Salon, spa & fitness
Gym Customer Lifetime Value Calculator
Works a member's value, where tenure is the whole variable.
Result
Gross profit, not revenue, because revenue you spend delivering the work is not available to spend winning customers. Referrals are the least reliable input here; measure yours rather than assuming.
Get a Free Business AuditHow the calculation works
Monthly fee plus ancillary spend, times months retained, with margin applied. Because the fee is modest and the cost to serve is largely fixed, the value of a member is almost entirely a function of how long they stay, which makes retention the dominant lever rather than pricing.
What moves the number
- Months retained, which dominates the figure.
- Ancillary spend on training, classes and retail.
- Monthly fee.
- Referrals generated.
Where this one goes wrong
A member retained twice as long is worth roughly twice as much, which makes a modest improvement in churn worth more than a fee increase that would be resisted, and attendance is the strongest predictor of retention. Getting new members into a habit in the first weeks is the highest-return activity available. Ancillary spend also correlates with attendance, so the same intervention raises both parts of the value.
Before you quote
- Focus on the first weeks, where habit and retention are set.
- Include ancillary spend, which correlates with attendance.
- Compare churn improvement against a fee increase.
Questions
About this calculator
What determines a gym member's value?
Tenure, almost entirely, since the fee is modest and the cost to serve is largely fixed. A member retained twice as long is worth roughly twice as much, which makes churn reduction worth more than a fee increase.
What predicts retention?
Attendance. Members who establish a habit in the first weeks stay far longer, which makes onboarding the highest-return activity in the business. A member who has not attended in a month is already effectively lost.
Does ancillary spend matter to lifetime value?
Considerably, and it correlates with attendance, so the same intervention raises both. A member taking classes or training both spends more and stays longer, which is why those services are retention tools as well as revenue.
The formula
lifetime value = average appointment x appointments per year x years x gross margin
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How to use this calculator
- Average ticket per appointment ($). Enter your own figure; the page starts at $92.
- Visits per guest per year. Enter your own figure; the page starts at 1.4.
- Years they stay. Enter your own figure; the page starts at 6.
- Gross margin (%). Enter your own figure; the page starts at 52%.
- Guests they refer. Enter your own figure; the page starts at 0.4.
The result updates as you type, so you can try a figure, see what it does to lifetime gross profit, and change it back. Nothing you enter is sent anywhere or saved.
A worked example
These are the figures the calculator opens with. Every number in the results column below is produced by the same calculation the page runs, so you can follow it through before putting your own figures in.
What goes in
| Input | Value |
|---|---|
| Average ticket per appointment | $92 |
| Visits per guest per year | 1.4 |
| Years they stay | 6 |
| Gross margin | 52% |
| Guests they refer | 0.4 |
What comes out
| Result | Value |
|---|---|
| Lifetime gross profit main result | $401.86 |
| Lifetime revenue | $772.80 |
| Including referred guests | $562.60 |
| Gross profit per year | $66.98 |
One customer is worth $401.86 of gross profit over 6 years, or $562.60 once the people they refer are counted. That is what you can afford to spend winning one.
How sensitive the answer is
Holding everything else steady and changing only average ticket per appointment, this is what happens to lifetime gross profit. It is worth knowing which of your inputs the answer actually hinges on, and which barely move it.
| Average ticket per appointment ($) | Lifetime gross profit |
|---|---|
| $46 | $200.93 |
| $69 | $301.39 |
| $92 example above | $401.86 |
| $138 | $602.78 |
| $184 | $803.71 |
Every other input is held at the example value while this one changes, which is not how a real job behaves. Treat it as a guide to which number matters most, not as five separate quotes.
What each figure means
- Average ticket per appointment ($)
- A money amount, starting at $92.
- Visits per guest per year
- A number, between 0 and 60, starting at 1.4.
- Years they stay
- A number, between 0 and 60, starting at 6.
- Gross margin (%)
- A percentage, between 0 and 95, starting at 52%.
- Guests they refer
- A number, between 0 and 20, starting at 0.4.
What the results tell you
| Result | What it is |
|---|---|
| Lifetime gross profit | The headline result. A money figure. |
| Lifetime revenue | A money figure. |
| Including referred guests | A money figure. |
| Gross profit per year | A money figure. |
Estimating is the easy part
The jobs you never hear about cost more than the ones you mis-measure. BDEVY builds the marketing, systems and automation that bring them in.