Groupon and other daily deal sites like Living Social(update: now merged) and Woot! are a great way to get people to try your fitness business, be it a gym, yoga studio, CrossFit box or kickboxing studio. However, as has been noted before, getting those members to stick around after their promo month is over can be very difficult. Have no fear readers, there are definitely ways to get those price-adverse daily deal shoppers to stick around and not bounce to another facility. If you’re into business reading, there are plenty of great books on customer retention that you might want to purchase as well. Let’s get started!

Give Extra Attention to One-Month Members to Build Relationships

If you only have one month to make a connection with your Groupon clients before they have to start paying full price, you better make the most of it. You have to know from the get go that without any attention, the chances of them becoming a full-time member are slim. They are discount shoppers. However, that doesn’t mean that you can’t make them fall in love with your business and have them begging you to become a full-price member when their Groupon is over. Make it a point to get to know them by name. Knowing a client’s name makes them much more likely to stick around. I like to think of this like a relationship with your barber. You’ve probably been going to the same guy or gal for years. Maybe they aren’t the cheapest in town, but they know your name, they ask how you’re doing, they try to catch up on your life at each cut. These little details are important to generating those bonds than make customers stick around. Having a Groupon success story isn’t impossible, it just takes work.

Make it Known that the Discounted Price Is NOT the Normal Price

Another issue with the daily deal business model is that there is some sticker shock when a Grouponer goes from their discounted price to the regular price. You don’t want to have an experience like this business did with a negative Nancy. Make sure that when your Grouponers come in, they know that their current price is extremely below what they’ll be paying if they decide to stick around after their discount month. When they fill out their initial paperwork, have it printed somewhere that their Groupon discount is X Percent less than the normal price. This will make them realize that they’re getting an extremely good deal and that everyone that they are working out with is paying a lot more. If you can continually introduce the real price of membership to them, they’ll start accepting it. The last thing you want to do after their $25 month is to tell them, “Oh hey, I never told you but membership is $150 a month. Wanna join?”

Prior to the end of the Month, Offer Multi-Month Package Deals

Last but not least, if you’re nervous that you’re going to get a lot of your daily dealer ditching your site after their deal finishes, you might want to set up some multi-month discount passes. This gives you an easy way to woo your daily deal members into slowing integrating themselves into your gym. Create a 3-month discount passfor anyone who has participated in a Groupon or Woot for your business. Make the price at least double the Groupon price, but don’t your total monthly price. Like the tip above, this goes with the idea of slowly wooing them into becoming full-price members without scaring them away. A lot of your daily deal members will leave when their month is over. That’s pretty much a fact of life. However, if you put in the effort and really try to make relationships with them, there’s a good chance you might be able to hook a few for the long term.