Send More Creative Emails to Your Favorite Fitness Customers

Getting to the gym every day is considered to be a momentous task for the general population. How do you keep your fitness members engaged, energized, and motivated throughout the year?

Email marketing continues to play a major role in reaching out to your customer base and getting them to engage with you time and time again. But you can’t just send random emails, over-selling your products or services. You need to have a solid plan in mind. Just like when working out, there needs to be a goal. Are you looking to increase members, raise brand awareness, or create brand influencers from your current members?

A goal also helps you narrow down your focus. The challenge is how to present your business to a potential audience, get their attention, and retain their attention. It starts with the right message to the right people. How are you going to get the attention of your ideal gym audience and possibly grow gym memberships? What is the one thing they won’t be able to resist?

10 Ways to add a creative flair to your fitness email marketing

It’s important to know what your potential customers want from your gym, yoga studio, or fitness center. You also need to figure out what makes you stand out from the competition.

To get you started on the right track, here are 9 digital fitness marketing ideas you can use to market your gym.

1. Craft a perfect welcome email

A warm welcome email series works wonders. It’s useful when a potential customer joins your website’s email list, downloads a mobile app, or visits in-person at one of your local branches. According to Experian, welcome emails are opened 57.8% of the time, compared to 14.6% of standard promotional emails.

Classpass, the fitness studio, sends out a welcome email immediately highlighting some of their important features, and ends the email with a call-to-action (CTA) that points to their blog.

2. Meaningful check-ins with current customers

Your existing customers, those coming regularly to your gym and contributing to your revenue, deserve a meaningful relationship with you. You can use email to build that connection with regular check-ins that provide valuable help to their goals. 

Make a positive impact on your customers’ lives by sending weekly emails with free resources like nutrition guides, meal plans, or recommended apps to track their workouts. It’s important to tailor content to your kind of fitness or wellness business. Remember to not over-sell or spam your customers. If members are happy with your gym and trainers, and continuously receive value from each of your emails, they’re more likely to promote your gym to their friends.

3. Customers love a personal touch

You wouldn’t like it if someone referred to you as “Member 310” in their emails, and neither do your customers. Emails are a way for your business to become more connected with your subscribers at the individual level with each potential and current customer.

Using your reader’s first name in the subject line of your email makes them feel valued. Out of the dozen emails you receive in your inbox daily, the ones that usually catch your eye are the ones that mention your name. The same goes for all your readers and customers.

An easy way to incorporate personalization in your fitness emails is to send out an email to a specific target audience based on what you know about them. For example, if you know that a bunch of people have signed up for your weight-gaining sessions, you could send them an email (or email series) detailing exercises they could do and nutrition they should opt for while trying to gain weight.

4. Create special offers that attract customers

You should use email marketing to promote special offers and discounts to your clients. You could even segment your email list and send the promotion to only a select few. With the right targeting and packaging, your customers end up feeling extra special.

Special offers allow your fitness business to achieve two extremely important goals:

• Entice prospects to try out your gym or services
• Reward current customers and ensure future loyalty

The idea behind special offers is to drive people to your business, and wow them with what you have to offer. Your special offer must be enticing enough to attract calls, leads, and eventual memberships.

5. Make non-members feel valued

Oftentimes, people sign up for a fitness class but don’t make it back ever again.  You can target these potential customers with a glimpse of what they’re missing from your gym or fitness studio. Offer them a free class, or one-on-one session with a trainer. Getting them back in the door offers you another chance to get them into a membership commitment.

What if those people are not ready to buy now?

Collect their email address and send a follow-up email. In your email, remind them about your business, the class they took, and the benefits of signing up. It might be tempting but don’t offer them a discount right away. If they don’t act from the first email, send another email with a one-time discount.

6. Ask for reviews and feedback regularly

Do you have a bunch of customer testimonials on your website? Highlight a “customer of the week”, or month, and share that person’s positive feedback in an email to potential customers. This makes existing customers feel valued and gives potential customers another glimpse into the positive experience of becoming a member.

Reach out to your customers after a workout session to ask how it went. It helps to tell them exactly how their answers are going to improve the experience, so customers feel like you’re listening to them to get better, not simply to generate more revenue.

Fitness Sport Center sends an email to all their customers after a workout session, asking them to provide feedback and post a review on Yelp.

7. Focus on the importance of nutrition

All fitness trainers tell you that you must eat healthy when working out, but unless you consult a nutritionist, or spend hours searching diet plans, most customers don’t have a clue where to start.

It’s important to let your customers know which foods help them get fit, and which are alright for indulging on cheat days. You can even go one step further and share recipes for smoothies, or provide healthy eating meal plans on your blog.

8. Reach potential customers on Facebook

Facebook marketing has become more and more popular every year, and with good reason.
According to Pew Research:

• 69% of US Adults are on Facebook
• 79% of Adults 18-49
• 74% of them go on the site every day
• Users spend an average of 50 minutes per day on Facebook

In other words:

Facebook is a huge opportunity for your fitness marketing!

Whenever you send out an offer via email, run a Facebook ad alongside it. Whether your prospective customres see your fitness email OR your matching ads on Facebook, they see ONE cohesive marketing message.

This coordination gives your target audience (and customers) the notion that your fitness is everywhere, and is the #1 place to help them hit their fitness goals.

9. Ask existing customers for referrals

According to a report by Nielsen, 92% of people trust referrals from people they know.

Getting your existing customers to promote your fitness business gives you the opportunity to generate free, highly relevant leads. Give your customers an incentive for referring people to your gym. People are more likely to take action when they are presented with a reward.

Here are a couple of ideas to try:

• Free beverage from your juice bar
• Discount (% or $ off) off athletic gear
• Free personal training session
• Free fitness class

Help your customers stay fit and stay healthy

Whether you’re a newbie or a seasoned business in the fitness and wellness industry, the main goal is simple: help your customers stay fit, and keep them coming back to you for more help.

Fitness marketing is way more than the ads of super fit people with a six-pack.

You need to communicate the right message to your customers, and potential customers, at the right time. Email marketing can help you stay in touch with your audience in creative ways, helping them to achieve their fitness goals, while also helping your own business goals at the same time.