22% Member Retention Increase Across 3 Locations While Saving $500/mo on Tools

Pulse Fitness operates three boutique fitness studio locations offering group classes, personal training, and wellness programs. With 45 employees spread across locations and over 800 active members, the business had outgrown its patchwork of tools but had not found a platform that could unify everything without costing a fortune.

The studio chain was paying $400/month for Mindbody for class scheduling and member management, another $100/month for Mailchimp for email campaigns, plus a separate booking system and WhatsApp groups for internal coordination. Despite spending $500+ per month on tools, each location was effectively operating as an independent business with no shared view of member behavior or engagement.

• •Member communication scattered across email, SMS, and WhatsApp with no unified thread
• •Booking system completely disconnected from CRM, making engagement tracking impossible
• •No way to identify disengaged members before they cancelled — churn was reactive, not proactive
• •Each location operating independently with no cross-location visibility into operations or performance

The most painful symptom was member churn. Amanda Ross, Pulse Fitness’s CEO, would only learn about disengaged members when they submitted cancellation requests. By that point, the decision was already made. There was no early warning system, no automated re-engagement, and no data on which members were at risk.

Pulse Fitness deployed Dewx across all three locations in just four days. The speed was possible because Dewx replaced multiple tools with one platform, so there was no complex integration work — just data migration and team training.

The breakthrough was connecting member engagement data to automated re-engagement workflows. Instead of waiting for cancellations and reacting, Pulse Fitness now identifies at-risk members two to three weeks before they would typically cancel and proactively reaches out with relevant offers, class suggestions, or personal check-ins.

The four-day rollout was designed to minimize disruption to class schedules and member experience. Each phase built on the previous one.

The most innovative aspect of Pulse Fitness’s Dewx implementation was the member engagement scoring system. Rather than relying on gut feeling or waiting for cancellation requests, the team built a data-driven early warning system.

When a member’s score drops into the “at risk” zone, Dew AI automatically drafts a personalized re-engagement message. The message references the member’s favorite class types, suggests new classes they might enjoy, and can include a special offer if appropriate. Staff review and send with one click.

For “critical” scores, the system alerts the location manager for personal follow-up. This two-tier approach means automated systems handle the volume while humans step in for the cases that need a personal touch.

Beyond retention, the unified platform unlocked capabilities that were simply impossible when each location ran independently. These cross-location benefits continue to compound over time.

The fitness industry has a well-documented retention problem. Most studios accept churn as inevitable and focus their energy on acquiring new members to replace the ones who leave. This is expensive and unsustainable, especially for multi-location businesses where acquisition costs multiply.

Dewx changed Pulse Fitness’s approach from reactive to proactive. The engagement scoring system was the key innovation — it turned raw data (visit frequency, class bookings, communication responsiveness) into actionable intelligence that staff could act on before a member decided to leave.

Equally important was the cross-location unification. When each location operates independently, a member who stops visiting one location looks like a churn risk even if they have started visiting a different location. With unified data, Pulse Fitness can see the complete picture and respond appropriately.

The financial math is compelling: retaining just 10 additional members per month at an average membership of $120 adds $14,400 in annual recurring revenue. The 22% retention improvement translated to far more than 10 additional retained members, making the return on investment substantial.