Author: Andy Hall

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The fitness sector is an exciting place to be. Globally, it’s worth approximately $100 billion, with over 210,000 fitness and health clubs. Since 2013, we’ve also seen a 121% rise in consumers signing up and using boutique gym and fitness facilities.   However, with the growth of the market comes increased competition and where previously location was one of the most influential factors when deciding which gym to join, consumers are far more fickle today. Experience, price and community are all key influencers on where consumers spend their healthy pounds and dollars.    

As fitness operators, you would have seen the market change considerably over the past ten years. Roadside banners have been replaced by digital banners, good old-fashioned PR has been buffered by influencer marketing and leaflets are never to be seen in the modern marketeer’s armoury. There’s much more to consider when developing your marketing plan in 2020 and beyond, and that’s without even taking Covid-19 into consideration.  

Big data has been around for years. It’s not new. 

Big data analytics involves examining large amounts of data, which is done to uncover the hidden patterns, correlations and also to give business insights enabling you to make more informed business decisions. In short, forward-thinking and trailblazing organisations have realised the need for evolving from a “knowing” organisation to a “learning and growing” organisation. There is a burgeoning trend for the most successful businesses to become more objective and data-driven, and the only way they can achieve this is by harnessing the power of data and technology. 

This blog looks to explore the tremendous impact data can have on your marketing and sales strategy.  

Leads, leads, leads! 

Did you know that in the region of 26% of all marketing budgets are wasted on ineffective strategies? Wow, imagine what you could do with that 26% if you were given it back today. But, there is a way that you can ensure your marketing strategies are firing on all cylinders and that 26% can be put to great use. The answer is data and forensically evaluating the insights, to learn which actions enable you to reduce waste and achieve better performing campaigns that increase membership sales, revenue and profit.  

First thing to note here is that you don’t need any type of special qualification to do this, in fact, all of this insight could be available at the touch of a button (or two), thanks to advances in technology and sophisticated capabilities of the right data system and partner.  

Customer acquisition and data 

The customer is the most important asset that any business depends on. There is no single business that can claim success without first having to establish a solid customer base. However, even with a good customer base, a business cannot afford to disregard changes within the market, increased competition and other influencing external factors. If a business is slow to adapt and even slower to learn what customers are looking for, it’s very easy to offer poor-quality products and services. In the end, a loss of members and customers will be the result, and this creates an adverse overall effect on business success.

Your current data holds so much insight that can shape, form and influence your marketing spend and activity. By analysing your data on a regular basis, you can generate profound insights into customer preferences and trends over time.

By using data analytics and forensics to measure and monitor your marketing activity, it can help you track important metrics and you’ll learn how to optimise your campaigns for the best ROI. For example, with better and more efficient data management and tracking, we can look to monitor and measure the following, all in one place.  

• Website traffic –  Quickly and simply you learn the source of the traffic, page views generated, and actions taken on your website.
• Lead conversion rate – Data can determine the lead conversion rate for your campaigns.
• Trends – Data analytics can help better understand what audiences in your market are searching for in real-time, thus creating a better understanding of  trends that you can capitalise on.
• Channel performance – Data can demonstrate the performance of every marketing channel you use. 

Customer Segments 

Developing a well-versed understanding of your customers’ behavior is central to developing high performance marketing strategies. With better use and analysis of your data, you can quickly and effectively build a bespoke, 360-degree view of your customers, including their geographic location, average lifetime value, interests, hobbies, behaviours and much more. This information can inform your marketing strategy for the best return on investment. And if you realise a key customer demographic is converting poorly, you can look to evaluate your campaigns and messaging to better address their needs.

It’s time to get personal

We talk a lot about personalisation but nailing this is key to get more leads and closing more sales. It’s believed that some 90 percent of retailers now use personalisation in their marketing efforts and further reports quoting an ROI of 20 to 1 when personalisation is used.  

Personalised marketing isn’t new. Who remembers the Coca-Cola campaign where names were printed on bottles? Who brought a bottle with their name on? Or brought a bottle with a friend’s name on? Simple, personalised marketing which saw Coca-Cola boost their sales in the US for the first time in over ten years.   

