Improving retention is always a hot topic – as it should be. Nonprofits consistently struggle with retaining emergency-response donors. We’re still not sure how to engage with donors who join from non-traditional channels. And those “younger” donors who are first-time contributors? They look and act so differently from our conventional supporters that we often shrug our shoulders and hope they come back when they are “ready” for “real” philanthropy.
For many organizations, this means doubling our efforts on retaining traditional direct mail and online-acquired donors and hoping our method of welcome, cultivate, ask, rinse and repeat will retain enough of the remaining donor base to diminish significant attrition.
So who’s getting it right? Peloton. (Yes, I have a Peloton. It was COVID. Don’t judge.)
Without the Peloton app and all its content, you basically own a very expensive piece of gym equipment. But with the app, your bike or treadmill becomes your personal gym—that you pay a pretty expensive monthly fee for. Peloton’s priority (after I sign-up of course) is retaining me.
Sound familiar?
But month after month, I’m paying Peloton—regardless how often I use the bike. Why?
1.) Meaningful and authentic personalization.
Every week I get an email that recommends a class based on what I normally take and two additional suggestions. There’s also two blog entries and another interesting read.
Every month I get an email that recaps my monthly stats, classes, and achievements. It’s nice to see all that effort add up! Peloton’s personalization goes well beyond the salutation. They use all the data they have about me, which would be creepy, except that they use it in a way that’s important to me.
But the best personalization I’ve seen is when you’re about to hit a “milestone” (a 100th ride, for example) and they send a video from your top instructor giving you encouragement to keep going. I’m in the business and even I fell for Sam Yo telling me to keep going, that I could make it! (I haven’t.)
2.) Values driven.
Each month, or as appropriate, they celebrate or honor different communities. There are special playlists, workouts, blogs. During Asian American and Pacific islander Heritage Month (AAPI) month, AAPI instructors blogged about their experiences, posted about their lives, and created their own line of clothing. Most importantly, Peloton puts their money where their miles are – they make significant donations each month to organizations that represent the communities they are honoring.
3.) Merch!
Yes, they have a ton of additional merchandise (I’m eyeing a pair of bike shorts right now.) Why is this important to retention? Because it makes me a multi-channel user—I’m not just spending money on the app, but I’m buying the clothing. And we all know that multi-channel retention is higher than single channel.
4.) Innovation.
Peloton is constantly putting new types of content on their platform. Yes, some of the features I’ve seen on other apps. But that’s okay—they are innovating, not innovators. Every time you lose interest, an email pops up with a new type of class (had a rough day and need a mood ride anyone?) that puts your butt right back on the bike. Content is king—and they have a lot of it and never stop putting more up. Do your supporters have a reason to keep coming back to your website, magazine, emails?
5.) Relationships.
I feel personally connected to many of the instructors (again, Sam Yo). They have well-crafted personalities, share just enough of their personal stories during each class, keep up their social media presence, and are unique from each other. Just like different singer, each instructor has a different voice and tone—and I choose them based on my attitude. Right message, right audience, right time.
6.) Community.
Peloton will tell you again and again that they aren’t a fitness app or exercise machine, but they are a community. And they are. They have live rides with leaderboards. You can send out high-fives to people. They’ve copied Apple’s release event and renamed it “Homecoming” with live events, new launches, interviews. They have team competitions. They call-out people celebrating birthdays and milestones. I participate in none of these. And yet I love it. I love knowing that there is a community out there. That there are people who are just reaching their 100th ride (I’ll get there … someday) and that I could get to 1,000 rides (in my dreams). I love reading blogs from other riders, seeing who’s in the same stretching class and watching their minutes tick down, and getting inspiration from the comments on Instagram.
Yes, Peloton will send me a shirt if I reach 100 rides. But that’s the extent of the swag I get for forking over a lot of money each month. I didn’t get a welcome package or email series when I signed-up. I just got great content, personalized to me, on a consistent basis. And, I’m always reminded that I’m part of something bigger—and that I should be proud to be part of the Peloton community.
Retention. Done right.
PS. This is written with deepest apologies to my sister, Amy, who is a spin instructor and heretofore did not know I owned a Peloton. I’m sorry, Amy. I bought one. But look on the bright side. Now when I visit I won’t whine as much during your 5 am spin classes! Love, Jess.