How to Use WhatsApp to Keep Your Gym Members Engaged

WhatsApp has a 98% open rate in the UAE. Your gym's email newsletter doesn't come close.

Most gym marketing advice is written for US or European gym owners. Those guides talk about email automation, SMS campaigns, and push notifications. They skip WhatsApp entirely.

That's a problem in the UAE, where WhatsApp isn't just popular — it's how people actually communicate. According to Statista, WhatsApp is the most widely used messaging platform in the UAE, with adoption rates above 90% among smartphone users. Messages sent on WhatsApp get read. Emails often don't.

This guide covers exactly how to use WhatsApp Business to keep your members engaged — from setting up the right tools to the specific messages that work, plus the rules you need to follow so you stay out of people's bad books.

Gym WhatsApp marketing means using WhatsApp Business to communicate with your gym's existing members (and sometimes leads) through direct messages, broadcast lists, and quick replies. Done well, it keeps members showing up, reduces quiet drop-off, and makes your gym feel more like a community. Done badly, it gets you blocked.

Why Does WhatsApp Outperform Email and SMS for UAE Gym Owners?

Email open rates for fitness businesses average around 20-25%, according to Mailchimp's 2024 benchmarks. Traditional gym text message marketing via SMS does better — roughly 45% open rates — but SMS feels impersonal and costs money per message. WhatsApp sits at approximately 98% open rates for business messages, and in the UAE context, it has an additional advantage: most of your members are already using it for everything else in their lives.

Your members talk to their family on WhatsApp. They coordinate with colleagues on WhatsApp. They get delivery updates on WhatsApp. When your gym shows up in their WhatsApp, it doesn't feel like advertising — it feels like a message from somewhere they already belong. That feels completely different from an email landing in a promotions folder — and it shows in the open rates.

There's also a practical advantage for multi-national gym communities. Dubai, Abu Dhabi, and Sharjah have populations where expats significantly outnumber locals — according to UAE government census data, expatriates account for approximately 88% of the country's total population. Many gym members are Indian, Filipino, British, Egyptian, or Pakistani nationals, and WhatsApp is the primary communication tool for all of these communities regardless of their home country or background. Email and SMS fragment across providers and preferences: some members use Gmail, others a corporate address, others barely check email at all. WhatsApp cuts through that fragmentation. It is the one channel that works uniformly across nationalities, languages, and device preferences. A single broadcast message reaches every member on the device they already check dozens of times a day — which in practical terms makes it the only communication channel that genuinely covers your entire membership, not just the segment that opens emails.

The gym owners on Gymzone who report the strongest member engagement consistently mention WhatsApp as their primary retention channel — not Instagram, not email, not notice boards at the front desk.

Set Up WhatsApp Business Before You Send Anything

Your personal number is not the right account for gym communications. Download the free WhatsApp Business app (separate from regular WhatsApp) and set it up on a dedicated number — either a second SIM or a number you keep specifically for the gym.

WhatsApp Business gives you tools your personal account doesn't have:

• Business profile — your gym name, address, opening hours, and website, visible to anyone who messages you
• Quick replies — pre-saved responses to common questions, triggered by typing a shortcut
• Labels — organise contacts by type (prospects, active members, corporate accounts)
• Away messages — auto-replies outside business hours so no inquiry goes unanswered
• Broadcast Lists — the feature that makes gym-wide messaging actually work (more on this below)

Once your profile is set up, save your gym's WhatsApp number in every member's induction materials and make sure it's displayed at your front desk. Members can't message you if they don't know the number exists.

Broadcast Lists vs. WhatsApp Groups — Which One Should You Use?

This is the most important distinction in gym WhatsApp marketing, and most gym owners get it wrong.

For most gym communications — schedule updates, class reminders, special offers — use Broadcast Lists. They deliver your message privately and personally, without exposing members' numbers to each other. The message arrives as if you sent it directly to that person.

Use WhatsApp Groups only for intentional community spaces: a 30-day challenge group, a specific class community, or a corporate team that signed up together. Groups work well when everyone actively wants to participate. They become a headache when members didn't choose to be in them and start muting notifications.

A third option worth knowing: WhatsApp Channels, launched in 2023, works as a one-way broadcast feed that members follow voluntarily — similar to following an account on Instagram. Unlike Broadcast Lists, anyone can follow your Channel without having your number saved. The catch: members have to find and follow you first, which makes it slower to build from zero. Most gym owners start with Broadcast Lists and add a Channel later once they have an established following to migrate.

One important technical requirement: people can only receive your broadcast messages if they've saved your number in their phone. That's why collecting your gym's WhatsApp number at sign-up — and asking members to save it — is worth the 10 seconds it takes.