Data analytics can help you build a customer persona, which you can leverage through various strategies to drive more sales.

Implementing a more targeted and personalised campaign means that businesses can save money and ensure efficiency. In turn, you might not generate as many leads but the leads you do receive are likely to be high-converting and better quality, and this is because you’ve been able to target the right people, in the right way, with the right message, at the right time.  

Where to start? 

Sometimes, the job of analysing data can be overwhelming, especially if you’re working in a business with multiple sites. There’s good news though, your data can be analysed computationally and with very simple dashboard management. Your dashboard and data management solution can reveal patterns, trends, and associations, especially relating to human behaviour and interactions with your brand.   

This can help determine your blueprint or road map to better understand who your prospects are, what their preferences, interests, goals, lifestyles, challenges, and even personal stories are too. By understanding this, you can develop your strategy and, in turn, match this to marketing tactics that can help you develop stronger, more qualified leads.  

You might be surprised at the historical information and data you currently have on your customers, not to mention prospects and even those who didn’t join. This can also tell you a great deal and influence your marketing strategy.   

The right data partner can help you develop algorithms to create granular data sets for your prospects and identify what factors will result in a conversion.  

It’s a journey….

Once you’ve used data to better solidify your sales funnel, it’s vital that data usage and analysis doesn’t stop here. Further analysis of data can generate further and ongoing insight into member and customer behaviour and, in turn, how to optimise lifetime value.  

The power of referral marketing 

Let’s face it, it can be expensive to gain and convert a new lead into a sale. It’s therefore critical we don’t stop interacting and engaging with customers and members and learning from the day-to-day data they give us. This can inform and influence our ongoing sales marketing.  

Member referrals can be a fitness club’s best-converting channel. But only if they are delivered to the right members, at the right time and with the right reward. 

Happy, motivated members refer more people organically. In fact, a study by Saasquatch revealed that an average of 2.68 friends are referred by engaged customers (of course, this figure could be much higher if you nail your member experience and turn everyone into raving fans of your business!) 

Reducing attrition 

There’s no point in generating an improved sales strategy, with better performing leads and a better quality of sale if they are only to leave four months later.  Therefore, it’s important sales and marketing teams look at how the member or customer is interacting with the gym and what services they are using (this can also help feed into future sales campaigns and messaging). This links heavily into member engagement and your ability to deliver a hyper-personalized experience that creates a deep, long-lasting relationship with members inside and outside the four walls of your facility. The key to achieving this is, of course… data! And more information about this can be found in our member engagement playbook.  Here we detail how you can harness the power of virtual engagement to deliver the ultimate hybrid gym model (used by the likes of Anytime Fitness) that’s proven to boost member engagement, secondary spend, and lifetime value.

On the flip side, we can use data to understand the behaviour and triggers of leavers, understanding why they stopped using. Once we start to understand trends, we can set up flags – and automated actions – to reduce this happening and indeed look to alter our operation to improve the member experience. 

Once you understand who your high risk members are, you can look to implement an at-site strategy in a bid to move high-risk members into the safe zone, and this is often by encouraging people into assisted programmes.  

Did you know that only 9.6% of the UK population takes part in group exercise weekly and 30.0% annually, according to YouGov, yet, the risk of a member cancelling their gym membership is 56% higher in gym-only members compared to group exercisers? This is an unbelievable statistic and begs the question why more operators aren’t ploughing more resources into driving people into more assisted fitness programmes and products. Do you know what your risk factors are?   

If we look at the gym only members and how they experience the facility, they come to work out on the gym floor (or take a swim) 2-3 times (maybe more) a week.  Do you know how often they are spoken to? Maybe the odd “hello” from someone on reception? Do you know what their goals are? How exercise savvy are they? Do they understand how to effectively train to get the results they want? Has any of the fitness team ever spoken to them? If most of the answers to these questions are no, is it any wonder their motivation dwindles from time to time and they soon cancel their membership? Whereas, on the flipside, you have a member who trains with a PT once a week and attends group exercise classes on three other days. They are constantly engaging with experts, with people who are inspiring. They are engaging with other members who have similar goals and characteristics and feel part of a community. They are on a performance improvement plan and have help, support, encouragement and motivation. Happy days. What impact would it have on your business if just 5% of the “at risk,” gym only members started to engage more? Maybe brought some PT services or simply stayed longer and referred another member? This could take you a while to manually run those numbers. With the right data partner you could have the answer in a matter of minutes. Pretty powerful right?   

