Email marketing for gyms: the emails that win and keep members

Why email still matters for gyms

Social media decides who sees your posts. Email doesn't. Your list is the one marketing asset you own outright, and for a gym it holds your most valuable people: members, former members and everyone who has ever enquired.

That last group is the one most gyms ignore. Every year you collect hundreds of enquiries from people who were interested but didn't join.

Most of them didn't say no; they said "not now". A few well-timed emails turn a surprising number of them into members months later, at no extra cost.

Email works best for gyms in three ways:

• Automatically, through a handful of sequences that run in the background and do the follow-up you'd never find time for.
• Regularly, through a monthly newsletter that keeps you in people's lives.
• Occasionally, through a few campaigns a year timed to when people are ready to start.

Know who you're emailing

The biggest mistake is sending the same email to everyone. Split your contacts into four groups, because each needs something different:

Most email tools and gym software can tag contacts automatically as they move between these groups, so this happens without anyone remembering to do it.

The six sequences every gym needs

A sequence is a series of emails sent automatically when something happens: someone enquires, books a trial, joins or stops coming. Set them up once and they work every day. These six cover the whole member journey:

1. Enquiry follow-up

Speed matters more than anything else here, so pair email with a text and, ideally, a call. The emails do the work the call can't: answer common worries and show proof.

• Straight away: thanks, what happens next and a link to book. Sign it from a real person.
• Day 1: "What to expect on your first visit", answering the worries people have but rarely say (fitness level, what to wear, being new).
• Day 3: a member's story from someone like them.
• Day 6: answer the most common objection, often time or "I'm not fit enough yet".
• Day 10: a short, honest check-in: "Is now still a good time? If not, no problem." Replies to this one are often the warmest you'll get.

There's more on capturing and answering enquiries in Gym lead generation: strategies that actually work.

2. Trial

No-shows cost gyms more members than any other step. Send a confirmation with directions, parking and what to bring; a reminder the day before (text works best); and a follow-up the same day asking how it went, with a clear way to join.

If they don't join within a few days, a final email with a member story and an easy next step.

3. Welcome (the first 90 days)

Most cancellations are decided in the first three months, so this is the sequence that protects your income.

Welcome them by name from their coach, explain how to get the most from their membership, celebrate their first few visits, invite them to a community event, and check in at around day 30 and day 90 to ask how it's going and what they'd like help with.

4. We've missed you

When someone hasn't visited for two weeks, a friendly, personal note ("We've not seen you for a bit. Everything OK?") brings many back before they've decided to leave.

This needs your gym software to share attendance with your email tool, which is one more reason to check that your systems connect. A text or call from their coach works even better.

5. Win-back

Former members already know you, so they're often your easiest new members (there's a real example at the end of this article).

Don't rush it: a thank-you when they leave, a "here's what's new" around three months later, and a simple invitation back at around six months, timed with January or September if you can.

6. Stay in touch

Anyone who doesn't book after the enquiry sequence moves onto your monthly newsletter. Keep it useful and human, and include a soft invitation to start each time. For ideas, see Gym newsletter ideas members actually read.

Campaigns worth planning

On top of the sequences, plan three or four campaigns a year to everyone who isn't currently a member, timed to when people want to start:

• New year, starting in late December.
• The run-up to summer, from April.
• September, when routines restart after the holidays.
• Your own moments: a new class, a workshop, a challenge or your gym's birthday.

Lead with a clear starting point, such as a beginners' course with a start date, rather than a discount. Members can get their own campaign too: a bring-a-friend fortnight sent to members only.

What to write about: answer their questions

The emails people read are the ones that answer questions they already have.

It's the idea at the heart of Marcus Sheridan (opens in a new tab)'s book They Ask, You Answer (opens in a new tab), and his follow-up, Endless Customers (opens in a new tab): if a prospect is asking it, answer it honestly and in full, before they have to ask.

Most gyms skirt around those questions. The one that answers them becomes the gym people trust.

I first reviewed They Ask, You Answer in my client newsletter back in 2018, and it still shapes how I write.

Start a list. Every question you hear at the front desk, in consultations, on the gym floor or in your inbox goes on it.

