Page 38 - GBC Spring 2021 English

This is unsurprising, as golf operations are a complex mix of varied disciplines and it can be challenging to know what to prioritize to improve retention rates and how to measure progress.
However, owners and operators cantakecuesfromadjacentbusiness segments, particularly the hotel and hospitality sector, that have adopted new Customer Experience Management (CxM) technologies to capture consumer perceptions, leveraging big data and analytics to mine feedback and fine tune their retention strategies and tactics.
CxM has become a mission- critical business tool for understanding changing customer preferences, developing more effective customer segmentations, and ultimately building consumer loyalty by delivering on the brand promise for every experience.
A EUROPEAN CASE STUDY IN PRIVATE CLUB RETENTION North America is not alone in its retention challenges. A study at several golf courses in Denmark revealed that 45% of members left the club they joined within the first two years. The courses collected data on the new member experience post onboarding using a dedicated new member survey.
The New Member Survey designwascriticaltoensurecapture of not only specific assessments of the member onboarding journey, but also key demographic and psychographic variables that could be used in data segmentation and analysis. Initial analysis of the survey data from the courses immediately showed a strong correlation between two key metrics – Net Promoter Score (NPS) and the New Member Loyalty touchpoint.
NPS is a commonly used metric in CxM that quantifies the likelihood to recommend a product or service by asking, “How likely are you to recommend membership to a friend, family member, or work colleague?” The New Member Loyalty touchpoint asks, “How likely is a new member to remain a member after two years?” and provides a forward-looking indi- cator of membership health. For those that responded as unlikely to be a member in two years, subsequent questions provided insights into the reasons driving their feedback.
INCREASE YOUR NET PROMOTER SCORE
This is the one number your club needs to grow. From the data collected, a statistical regression
Chart illustrates the correlation between the NPS (Net Promoter Score) and New Member Loyalty key metrics.
analysis determined that these two metrics (NPS and Loyalty) were highly correlated and a higher NPS score translated into a higher Loyalty (see chart above).
This correlation between NPS and Loyalty was a significant finding because it provides a convenient key performance indicator to measure progress while striving to increase retention rates.
The data showed that an increase of 10 points in NPS resulted in a two percent increase in the “likely to be a member” value. Based on a typical club membership of 800 members, this would translate into an additional 11 members retained each year and a valuable contribution to reducing membership churn.
NPS provides a valuable KPI that can be used to measure progress over time. However, understanding where to focus to increase NPS requires more detailed member satisfaction data in specific service areas (course conditions, food & beverage, club atmosphere & service etc.) and customer touchpoints within those areas.
From the analysis of the surveys, the courses in Denmark discovered that the primary driver behind new member retention boiled down to level of personalized
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Golf Business Canada