Gym membership offers that keep your price

01/ Types of gym membership offer

Discount the entry, not the membership.

An offer that cuts the monthly price for ever trains members to expect the lower price, and it is hard to raise later.

An offer that removes a one-off cost, or reduces only the first period, gets people through the door and leaves the ongoing price intact.

That is why joining-fee waivers and first-month deals are the most common gym offers, and why “lifetime” discounts deserve the most caution.

02/ Gym joining fee offers

A waived fee must be a real fee.

A joining-fee waiver only works as an offer if the fee is genuinely charged when the offer is not running. A fee that exists only to be waived is a misleading saving.

The CMA’s reference-pricing principles, written for one sector but stated to be relevant to reference pricing more generally, say a higher reference price must be genuine: traders should have sold “in sufficient volume, over a sufficient duration” at it, and compliance is more likely if that period is at least 30 days (CMA, Discount and reference pricing principles).

The same principles suggest the discount period should be no more than half of the combined time at full price and on offer (CMA). A fee waived eleven months a year is not a genuine fee.

Keep a record of when the full fee applied and how many joined paying it. That is your evidence if the saving is challenged.

04/ CAP Code section 8: promotions

State the conditions where the offer appears.

CAP Code section 8 covers money-off and other promotions. Rule 8.2 requires promoters to deal “fairly and honourably” with participants and avoid unnecessary disappointment (CAP Code, section 08).

Rule 8.17 requires promotional material to give all significant conditions whose omission is likely to mislead, starting with how to participate, the significant conditions and the costs (CAP Code, 8.17).

In a gym that usually means the minimum term, the full price after the offer, the closing date, which sites it applies to, and who is eligible (often new members only).

Under rules 8.10 and 8.11, if you limit places, you must be able to show you estimated demand, and tell people promptly if you cannot meet it (CAP Code).

05/ Using “free” in gym offers

“Free” means nothing to pay.

CAP rule 3.23 bars describing anything as “free” if the consumer has to pay anything other than the unavoidable cost of responding, including administration charges (CAP Code, section 03).

Rule 3.24 requires ads to make clear the extent of the commitment needed to take up a “free” offer, and rule 3.26 bars calling an offer a “free trial” if a non-refundable purchase is required (CAP Code).

CAP advice adds that a free-trial ad should say whether a paid subscription starts automatically, and the financial commitment if it is not cancelled (CAP, Use of “free”). The ASA’s note to gyms makes the same point for membership trials (ASA).

So “free first month” works only if the first month genuinely costs nothing, any admin fee included, and the ad says what follows.

06/ Gym January offers

Plan January in October.

January is when many people decide to join, so it is when an offer is least needed to create demand and most needed to win the comparison.

Run presale from late December so people can commit before New Year, and keep the offer simple enough to state with all its conditions in one ad.

Set a real closing date and keep it. CAP rule 8.17.4 lists a prominent closing date among the significant conditions, and rule 8.17.4.e says closing dates must not be changed unless unavoidable circumstances beyond the promoter’s control make it necessary (CAP Code). An offer that “ends Sunday” every Sunday fails that test.

Then decide what happens in February. Members who joined on a January deal need onboarding that gets them training, or the offer bought a direct debit, not a member.

07/ Referral offers

Reward the referrer, not just the newcomer.

A referral offer recruits through people who already like your gym, which tends to bring members who stay.

Reward both sides with something that does not cut the monthly price: a free month for the referrer, a waived joining fee for the friend.

The same rules apply. State who qualifies, when the reward is given, any limit, and what the friend pays after the offer.

Scheme design, limits and tracking are covered under the gym referral programme.