What Should You Actually Send? Five Messages That Work

Class Schedule Updates and Reminders

Send class schedule changes 24-48 hours ahead. Don't wait for members to show up and discover a class has moved — that erodes trust faster than almost anything else.

A useful template: "Hi [Name] — just a heads up that tomorrow's 7am spinning class has moved to 7:30am due to a trainer schedule change. Same location. See you there!"

Keep it short. Include the relevant details (time, class name, any change). Sign off with something warm.

The Personal Check-In for Members Going Quiet

A member who misses two weeks is at serious risk of cancelling. A member who misses a month almost certainly will. The window to re-engage someone is narrow — and WhatsApp is the fastest way to reach them.

This works best when it feels personal, not automated. A message like: "Hey Sarah — haven't seen you in class in a couple of weeks. Everything okay? We've got a new morning slot on Tuesdays if the 6pm time wasn't working for you."

That's it. No pressure. No guilt. Just a human notice that someone was missed. For the gym member retention strategies that actually move the needle, the personal check-in consistently ranks near the top — it costs nothing and the conversion back to regular attendance is significant.

Challenge and Event Announcements

Running a 30-day challenge? A member appreciation event? A new class launch? WhatsApp gets you in front of members faster than any other channel. Send the announcement, include a clear action step ("Reply YES to join"), and follow up once closer to the date.

Seasonal Offers and New Membership Promotions

Your existing members are the best audience for referral promotions and seasonal deals. A broadcast message in the first week of January, or before Ramadan, or after the summer when expats return — these are high-value moments to use WhatsApp for a targeted push.

Post-Visit Feedback Requests

After a new member's first session, send a short message asking how it went. This serves two purposes: it shows you care, and it opens the door for them to raise any concerns privately rather than leaving a frustrated review online later.

Quick-Reply Templates for Common Gym Questions

WhatsApp Business lets you save message templates and trigger them with a forward slash shortcut. Set these up once and they'll save you hours every month.

Here are five templates worth building for any UAE gym:

• /prices — Monthly pricing, class packs, day pass rates, and how to join
• /ladies — "Yes, we have a dedicated ladies section / ladies-only training hours from [time] to [time]"
• /trial — How to book a free trial class or day pass, with a direct link or number to call
• /hours — Opening hours including Ramadan schedule, public holidays, and Friday hours
• /parking — Parking instructions, nearby landmarks, or directions from the nearest metro station

These handle probably 80% of the pre-membership questions your team answers manually every day. Set them up once, and anyone covering the front desk can handle inquiries without needing to know every detail off the top of their head.

The WhatsApp Rules Every Gym Owner Should Follow

WhatsApp is personal in a way that email isn't. That means the rules for how you use it are stricter, and breaking them has faster consequences. Here's what keeps you on the right side of your members:

Never add people to groups without asking first. This applies especially to new members. The right approach is to mention the group during onboarding, explain what it's for, and invite people to join — not add them automatically and let them figure it out.

Don't message more than 2-3 times per week across all your broadcasts combined. More than that and you start to feel like noise. The members who were engaged will mute you; the ones who were already wavering will block you.

Send broadcast messages during reasonable hours. 7am to 9pm is a sensible window. A class reminder at 11pm might get seen — but the annoyance it causes outweighs any benefit.

Be compliant with opt-in rules. Under UAE data protection law (Federal Decree No. 45 of 2021), you should have explicit consent before messaging people for commercial purposes. At sign-up, include a checkbox or verbal agreement that members are happy to receive WhatsApp updates from the gym. Keep a record. This protects you and builds trust.

Always identify your gym in the first line of any broadcast message. Don't assume members have saved your number under the gym's name — many won't. Start with: "Hi, this is [Gym Name] — just a quick update for this week."

Start This Week: A Simple First Month Plan

You don't need to build all of this at once. Here's a practical starting point:

1. Week 1: Download WhatsApp Business, set up your profile, and build your first Broadcast List with all current members who've given consent.
2. Week 2: Set up five quick-reply templates for your most common questions.
3. Week 3: Send your first broadcast — a schedule update, an event announcement, or a simple "how are you getting on?" message to new joiners.
4. Week 4: Identify members who haven't visited in two weeks and send a personal check-in to each one.

That's a full engagement system built in a month. For the email side of member communication, our guide to 7 emails every gym should send automatically covers the sequences that work alongside WhatsApp — the two channels complement each other well.

WhatsApp keeps your current members close. It's not a tool for finding new ones — that's a different job. If you want people searching for a gym in your area to find yours, your presence on the Gymzone directory does that work for you, while WhatsApp handles what happens after they join. See how Gymzone's gym owner plans work.