2. Research Objectives
•Overall Objective
•The overall purpose of this study was to analyze
membership satisfaction and retention among Butler
YMCA members.
•Specific Objectives
•A secondary purpose of this study was to evaluate the
factors that contribute to membership satisfaction for
Butler YMCA members.
•A final purpose of this study was to examine the factors
that contribute to the retention of Butler YMCA members.
3. History
•YMCA movement started by George Williams in
1884
•1st student YMCA- Cumberland University 1856
•1891 Basketball invented at a Y in
Springfield, MA
•Baby boomers result in more programs
•2010 “The Y”
4. Butler YMCA
• Has served the Butler community for 125 years
• Offers Many services
• Many facility options
5. Methodology: Pilot Study
• Tuesday, November 1, 2011
• 8:00am-12:00pm at the Grove City YMCA.
• Questionnaires were distributed to 13 participants
• Helped to clarify a few of the questions
6. Instrument
•25 question survey
• six demographic questions
• five dichotomous questions
• seven close-ended questions
• two Likert-Scale questions
• five open-ended questions.
7. Methodology: Collection of the Data
Collected on 3 Different Dates:
November 7th from 3:30pm- 4:30pm
November 8th from 3:30pm-4:30pm
November 9th from 7:00am-11:00am
Response Rate:
Total Questionnaires Distributed: 186
Total Respondents: 174
Total Non-Respondents: 12
Response Rate: 93.55%
8. Gender
Respondents 120
100
Number of
80
60
40
20
0
Male Female
Gender
Age
60
Number od Respondents
50
40
30 Total
20 Male
10
Female
0
18-24 25-34 35-49 50-64 65-74 75-84 85+
Number of Years Old
13. Level of Education Completed
Vocational/Technical School
Graduate Degree
Some Graduate Work
Completed College Female
Male
Some College Total
Completed High School
Did not complete High School
0 10 20 30 40 50 60
14. Years of membership at Butler YMCA
3%
4%
9%
Less than 3 months
4-6 months
13%
7 months to 1 year
1-2 years
More than 2 years
71%
15. Have you ever been a member of
another health club?
47% Yes
53% No
Reasons for leaving previous health club
Reason for Leaving
Lack of instruction by staff
Did not use club often enough
Insufficient variety of …
Too Crowded
Moved/Changed Jobs
0 10 20 30 40 50
Number of Respondents
16. How many miles do you travel from home or work to the
Butler YMCA?
150
Respondents
Number of
100
50
0 Total
0-5 Miles 6-10 miles 11-15 miles More than 16
miles
Number of Miles
How long does it take for you to drive or walk to the
Butler YMCA from home or work?
60
Respondents
Number of
40
20
0 Total
Less than 5 5-10 minutes 11-15 minutes 16 minutes or
minutes more
Number of Minutes
17. Three (3) Most Important Reasons For Joining The
Butler YMCA Ranked On Importance: 1 Being The Least
Important and 3 Being The Most Important
18. Have you ever considered
discontinuing your membership at
the Butler YMCA?
5%
Yes
95% No
Reasons for considering discontinuing of membership: 1 being a major
reason and 5 being a minor reason
19. Greatest benefits gained from being a member of
the Butler YMCA
Other
I am able to relax and reduce the amount…
I have lost weight
I feel better about myself
I have met new people
I have learned a new sport/activity
I have become more physically fit
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180
Total
22. New Amenity?
Classes
“More yoga and pilates
Satisfied/Perfect as is classes that you don’t
“Can’t think of one. I’m have to pay for”
very satisfied with the
YMCA as it is”
Facilities
“Building needs
maintained better-roof
Fees leaks, hot tub, etc.”
