I recently read the IHRSA publication “IHRSA’s Guide to Health Club Cleanliness”. On page 4 they boldly make the following assertion… “Dollar for dollar, cleanliness might be the most powerful tool to maximize member satisfaction, member retention and average revenue per member in the club.”
If you believe that I know a Nigerian prince I’d like to talk to you about!
Come on IHRSA do you really expect us to believe that… cleaning… really?
There are a few red flags with this study.
First, it is sponsored by Gojo (a cleaning products company).
Second, there are some methodological concerns (e.g. selection bias).
Third, the publication seems to go out of its way to find that cleanliness is critical even though their own findings suggest otherwise (e.g. only 10% of health club members surveyed reported their club as being unclean).
Finally, it makes claims based on correlations that do not necessarily demonstrate causality (e.g. a club perceived to be extremely clean increases a member’s likeliness to renew).
I’ll tell you everything you need to know about health club cleanliness…
It is necessary but not sufficient for member acquisition and retention.
It is a case of diminishing returns (90% of the benefit of cleanliness is achieved by being reasonably clean and being exceptionally clean will only ever yield minimal additional benefits).
Some member segments care about it more than others (beginners and women are most likely to take issue with health club cleanliness).
As a general rule your health club cleanliness should be equal to, or greater than, your member’s own standard of cleanliness. If you have high membership fees members will expect greater cleanliness because they experience it at their home (perhaps it is professionally cleaned) in nicer restaurants, cafes, beauty saloons etc.
Bathrooms are the barometer for health club cleanliness (especially for women).
Give members their own self service cleaning options (wipes, sanitizers, paper towels) for the more fastidious exercisers.
Be transparent with your cleaning regime.
Remember that cleaning staff are health club staff in the eyes of members. Therefore, they need to be friendly, helpful, accommodating, and engaged while on the health club floor like every other staff member.
Make it easy for member’s to do the right thing (have enough bins in the right locations, provide towels, understand traffic flow).
Cleanliness is not a competitive advantage if the health club is being kept reasonably clean (relative to its market's expectations).
Most importantly, members are less concerned with cleanliness when their other needs are being met. The corollary of that is that members are most concerned with cleanliness, and most vocal about it, when their other needs aren’t being met. Cleanliness isn't always just about being clean.
Anyone who tries to build their value proposition around cleanliness has, just like IHRSA’s cleanliness report, seriously missed the point.
