Boston—June 25, 2018—Today the International Health, Racquet & Sportsclub Association announced that the benchmark Net Promoter Score (NPS) for the North American health club industry is 39. An NPS of 39 means that for every 100 members, there are 39 more who are likely to recommend their club to a colleague or friend than those who are unlikely to recommend their club or discourage others from joining. The score is based on responses from 321,759 health club members.
In the NPS survey, health club members were asked to rate on a scale of 0-10 (10 being the most likely) how likely they were to recommend their club to a colleague or friend. The survey also allows members to leave feedback in an open comments section.
“The Net Promoter Score provides a very powerful view of how members truly feel about their health club,” said Jay Ablondi, IHRSA’s executive vice president of global products. “Using the NPS, club operators can learn not only how loyal their members are but why they feel the way they do. NPS feedback can also uncover problems that need to be addressed in order to improve member satisfaction and retention. This is critical to fostering bottom-line growth.”
The NPS is used in numerous industries and most notably by leaders in customer loyalty like Apple, Amazon, and Harley Davidson. IHRSA conducted the NPS survey in partnership with The Retention People (TRP), an industry research and education firm that specializes in health club member retention and engagement.
“The NPS survey continues IHRSA’s long-standing practice of benchmarking key performance indicators for the health club industry,” Ablondi stated. “The significant sample size of the IHRSA-TRP NPS benchmark gives companies an accurate industry-specific benchmark to compare their scores against.”
Meanwhile, in the United Kingdom, the health club industry received a score of 37 based on responses from 832,442 health club members. In Australia, the corresponding NPS score is 30, based on 34,969 member responses. The NPS is 37 for all 1,193,852 survey respondents across every market observed in the study.
“As we all know, perception is reality,” said Dan Albert, general manager for TRP North America. “The NPS methodology helps you understand your members’ perceptions so that you can change your reality! And TRP are offering IHRSA members a free NPS survey sent to your members for you, so that you can do just that—exceeding expectations and creating raving fans!”
IHRSA member clubs can participate in the IHRSA-TRP member loyalty survey at no cost.
When calculating the NPS, respondents who gave a 0-6 rating are deemed “Detractors,” 7-8 are “Passives” or “Fence Sitters,” and those that gave a 9-10 are “Promoters.” To calculate the overall NPS, the total number of Detractors are subtracted from the total number of Promoters.
For more on member loyalty and NPS, members can access the IHRSA Member Retention Report archive for free. Non-members can purchase individual Retention Reports for $29.95.
About IHRSA
The International Health, Racquet & Sportsclub Association is a not-for-profit trade association representing health and fitness facilities, gyms, spas, sports clubs and suppliers worldwide. Its mission is to grow, promote and protect the health and fitness industry. As the leading authority on the commercial health club industry, IHRSA regularly conducts primary consumer research and industry economic and operating studies.
About The Retention People
The Retention People (TRP) are leading researchers in health club member retention. TRP uses research to drive the development of effective retention solutions. These include digital products, retention processes and training packages that improve the member experience. TRP works with club operators worldwide to create promoters of fitness brands and increase member loyalty.
