Segmentation for retain at fitness centres: Contribution of service quality, expectations and satisfaction in the club

Abstract

How segmentation helps member retention is essential to increase the organization's profitability. Health clubs focus on understanding their members behavior about service quality, expectations and satisfaction in the club, detecting risk members to try to repurchase. The aim of this study is to understand the type of members that retain in the fitness organizations, regarding service quality, expectations and satisfaction in the club. It is possible to highlight 3 groups with greater differentiation between the clusters. Group 1, the new-satisfied members, have the shortest time of enrolment in the club but they have a high degree of satisfaction in the club and with service quality, greater involvement in the gym and retention. Results show that women are more loyal than men. This indicates that health clubs need to focus on men to increase their repurchasing possibility intentions and consequently, their retention.

INTRODUCTION

How segmentation helps member retention is essential to increase the organisation's profitability. Health clubs focus on understanding their members behaviour about service quality (Fernandéz et al., 2018), expectations (Robinson, 2006) and satisfaction in the club (Gonçalves et al., 2014), detecting risk members to try to repurchase (Ferrand, Robinson, & Valette, 2010). The aim of this study is to understand the type of members that retain in the fitness organisations, regarding service quality, expectations and satisfaction in the club.

METHODS

Questionnaires were applied to 850 members of fitness in Portugal, to test four dimensions: service quality, expectations, satisfaction in the club and retention (Gonçalves et al., 2014), using a 5-point Likert-type scale. Data analysis was performed using SPSS through clusters analysis's using Ward methods (Hair et al., 2005), having the dimensions as segmentation variables of service quality (a=0,911), expectations (a=0,902), satisfaction in the club (a=0,799) and retention (a=0,909).

RESULTS

It is possible to highlight 3 groups with greater differentiation between the clusters. Group 1, the newsatisfied members, have the shortest time of enrolment in the club but they have a high degree of satisfaction in the club and with service quality, greater involvement in the gym and retention. It is the youngest group, with less academic degree, predominantly female and it is the group with the highest proportion of public employees. Group 2, the loyal members, have least involvement with gym, however, the employees frequently approach this group of members and present reasonable levels of retention and expectations. This group is the most represented in the sample and with longer registration time in the club. It is a predominantly female group and stands out for being the oldest and with more academic formation. Group 3, the permanent unsatisfied members, have been for some time enrolled in the club but have low levels of involvement, expectations, retention, satisfaction with the club and a poor perception of the quality of the service. It is a group predominantly male and with a higher proportion of active professional status with a high level of schooling.

CONCLUSIONS

Results show that women are more loyal than men. This indicates that health clubs need to focus on men to increase their repurchasing possibility intentions and consequently, their retention. These specific results suggest the continuous study of these dimensions and the relation with members' segmentation and consumer behaviour in a larger number of fitness organisations.

References

References

Fernández, J., Ruíz, P., Gavira, J., Colón, L., Pitts, B., & García, A. (2018). The effects of service convenience and perceived quality on perceived value, satisfaction and loyalty in low-cost fitness centers. Sport Management Review, 21, 250-263.

Ferrand A., Robinson, L. & Valette-Florence, P. (2010) The Intention-to-Repurchase Paradox: A Case of the Health and Fitness Industry, Journal of Sport Management, 24 (1), pp. 83-105.

Gonçalves, C.; Biscaia, R.; Correia, A.; Diniz, A. (2014). An examination of members' intentions to recommend fitness centres. Motriz. Journal of Physical Education, 20 (4), 3 84-391.

Hair, F. J., Black C. W., Badin, N. J., Anderson, E. R., Tatham, R. L. (2005). Multivariate Data Analysis. New Joursey: Pearson Education Inc.

Robinson, L. (2006). Costumer expectations of sports organizations. European Sport Management Quarterly, 5(1), 67-84.