By: Christin Everson, MS

An exceptional member experience is more than providing excellent customer service, high-quality facilities, and programs. What’s most important for the experience of a new exerciser is how you make them feel about themselves.  We often ask new exercisers to step outside their comfort zone and enter an operation designed for experienced exercisers. But what if we were more intentional about the experiences we created for this vulnerable group? Not only can one bad experience affect their adherence and future participation with activity, but it also greatly affects your business. Intro programs are great, but what’s more effective is ensuring your entire operation, communication, and programming plans support the new exerciser experience. Here are a few suggestions for caring for the new exerciser while increasing client retention.

Defining Success

The definition of success will be slightly different for each new exerciser you encounter, but in general, most are looking to feel competent and that they belong in fitness spaces. Here are examples of what success might feel like:

• Feeling a sense of pride in themselves.

• Feeling competent to try new movements or use new equipment.

• Trusting in their body’s ability to participate in movement.

• Feeling a sense of belonging. This can be to the space, the people, the program, and/or the business.

• Knowing that their unique needs are seen and supported.

• Having the opportunity to learn something new, which will enhance their self-efficacy for future experiences.

• Feeling safe to exist as their unique self.

• Visualizing themself returning to this space.

Most gyms focus too much on challenging the participant for fear that if they don’t feel challenged enough, they won’t return. When in fact, it’s usually the opposite. What stops new exercisers from coming in? Fear of failure, fear of judgment or embarrassment, fear of injury, fear of being unable to keep up. It’s not about pushing them to achieve a certain level of intensity but rather making sure they feel safe and competent. Successful experiences enhance self-efficacy, which supports retention for your business and their adherence to exercise—a win-win.

The Elements that Create Success

Intentional Communication

Information is power. This element often gets overlooked because veteran exercisers have so much education that they forget what it’s like not to know. Provide comprehensive, intentional communication that helps the participant know precisely what to expect from beginning to end. Channels include your website, staff, personalized email, and automated communication (text or email). Communication should be informative, direct, specific, considerate, and timely. Content could include:

• How to arrive: address, parking/public transportation, and any details about entering your space.

• What will happen when they enter the facility: Do they need to scan in, speak to someone, where to put their items, etc.?

• Information about their specific gym/class/training experience: What attire is required, what will the experience include, etc.?

• Whom to contact if they have questions?

• Links to available resources like videos of classes or a tour of your facility, anything that can help them picture themselves in the space.

Policies

There is nothing sexy about facility or program policies. In fact, most new exercisers won’t even really think about them. But they will be aware of how they feel in your space or the confusion they have about how to engage in the facility. They will look to others to decide the appropriate action, creating a lack of confidence and potentially a poor experience. Policy creation and policy enforcement in fitness spaces help generate the energy you want others to experience in your facility. Desired behavior (aka policies) should be clearly stated, easy to find and abide by. Now, these policies mean nothing unless they are enforced. So, ensuring you have a plan for enforcement is critical to helping new exercisers experience your space and programs as you’ve designed them. Policies can be listed in the following places:

• Website

• Welcome packet for new members.

• Confirmation email after signing up for a class.

• Printed and hung in a visible location in your facility.

Gym/Class Experience

The gym or class experience is especially important because it contributes to the feelings the exerciser will have about themselves: Am I good enough to be here? Am I capable? Can I do it? The goal is to ensure new exercisers feel they truly belong in your space, regardless of their abilities or knowledge. Here are a few ways to support belonging:

• Teach/market to all health outcomes: Don’t focus on just one (i.e., weight loss) because this alienates your audience members who are not interested in the said outcome.

• Use inclusive and validating language. For example, remove gendered phrases, expressions that make exercise feel like punishment (i.e., this workout will kick your ass), and language highlighting physical limitations (i.e., if you can’t do __). Instead, validate all energy outputs and expressions of movements.

• Ensure your space and programs are physically accessible for all users.

• Teach to all intensity options: Do not require a specific intensity, and even better, celebrate low to moderate intensity output.

• Be critical of the language you use to teach movements to new exercisers. Consider how your word choices might make someone new to this experience feel.

Community

New exercisers have a higher instance of adherence when they feel connected. Therefore, seek to get them connected to a person, a group of people, or the staff. This will increase their connectedness to your business and will aid in their connectedness to themselves as they increase their self-efficacy.

Creating successful exercise experiences for those who have been previously inactive is a critical task. The traditional gym environment requires the new exerciser to overcome so many barriers before they ever enter our front door, then, one bad experience may ensure they never return. Bad for both your business and their well-being. Let’s take more responsibility for caring for this group and ensuring their success.

For more information, check out my course 10 Ways to Support the Adherence of New and Returning Exercisers