Why sleeping members weaken your community

More and more CrossFit entrepreneurs are consciously choosing to either reactivate sleeping members or to let them go. Where a large member count was once seen as a sign of success, the focus is now shifting towards something else: building and maintaining an active community over the number of members.

Sports entrepreneurs realize that a healthy community is not built on the number of members, but rather on the presence of members. Only when members actually show up, real connections between members can be made. Connections between members is the most important factor in building a strong community.

In this blog, we explore why focusing on an active community contributes to the sustainable growth of your box.

The signal of sleeping members

Sleeping members are members with an active membership or an active punch card who barely or no longer come to the box. They do not cancel their membership or punch card, but they are no longer part of your community. On paper, sleeping members may seem like a blessing: they pay, they don’t take up spots in workouts and they require little attention.

In practice, sleeping members are a (negative) signal, as they say something about the strength of your community. Sleeping members can mask underlying issues within your community, such as a declining alignment with the needs of your members, a lack of structure or insufficient onboarding of new members. Sleeping members are not neutral members, they are a signal that there is a mismatch between what you offer and what your members need.

The impact of sleeping members on your community

A strong community thrives on the presence of its members. When classes are full, members meet, connect and work together toward their goals. When connections are made the feeling of being part of a community naturally emerges. Sleeping members disrupt that rhythm. Their absence leads to emptier classes and less connection between members, resulting in a weaker community. This also impacts coaches: the dynamics disappear and energy levels drop, while coaches are important carriers of your community.

Curious how to build a strong community? Read our blog on building a community.

In the community blog, we dive into why a strong community attracts more leads, converts more leads and results in higher member retention. A strong community safeguards the long-term growth of your box.

How to reactivate sleeping members and keep your community strong

Sleeping members have a negative impact on your community and interfere with the long term growth of your box. Many gym owners recognize this problem, but remain stuck with the same question: what do you do with sleeping members?

1. Reactivate your members

   Sleeping members don’t disappear overnight, they slowly lose their connection to your box. Recognizing the moment when engagement starts to decline is crucial, because that is when reactivation is still relatively easy.
   
   

   Huppa provides you with data insights when declining member engagement starts: which members haven’t been to the box for more than three weeks, which members cancel classes and which members are no-shows. This data is not meant to judge members, but to start the right conversation at the right time.
   
   In the Huppa customer detail page you can easily send a WhatsApp message to the member. A personal message, a coach check-in or an invitation to a specific class can be enough to get someone engaged again.
   
   

   By actively using Huppa’s data insights, you keep your community engaged and prevent the distance between the member and box from growing.
   
   

2. Consider letting sleeping members go
   Letting go of a member is never the preferred option, especially since it will impact your revenue. Still, it can be the right choice when a member remains absent for a long time, despite personal attention and repeated invitations.
   
   

   What we often hear in interviews with gym owners is that they don’t want their box to come up in a negative way. Conversations like “Yeah, I still pay for CrossFit at box XYZ, but I never go” feel like negative marketing. It doesn’t reflect involvement or pride, values that you, as box owner, stand for within your community.
   
   

   By consciously letting go of sleeping members who are no longer willing or able to re-engage with your community, prevent your box from being perceived as a place where people pay but don’t show up. Actively letting go of sleeping members shows leadership as an entrepreneur: you protect your community that is built around presence, connection, engagement and drives long term growth.

As mentioned earlier, reactivating members is always the goal and Huppa supports that process. At the same time, there will always be members who no longer re-engage and letting them go can be necessary to protect the strength of your community.

Curious how Huppa can help you reactivate sleeping members?

Book an introduction with Sharief here.

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