How to export your data from Glofox, and check it

Whatever you decide about your software, your members, leads and history belong to your business. An export is how you keep them, whether you are moving to a new system, keeping a backup or just checking what you have.

This guide covers which files to ask for, what to check in each one, and the questions worth asking before you give notice. It comes from moving a real gym,R1P Fitness, off Glofox, where 189 of 189 members and 3,716 of 3,716 lead records came across.

Before you start

A few minutes of preparation saves a week of back-and-forth later.

• Use an owner or admin login. Staff accounts often cannot see every report or export.
• Read your agreement. Note the notice period and any rules about releasing data when you leave.
• Ask about fees in writing. Ask your account manager which exports are included and whether any, such as payment or billing data, need a separate request.
• Pick a private place for the files. A folder only you and the person helping with the move can open. Not an email thread, not a shared drive the whole team sees.

What to export

Most switches need the first three files. The others are what people wish they had taken, three months later.

Members: export by status

Member lists can usually be filtered by status before you download them. Export active members first, then frozen, expired and cancelled members as separate files. Separate files make the next decision easy: active and frozen members move, and you choose whether former members come too.

Bringing former members across is often worth it. They are the people most likely to come back, and a win-back message only works if you still have their details.

Leads: take all of them

Leads are the export people forget, and the one that costs the most to lose. Take the full history, not just open leads. A lead from last spring who never booked is still someone who asked about your gym.

Memberships and plans

You will recreate your plans in the new system, so you need a clean list of names, prices and how many members are on each. Expect some tidying: plans renamed over the years, the same plan in two spellings, or a plan only one member is still on.

What does not come in a spreadsheet

Card details. No business should ever receive members' card numbers in a file. Stored cards move directly from one payment processor to another, under the card industry's security rules, when the account owner asks. Your new processor starts that request. Stripe, for example, documents it as apayments data import, and notes it can take from a few days to several weeks for the previous processor to send the data.

Signatures, as signatures. An export can tell you that someone accepted a waiver. It is a record, not a signed copy in your new system. Most gyms ask members to sign again in the new system, often at their next visit. Our guide to gym liability waivers covers why versions matter.

Internal IDs. Exports do not always include each member's ID from the old system. If you will need to match records later, for example to move cards, ask for an ID export early.

Check the files before you import them

Open every file in a spreadsheet before it goes anywhere. Ten minutes here catches the problems that otherwise surface on your first busy evening.

• Count the rows and compare them with the totals your dashboard shows. Write the numbers down: you will check the import against them.
• Look for duplicate emails. A parent with several children, or someone who signed up twice, often shares one email.
• Find rows with no email or an email that is clearly wrong. Those members cannot sign in to a new app until it is fixed.
• Find under-18s and check each has a parent or guardian you can link them to.
• Check dates. Make sure birthdays and start dates read the right way round, month and day.
• Check plan names for typos and old plans, so each maps cleanly to a new offer.

A good importer does most of this for you, but knowing your own numbers means you can tell when something is off.

Keep the files safe

These files hold your members' personal details, including children's. Treat them that way. Keep them in one private place, do not send them by email or chat, and delete the working copies once the move is done and checked. Keep one final export in secure storage as your record.

Importing a Glofox export into Classwell

Classwell has a ready-made importer for Glofox member and lead exports. You add the files, and it shows a preview before anything is created: how many members, leads and new people, which plans need a matching offer, and every row that needs a decision, as in the screen at the top of this guide.

Flagged rows include duplicates in the files, people already in Classwell, under-18s, missing or broken emails, expired plans and credits left on a pack. For each one you choose to import, link it to an existing person or skip it. Nobody is emailed, invited or charged by an import, and nothing is created until you apply it.

Planning the whole move, not just the export? Read how to switch gym software without losing members.