“The classes should not “Keep the Y open on
be extra fees for Sundays year round”
members and the
classes need to be
updated”
23. How does Butler YMCA not meet needs?
Classes Parking
“Better classes and no “Parking situation is not good.
fees. Need to get Either find a way to expand
younger and middle parking or stagger classes and
age draw for classes. games so that everyone isn’t
Seem to be targeting there at the same time”
older women”
Staff
“At time the staff can
be very
unknowledgeable”
24. What are some things the Butler YMCA could
do retain your membership status?
Fees
“They raise fees Maintenance
annually, yet I see “It (Butler YMCA) is not
no benefits from cleaned every night or if it
that. Show me how is they aren’t very good”
the money is being
distributed”
Staff
Facilities “Don’t lower
“The fitness center needs standards of
expanded” employees, keep
focus on customer
service and
satisfaction”
25. Conclusions
•Respondents identified that the quality of instruction and
supervision by staff was significant in assuring customer
satisfaction. Membership retention was attributed to membership
fees and overall quality of the staff.
•Variety of services, programs and facilities and quality of
instruction and supervision by staff were identified as the most
important reasons for member satisfaction. Equipment
availability, personal attention by staff and atmosphere were other
factors that were identified as being important contributors of
member satisfaction. Parking availability was the primary reason
for dissatisfaction.
•Membership fees were identified as being the primary reason for
discontinued memberships. Members who did not use the YMCA
often enough and overall quality of staff were identified as being
reasons for discontinued memberships.
26. Recommendations: Butler YMCA
•The organization should upgrade equipment because this was
seen as being a major reason for discontinued memberships.
The organization could accomplish this by replacing outdated
equipment and upgrade areas that have not been maintained.
•The organization should upgrade the cleanliness of the facility
because this was seen as a reason for discontinued
memberships. The organization could do this by inquiring what
cleaning services surrounding YMCA’s use and identify the
satisfaction the other facilities have with its cleaning services.
•The organization should address the overall atmosphere of the
facility. The atmosphere of the club was identified as one of the
primary reasons for discontinued memberships. The
organization can do this by conducting semi-annual workshops
on guest services.
27. •The organization should attempt to expand the facility. The
facility being too crowded was identified as being one of the
major reasons for discontinued memberships. The
organization could do this by rearranging equipment throughout
the weight room or by looking into prices for expansion.
•The organization should address the lack of services provided
to members because this was seen as being a major reason for
discontinued membership. The organization could do this by
adding a juice bar. The juice bar would serve protein shakes
as well as protein bars and could mirror the services that juice
bars at other health clubs provide.
•The organization should address the parking situation
because this was seen as an extreme aspect of dissatisfaction
with the YMCA. The organization can do this by purchasing
property that surrounds the facility.
28. •The organization should decrease membership fees because
expensive fees were identified as a dissatisfaction of the
facility. The organization could do this by offering different
payment plans to members.
•The organization should provide additional activities to
members. Insufficient activities available were seen as a
primary reason for discontinued memberships. The
organization can do this by offering bus trips to geographically
convenient areas that members would enjoy visiting.
•The organization should upgrade the locker rooms. The
conditions of the locker rooms were seen as an area of
dissatisfaction. The organization could make sure that all
locker rooms get checked by staff throughout the day to
assure the locker rooms remain in good condition.
29. Recommendations: Future Research
•This study should be replicated at other YMCAs in the area, such as Grove
City, Cranberry and New Castle. There could be important similarities and
differences between the different areas.
•The study should be replicated at other fitness facilities in the industry such
Gold’s Gym and L.A. Fitness. It would be relevant to see the differences
between a facility that offers only fitness options and one such as a YMCA
which offers other programs in addition to fitness.
•Further research should focus more specifically on what members do and do
not like about the YMCA facility. The current study only asked general questions
and did not go in depth into specific reasons as to what was liked or disliked
and reasons for the respondent’s opinion.
•Further research should gather more qualitative data, possibly in a focus group
format. This would be pertinent as it would allow more qualitative data to be
created as respondents would be allowed to expand on their answers, giving
more detailed opinions.
