A set of automations you can build in the web platform, grouped by the moment in the membership. Each one comes with the reason to set it up. How you create and activate an automation is explained in Automations: messages that go out by themselves.
Start with two or three automations and let them run for a month. The Results tab then shows you what they brought in. The examples under "Members who stop coming" and "Payments" are a good place to begin.
Before you start
Set a goal and an exit condition for every automation, under Settings > Goal and exits. The goal shows you whether the automation works. The exit makes sure a member stops receiving messages once the goal is reached, for example someone who has been in to train in the meantime.
Put email and push at the front and the SMS at the end. Email and push are part of your package, SMS is charged per message. That way you only pay for the members you did not reach through the free channels. An SMS step only works if you have connected an SMS provider under Settings > Integrations.
When you activate, choose Only members who trigger it from now on. Check the Run history after a few days to see whether everything runs as you expect. This way you do not send messages about something that happened weeks ago.
Put automations with the same purpose in the same Journey group, for example Onboarding or Retention. A member then follows only one journey of that group at a time and does not get a welcome mail and a win-back offer at once.
A Condition step can split on a member's profile (age, membership, payment method, tag, club credit) and on how often the member comes, with Days since the last visit and Check-ins ever. That lets you send one automation to different groups without building two.
Messages with the category Commercial only reach members who accepted the newsletter. For an offer or a win-back that is the right category. A confirmation or a payment reminder goes on Transactional, because everyone has to get it.
New members
Welcome up to the first check-in
Trigger: A new member registers. Send an Email with the practical things: opening hours, how to check in, what to bring. Then a Wait of 2 days, a Push notification asking the member to book an intake, another 3 days of Wait and an SMS with the same question. Set Member checks in as the goal and as the exit.
Why: the first weeks decide whether a new member builds a habit. Thanks to the exit the journey stops as soon as someone has been in, so you do not send reminders to members who already started.
Registered, but not in yet
Trigger: Still no first check-in X days after the membership started, with 7 days. Send an Email asking whether something is in the way. After a Wait of 3 days comes Assign to staff, so a colleague contacts the member personally. Exit: Member checks in.
Why: a member who has not been in after a week usually has a practical hurdle. A colleague on the phone clears that faster than a second mail.
After the first visit
Trigger: First check-in. Send a Push notification with congratulations and, one day later, an Email with tips for the first month. With Add/remove tag you give the member the tag "started".
Why: right after the first visit a member is most open to your advice. The tag gives you a group to filter on later, in a campaign or in the audience of another automation.
A separate welcome for young members
Trigger: A new member registers. A Condition on Age under 18 sends minors an Email with the rules for young members and the information their parents need, and warns the desk with Notify staff. The other members get the usual welcome mail.
Why: different rules often apply to minors, certainly in a swimming pool or a climbing gym. If that explanation goes out by itself, you no longer have to give it at the desk.
Keeping members going
A new programme after ten visits
Trigger: Check-in milestone: visit number X, with 10. With Assign a workout the member gets the next programme, and an Email explains what is new about it.
Why: after about ten times the same routine gets dull. A next programme gives a reason to carry on, and it costs you nothing extra.
A thank-you after fifty visits
Trigger: Check-in milestone: visit number X, with 50. With Give a gift voucher you create a voucher of, say, 5 euro, and an Email after it tells the member that it is waiting. Put the voucher code in the mail with the field [AUTOMATIONVOUCHERCODE].
Why: clubs spend most of their effort on new members. This is a cheap way to give your regulars something back as well.
Members who stop coming
A gentle reminder
Trigger: No check-in for X days (members with a running membership), with 10 days. Send a Push notification first, an Email after 4 days and an SMS after another 4 days. Goal and exit: Member checks in.
Why: ten days without a visit is not a drop-out yet, so a friendly nudge is enough. Whoever returns after the push does not get the rest, and the paid SMS only goes to the members who stay away.
Personal contact for an automatic renewal
Trigger: No check-in for X days (members with a running membership), with 21 days. Under Audience choose Only a segment with Renews automatically set to yes. With Assign to staff a colleague phones the member. Exit: Member checks in.
Why: someone whose membership renews by itself and who stays away for three weeks is paying for something they do not use. That is the member who cancels at the next payment, and a phone call can still turn it around.
Credit that is still there
Trigger: No check-in for X days (members with a running membership), with 14 days, and as the audience a segment with Club credit over 10. Send an Email saying there is still credit on the account. Exit: Member checks in.
Why: that money is already paid, so you do not have to give anything away to give someone a reason to come by.
Renewal and cancellation
A reminder before the membership expires
Trigger: Membership expires in X days, with 30 days. Tick Only memberships that do not renew automatically. Send an Email and, 16 days later, an SMS. Goal and exit: Buys a membership.
