Mobile Habits: Acquisition or Retention?
By Lee Robinson, VP of Global Sales
In my conversations with gym owners across the country, there’s one thing they’re all passionate about: driving better results for their members. But here’s what I discovered when I dug deeper – there’s a fundamental disconnect happening right under our noses.
Most owners are thinking about member success in terms of getting stronger, losing weight, cutting body fat, and exercise adherence. Meanwhile, the majority of their members – especially Gen Z, Millennials, and younger Gen X – are approaching fitness as a healthier lifestyle choice. They’re digitally native, and they’re no longer just thinking about walking into a gym to hit the squat rack or bench press.
So how do we bridge this gap?
The Digital Shift We’re Living Through
Here’s the reality: gym owners often miss opportunities by thinking their digital strategy is separate from their core business. They see technology as disjointed rather than integral to member success. But we’re living through a digital shift right now, and it’s actually the perfect time to leverage this change.
Think about it differently for a moment. Where do people get their news today? It’s not CNN, Fox, or NPR anymore. It’s their social media feeds. Social media captures more news coverage than traditional news sources themselves. We know TikTok gets opened 19 times per day on average, and Facebook gets opened 6-8 times daily. Society has leaned on these platforms not just for news, but for education too.
Check Out: Why Mobile Will Define the Future of Fitness – And Why the Smart Operators Are Moving Now
Add AI into the mix, and we’re seeing another massive disruptor. Exercise science knowledge is essentially free now – you can research any movement or diet and get custom answers. But we’ve moved beyond the Google search era into the question-and-answer era because of AI.
Here’s why this matters to your bottom line: Google searches are down 15-20% year over year. Those top searches that used to drive traffic – “gym near me,” “HIIT workout near me,” “yoga near me,” “personal trainer,” “fitness app” – are all declining. That’s going to hit your revenue.
The old playbook of “build it and they will come” or sending out mail flyers isn’t cutting it anymore. Your app could be the bridge you need.
The Fitness App Reality Check
When I talk to owners about the digital landscape, we need to get aligned on what we’re up against. There are over 100,000 fitness apps out there. Between 80-90% of them are free – and that’s not even counting Instagram influencers, YouTube channels, or Facebook content.
The remaining 10-20% are paid apps, but look at their economics: Peloton and Tonal spend $150-400 per member on acquisition, with payback periods of 21-24 months. That’s clearly not viable for most fitness facilities.
So your only real option is free. But here’s my equation: If it’s free, it has to add value. That value has to drive habit creation. And habit creation drives both acquisition and retention.
When your app encourages members to build healthy habits, it shifts from being a scheduling tool to becoming a real extension of your coaching philosophy. It’s no longer just about logging workouts – it’s about building a lifestyle.
This kind of consistent, personalized experience fosters stronger community ties and mirrors the support members feel inside your gym – only now, it extends into their everyday routines through digital touchpoints.
The Table Stakes Your App Needs
Before you can even think about habit creation, your app needs the basics. These are non-negotiables:
- Membership signup and referrals
- Class bookings and check-ins
- Personal training bookings
- Payment processing for services
- Geo-fencing that activates when members arrive
- Membership cancellation (legally required if they can sign up through the app)
- Open API for third-party integrations
That last point is crucial. Unless you’re investing millions, you won’t have everything first-to-market. With AI evolving rapidly, you’ll fall behind quickly if you try to build everything in-house.
Without these 8-10 features, you’ll struggle to get beyond 20-30% membership penetration on your app. What good looks like is 100% of your members using your app – and that’s only possible when you have these fundamentals covered.
Building the Health Ecosystem
Once you have the table stakes, the real work begins: creating habit formation that drives members from external motivation to intrinsic motivation.
Start with customized workouts for new members. But here’s the key – base these on how members want to feel, not how they want to look. Create workouts for people who want to walk more, have more energy, or feel stronger. These are health outcomes, not appearance outcomes, and they align with how modern members think about fitness.
Build a workout library featuring your own trainers demonstrating movements. Members come to your app for curated content that helps them move better. You’re not competing with free content – you’re becoming the trusted provider of it.
Consider adding meal plans, step challenges, sleep improvement tips – anything that helps during onboarding and builds confidence in your app as their health resource – while making sure members feel part of your wellness community and feel empowered in their journey..
The Habit Creation Sweet Spot
Through our experience with 3.4 million members, we’ve identified the biggest growing trends in habit creation:
- Steps
- Water intake
- Protein consumption
- Digital detox
- Self-care
The magic happens when members can self-select these habits. Give them autonomy. Let them log activities through partnerships via your open API. Get them doing things outside your four walls – at home, on the go, at work.
The Personalization Advantage
The final piece is making members feel confident using your app. This confidence drives the shift from external to intrinsic motivation. You do this through personalization – auto-updated training programs, sync messaging, nutritional guidance, and health content recommendations.
All of this can be extremely personalized using cohorts based on the data flowing through your app. And that’s what keeps people coming back, keeps them engaged, and ultimately drives them deeper into their health journey with your facility as their guide.
The Bottom Line
Your app isn’t just a convenience tool – it’s your North Star for members seeking guidance in an overwhelming digital landscape. When you align your digital strategy with how modern members actually think about fitness, you create something powerful: a bridge between passionate gym ownership and member success.
The question isn’t whether your members will use apps for fitness guidance. They already are. The question is whether they’ll use yours.
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