Sondre Gravir, CEO of Nordic fitness operator SATS, has urged delegates at the HCM Summit to focus on member activity rather than membership numbers. He says that regular visits are fundamental to customer retention, business growth and financial performance.
SATS has recorded close to 50 million visits to its clubs over the previous 12 months and says visits are the key performance indicator (KPI) for the business, linked with higher engagement, stronger loyalty and improved financial results.
“We measure activity more than memberships,” Gravir said. “We build products for people to be engaged and come back, and we try hard to use our data and insights to motivate our members.”
Gravir said SATS actively challenges the assumption that members who pay their subscriptions but rarely visit are good for business. He argued that members who do not use their membership are more likely to cancel, particularly when household budgets are under pressure and consumers reassess their spending.
“Active members are loyal members,” Gravir said, adding that inactive members often leave because they stop training rather than because they switch to a competitor.
Group training is central to SATS’ engagement strategy and a key point of differentiation. The company has increased the number of classes offered and expanded its dedicated studios and training zones by 28 per cent over the last couple of years.
Group training members stay with SATS 1.8 times as long as other members. Because they also pay slightly more for access to classes, their lifetime value is around twice that of non-group training members.
Looking ahead, Gravir identified people, product and community as the three pillars of SATS’ strategy. The company plans to invest 5 per cent of revenue in upgrading its clubs and aims to maintain leverage at between 1.5 and two times net debt to EBITDA, although its current ratio is below that range.
