Club member retention is won or lost early, in a new member's first few months, long before anyone sends a renewal notice. Put your effort there. Ask for a real commitment, and plan the first visit so nobody walks in lost. Give new archers a win in their first month, then sit down with each of them halfway through the season. Once they are settled, ask them to bring a friend.

Two archers sit and talk under a covered shooting line, with a bow leaning on the wall and targets on the field behind them
Halfway through a new member's first season, sit down with them for five minutes.

TL;DR

  • Most new members who quit do it early, so put your hardest work into their first six months.
  • Ask for a real commitment, like a beginner block with set dates.
  • Before the first visit, tell them who will meet them at the door.
  • In the first month, give each new archer a win they can see.
  • Halfway through the season, sit down with each one for five minutes.
  • Once a member has stayed, hand them a small job and ask them to bring a friend.

Table of Contents

Where do new members drop off?

The clearest numbers on this come from gym research. One study went through the records of 5,240 members of a gym in Rio de Janeiro and followed each of them for up to a year. It found that 63% of new members quit before their third month, and fewer than 4% were still going after 12 months.

Most of that loss came early. A gym is colder than a club, but that timing should worry any club president.

Archery Canada has seen a version of this. Its 2019-20 annual report called the school archery program an excellent one. The same report said few of those students went on to shoot at a club, and it called the gap "a missing link."

Think about the student who loved archery in the school gym but never heard where to go next. The adult who finishes a beginner course and hears "come back any time" is in the same spot. Neither one has a date to come back or a person to ask for.

So treat a new member's first six months as the time you win or lose them, and do the hard work there. The goal is simple. By month six, they should know people at the range and have a habit of showing up. After that, the work gets lighter.

Ask for a real commitment up front

Keeping things loose feels kind. You tell a new archer to come when they like and pay when they are ready, and you hope they come back. People show up for what they have paid for and planned for, and an open invitation is easy to put off for one more week.

So make the first step a set thing, like a beginner block or the first season, with a start date and an end date. Before they leave on the first night, sit with them and put the next three dates into their phone.

Front-load your own effort, too. Put your best people at the beginner night. League archers already know the way to the range, while the new ones are still deciding if they belong.

Plan the first visit before it happens

A new archer's biggest fear is looking lost. They don't know where to park or which door to use, what to wear, or whether they need to own a bow.

Answer it all in advance. On the day they sign up, send a short note that covers parking, where to check in, what to wear and whether you lend gear. Name the person who will meet them at the door, because a name turns a room full of strangers into one person who is expecting them.

A beginner may look your club up online before they ever send an email. Your club may already have a page on Archery Ranges Canada, and if it does, you can claim your club's page in about 60 seconds. Once it is yours, you can set your hours, add your own photos and edit the description, so put your first-visit notes right there. You can also add your booking link, which lets a beginner sign up from the same page.

Watch for the first missed week

The first sign of trouble is small, like a new member who came every week missing one night and then two. Keep a simple list of new members and the nights they came. Then watch it. When someone misses two in a row in their first months, send a short note from a real person. Ask if everything is all right and give them the next date, because a note at that point reaches people while they are still deciding.

Give them a win in the first month

New archers need proof that they are getting better. Early on, their total score may barely move, which can feel like failing even when their form is coming along.

So show them something that does move. Groups often tighten before the scores climb. Our archery scoring app runs in the browser with nothing to download, and it tracks score per arrow and group size from one session to the next. It also gives each archer an ARC Rating for a round, where lower is better and a perfect round scores 0. A beginner gets to watch that number fall.

It matters more with juniors. Youth made up 36.1% of Archery Canada's 8,645 members in 2023-24. A junior can't renew on their own, so the parent who pays needs to see the progress too.

Say it out loud, too. At the end of a night, tell each new archer one thing that got better. "Your groups were tighter than last week" will stay with a person far longer than "good job."

Check in at the halfway point

Pick a date about halfway through a new member's first season and sit down with each one for five minutes. That is plenty.

Start by asking what they came for, since people join for fitness or friends, for hunting practice, or for a shot at club competition. A 2013 University of Calgary study of youth swim clubs found that the fit between a club's approach and what a family wants is critical to how long a young athlete stays. This talk is where you check that fit.

Then tell them what they have done so far. Count the nights they came and the rounds they shot, and show them where they started. Make this talk a win, whatever their score says, because the point is to show them there is a place for them past the beginner stage.

End with the next step. Name the league night or club shoot that fits what they told you, and give them the date.

Give them a small job

People stay where they are needed. By their third or fourth month, ask each new member to take on one small task, like setting up targets or running the sign-in sheet at a shoot.

The task also protects the club. A 2026 study in the Journal of Sport Management surveyed 250 community sport club leaders. The clubs with enough volunteers were the ones that could focus on running their current programs well. A newcomer with a small task is a volunteer in training.

Tell them what the club does for others

A 2020 study surveyed 735 members of seven community sport groups in Ontario. Members who knew about their club's work in the community were more likely to say they would stay and to speak well of the club.

Maybe your club runs a night for newcomers to Canada or lends range time to a youth group. Tell new members in their first month. It gives them a reason to belong that has nothing to do with their score.

Turn the members who stay into the ones who bring friends

Here is why the early work pays off. Each season some members leave, and some people join because a member brought them. If more join through members than leave, the club grows without paying for ads, and if fewer join, you recruit every season to stay even.

So ask. Go to the members who made it past their first season, give each one the date of the next beginner night, and ask who they could bring. A friend who arrives with a member already knows one person at the range, which takes care of the first-visit fear.

FAQ

Should we cut fees to keep members?

Fees are the wrong place to start. A lower fee does nothing for a lonely first month. Fix the welcome, the early win and the halfway talk first, and if cost keeps coming up in those talks, then look at fees.

What if we don't have enough volunteers for all of this?

Start small. The welcome note and the halfway talk come first. One person can send every welcome note, and a second can handle the halfway talks. Add the rest as new members take on small tasks of their own.

How do we keep kids who tried archery at school?

Give each family one sheet before the school program ends, with the club's name, the next beginner night and a person to contact. Then invite them to that night by name. Archery Canada called this gap "a missing link," and a clear next step is how you close it.

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