Lessons in Gym Email Marketing from Fitness Icon Tony Horton: Strategies for Gym Owners

What does success look like in the fitness industry? A lot like Tony Horton, founder of P90X.

An exercise program that sold millions of DVDs, and earned hundreds of millions of dollars, P90X was a home workout phenomenon in the early 2000s. And that success was driven by Horton, who brought a magnetic presence to the screen, and a unique approach to the marketing of his program.

What can a gym owner learn from the success of Horton and P90X? In short, a lot.

In this guide we’ll take a look at Horton’s approach through the lens of email marketing, and how to apply his insights and lessons to your own email campaign.

Why email marketing matters for gym owners

Despite email being a (relatively) ancient digital technology - it was the first way that people communicated online - email is as important as ever, and remains an incredibly powerful marketing tool.

In terms of pure return on investment (ROI), email is the single most effective form of marketing there is. Depending on the source, it earns an average of $36-$42 for every $1 you spend.

There are reasons for this incredible ROI. Email marketing campaigns are particularly cheap to run, and communications are generally sent to a captive audience that has shown some sort of interest in your gym before.

Nevertheless, email marketing can drive serious revenue within a fitness business. Realizing this potential, however, is no mean feat. Email is a direct line to current or potential members. They’ve entrusted you with their email address, and you need to ensure you don’t break that trust.

Effective email marketing is about connecting with your gym members on an individual level. It’s about taking a strategic approach, being careful to balance promotional emails with those that keep members engaged and subscribed, like offering useful health and fitness tips.

Tony Horton has a talent for communication. Even through the medium of video, P90X fans would often feel as though he was talking directly to them.

And by taking some inspiration from Horton, you can craft an email marketing strategy that wins you more business than ever before.

Tony Horton’s marketing philosophy: lessons for gym owners

The Tony Horton fitness marketing philosophy is built upon a few key pillars:

• Personality as the brand: Horton doesn’t present himself as some distant, aloof expert. He uses humor, relatability and quirkiness to make people feel like they’re training with a friend.
• Selling the results: Horton doesn’t sell P90X as a training regime. He sells what his 90-day routine will deliver - a dramatic transformation within a specific timeframe. He uses motivational storytelling to color his pitch.
• Individual customizations: While Horton’s workouts are challenging, he makes them accessible to anyone by offering modifications for each exercise. This allows beginners to get involved and feel included in what would otherwise be regarded as an expert-level program.
• Community and social proof: P90X became a movement because users shared their transformations, which were then shared in online groups and in P90X marketing materials. In reality the marketing leans on peer success stories just as much as Horton.
• Consistency of message: Across late-night infomercials, live appearances and early online videos, Horton kept hammering the same themes: fun, intensity, commitment, results. The consistency built trust and recognition.
• Authenticity: It’s a difficult thing to quantify, but you could sense that Tony believed in his program, and that his joy at seeing results was genuine. His delivery was always passionate, and his audience believed every word he said.

Each of these pillars forms a best practice that can be applied to a successful email marketing campaign, which can be used to craft email sequences that attract new members, reengage inactive members, or upsell current members:

• Develop a brand personality that speaks to your target audience in a tone of voice that resonates with them.
• Focus on selling the results that can come from regular workouts, rather than the workouts themselves.
• Segment your email database so you can customize your messaging to each group, e.g. selling flexible class times to busy professionals, or new, state-of-the-art equipment to gym junkies.
• Keep your email messaging consistent, and use real world transformations and testimonials to enhance the authenticity of those messages.

Crafting effective gym email campaigns

Let’s dive a little deeper into exactly how to craft a Tony Horton-inspired email marketing campaign.

Segmenting your email list

Unless your fitness business attracts a very specific membership base, it’s likely that you’ll need to market to a diverse audience with a wide variety of fitness and wellness goals.

But, just as Horton ensured everyone felt able to undertake their own P90X fitness journey, you need to personalize your messages too. Segmenting your email list does just that.

Email segmentation is the process of grouping the individuals within your email database by certain characteristics and attributes, e.g. age, location, income, marital status and fitness goals. You can also group them by the behaviors and levels of engagement they show as a subscriber or a member.

This allows you to send customized emails to specific audiences. You could share a new MMA training program with young men and any other members who have shown interest in combat sports. You could sell personal trainer services to new members looking to transform their body in the lead-up to a big event, like a fitness competition or wedding.

One of the most valuable ways you can segment your email database is by member status, as prospective, active and lapsed members require very different messaging.

Writing compelling subject lines

Tony Horton’s communication style is magnetic: he grabs your attention and keeps it. He switches seamlessly from fun and quirky to intense and emotive. He focuses on what the hard work will get you, not the hard work itself.

The best email subject lines do much the same. You’ve got a couple of seconds to grab the audience’s attention, so you need to make those moments count (in 60 characters or fewer).

A few Tony Horton-inspired email subject line examples include:

• Get ripped with our new fitness challenge!
• Your 90-day transformation starts now – are you in?
• Warning: muscles may appear after reading this.
• Stories like yours. Results that will blow you away.
• It’s PT time: crush excuses, then crush your personal bests.

Another stat worth noting is that emails with personalized subject lines are 22% more likely to be opened, so it’s wise to include the recipient’s name.

Speaking of which…

Personalization and automation

While email segmentation can ensure that more targeted emails are sent to more relevant audiences, in an ideal world every email will be personalized to the recipient. With the help of smart tools, you can do exactly that.

