The right loyalty program for a gym or studio

Two economists studied three health clubs in New England from 1997 to 2001: 7,752 members, with every visit on record. Members left their cards in a basket at the front desk and, in the paper's words, "a health club employee swipes them".

Members who paid the monthly fee themselves, with no employer's subsidy, paid US$75.26 a month on average in their first six months and came 4.36 times a month. That was US$17.27 a visit, when a ten-visit pass cost US$10 a visit.

The finding an owner can use is the delay. "On average, 2.31 full months elapse between the last attendance and contract termination for monthly members", and for one in five the gap was at least four months. A member who stops coming goes on paying for a while, and then cancels.

These were three American clubs a quarter of a century ago. What carries over is the order: empty weeks first, the cancellation later.

In 2021 researchers reported a trial on 61,293 members of an American gym chain who had signed up for a four-week exercise program. It tested 54 versions. The basic one asked members to plan their workouts, sent a text reminder before each one and gave points worth about 22 US cents a visit. Against a comparison group, visits rose 9%. The best added a bonus worth nine US cents for coming back after a missed workout, and visits rose 27%: 0.40 more a week, where the comparison group managed 1.48. Fewer than half the versions clearly beat that group, and the authors warn that a winner's result is usually overstated.

The gains did not last. "Only 8% of interventions induced behaviour change that was significant and measurable after the four-week intervention."

A second experiment, read in its abstract, followed 836 new members of one private gym. Some were promised US$30, US$60 or an item worth US$30 if they came at least nine times in their first six weeks. A comparison group was paid US$30 whatever it did. The incentives "had only moderate impacts on attendance" in those weeks and "no effect on their subsequent visit trajectories".

So a reward for turning up has to keep running, which a card that starts again does. Expect a modest lift from it. We found no study that follows a gym's reward card through to cancellations.

On 10 October 2026 Fitness First Malaysia's membership page offered plans with "4 or 12 months commitment". After the minimum period a member may cancel "by providing a 1 full calendar month’s notice", and "Membership freezes are granted only for medical reasons or overseas/outstation assignments longer than 2 weeks". Terms like these hold a member's fees for some months. They do nothing about the empty weeks.

The law has its own rule on cancelling. Section 17 of the Consumer Protection Act 1999 covers a "future services contract": "a contract for consumer services that will be provided on a continuing basis and as prescribed by the Minister from time to time". A consumer who cancels one "may be charged by the supplier" these amounts: "five percent of the full contract price"; "the cost of any goods the consumer used or is keeping"; or "the portion of the full contract price representing services received by the consumer". Anything paid beyond that is to be refunded "within fourteen days of cancellation".

We read the section in the official reprint of the Act as at 1 November 2021. We did not read the Minister's order. A 2015 note by the law firm Donovan & Ho says it lists "Fitness and health", with gymnasiums and yoga centres named. This is general information, not legal advice: ask a lawyer how it applies to your contracts and class packs. Prepaid packages, store credit and gift cards: the rules is about money taken in advance. native.cards takes none: it sells no packages or class credits, and Stamps are not money.

native.cards opens no door, reads no turnstile and takes no bookings or payments. A Wallet Card is never tapped on a reader, and there is no self check-in. A visit exists when staff record it.

Staff open the Scanner and scan the code on the member's Wallet Card. If the phone is already in a locker, they choose ID or phone, type the member ID or phone number, read the name back and press Yes, continue. Where the program counts only Stamps or Visits, the screen reads This visit and asks for no amount. Staff enter their own Staff PIN and press Record purchase. The button says purchase, the product's word for anything staff record. Nothing is sold.

An example with made-up numbers. Twenty people arrive for a 7 pm class inside ten minutes. At ten seconds each for the scan, the PIN and the button, that is more than three minutes of one person's attention.

This suits a studio where someone greets every member anyway. At an unstaffed 24-hour gym nobody is there to record anything. The Counter needs a connection, and each person at the desk needs their own sign-in and PIN: see How to prepare your staff to run the program.

A stamp is given for each purchase recorded, so a member who trains before work and again after it can be stamped twice. If you want one stamp a day, tell the desk. Activity History counts the quick repeats, under Recorded twice in 15 minutes.

When you create the card program, What it is for starts on Membership: "People belong, and the card shows they are a member." Choose Loyalty and rewards and the form asks "What do customers build up?" Tick Membership status ("Shows that they are an active member.") and Stamp. Visits is offered too, but it is only a running count. A reward cannot cost Visits, so a reward for attendance is a Stamp card.

Stamps to fill a card takes 2 to 20 and cannot be changed once the program is live. The member who trains five days a week will fill any card. Size it for the member who comes twice a week: a card of 8 takes them about a month. How soon should customers earn their first reward? explains why a month.

Then choose a reward made of spare room, not stock.

An example with made-up numbers. A studio has 150 members paying RM160 a month. In a month, 30 of them fill a card of 8 once and 10 fill it three times: 60 rewards. As guest passes, that is 60 visitors in sessions with space. As towels costing RM20 each, it is RM1,200, the fees of seven and a half members.

The product's own Referrals need Points, so on a Stamp card the guest pass is your bring-a-friend scheme, and the desk runs it.

Add the reward under Rewards And Benefits, where Use stamp reward setup fills in the rule: "It costs one full card, is paid when claimed and can be earned again. You only need to name it." For merchandise, set How many can be given in total.

native.cards knows nothing of your billing. A card shows an active member from its own record, not from your direct debits, so the two lists have to be kept in step by hand.

A card earns nothing until your desk records a visit, so a stranger who scans your sign gains little. If staff will treat the card as proof of membership, approve each person. At Who lets them in? choose You approve each one: "They wait until your team says yes or no." The form warns, "Use this only for a closed group, such as staff, students or invited partners." A gym's paying members are one. An owner, admin or location manager then checks each name and email against your own list under Customers, in Join requests.

When a member freezes or leaves, someone has to say so in native.cards too. Under Wallet Card, in Issued Cards, Suspend card stops a card ("You can resume it later.") and Close card ends it. Both ask for a reason and a sign-in with two-step verification.

Recorded visits give each member a rhythm. A member's page shows it under Usually visits, with the note "They show as overdue after being away about twice that long." Customers gathers them under Overdue: "Regulars away at least twice as long as they usually are". A member who trains every third day appears there after about a week away.

The stages on Home are slower. At risk means "Last visit 31–60 days ago", and in the three New England clubs a member that far gone was well on the way to cancelling.

You cannot notify that list alone: notifications go to Everyone, New members or Members with a reward waiting. Nor does native.cards reward a member automatically for coming back after a gap, the idea that did best in the 2021 trial. The list is for a person. Ask for Phone when members join ("Only if you need to ring or message them.") and have the instructor who knows them get in touch. Nobody has measured what that call is worth, as far as we could find.