Membership has become the backbone of local authority leisure operation. But how much do we understand and make the most of this vital income stream and customer base?

It is vital to be aware that membership is a two-way process. It should be beneficial and add value for both provider and recipient rather than simply acting as a payment mechanism. An organisation must listen and respond to the opinions of those with whom it deals and membership programmes should be part of a relationship based strategy. Sustaining and motivating members relies on delivering beyond customer expectations and offering targeted incentives.

To be truly effective, membership marketing should be about converting occasional users into loyal customers, providing predictable revenue streams, generating higher revenue from customers and increasing referrals. This can be achieved by efficiently using data that is collected automatically via the transactions involved - translated into customer/user knowledge such as:

• Understanding how far people have to travel to use your services
• Profiling your member base (gender, age, spending power etc)
• Monitoring behavioural traits; seasonality, main drop off times etc
• Comparing your membership demographic to that of the catchment area you serve

While our sector may not accomplish the level of sophistication achieved by Tesco's Clubcard with its sophisticated system linking buyer behaviour, ‘next aisle' technology and rewards offered from affiliates. Although beneficial to customers, the customer insight gathered from Clubcard holders is invaluable to Tesco and drives its marketing and operational processes. This type of best practice, albeit in modified forms, can be implemented to up-sell and cross-sell across leisure operations.
It is this level of insight that provides indepth understanding of the ostensibly small factors that make such a significant difference to people's participation and purchasing decisions.

Current membership schemes are dominated by the health and fitness market - a saturated one where the private sector is experiencing considerable turbulence with budget-price driven brands popping up on a daily basis such as easyGym and Payasugym.com.

A customer driven approach will counterbalance this, provide a clear point of difference and ensure that the needs of different types of members/potential members are met via carefully targeted messages focused on specific audiences to meet the full spectrum of their sport and leisure needs.

In addition to consultants with extensive direct and client support based experience introducing and developing leisure memberships and card systems, KKP's team brings in-house expertise in hands-on marketing and the development and management of leisure card and membership systems in other sectors.

To find out more about membership marketing, or any of our marketing services contact Marketing Consultant Lynne Harrop via lynne.harrop@kkp.co.uk or telephone 0161 764 7040