A simple onboarding plan
- Day one: a personal welcome and a short tour. Show where things are, how booking works and who to ask for help.
- First visit: an introductory session with a trainer, ending with a simple plan for the next few weeks.
- Before they leave: book the next two or three visits together. A routine starts as appointments.
- After about two weeks: a short check-in. How is it going, is the plan working, is anything getting in the way?
- Around the six-week mark: a second check-in and, where it fits, the next step, such as a class, a new programme or a session with a trainer.
Connect them to people
Members who know a trainer by name, or a few faces in a class, have a reason to come back beyond the equipment. Introduce new members to the trainer of a class that suits them, and to other members where it is natural.
Watch the early warning signs
- A new member who has not been back within the first week or so.
- Planned visits that are booked and then cancelled.
- Visits thinning out after an enthusiastic start.
Any of these deserves a short, friendly message, early. For a new member, a week of silence can already be the start of leaving.
Measure when new members drop off
Group members by the month they joined and follow how many are still active after one, three and six months. That shows you where onboarding loses people, and whether a change you made helped.
PushBeyond’s retention dashboard includes this cohort analysis: how long members stay, and when they tend to drop out.