How do I check whether a wellness centre’s membership is retained or only signed?

A large membership count can hide a leaky bucket. Ask for a list showing each member’s start date, plan, payment status, cancellations and date of last visit. Sort it by start date and see how many people from each earlier cohort are still active today. Steady cohorts suggest the centre keeps its people. Steep drop-offs suggest it mostly recruits.

Look at the reasons members leave. Does the centre collect exit notes? Are cancellations clustered after a price change, a practitioner leaving or a seasonal pause? Ask how freezes and paused memberships are counted, because they can inflate the headline number.

Finally, test the numbers against the money. Compare the membership list to payment records and the financial statements, and ask your accountant to reconcile them. Check whether any members were signed on a discount that ends soon. Ask how the centre contacts members who haven’t visited, since that shows how seriously it treats retention. Keep an eye on one more point: how the centre treats long-time members when prices or practitioners change. Ask to see any complaints or cancellation messages. Patterns in what members say when they leave are often more informative than the totals themselves.

Key takeaways

• Group members by sign-up date and track each group forward.
• Ask how paused or frozen memberships are counted.
• Reconcile member lists with payments received.
• Read exit notes to learn why members actually leave the centre.