Should I stay or should I go? Visit frequency as fitness centre retention strategy

ABSTRACT

Rationale/Purpose: While there have been many previous studies on the impact of service quality, satisfaction, and loyalty on retention, mainly through qualitative surveys, there has not been an in-depth observation of the direct impact of visit frequency on long-term commitment using quantitative data.

Design/methodology/approach: This study empirically tests 2,385 members across a chain of fifty fitness clubs in South Korea for one year from membership enrolment using logistics regression analysis.

Findings: The research reveals and validates that visit frequency plays a significant impact. It shows that the member’s age also has a significant impact on the frequency and retention. This study shows how the first quarter of the year demonstrates a pattern to enhance retention predictability and reliability.

Practical implications: With these findings, this study offers implications for retention-related factors in the earlier period of membership rather than tangible fitness centre-related factors in enhancing retention and long-term commitment to physical exercise.

Research contribution: This is the first study that reveals the drop-out predictability by directly establishing the relationship of visit frequency and membership retention by tracking a one-year membership cycle.

KEYWORDS:

• Business model
• fitness centre
• retention
• sports membership
• visit frequency

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).