Each one is an email, and often an article or a short video too. Sheridan groups the questions buyers care about most into five kinds. For a gym, they look like this:

• Cost. "How much is it, and what's included?" Even if you don't publish prices, explain what affects them and what good value looks like.
• Problems. "I've got a bad knee. Can I still join?" "What if I can't keep up with everyone else?"
• Comparisons. "Small group or personal training?" "You, or the big gym down the road?" Be fair, including about when the other option suits someone better.
• Reviews. Honest stories from members, in their own words, including who you're not right for.
• Best. "The best way to start if you haven't trained in years." "The best time of day to train."

Answer the way you would in person: straight, specific and without spin. Then put the answers to work in your sequences. The enquiry follow-up is the perfect home for "What to expect in your first session" and "What does it cost?"

How to write emails people read

• Send from a person. "Andrew at Riverside Gym" gets opened more than "Riverside Gym". Use a real reply address and answer replies.
• Write subject lines like a friend would. "Your first session: what to expect" beats "Riverside Gym newsletter #14". Be specific; skip the capitals and exclamation marks.
• One email, one job. One idea and one clear action. If there are three things to say, that's three emails.
• Keep it simple. Short paragraphs, a single photo at most, and a design that looks like a personal email rather than a brochure. Plain emails often do better and land in the inbox more reliably.
• Write for the phone. Most emails are read on a phone, so put the point first and make the button easy to tap.
• Use AI for first drafts, not final ones. Claude or ChatGPT can draft a whole sequence in minutes if you give them your gym, your members and your tone. Then edit so it sounds like you.

Make sure your emails arrive

Since 2024, Gmail, Yahoo and Microsoft Outlook have required senders to prove who they are, and since late 2025 they've been rejecting email that doesn't comply. If your emails seem to vanish, this is usually why.

• Send from your own domain ([email protected]), never from a Gmail or Hotmail address.
• Set up SPF, DKIM and DMARC for that domain. Your email tool will walk you through it; it's a one-off job of adding a few records where your domain is managed.
• Include a one-click unsubscribe in every marketing email. All the main tools do this automatically.
• Keep spam complaints very low. The big providers want them below 0.3%, ideally under 0.1%. Only email people who expect to hear from you.
• Clean your list. Remove addresses that bounce, and stop emailing people who haven't opened or clicked in a year after one last "Do you still want to hear from us?" email.
• Never buy or borrow a list. It's against the rules in the UK and the fastest way to the spam folder.

Consent and the rules in the UK

In the UK, marketing emails are covered by the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations (PECR) as well as data protection law. In plain English:

• You can email people who have agreed to hear from you, for example by ticking an unticked box on your enquiry form.
• You can also email members, and people who enquired about joining, about similar services, under what's called the "soft opt-in", as long as you gave them a clear chance to say no when you collected their details and every email has an easy unsubscribe.
• Service emails such as booking confirmations and payment reminders aren't marketing, but don't slip promotions into them.
• Keep a record of how and when each person joined your list.

The rules were updated by the Data (Use and Access) Act 2025 and the ICO's guidance is being revised, so check the ICO's website for the latest position. This is a summary, not legal advice. Outside the UK, check your own country's rules.

What to measure

Open rates are no longer reliable: Apple Mail now records many emails as opened whether people read them or not.

Health and fitness emails show average open rates in the 40s (per cent) in the big platforms' data, but treat yours as a rough guide only. What matters is what people do:

• Bookings and joins from each sequence and campaign. This is the number that counts.
• Replies. A reply means a real conversation, and it also helps your future emails reach the inbox.
• Clicks on your main link.
• Unsubscribes and complaints. A sudden rise means you're emailing too often, or the wrong people.
• Members won back by the missed-you and win-back sequences.

Which email tool?

The short version, from my guide to marketing tools for gyms:

• On HighLevel: use its built-in email, so sequences can switch between email and text on the same contact.
• Not on HighLevel: Brevo suits most independent gyms, with email, text and WhatsApp together and pricing by emails sent rather than contacts.
• Simple newsletter only: MailerLite.
• Building your own name as a coach: Kit (an affiliate link).

Whichever you choose, the sequences above matter far more than the tool. A simple tool running all six will beat a powerful one running none.

Where to start this week

1. Check your sending domain is authenticated (SPF, DKIM and DMARC).
2. Write and switch on the enquiry follow-up sequence. It's the one that pays back fastest.
3. Export everyone who enquired in the last two years and didn't join, check you're allowed to email them, and send one honest "Are you still thinking about it?" email.
4. Next month, add the welcome sequence. Then the others, one a month.

Questions owners ask