EuropeActive Retention Report 2013: A comprehensive understanding of member retention in fitness clubs

Member retention (or simply retention or adherence) is one of the most important topics in the fitness industry. After decades of discussions, research, reports, practical experiences and much more, it can be concluded that the fitness industry has still not found an adequate solution to substantially improve retention numbers. There are great case studies and evidence which shows that some clubs do much better than others, however, an overall set of strategies to resolve this challenge has not (yet) been found. This EuropeActive Retention Report 2013 gives a comprehensive overview on the topic member retention in fitness clubs. In this report, the authors Jan Middelkamp, MSc and Prof Thomas Rieger, PhD, present a systematic search on all existing literature (articles or reports) from around the globe on the subject of member retention in fitness clubs. For the first time in the fitness industry, all studies on member retention are presented in one report. It is stated that member retention has many influencing factors and can be approached and improved from many different perspectives. This report is based on a huge amount of scientific research but it also tries to apply studies to be used in the daily practice of fitness clubs.