The Anatomy of a Gym Email

Did you know that email marketing is almost 50 years old? Yet, email is not dead. In fact, it’s stronger than ever. Think about what you do when you wake up every morning. The majority of people will scroll through Instagram, Twitter, and any other social channels – then it’s straight to the inbox. 

Email is one of the most effective marketing channels. You don’t own your following on social media, but you do own your email list. Email marketing allows you to create targeted, personalized, and relevant campaigns. Sending emails based on what users like in the right context can improve performance and open rate. This article looks at how you can boost your email marketing strategy and create an email that converts.

• Email Marketing: Send the Right Message to the Right Person
• 4 Ways to Boost Your Gym Email Marketing Strategy
• How to Create an Effective Gym Email That Converts

Email Marketing: Send the Right Message to the Right Person 

Today, email is going strong. During the coronavirus crisis, more brands have pivoted to digital channels to increase their pandemic communication. Research by Seventh Sense shows that more than half of marketers plan to send more emails to customers due to the COVID-19 crisis. What’s more, is that over 55% of marketers reported seeing the best ROI from email campaigns. 

Email providers are also seeing growth. In a litmus report between April 2018-2019 on client market share, the Google Mail app came out on top at 27.8%, closely followed by Apple’s mail app and Outlook at 27.6% and 9.1%. While Gmail email came out at number one, Outlook saw the most significant growth between 2018-2019, climbing from number 5 to number 3.

Email is a low cost and highly personalized form of communication, and it’s an essential part of your marketing mix. The mission of email has always remained the same: the sender must create the right message for the right person. Over time, developments in tools, software, and data allow marketers to do this more effectively. 

A winning email marketing campaign combines a healthy balance of strategy, data, and creativity in the fitness industry. It targets users with a relevant message. An email should feel like a conversation, not a back and forth with a robot. Think about how you would speak to your current members, previous ones, and prospects who have just met you. You would talk to them all differently. You need to be speaking to them differently in email.

The first step in achieving a successful email campaign is to segment your audience. Otherwise, it’s tough to send your message to the right person when your audience is lumped into one big pot together. Your current members have different needs than your prospects. Segment your email list and then create content and offers specifically for that audience. Your segments may differ depending on your business and target audience. In general, you should be splitting up current members and prospects. You can then break this down further into member personas and target digital-only and in-person gym memberships. 

The Built to Grow Fitness Business Podcast has a must-listen episode on 10 tactics to improve your email marketing. The episode discusses how to ensure your emails are mobile-responsive and why you need to deliver value and check email stats. 

4 Ways to Boost Your Gym Email Marketing Strategy

There are over 3.9 billion email users around the world. That means over half of the world’s population uses email. Nearly 75% of US adults use email. Email marketing has proven time and time again to be an effective marketing channel. It also helps to increase engagement, brand loyalty, retention, and nurture relationships. The secret to a successful email campaign is simple; know your audience. When you know who you’re speaking to, what they like, and what they need, you can craft content and special offers that are entirely relevant. Here are four tips to boost your gym email marketing strategy. 

1. Test and Track Your Email Campaigns 

You have access to a ton of data. Data can help you make informed decisions so that your marketing spend goes in all the right places. Email marketing is one of the most quantifiable forms of marketing. You have the ability to test and track almost every part of your campaign. This helps to take the guesswork out and find out what your audience really wants to hear. 

The best way to test your emails is through A/B testing. This will help work out what’s best for your gym or health club. A/B testing or split testing is the process of figuring out which two campaign options are the most effective. Make sure only to test one part at a time so that the results are clear. You can test everything from copy and design to buttons and subject lines. You can then evaluate conversion and open rates to see how you can improve your email campaign. 

2. Automated Emails for a Smooth Customer Journey 

When a new member signs up with you to begin their fitness journey, you want to be there to support them. Email communication helps to create a smooth customer journey. Automated emails are trigger-based emails. They are set out based on certain behaviors. The most common types of automated email are thank you and welcome emails. 

You can go a step further with automated emails and craft them around your gym members and business. You can automate actions when a user fills out your information request form, signs up for a digital membership, weekly member weigh-in, class schedule reminders, booking confirmations, progress reports, and more. You can send out content based on your members’ likes, fitness goals, and body metrics. Automation also allows you to upsell and market your services. 

