How FitGrid Helps Gyms Halt Churn and Benchmark Performance

With standardized benchmarks and market-wide intelligence, FitGrid helps operators understand where they stand and what to do before members disappear

Most studios don’t lose members suddenly. They lose them slowly, and they don’t see it happening.

FitGrid won’t pretend it can eliminate member churn entirely. No platform can. But with visibility into tens of millions of anonymized consumer data points across its network, it aims to equip operators with the insights needed to improve membership metrics.

Before cancelled memberships occur, the signs are often there. Member attendance rate will steadily decrease or they’ll start missing entire weeks here and there. The problem is most operators don’t have the visibility to see the missed steps that turn into a tumble toward cancellation. 

According to FitGrid industry data, at any given time, roughly one in eight members are already at risk for cancellation. It’s a dynamic that can translate into 25% to 50% annual client loss if left unaddressed. That early drop-off compounds; fewer visits lead to lower conversion rates and reduced long-term revenue per client.

This is where visibility becomes critical. That visibility allows operators to step in and act before members terminate.

The New Reality For Operators

Taking a more attentive approach to member management starts with understanding what the competition is and just how many different directions consumers are getting pulled. From the new modality of the moment, to community-driven boutiques, to the convenience of streaming content, the space is crowded. That optionality naturally opens the door to higher churn rates.  

“Competition has never been more fragmented, and the customer has never been less loyal,” said Ntiedo Etuk, founder and CEO of FitGrid.

Whether it’s churn, lead conversions or first-time client return rate, brands are also at a disadvantage when it comes to understanding how they’re performing in relation to their direct competition or the industry at large.

“Nobody knows what ‘good’ is today,” Etuk said. “Take churn, for example. Churn is natural. The question is whether a specific studio’s churn is within norms or out of range. If it’s within the norms in an area, the studio might find it more productive to fix other critical issues first. If it’s unacceptable, then you need to fix it fast because you’re feeding a leaky bucket. The question is, how do you know if you’re within the norm, or in the red zone?”

Most studios are operating without a shared understanding of performance. That means two studios can both be improving while one is quietly falling behind. Without standardized benchmarks, operators can improve metrics without knowing whether they’re actually competitive, or simply improving within their own silo.

As a result, owners and operators miss out on the chance to recognize performance gaps and opportunity to improve. Without that context, most retention and growth efforts become guesswork. With it, they become targeted, measurable and significantly more effective.

“If you had such standardized metrics, then you’d be able to realize when you have more work to do,” Etuk went on. “Let’s say your churn rate was at 5% per month, and you busted your butt to improve it, and got it to 4%. In the old world, you might start popping the bubbly. In a world with standardized metrics you would realize the average in your area is 2%, take a sip, then get back to work.”

From Insight To Action

With FitGrid, there’d be no champagne showers over misunderstood performance metrics. With a clear understanding of how their performance compares to peers, operators can move beyond guesswork and take targeted action. Members also aren’t lost to the ever-expanding fitness frontier without strategized, proactive attempts to pull them back in.

To enable that visibility, FitGrid creates standardized benchmark figures through advanced data engineering. With these figures, brands can compare performance across other studios doing the same modality or activity and take tangible steps forward. 

“That way, you have a better understanding of how you’re doing and how much further you could rise,” Etuk said.

With that context in place, operators can then take more precise action at the individual client level. To slow churn rates, FitGrid identifies “at risk” members by looking at attendance over a 60-day span. If there’s a drop in visits by 50% or more during that period, FitGrid flags that member. Then, gyms can deploy a variety of reengagement initiatives well before the member actually begins thinking about cancelling.

Of those initiatives, increasing communication between members and trainers has been among the most effective, specifically on the boutique side of things. With what the provider calls “follow up messages,” trainers can send customized notes to individuals or mass groups after class. FitGrid reports a 35% improvement in return rates for first time clients using follow up messages. 

“Across the board, people are coming back, and they’re spending almost double the amount of money over the course of the subsequent three months if they’ve received these messages, versus if they haven’t,” Etuk said. “That’s the holy grail — data and AI insights leading to actions that produce measurable outcomes.” 

Connection Will Remain Key

Etuk expects this success, driven by a stronger connection to individual member journeys, to compound as consumers grow more jaded to generic, automated messaging. Much of that will come down to how data is captured and then acted upon. 

The studios that win won’t just be the ones with the best brand or the strongest community,” Etuk said. “They’ll be the ones that understand how they’re performing relative to the market and can act on that insight before it’s too late.”

This article originally appeared in ATN’s 2026 State of the Industry report, which examines the trends shaping the future of fitness and wellness, and what they mean for operators, investors and brands navigating a rapidly evolving market. Download the free report.