Retention is not the opposite of attrition. Big data is not the same as large data. Real brand engagement is about understanding the person that's right in front of you.

These were just some of the key learnings from global experts at Dr Paul Bedford’s second annual Retention Convention last month, watched by viewers from 28 countries via live-stream, as well as the 130 delegates in attendance at the Birmingham event. A key theme running through the 2016 conference was the importance of frequent interactions with staff.

Experts sharing their knowledge included outgoing IHRSA chair and regional director for EXOS|MediFit, Molly Kemmer, who described how the customer journey begins the first time they hear about your brand. She asked attendees how they were different – “not better, but different” – and urged them to think about that and deliver.

Kemmer then divulged her top ten ways to improve the customer experience and reminded the audience that the basics mean a lot. She encouraged clubs not to overlook these before focussing on delivering ‘the above and beyond’, opining that real brand engagement is about understanding the person that's right in front of you.

Turkey’s Selda Gamzeli reinforced this, explaining that everything you do is a message to the customer, so, she said, define your touch points and manage your brand from the first touch point to the last to improve the member experience. She said caring for members is not one department’s job – everyone should be responsible, but that one person should own it.

Gamzeli shared impressive statistics from her time as Jatomi Fitness’s group customer experience director across six countries, and disclosed the methodology that led to a 19 per cent increase in revenue. This included taking cardboard cut-outs that represented groups of people in their clubs to management meetings, to help them stay member focused at all times.

Former Life Fitness special projects lead Arron Williams delved into the boutique studio experience where, he explained, the average US boutique user attends two times a week. He added that 42 per cent of these have health club memberships too. In the UK a member visits their health club on average just once a week.

Wiliiams questioned whether traditional UK health clubs are delighting their customers, and said that it’s quickly becoming the norm in boutique studios. He asked if delegates’ members would spend more money if they received a similar experience and questioned whether they invest enough in their instructors compared to brands like Soulcycle, which insists on a minimum of six weeks of training before instructors can take a class.

Kicking off day two, UK retention expert Dr Melvyn Hillsdon shared his view on the ‘price of silence’ and why selling repeat visits should be the key role of fitness staff. He urged operators to track interactions and include them as a KPI, explaining that all it takes to save a membership is 12 effective interactions with customers making a high-risk visit.

More than three quarters of interactions lead to a repeat visit with seven days he said, and yet there is a one in 20 chance the member will cancel within the next month if there is no interaction during a high risk visit. According to Hillsdon, an effective interaction can almost remove that risk and, if all high risk member visits receive an effective interaction, 73 per cent of all cancellations in this group would be avoided.

Head of the German Industry Federation for Health and Fitness, Dr Niels Nagel shared German research with the audience, which showed that compliance to the exercise programme and attendance are both key drivers for adherence. He also reinforced the importance of interactions, closing his session by saying that people want the human touch, which can’t be replaced in the digital world.

Tiffeny Gould, former digital fitness development manager for Everyone Active, spoke about wearable fitness technology, retention and how we can maximise digital solutions in the fitness space. She said people who share their goals with others are more likely to achieve them. But caveated that we need to help provide intelligent, meaningful interpretation of their data to inspire motivation.

The organiser of the annual event was Dr Paul Bedford, author of the world’s largest retention study, One Million Strong – an analysis of more than one million member records in North America.

Dr Bedford’s talk aimed to decode the mystery of big data, explaining that it’s not the same as large data. He said big data analytics give data a voice and tell us what we need to know about our members. He urged the audience to think about Netflix film recommendations, which are driven by big data, and think about what the application of that to the fitness industry could mean.