You probably don’t need to say “never miss a Monday” to clients at your gym.
But you might want to say, “Think about training this Thursday.”
Our 2022 “State of the Industry” report is now out, and it’s packed with all kinds of data you can use to improve your gym.
Wodify provided a ton of data on class attendance, and I’ll dig into it so you can serve your clients better.
When reviewing Wodify’s stats, here’s what’s very clear worldwide:
- Monday is the most well-attended day of the week.
- Sunday is the least well-attended day of the entire week.
- Friday is the least well-attended weekday.
- Attendance declines each day from Monday to Sunday.
- Significant attendance declines appear on Thursday.
- Weekend attendance is poor: Combined Saturday and Sunday attendance is still not as great as attendance even on the worst single weekday (Friday).
Gym owners are in the business of habit formation, so these trends carry a lot of weight. To help you change these stats, here are just a few questions one might ask with regard to attendance trends and client retention:
- Are my clients training regularly enough to get the results they want?
- Are my clients forming regular, long-term fitness habits or is their training characterized by “fits and starts”?
- Do my late-week and weekend class times work for my clients’ schedules, or did I set them by guessing or imposing my own preferences on my business?
- If I look at my stats, can I identify certain clients who are at risk of leaving due to sporadic training?
And here are a few of the many questions a gym owner might ask with an aim to improve operations:
- Have I audited my attendance and considered quarterly schedule changes to ensure class times serve the greatest amount of people?
- Do I have too many poorly attended group classes on my schedule that are driving up staffing costs?
- Does my programming account for declining attendance later in the week or do a lot of clients always miss the same kinds of workouts?
- Does my programming pattern actually contribute to weak attendance numbers late in the week? For example, “Do I always program running on Thursday even though very few of my clients enjoy it?”
- Can I do anything to increase late-week and weekend attendance—or could I have my client success manager work on this?
Data allows you to ask all sorts of follow-up questions, and the answers will help you take clear steps to improve your business.
But if you don’t have data, you’re flying blind. That’s why we produce the “State of the Industry” report every year. It’s a ton of work, but it’s worth it to give gym owners real insight.
You can—and should—use this guide to make your business more profitable. We’ve got 56 pages of numbers for you to chew on.
But if you see all the data and aren’t sure what to do with it, hit the easy button: Ask someone with real experience what you need to do. A mentor can analyze your business and tell you exactly what to do right now to make it better. To find out more about that, click here.
