Why is email marketing such a big deal for gyms? Email marketing is consistent, it’s personal, and when done right, it gets results.
A study by the Data & Marketing Association found that email marketing has an average ROI of $42 for every $1 spent.
So how do you craft an email campaign for your gym members? Knowing your audience is essential for success. Who are you really hoping to reach with your emails?
Are they hardcore lifting enthusiasts, more aesthetic-focused gym-goers, yoga lovers, or busy professionals looking for quick, effective workouts? Are you looking at more muscle mommies and health buffs?
One of my clients owns a gym in Chicago, and when we dug into his membership data, we discovered he had three main groups: college students, young professionals, and retirees.
However, he’d been sending the same generic emails to everyone on his list. We tailored his emails to each group and his open rates went up by 35%.
Step 1: Know Your Audience
Analyze your current membership data, or send out surveys — get that info you need — it’s paramount to email marketing success. Pay attention to which classes are most popular, and chat with your members. Good, old-fashioned conversation makes them feel valued, and you get to know them.
One move that always works well for our gym clients is spending some good time and energy into creating buyer personals. You identify the primary audience segments that are signing up for your gym, and create an avatar. Be specific; give the persona a name, a backstory and a profession, their goals and challenges that drive them. Once you know who you are writing the email for, you can get the tone right, be more engaging, and the email copy comes as more relatable. As a result, the reader feels like they are valued, and not just treated as a customer/client.
Step 2: Do Not Underestimate Great Subject Lines
Why is a subject line so important? Say there’s an awesome book on the shelf, but you wouldn’t pick it up if its cover didn’t speak to you. The awesome book would never get opened, and is ultimately, simply wasted. That’s what a subject line does for a great email. It captures attention for long enough that the recipient gets curious and clicks on it. Now, the email you write has gained step one of the receiver’s attention. They’ll probably take a moment to click through the content. In simpler terms, unless you’re not working on crafting amazing subject lines that speak to your customer, your marketing budget dollars are going down the drain.
Here are some email subject line tips that have always hit the mark for our gym clients.
- Aiming for 40 characters or less — a short email subject line grabs attention, and delivers a punchy message with a snap of the fingers.
- Some words have the power to seize attention in the middle of a hectic day or a packed notification section on a phone. Everyone wants a piece of anything that’s ‘Exclusive’ or available for a ‘Limited Time’ or a ‘secret’ that not everyone knows. People want to instantly grab anything that seems special and unique. Seize that quality, and use power words that speak to your audience.
- FOMO is real. The fear of missing out has made many individuals grab a product off the shelves, ro sign up for a service, or overspend on a meal. Zero in on this need of your audience to stay up to date and relevant. Creating a sense of urgency will always help you bank conversions.
- Get them curious; what’s inside this email. A well-written subject line will grab attention and make the receiver curious about the content. Make it happen.
- A great emoji adds personality to an email subject line, but don’t get too crazy. Use emoji sparingly and smartly. Keep it fun but still professional.
Step 3: Personalization Always Wins
Make it personal. Use a first name, or pick out topics you know they’ll be interested in and integrate them into our email marketing message.
Generic emails that don’t speak directly and intimately to the person receiving the email no longer work with today’s astute and highly sophisticated, demanding audience.
Segment and divide your list on the basis of unique interests, attendance, gym usage patterns etc. Utilize automation tools and include a first name, send relevant content based on their fitness goals, and touch their trigger points to get a response you need.
Step 4: Create Valuable Content
Powerful and focused content makes a strong impact.
Don’t worry about promoting your gym with your email content. That no longer works because your audience is hit with convincing, persuasive marketing content round the clock. Instead, focus on value.
Give advice they’d be interested in — think member success stories that motivate, workout tips that’ll get them interested, nutrition information.
Those are the kinds of things that will motivate them to sign up for a gym class — NOT an annoying push to sign up NOW.
Some ideas for valuable content:
- Workout of the week
- Healthy recipe ideas
- Member spotlights and success stories
- Fitness tips and tricks
- Behind-the-scenes looks at your gym
- Answers to common fitness questions
- Challenges to keep members motivated
- Your email content should be a mix of informative, inspirational, and promotional.
- Keep it 80% focused on providing value. The rest can be promotional content.
Step 5: Design Matters More Than You Think
Make your emails look good. A well-designed email is like a well-organized gym — it makes people want to come in and stick around.
Some design tips to make your emails pop:
- Use your gym’s branding (colors, logo, fonts)
- Keep it clean and uncluttered
- Use high-quality images (but optimize them for quick loading)
- Make sure it’s mobile-friendly (over 50% of emails are opened on mobile devices)
- Use white space effectively
- Include clear call-to-action buttons
- Use a responsive email template that makes your email look great whether it’s viewed on a smartphone, tablet, or desktop.
Step 6: Timing Timing Timing
What’s the best time to get in touch with your audience? Timing can make or break your email’s success. Some tips:
- Test different days and times to see what works best for your audience
- Consider your members’ schedules (early morning or late evening might work well for busy professionals)
- Be consistent – if you send a weekly newsletter, stick to the same day and time
- Time your emails to coincide with natural fitness cycles (New Year’s resolutions, pre-summer fitness pushes)
- The best time to send emails can vary depending on your specific audience.
- Don’t be afraid to experiment and track your results
Step 7: Call-to-Action (CTA)
Guide your members on what to do. Your email’s call-to-action is an instruction that needs to be clear, motivating, and impossible to ignore.
I worked with a yoga studio that was sending great emails but weren’t seeing any results. We conducted an audit and realized their CTAs were vague and buried at the bottom of the email. We made them bold, clear, and placed them strategically throughout the email. They saw a 60% increase in class bookings from email.
Some tips for crafting effective CTAs:
- Use action-oriented language (“Book Now,” “Start Your Free Trial,” “Claim Your Spot”)
- Make them visually stand out (use buttons instead of text links)
- Create a sense of urgency (“Limited Spots Available,” “Offer Ends Tonight”)
- Be specific about what will happen when they click
- Use first-person language (“Start My Free Trial” instead of “Start Your Free Trial”)
- Don’t overwhelm your readers with too many CTAs
- Focus on one primary action you want them to take.
Step 8: Be Aware of Compliance and Best Practices
Like CAN-SPAM and GDPR are email marketing laws that are actually all about building and nurturing trust. Don’t break the rules. Legal requirements matter.
Unless you want to be hit with fines and penalties, stay transparent and compliant with your email marketing practices.
Some compliance points to keep note of:
- Inclusion of a link to unsubscribe
- Honour any unsubscribe requests quickly, and make it easy
- Your physical address is required in every email
- Deceptive subject lines will not get your results, and might end up getting you a fine
- Iff the email is an advertisement, make it clear
- Clean your list regularly to be compliant, and amp up email marketing performance
- Remove inactive subscribers
Final Step: The Continuous Improvement Cycle
Without testing, analyzing, and improving, you won’t gain any consistent long-term success with your email marketing.
Test and analyze the subject lines, email body layout and type of content, and how frequently you send them. Also look at CTA placement and design, switch up personalization techniques to grab attention. Always use analytics to track important metrics like CTRs, open rates, and number of conversions.
Data is a powerhouse of success if it’s used to drive campaigns. It’s all about time for consistency when you’re creating an email marketing campaign for your gym.
