7 Ways to Motivate Your Gym Members Based on Science

In 2009, a study on motivation and adherence told us something most people already knew: up to 50% of gym members drop out within the first six months of a new exercise program; not a great statistic if you're a gym owner worried about retention. 

There are two routes from here:

1. Physically forcing someone to go to the gym (not advised nor feasible)
2. Engaging your members while they're in the gym to aid their personal motivation.

So here are seven gym motivation strategies, based on psychological factors, that have been scientifically proven to work incredibly well.

We'll also throw in some unique tips that can make your gym or fitness center stand out.

1. Create an engaging environment

Gym retention guru, Dr Paul Bedford is an expert at membership behavioral patterns for the fitness industry; he has completed large scale studies all over the world, looking at four million member records across 40 countries.

Here's his main finding: successful gyms perform like retail stores; they sell the gym experience as their main product. With this in mind, showing the same news channel or PT advert on every screen does not offer a great experience for the gym members. 

As much as a gym is about the quality of the equipment as much as it's about the atmosphere. And one way to create this is to use digital signage screens to encourage and motivate gym goers. Some ideas you can explore include:

• Set up a HITT area with a screen that repeats a 30-second countdown using the Countdown Timer app.
• Show inspirational quotes using Digital Signs
• Inspire with workout routines and form tips by creating custom posters with Canvas.
• Broadcast exercise classes live to the gym floor

The idea is to implement digital screens and use them to facilitate the gym goers positive experiences.

2. Make intrinsic goals key

A shared personality trait of regular gym goers is that they are intrinsically motivated. But for those who only go to achieve one aim (summer's coming / there was a great membership deal etc.) then they're extrinsically motivated. 

Keeping gym members motivated means that you need to address both parties.

A 2011 study found that people who set intrinsic goals enjoyed higher levels of enjoyment and much lower levels of tension and pressure than those who set extrinsic goals. The intrinsically motivated  also stuck to their workouts for longer than the extrinsic group.

Since intrinsic goals are so important, it makes sense to help the extrinsically motivated gym members find some internal motivation. One of the easiest ways to do this is sharing stories from highly motivated gym members who have achieved their goals. We can all remember that one IG video that got us to restart our fitness journey.

Luckily, digital signage solutions exist for this exact scenario, and one of them is a social media wall.

Use apps like Walls.io and Taggbox to show off your customers' user-generated content on their social media feeds. You can also pull up reviews from Google and Yelp to motivate new members. 

Keeping members engaged would mean asking people to share their experiences. Your gym or fitness center should find this easy, because who doesn't want to share their fitness experience on IG?

3. Encourage people to get competitive with a workout buddy

Offering guest passes or “bring a friend for free” vouchers are also brilliant motivational tools. Studies show that 95% of people who started a weight loss program with a friend completed it, compared to 76% of those who did it alone. 

Socially engaging with other people while you're exercising can also mean you exercise for longer – especially if you think that person next to you is completing more reps or running faster. This Kansas State University study confirms this through its findings. Apparently, getting a workout buddy is likely to motivate someone to work out for up to 200% longer. 

Our suggestion takes things one step further with digital signage content. Hold a class where live data is input into your ScreenCloud Dashboard, GeckoBoard or Google Sheets and visualize everyone's effort in the fitness challenge.

You can count reps, erg distance over a set time or sets completed to encourage a little friendly competition. 

4. Help create habits

Anybody who's ever tried a new activity will tell you that a behavior is much more likely to turn into a habit if it's something enjoyable and rewarding. But forming a habit takes on average 66 days, according to Phillippa Lally, research associate at University College London.

One way of helping to form a gym habit is by joining exercise classes. Dr Bedford's member retention research found that people who participated in group exercise stayed members for longer because it requires you to turn up at a set time for class schedules – which in itself is habit forming. 

Exercising in groups also taps into competitive motivation, group accountability, and the strength of a shared experience of success. 

Encourage members to sign up to classes by occasionally broadcasting them live to the gym floor or directly to members' mobiles. Introduce your instructors on your digital signage screens with our Meet The Team app or have a live scrolling wall of your gym's Instagram posts showing off your classes with Gallery for Instagram.

