Fitness and sports · gyms, martial arts, sports products Every trial followed up

Gyms and clubs lose most members in the gap between the enquiry and the first session. We build the site that books the trial, the CRM that chases it and the content that makes people want to walk through the door.

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Giant Jiu Jitsu website, built by AMW Media

From this sector

CRM to webFrom a gym CRM implementation to the brand, CRM and website for Giant Jiu Jitsu

What membership businesses need

A site that answers the three questions every prospect has: where, when and how much, then books the trial. A CRM that texts the prospect back, reminds them of the session and follows up if they do not show. Content from inside the gym, because the room and the people are what sells. Reviews, because parents and beginners check.

What we have built

Giant Jiu Jitsu: brand, CRM and a Framer website, credited by the club in their Google review. MMA Room: CRM implementation. Knee Guard: a Shopify store for a sports product. From a single club to an online store, the same team.

The trial is the entire funnel

Membership businesses live or die on one journey: interest to a first session attended. Everything before it is traffic and everything after it is retention.

Most of the loss happens in the gap. Somebody books a trial on Tuesday for the following Monday, hears nothing in between, and does not come. A reminder sequence recovers a large share of those and costs nothing to run.

Content from inside the room

What is being sold is the room and the people in it. A prospective member is asking whether they will feel out of place, and the only thing answering that is seeing people who look like them training.

So the content that works is unpolished and regular. Classes, coaching, beginners in their first week, the atmosphere at seven in the morning. Not a highlight reel of the strongest members.

What parents and beginners check

Two audiences with the same worry. Parents check safeguarding, qualifications, the timetable and reviews. Beginners check whether there is a beginner class and whether they need to be fit already.

Both questions should be answered on the website in plain language and usually neither is. Answering them well removes more friction than any offer.

Local advertising, once the follow up works

Local Meta advertising to a trial offer works well here, and it works far better once the reminder sequence exists. Running it first means paying for trials nobody attends.

Measure attended trials and conversions to membership. Bookings on their own flatter the report and tell you very little.

What we would do first

Map the trial journey and fix the leaks with automation. Rebuild or fix the site so booking a class takes seconds on a phone. Film a week in the gym. Then run local Meta Ads to the trial offer once the follow up is proven.

Questions

How do we get more members into the gym or club?

Trials, and a system that turns trials into members. Most clubs are good at the first and terrible at the second: someone books a free session, nobody follows up, and they never come back. We film the sessions so people can see the room and the coaches before they walk in, run ads to a tight radius, and build the follow up that texts, reminds and asks. The follow up is usually where the growth is hiding.

Members keep leaving. Can marketing fix that?

Marketing cannot fix a bad experience, but most churn is not about the experience. It is about people who quietly stop coming and nobody notices for six weeks. Automated check ins, a win back sequence for lapsed members and content that keeps the community visible all reduce it, and they cost far less than replacing the member. We would rather fix that than sell you more ads.

How much does it cost to build a members app?

It depends entirely on what it needs to do: bookings, payments, programmes, progress tracking, push notifications. Our developers build apps in house, which is how FitConnect was made, and we scope it against a written feature list so you know what you are getting before it starts. If an off the shelf platform would do the job for a fraction of the cost, we will tell you that instead.

Do ads work for gyms, or is it just free trials who never turn up?

Both, unless the follow up is built. A free trial with no confirmation, no reminder and no call is a wasted click. Run the same campaign with an instant text, a reminder the day before and a coach who rings the no shows, and the same ad spend produces members. That is why we build the CRM alongside the campaign rather than after it.

Do you film classes with members in them?

Yes, with permission, and members are usually keen. One session gives a month of content plus the ad creative for trial campaigns. For clubs where discretion matters we film coaches, drills and the space instead.

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Four details and a line about your business. A director reads it and replies within one working day. If you want us to review your marketing first, the free audit and 30 day plan is the place to start.