, Diversity and Inclusion

Saturday, July 20 from 1:30-2:45 PM

As our communities diversify, boards play a critical role in advancing diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI). Boards must examine underlying biases and assess strengths and areas of growth. Learn to recruit diverse candidates, create a culture of inclusiveness on your board and guide your organization in implementing principles of DEI in hiring, fundraising and other important areas of work. (If you’re interested in this topic, check out our four tips to make the most of board meetings.)

The 10 I’s of Innovation: Think on Your Feet and Generate Winning Ideas

Saturday, July 20 from 1:30-2:45 PM

Organizations today are looking to get the most out of their staff while providing a challenging environment that promotes growth, mobility and learning. Learn how to embrace innovation to create a culture that rewards new ideas and fresh approach to problem-solving, resulting in peak team performance and increased employee satisfaction.

In addition to our presence at General Assembly, we’re hosting a webinar on July 24 at 11:30 AM CT to help YMCAs and JCCs attract and retain their young members. While each organization’s membership is unique, the findings we’ll share can inform and support strategies designed to support the long-term growth and success of your organization.

The post What We’re Looking Forward to at General Assembly 2019 appeared first on Personify.

At Personify, we’ve been attending NAYDO for the last several years and are pleased to be sponsoring the opening reception. If you’re attending NAYDO, please stop by and visit with the Personify team at booth #43-44.

Looking at the conference agenda, there are many different opportunities to gain knowledge and best practices. Here are some of the sessions that I’m most looking forward to attending:

Building a Culture of Philanthropy

Thursday, 2:45-5:45 PM

A culture of philanthropy is essential in any organization to effectively raise funds but what does that mean and how do you intentionally create such a culture? Mary Kaufman-Cranney, CFRE from The Alford Group/YMCA Alumni will share her journey in taking an organization through a process to create a common language and implement a curriculum to create a measurable difference.

She will engage participants in exercises and collaborative work to discuss key components of a culture of philanthropy and the ideas to make them real so that everyone in your Y appreciates donors as partners who share its goals and participate in achieving them.

Hack the Mind: Using Psychology to Boost Fundraising

Friday, 8:45-10:00 AM

In this session, Andrew Buck from Mighty Citizen will share how the mind is a trickster. It leads us wherever it pleases—while we remain mostly unaware of its true motivations. But thanks to advances in psychology, fundraisers can more effectively make the brain’s habits work for them.

In this interactive workshop, Andrew will explore our minds’ most surprising tendencies, biases and shortcuts. He will do a deep dive into how to employ the brain’s habits to grow

an organization’s donor base and fundraising. Participants will leave with a new understanding of the subtle, predictable, and (often) irrational ways donors think. And they will have concrete ways to apply these great “brain hacks” to their organization.

How to Recruit, Retain & Inspire the Next Generation of Board Members- Building the Pipeline of Board Leaders

Friday, 10:15-11:30 AM

Young board members have energy and networks the Y is not tapping into currently and often the Y may miss an opportunity to fully engage the young generation on its boards. This workshop will explore what the board experience is like for those who are under 40 years of age.

Participants will learn how to do stellar onboarding for new young board members and rock their first-year board experience. Hear about tools and resources for recruiting and retaining young board members from three NAYDO Young VIPs.

 Strategic Excitement Fundraising Plan: 2019

Friday, 3:30-4:45 PM

In a comprehensive expansion of the 2018 NAYDO workshop of the same name, participants will be led through the exciting process of actually planning a five-year fundraising plan for a hypothetical Y. The plan will include annual, capital and endowment components.

Using electronic voting transponders, attendees will participate in developing a five-year fundraising plan for a typical YMCA by voting on goals, priorities and strategic direction. This session is a great way to learn more about what the Y’s plans are and how we can help get to know them better.

The post What We’re Looking Forward to at NAYDO appeared first on Personify.

One of the largest YMCAs in the country, the YMCA of Greater Hartford is a $33M organization with nine branches and two resident camps across 52 cities and towns near Hartford, Conn. The organization was looking for technology solutions to help manage operations across their business. They chose Personify to facilitate their digital transformation due to its robust tools and functionality available to manage data insights for fundraising initiatives and resident camps.

The YMCA of Greater Hartford serves over 108,000 children and families across programs that include overnight camps, adult classes, swim lessons, arts and humanities, mentoring, obstacle courses and more, giving the Hartford community an outpost to build strong relationships, overcome challenges and achieve their goals.

“We chose Personify as our solution to improve and enhance our member experience including a more responsive and robust online presence,” said Gina Gaipa, MIS Director at the YMCA of Greater Hartford. “With Personify, engaging our communities more and with greater ease will allow us to expand our services and streamline business practices. We believe Personify is the right choice.”

Personify is on a mission to bring technology solutions and excellent service to the neighborhoods and families served by the YMCAs programs. With solutions to engage their members, maximize revenue and improve operations through a single view of the member, YMCA management teams are outfitted to fulfill their missions.

“We’re thrilled to have the YMCA of Greater Hartford join the Personify family,” said Michael Wilson, Chief Strategy Officer of Personify. “Our partnership allows them to leverage technology and insights to further their mission of helping members develop to their fullest potential.”

To learn more about Personify’s solution packages for YMCA organizations, click here.

The post Personify Welcomes YMCA of Greater Hartford to the Personify Family appeared first on Personify.