Age Effects Retention
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Age and the impact age has on retention has a really, really striking difference as you go up by age groups and the more we investigate it, in fact every time we've done this analysis we've seen exactly the same result
that's 4.5 million customers
4,000 facilities
in 31 different countries
you see the same thing - Age is a really strong predictor
In fact we probably should have this much higher up on the list of factors affecting retention, however the types of customers you attract maybe determined by the environment your club is situated in.
So if you are situated in an area where it's a much older population that's a benefit to you in terms of retention.
If you are in a situation where your club is in a population of very young customers, then that's going to be detrimental to retention overall.
When looking at age group by the average length of membership, if they were all paying the same amount of money, you could work this out quite quickly about the additional revenue you get.
The 16 to 24 year olds stay about fifteen and a half months, whereas the 55 plus, stay nearly twenty two and a half months.
You are getting almost seven months extra for every customer that's over the age of 55.
If you were able to attract more people over the age of 55, then the challenge of keeping them would be less.
The challenge is finding enough of them and getting them to join because I certainly recognise the fact that it's always harder to sign up older customers.
If you're going for a younger age group, you are going to have to drive volume because they won't stay as long as the older customers.
In a 12 month contract, you will see a dip as people come to the end of their membership, like a cliff but there is a gap of about 20% between the youngest and the oldest customers at 12 months.
You need to balance that out with how many people have we got in each age group.
If you are in an environment where you can attract an older age group they will stay longer.
