When it comes to after-sales service many equipment manufacturers talk about response times, first-time fix rates and the quality of their service engineers.

It's all important, but at Precor we long suspected a key aspect of member satisfaction, and therefore retention, was equipment uptime. Surely if an operator maintains their fitness equipment to a high standard it increases their member retention - ultimately impacting their bottom line profits? With no facts to support this, Precor partnered with leading research company Leisure-net to undertake analysis on the relationship between equipment uptime and member retention.

An industry first: research methodology

Precor supplied Leisure-net with the equipment uptime data of 68 participating customers across the UK, ranging from small independent gyms to large multi-site operators across a number of sectors, including education, hospitality and local authority. Leisure-net worked with the sites to conduct member satisfaction surveys and collate retention rates for a full operating year.

Higher equipment uptime equals better member retention The research looked at three factors; Net Promoter Score (NPS), member retention and equipment uptime. Unsurprisingly there was a positive correlation between NPS and retention, but what was more interesting was the positive correlation between equipment uptime and retention.

Looking at clubs within the upper quartile of equipment uptime compared with clubs in the lower quartile, Leisure-net concluded members at clubs with better equipment uptime stay, on average, three months longer than those at clubs where equipment might be out of operation.

“On average good equipment maintenance equates to a club keeping an extra 170 members at any one time,” says Mike Hill, director of Leisure-net.

A genuine opportunity for operators

“Precor sets an extremely high standard for service and maintenance as it’s imperative to our reputation,” says Justin Smith, head of UK at Precor.

“And the added revenue opportunity this research demonstrates should certainly not be ignored."

He adds: "If a gym retains 170 members a month at the average fee of £36 by keeping their equipment in good working order, this equates to an additional £6,120 per month - an astonishing £73,000 in yearly membership fees alone, not accounting for any additional secondary spend.”

For more information on Precor service contracts please call the Precor Service Team on 01276 404951 or email: [email protected].