Why: that tick box is the most important part of this automation. Without it, members with a direct debit also get an expiry message while their membership simply carries on.
After a cancellation
Trigger: A membership is stopped. Wait 1 day and send an Email with one short question: what could have been better? After 3 days you warn a colleague with Notify staff, who follows up on the answers.
Why: offering a discount straight away rarely works and costs you margin with members who would have stayed anyway. The answers do tell you what your club can improve, and sometimes a member changes their mind.
Winning former members back
Trigger: Membership ended X ago, with 2 months. With Give a gift voucher you create a voucher, for example 10 euro valid for 3 months. An Email with the category Commercial brings that voucher to the former member, and an SMS follows 7 days later. Goal and exit: Buys a membership.
Why: after two months someone still remembers what your club was like, and a voucher with an end date gives a reason to decide now. Watch the cost: a gift voucher counts as an expense the moment it is created. If you would rather only pay when someone really comes back, use Give an action code.
If your club has the Reactivation agent, you can use that step after 6 months. The assistant holds a personal conversation with the former member over WhatsApp or SMS and books a visit. You switch it on under Settings > General > Chatbot > Reactivation agent. After half a year the question is not so much how big the discount is, but whether something has changed that makes it work now. A conversation suits that better than a mail.
Payments
A failed payment
Trigger: A payment fails. Send an Email and, 3 days later, an SMS, both with the Message category Transactional. After another 4 days a colleague takes over through Assign to staff. Exit: Open amount paid.
Why: the first two messages are enough for members who simply forgot. Whoever has not paid after a week usually has a real problem, and a third reminder does not help with that. Thanks to the exit you leave members who paid in the meantime alone.
A thank-you after payment
Trigger: An open amount is paid. A short Email with the category Transactional to say thanks.
Why: without this message a reminder stays the last thing you sent that member.
Turn cards and birthdays
A turn card that is nearly used up
Trigger: Visits left on the turn card drop to X, with 3. A Condition on Membership product checks whether the member has the small turn card. If so, Give an action code follows and an Email with the advantage of the bigger card. If not, a plain Email with the link to the webshop. Goal: Member buys a membership.
Why: with three visits left a member still has time to buy online and does not have to hear at the desk that the card is empty. Members who already have the biggest card are not offered something they do not need.
A birthday with a free visit
Trigger: Birthday. With Add a membership, turn card or cost you give a turn card of 1 visit, with Free for the member ticked. An Email after it wishes the member a happy birthday and says the visit is waiting.
Why: a birthday mail with something in it gives a reason to come by. Birthday messages also do not wait for the rest days between automations, so they arrive on the day itself.
Bookings
Confirmation and reminder in one journey
Trigger: A reservation is made, limited to the calendar it is about. Then an Email with the confirmation, a Wait until step on the start of the booking with an offset of minus 24 hours, and another Email as the reminder.
Why: the confirmation and the reminder sit in one screen, with your text and your timing per calendar. Set that calendar to Journey under Who sends the booking messages and it stays at one message per moment.
The very first booking
Trigger: First reservation ever. An Email with the practical things: what to bring, where to park, how early to arrive. Then Wait one day, a Condition on Has a future reservation, and for those with nothing booked a second Email with the schedule. Goal: Attends a booking.
Why: in a climbing hall, a pool or a wellness centre the habit starts at the first booking, not at the registration. Someone who books a second time straight away comes back far more often.
Not showing up
Trigger: No-show on a reservation, with re-entry on a cooldown. One Email without reproach that does repeat the cancellation deadline. Exit: the member books again.
Why: a spot that stayed blocked is a spot nobody else could take. The point is not to scold but to make sure the next one gets cancelled instead of missed.
After the session
Trigger: X hours after the end of a reservation, with 3. An Email asking how it went, with the link to the schedule. Goal: Attends a booking.
Why: the hour after a class is when someone is most willing to book the next one. Watch the clock: three hours after a 19:00 class lands at 22:00, so shorten the wait if you want to arrive the same evening.
Trial class to membership
Trigger: A member attends a reservation, limited to the trial class, and for leads as well. A Condition on Has a running membership keeps existing members out. Then an Email with the offer, two days of Wait and a Staff task if nothing has been bought. Goal and exit: Became a member.
Why: someone who has just worked up a sweat decides more easily than someone who gets an e-mail three days later. And the follow-up does not get forgotten, because it becomes a task.
Stopped booking
Trigger: Nothing booked for X days, with 21. A Condition on Has a running membership, then an Email with that week's schedule. Exit: the member books.
Why: in a club where everything runs on bookings, the intention disappears before the attendance does. Someone who books nothing for three weeks has left before they realise it themselves.