The Fitness Industry Association (FIA) has revealed that many health club members are not clear what sort of contract they signed when they joined and that value for money is the most important factor in whether they stay or not.

The FIA interviewed 1,000 health club and leisure centre members who were in their first three months of membership in the second of a series of reports entitled Winning the Retention Battle.

The research, conducted by MORI earlier this year, found that four out of five members had signed a membership contract. However, after talking to the participating clubs it was revealed that many members were unclear what constituted a contract as there was discrepancy between what the clubs believed they sold and the members’ understanding of what they had signed up to.

The study also highlighted the most important factors when people are deciding whether to stay at or leave a club: value for money was top, followed by quality of exercise equipment, customer service, cleanliness, lack of overcrowding and achieving one’s exercise goals.

The full results are analysed by Dr Melvyn Hillsdon in the October issue of Health Club Management, to subscribe, call +44 (0)1462 471913 or visit www.leisuresubs.com