​How to Build Loyalty Among Health & Wellness Clients

You work so hard to get new clients – but once you have them, what’s the secret to keeping them? In what ways do you surprise and delight your clients? How do you exceed expectations? It’s been said that there’s a difference between a satisfied client and a loyal one. What can you do to keep them coming back?

As a bookkeeping team with extensive experience in the health and wellness industry, our clients often share great ideas about how they increase retention. So, what are some exercises these clients suggested other gym and studio owners could use to build a real connection with clients?

5 ways to build loyalty among health and wellness clients:

1. Listen to feedback
   There are so many ways to collect client feedback these days. Are past clients publishing online reviews about your business? What are they saying? Is it good, is it straight-up ugly? Your harshest critics can be the greatest source of learning how to improve specific areas of your business. It’s a humbling practice, but when you listen to what your clients have to say, you’re allowing yourself to address flaws you may not have been aware of. Then, you can start taking steps in the right direction. 
    
2. Communicate, communicate, communicate
   You can’t really build loyalty unless your clients know who you are. Encourage your employees and staff to try and address people by name whenever they can. This simple gesture makes clients feel valued. Other ways you can communicate with clients are through email newsletters, signage in or around your building, and pamphlets. Inform clients of deals or specials, new services, new equipment, available upgrades, etc. You can even share resources like nutrition tips and wellness articles.
    
3. Build a community
   Community is so essential to feeling like you’re a part of something bigger. If you own a gym or yoga studio, do you offer group exercises or partnered sessions? If not, you may seriously want to consider doing so. Build camaraderie among your clients and make them feel like they’re in this together. You can even include gamification strategies into your workouts to build friendly competition among the community and keep them entertained as they get healthier. 
    
4. Highlight client successes
   Get to know your clients and try to remember their names. Congratulate them on health wins and praise them when they achieve their goals. Use social media (with their permission) to publicly feature client success stories and show other clients that you’re there to celebrate everyone’s accomplishments – no matter how big or small. 
    
5. Create a culture
   What are your values and ideals? How do you stick by them? Promote what you stand for and make sure you and your employees echo those values. Culture is often overlooked, but can seriously impact your bottom line. Additionally, culture provides a deeper sense of connection and oneness among members. How are you different than other gyms, spas, yoga studios, or wellness center? Why should your clients stay? These are the kinds of questions that might be difficult to answer, but once you know how to respond, you’re pretty much holding the keys in your hands. 

As you implement these programs and practices, be sure to go over numbers and figures with your bookkeeper to see what’s working and what’s not. See what improvements you make with retention percentages, and understand whether you can allocate additional resources to build other kinds of loyalty programs.

Chat with one of our friendly health & wellness industry experts today: call us at 844-629-8797 or click below to request your free consultation.