When you connect an email tool like Mailchimp to a gym membership management solution like GymMaster, you can fully automate the process of sending hyper-customized emails to individuals in your database. For example:

Subject: [NAME], you’re one workout away from hitting your weekly goal 💪

Body: Hey [NAME],

We noticed you’ve already smashed out [X] workouts this week – awesome work! You’re just [1] away from hitting your weekly target of [Y].

Keep it up and you’ll be well on track to reach your bigger goal of [Z – e.g. running five miles/losing 10lbs/setting a deadlift personal best].

Here’s a quick look at your progress:

• Last visit: [DATE]
• Favorite class: [CLASS NAME]
• Current streak: [NUMBER] weeks in a row

Want a little extra push? Why not try [RECOMMENDED CLASS/PT SESSION]? It’s a perfect fit with your current routine.

Remember, the hardest part is showing up. We’ll help you take care of the rest.

See you soon,
[GYM NAME] Team

P.S. Just a reminder: your next session is booked for [TIME/DATE]!

And this is just one example of a personalized email - ideas for tailored messages are limited only by your imagination. You can customize welcome emails, offer up useful fitness tips, and send tailored deals and offers to specific individuals.

The more personalized the email, the more likely it is to be opened and acted upon. And when you invest the time to set up smart systems, you can produce these highly targeted, fully automated emails without lifting a finger.

Win-back campaigns: re-engaging lapsed members

The greatest opportunity for your gym might not lie in growing your email list and attracting new members and prospects. It could be making the most of what you’ve got, by focusing your marketing efforts on winning back lapsed members.

Why? Because increasing retention by just 5% can boost business profits by an incredible 25-95%.

Lapsed members are familiar with your fitness business, so you don’t need to spend time explaining your offering or building trust. You simply need to remind them of your existence, and convince them to return.

Strategies for gym win-back email campaigns are many and varied, and will depend on the needs, wants, fears and frustrations of your audience. Examples inspired by Tony Horton’s community-driven approach include:

• Special offers: Limited-time discounts, free classes or “first month back” deals can lower the barrier to rejoining.
• Personalized check-ins: Send a friendly email from a trainer or staff member referencing the member’s past attendance, goals or favorite classes.
• Progress reminders: Share their past milestones (e.g. “You hit 18 classes last summer – ready to beat your record?”) to re-motivate the lapsed member.
• Community stories: Highlight success stories from current members that they might know, or better yet, from people who came back after a break and achieved amazing results.
• Challenge invitations: Offer a clear path forward and ongoing accountability through a Tony Horton-style structured challenge (e.g. a six-week body reset or 30-day strength training plan).
• New program highlights: Make your gym feel fresh and exciting by introducing the lapsed member to new classes, equipment or trainers they haven’t tried yet.
• Fear of missing out (FOMO): Tell them about community events, group workouts or popular classes that they’re currently missing.

Win-back email template (special offer)

Subject: We miss you [NAME], so here’s a free PT session!

Body: Hey [NAME],

It’s been a while, and we miss your presence at the gym!

We know life gets busy and things change, but we’d love to help you get back on track with your fitness goals.

To make it worth your while, we want to offer a special deal:

A FREE session with one of our expert personal trainers!

It’s the perfect way to reclaim your momentum, reintroduce yourself to our community, and experience all the upgrades we’ve made since your last visit!

Claim your FREE PT session now:

[Reactivate My Membership]

We’re looking forward to seeing you soon [NAME] 💪

The [GYM NAME] Team

P.S. The offer is valid until [DATE] – don’t let the opportunity slip!

Measuring success: tracking email marketing performance

How do you know whether your email campaigns are actually working? By tracking key metrics over time. The numbers will help you understand what’s resonating with your audience and where to make improvements.

The most important metrics include:

• Open rate: The percentage of recipients who open your email. This shows the effectiveness of your subject lines and send times.
• Click-through rate (CTR): The percentage of people who clicked a link in your email. This tells you whether your content and calls-to-action are engaging enough.
• Conversion rate: The percentage of recipients who completed the desired action (e.g. booking a class, claiming an offer, renewing a membership). This is the ultimate measure of campaign success.
• Unsubscribe rate: How many people opt out after receiving your email. A high rate may mean your emails aren’t relevant or are sent too frequently.
• Bounce rate: The percentage of emails that couldn’t be delivered. Tracking this helps you maintain a clean, up-to-date email database.

The right software can make it easy to monitor the performance of your emails. A few of the best include:

• Mailchimp analytics: This purpose-built tool gives you everything you need to track email campaign performance, including built-in dashboards for opens, clicks and campaign comparisons.
• Google Analytics: Track website traffic, visitor behavior and conversions that come from links within your emails.
• CRM integration: If you use a gym management system like GymMaster, you can feed email data into your CRM to gain a deeper, clearer picture of where every current, potential or past member is at.

Together, these metrics and tools allow you to spot trends, make improvements and more accurately measure ROI.

Capitalize on email marketing with GymMaster

The success of Tony Horton and P90X offers a number of lessons for gym owners. His heady mix of personality, relatability, inspiration and trust can make for an incredible email marketing strategy.

But in order to bring that strategy to life, you need access to the right tools. As a gym management platform that offers seamless integration with Mailchimp, GymMaster is exactly that.

Ready to dominate email marketing like Tony Horton dominated home fitness? Let’s get to it.