You can also advertise classes on a digital Noticeboard and make any last-minute changes in real-time. 

Personal trainers can also help members create a habit and consistency, especially if they are able to set up regular hours or fitness classes. It then becomes all about showing up for the next class, putting in the work with a personal trainer/buddy on standby.

5. Tick off those tasks 

When we leave a task unfinished, it creates mental tension. This is called The Zeigarnik Effect and it's a psychological phenomenon that means you remember incomplete tasks or events more than ones that have been completed.

Dr Bedford suggests that an exercise program is that unfinished task that will have members coming back in order to get to the resolution.  

Put your digital signs on the job by displaying relevant content to remind members of their unfinished tasks. This could be using the Count Up Timer to display the number of days it's been since a member missed a class. Or displaying members' new year's resolutions to remind them of their commitment.

6. Encourage loss rather than reward

When it comes to exercise, losing a reward is a bigger motivator than gaining one – according to a research study at the University of Pennsylvania

Create a poster using Canvas to advertise offers on gym memberships to those who reach a specific exercise goal, with the risk that it's taken away if they don't keep it up. 

It's simple, but our brains' risk aversion tendencies will make all the difference. Plus, since you're basically rewarding your members with the tools they need to accomplish their goals, it's a win win.

7. Turn TV screens from distractions to inspiring information radiators 

When a fitness center only shows the same content day after day, it becomes more of a distraction rather than a source of motivation. For regular gym users, these screens can be prime real estate to get your message across and give your content impact. 

Last year, 128-location U.S. gym chain Life Time Fitness decided that showing cable news was against their mission of making people healthier, so they banned it in all their buildings; news will make you sick according to Swiss author Rolf Dobelli's essay, The Art of Thinking Clearly. 

Instead of distracting or even aggravating members with the news, TVs could be used as information radiators that push out bite-sized, genuinely useful information. 

By creating a Playlist or Channel using the ideas suggested above, you're empowering both your screens and your members. 

Some other great ideas for your in-gym screens include:

• Videos of fitness classes to get people informed and motivated
• Reminders of class schedules to help people arrive on time
• Remote sessions if your fitness business offers them, indicating you don't have to show up in person to achieve your fitness goals
• Social media feed to show off results and encourage others
• Info on nutritional supplements so members can get a rounded and healthy progression

See how YMCA Silicon Valley uses ScreenCloud to manage their digital signage across multiple gyms.

3 member retention strategies for fitness centers

So, you have a foolproof plan for increasing motivation among your members. It's working as success stories keep piling in and your fitness business is the talk of the town. But what good will that do for your long term success if people don't stick around?

So let's discuss some strategies for retaining your gym members with digital signage.

1. Personalized member messages

Use your digital signage to display customized messages for each member. You can celebrate

• New signups
• Birthdays
• Congratulatory messages
• Fitness milestones
• Simple appreciation messages

It's a small gesture that could be set up in 5 minutes with the right digital signage solution. But the impact can be massive, especially with showing members you care.

2. Virtual tours and class previews

These can be very effective for motivating members, as we've seen, but can also be helpful if you're trying to get them to stick around. You can attract potential members and encourage existing ones to try new classes or facilities by offering virtual tours and previews through your digital display.

Virtual tours would be your chance to showcase the very best you have to offer. Showcase amenities, equipment, ambiance, and even snippets of various classes. If you can invest in some high-quality virtual tours and class highlights, even better!

3. Instant workout tips and techniques

One reason people don't want to go to the gym is fear of making a mistake, as a study has found. Your gym can nip that in the bud by educating everyone that walks through the doors. You can do this by offering on-demand access to workout tips, techniques, and exercise demonstrations through your digital signage displays.

By having proper exercise form on repeat, you educate everyone on what to do, and what not to do, and basically reduce what they can fear. This approach could even make your gym the go-to place for beginners because they know there are tons of resources to help them out.

Motivate your gym members with ScreenCloud

ScreenCloud makes it really easy to manage all your gym TV screen content across your workout floor. We think you'll like our pre-built apps that help you set up in no time. 

Give your gym members the push they need. Try ScreenCloud's industry leading digital signage solution with a 14-day free trial.