Dr Melvyn Hillsdon - Author of FIA's Winning The Retention Battle series of reports. Melvyn is at the forefront of research in this field, he is a highly respected academic and sought after advisor in public health.

Q1. I measure our retention performance by looking at the monthly cancellation figure as a percentage of the total membership number from the month before (i.e 41 members cancelled out of 1023 = 4% attrition). I have heard that this is not the best method to measure a club's retention performance - my question is why not?

This calculation is common and tells you the number of people who quit in a month as a proportion of those who started the month. The problem is what do you do with it? What if all 41 had joined in the previous month? If in the same month that the 41 quit you sold 100 new memberships the new starting total for the next month would be 1082 ((1023-41) + 100)). If you again lose 41 members in the subsequent month the attrition rate is 3.8%. Are you doing better, the same or worse? If both the denominator and the numerator are the same it is difficult to make sense of what is going on and therefore take action. Further, as it is not known how long members have maintained their membership for it is again difficult to know what action to take. That is why we prefer to report attrition as a rate e.g. the number of cancellations per thousand members per month. This uses a common denominator and takes into account the length of membership. Couple with a retention rate, a company can start to develop an action plan based on usable data.

Q2. Some people in my organisation believe that most members leave because they are too busy, moving from the area or simply too lazy and we can't do anything to stop that. I believe that if we increase our service levels and contact with our members this will help retention, is there any evidence to support my argument?

There is no doubt that some people leave because they have moved out of the area, albeit the industry has no reliable data on this. If someone tells you this after they have left it may simply be a way of getting you off their back. There is much more robust evidence to indicate that people who receive good service use the club more, rate their membership as better value for money and stay longer. Also, Members who get spoken to regularly by gym staff, rate customer service higher and are more likely to refer a friend. Unfortunately, too few members report regular contact with gym staff.

Q3. Is there a relationship between the levels of monthly membership payment against retention rates after the initial term of contracted membership lengths? Rationale for asking the question is the basis of a theory that the higher the monthly fee when not using a site leads to cancellation quicker than a lower figure.

The question is suggesting that people who pay a high premium for their membership and then don't use the club, will feel more aggrieved and leave the club at the first opportunity, compared to people who pay less. This is a fair question and the honest answer is we don't know. It is tricky to examine as the amount somebody pays per month in part reflects what they can afford to pay. As we don't know each members disposable income we can't estimate the real value of what they pay each month for membership. Whenever we have analysed retention rates by the monthly payment amount we see know difference between groups. This is almost certainly because of the point made above. A good question that is worth trying to find the answer to.

Click the box on the left to put your retention questions to Dr Melvyn Hillsdon. The most popular questions will be answered next month.