3. Better Personalization 

In today’s modern world, personalization is an essential marketing technique. People want to be seen as individuals, not just a number. Personalized emails help to increase open rates and improve the overall customer experience. Personalization doesn’t involve writing a single email for every member. It involves using the data you have to produce more targeted and relevant emails. 

Personalization is an effective digital marketing strategy. Try to make each email as individual as possible. Maybe you know the fitness goals for your members. If they want to improve their personal best, you will send a different email to those that want to lose weight. Use all the data you have available to personalize emails as much as possible.  

4. Optimize for Mobile 

Statistics show that 60% of email opens are from a mobile device. Considering how often people check their emails on their phone or iPad, your email campaigns must be optimized for mobile. To optimize for email, the first step is to find out how your audience reads an email. When you know the type of devices they use and email provider, this can help you to make the right decisions. 

With little space on a mobile device to capture attention, maximize the little real estate you do have available. This means using a recognizable email address, mastering short and snappy subject lines, and making full use of the preview text to hook the reader. 

How to Create an Effective Gym Email That Converts 

Several factors contribute to a great email, and it’s the difference between getting your message read and it ending up in the trash folder. Before you get ahead of yourself, consider how all these elements will help you to stand out and encourage action from your target audience. Developing fantastic emails is a bit of a science that you need to master before rolling out your next campaign. While you’ll likely send multiple emails with different messages, these seven basics apply to each one you send. 

Nail the Subject Line 

A great email stands out immediately in the inbox. It grabs the reader’s attention with an irresistible subject line that is too good to ignore. The subject line is the first place you interact with the reader. It needs to be short, snappy, and captivating to make them click to read more. Your subject line should show the reader the benefits of the email without conveying too much information so that they still need to open it to get the most value. Make sure it’s personalized and targeted. 

Engaging Copy That Converts 

Craft short, engaging copy that gets to the point in a punchy style. In general, people tend not to read an email in its entirety. Instead, they skim through the important parts. By designing your email with blocks of captivating text, you can maximize the user’s attention. Make the most of valuable information by ensuring that it stands out or is set aside on its own. It’s a good idea not to say too much at one time. Even if your fitness club has multiple offers available, the email itself needs to look clean and to the point, with a clear CTA to drive the reader to click. 

Winning Email Design 

The way you arrange all your elements in your email is just as important as what’s in the email. You want to guide the reader’s attention to the most crucial part of the email. A winning email design includes your subject line, branding, high-quality images, text hierarchy, call to action, and interactivity. It’s a unique blend of beauty and function. Elements like typography and images help a brand to stand out in today’s crowded inbox. When reading your email, the user should know exactly where the eye should go. This is because you have crafted your email with your audience in mind. 

Relevant and Personalized Content 

Use segmentation to target the right audience with the right message. Email content can also be tweaked for each audience persona. For example, you may want to use more relevant images and copy so that the email feels uber personalized. Content should always be relevant to the reader and in context. Send concise and sharable emails to your target audience. Keep an eye on fitness trends and changing consumer behaviors. 

Concise and to the Point 

Be mindful of the length of your email. Keep your copy concise and to the point. The reader should know what your email is about just by skimming through it. Short and sweet emails allow you to communicate your message effectively and also increase the chances of a quick reply if needed. Time is precious, and your members are busy people. They don’t want to spend a ton of time sifting through an email to find the most valuable information. An email should be as long as it needs to be to get your message across. By having a deep understanding of your audience and your message, you can create effective emails that convert. 

Clear and Easy to Understand Call to Action 

Your email template layout should always include a clear and easy to understand call to action. It’s tempting to want to include a lot of information, so your members know everything about your latest offers but try and get straight to the point. Your call to action gives your readers an easy way to take the next step. Whether it’s to find out more information, read your latest blog post, or sign up for your recent offer. The process from reading the email on a phone to clicking your CTA and heading to your landing page should be seamless. 

Add Value 

Every email you send should add value to your members and subscribers, not just shameless promotion. While it’s great to send relevant offers to your email list that will help them and add value, too many and too often could lead to them hitting the unsubscribe button. The right timing and messaging can support your readers and increase open rates. Email is a great way to provide value to your customers. Whether that’s sharing your latest blog post on healthy eating or sharing your digital fitness offer, adding value is at the heart of successful emails. 

In Summary 

A great email features a winning design, stellar content, and a clear call to action. But you need more to land a successful email campaign. When you know who your audience is, you can send personalized and relevant emails that add value to your email list. Whether you’re looking to boost member retention or reach out to new prospects, email is an effective marketing and communication channel.