Community Lessons from a Cult

5 takeaways from a year at the gym of celebrities and NYU students

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Community Lessons from a Cult

To begin this new ~community lessons~ series, I’d like to start with community lessons from a cult, specifically one I joined in 2022 and remain an active member of, only partially due to the 12-month contract I had to sign upon registering.

Equinox. If you know it, you probably love to roll your eyes at it. If you’re part of it you probably feel a mix of embarrassment that you got looped in and like you’re part of the cool kids club nonetheless. As my friend Jo put it “I feel like for most people when they get their first decent paycheck it’s one of the first things they try to rationalize for themselves.” Rationalize as in, you know it’s too expensive but it’s also too shiny to resist. A gym that both boasts of its celebrity client base and offers a student discount, it’s a good enough emblem as any to tell yourself you’ve made it in New York. 

Yet despite its notoriety as an exclusive and elevated fitness experience, signing up for Equinox was incredibly easy. It’s with this onboarding process that I’ll begin my reflection because weaved into the shiny allure of it all are community touch points that make anyone feel compelled to keep coming back even after they’ve abandoned their fitness goals.

LESSONS

01 Make onboarding personal

To register for Equinox, you can either register online or meet with a Membership Advisor in the club you think you want to join. I wanted to see what I was getting into before I decided to join so I booked a visit with an Advisor and showed up after work the following day. Lauren greeted me in the lobby and showed me around the gym. We ended up back in her office where she chatted me through the class schedule, membership fees, and what it was like to be a member of the gym. 

Like any good saleswoman would she asked me if anything was holding me back from registering. Upon deciding that it would be nice to have the opportunity to try the gym out before registering she said she could give me a few free days and initiate the membership after that. Being already pretty enticed by the whole experience of it, that offer sealed the deal. I signed away my firstborn child and was presented with the infamous Equinox T-shirt.

Celebrities almost wearing the same Equinox T-shirt I own. 

What I appreciated most about this experience was the personal touch. Equinox knows that one-on-one support is crucial for new members. So often I see communities where members join and community managers start to invite them to events before they've even introduced themselves. Between the personal tour, the ability to push my membership start date back, and receiving Lauren's personal phone number,  I instantly felt like I was part of the Equinox community.

02 Celebrate milestones and reward progress

One of my favorite Equinox features is the ability to go back and see how many workouts I’ve done in a month. I guess I’ll caveat and say it’s one of my favorites when I’ve had a good month. It’s satisfying to get to pat myself on the back for my progress. On top of this, I get a notification when I’ve attended a certain number of classes. Receiving recognition for hitting 50, 75, and 100 classes feels like I’m making real progress toward my fitness goals and makes me want to keep coming back. As community managers, we should always be looking for opportunities to congratulate and encourage members.

03 Inspire engagement

While finding the motivation to go to the gym is always an uphill battle, Equinox has cultivated an environment that makes me want to return week after week. At the start of each class, instructors welcome back returning students. This ritual makes it clear there is a community that regularly attends, something I was looking for as a new member. This same pattern is woven throughout the class as instructors guide exercises for both new attendees and those who have been working on specific skills for a while. It’s satisfying to eventually be able to do the thing you’ve seen others tackling.

While building a community, there will always be tension between supporting the needs of new and established members. Utilizing language to encourage members to regularly engage inspires newer ones and makes returners feel like they are on the right track. You can do the same in your community by weaving in mentions of the opportunities that exist for established members when speaking to new ones.

04 Refer others

Referral programs are a natural way to grow any community. At Equinox we are given guest passes to invite our friends to join us at the gym. The guest experience doesn’t end when they leave the club though, Equinox’s follow-up game is strong. As a member, I’m incentivized to refer others through monthly rewards ranging from discounted monthly fees to money I can spend at the shop. Set up a natural way for others to invite people to your community and be sure to create an always-on way to follow up with folks to encourage them to join. 

05 Be exclusive

I find that exclusivity can often be a hot topic for community managers. How do we create spaces that feel inclusive and welcoming while being discerning about our member bases to create meaningful connections? I’m not here to argue that Equinox’s pricing isn’t problematically expensive, but the way that Equinox has crafted its brand makes it clear who they want to attract, a valuable lesson for all communities. Equinox caters to health-conscious individuals who are willing to invest in their well-being. They know who they are marketing to and they’ve crafted their experiences to best service this audience. Be intentional about who your community is for to attract the kind of members best suited for what you are cultivating.

Will I sign up again in February when my membership expires? We’ll see if I want to give away a second kid or a first kidney. What I do know though is that behind all the glossy ads and arguably exclusionary pricing, they’ve built something any community manager can take lessons from. Let me know what space you want to see me reflect on next!