Mobile App Can Improve Enrollment and Retention

Blog

by Ty McDowell, on Tuesday November 15, 2016

That’s a pretty bold statement. But we can back it up. Your gym’s parents want to be able to enroll their children in classes as easily as they do their holiday shopping.

Regardless of the reason that they’ve not enrolled, it’s essential that you give parents the ability to complete the enrollment process on their smart phones for you to capture as many enrollments as possible.

We don’t just think this works. We know.

Practically everyone who puts a mobile app to work for their gym sees enrollment numbers increase. When they use push notifications, those numbers are bolstered again.

These increases become real money as your revenue from enrollments soar. When you calculate your retention rates, you’ll flip.

Supporting Metrics

This works well with classes and with special events enrollments.

In fact, one gym owner tracked a 4.5% revenue increase in just events enrollments that were promoted using push notifications over a year.

We also know that push notifications get noticed. A sports center owner who provides a mobile app to her customers saw user numbers increase six-fold in the 3 hours after 1 push notification was sent. Another tracked an impressive five-fold average unique user increase across 5 events and increase enrollment by more than 700 students by using push notifications.

It’s easy to see how your app is performing using the metrics tracked within in app itself. Quick reviews of this information (example below) gives you proof that your gym’s parents are using the convenience you’ve given them.

It’s amazing what you can accomplish by providing your parents with ultimate conveniences. A mobile app gives you the ability to increase the opportunities that parents have to enroll.

Parental Preference

An average of more than 70% of traffic going to websites today is happening from mobile devices. From 2008 to 2015, the use of mobile devices has soared. In 2008 adults spent an average of 2.7 hours per day on their mobile devices. As of 2015, time spent per day had increased to 5.6 hours. In 2008, only 12% of the total number of the adults accessing digital media were using mobile devices. By 2015 this percentage had grown to 51% of the total. Obviously, the preference for using mobile devices has skyrocketed.

Metrics also show that smartphones are preferred. In the age groups that are likely to include most of your gym’s parents, the hours spent on smartphones continue to soar above the use of tablets. For ages 25-34, monthly smartphone vs. tablet use is 82.5 hours vs 23.5 hours. For those 35-44, monthly smartphone vs. tablet use is 73.1 vs. 26.6. The usage doesn’t even come close to leveling out until ages 55-64. So obviously, your gym’s parents prefer to do their online business on their smartphones.

All of these metrics sound interesting, but what do they mean to you, the gym owner?

Your gym needs to be on the homescreens of your parents’ smartphones!

Sources: eMarketer , comScore