Summary 

Data analytics is vital for any business looking for growth and better commercial return. By using and analysing data on a regular basis – part of your business as usual strategy – your business can achieve competitive advantage, reduce the cost of operation, drive membership and customer retention; leading to increased revenue and profit.  .

Becoming a data-driven business doesn’t require huge amounts of change or investment as all the data you need is already at your fingertips; instead, it’s about partnering with the right provider that knows your sector and can implement the appropriate, real-time data analysis systems to handle your data in a way that maximises your marketing efficiency and outputs to increase leads and sales. Data, it’s really quite cool when you get to know it!   

By Adam Norton

Download our playbook to start enhancing your business through data today.

Data-driven decision making is the future for all businesses, but the fitness industry has been slow out of the blocks. For decades, operators have been focused on the ‘brick and mortar’ model – throwing money at getting as many members in the building as possible, then growing the business and expanding revenue by opening more sites or studios. However, technological advancements over recent years have completely shaken up the way we live and consequently think about fitness, meaning the world of data can no longer be ignored, and operators must be quick to embrace digital technology to both survive and thrive in the years ahead. 

Just think of how far we’ve come… Who remembers the pain of waiting for a video to buffer, watching that infuriating little circle go around and around? Or waiting for what felt like an age for a song to download? Thanks to the dramatic increase in internet speeds, those days are long gone, and we can now watch hours upon hours of our favourite box sets, or perform a series of virtual, on-demand workouts in global locations, without interruptions (kids and pets aside!) 

But technology doesn’t develop all by itself, so what’s been driving this? One of the key factors has been the change in consumer behaviours and expectations, orchestrated by Millennials and Gen Z – typically, the ‘want it all, want it now’ generations. As we know, they value speed of service and personalisation, are money-conscious, tech-savvy, and generally prefer to invest in experiences over material assets. They’re also quick to switch between brands if they don’t get what they want! It’s no real surprise then why we’ve seen a boom in budget and boutique gyms, the rise of no-contract memberships, and the coming to market of countless fit-tech products and apps, like Apple Watch, FitBit and Strava, that give users access to live, real-time data at the push of a button to enhance their fitness experiences and results.  

But why does this matter? According to research by LES Mills, Millennials and Gen Z – dubbed ‘Generation Active’ – now account for 80% of gym-goers and 89% of total users of online or app-based workouts. Therefore, if gyms just stand back and watch as fit-tech companies provide Generation Active, and those to follow, with everything they need for a great workout – be it a jog around the park or a HIIT session at home – then operators run the risk of being left by the wayside. Of course, we’re not saying that you must take on Apple by creating  your own cutting-edge, wearable device, but simply to learn from the way it’s using data to create a loyal, avid customer base, and reflecting that in your facility.   

A digital future 

Even before Covid-19 struck the globe, 85% of all gym members were doing workouts at home. This trend increased amongst the wider population during lockdown, with 44% of people doing home-based activity (including 23% doing online workouts). Interestingly, 20% of those doing home-based fitness online were doing it with children in their household, introducing the next generation to digital, at-home exercise. Older generations, too, were learning how to use Zoom and other platforms to meet up and work out – creating an altogether more ‘digitally aware’ global society. 

With people’s growing love of digital and at-home workouts – shown by the 80 million views Joe Wicks racked up on The Body Coach TV YouTube channel as he became “the nation’s P.E. teacher” during lockdown – it’s not hard to see why it’s essential for today’s operators to adjust their business models to include a strong digital offering  (something we call the digital, hybrid model, otherwise they could be waving goodbye to a large portion of their potential audience. So, why haven’t more operators gone digital sooner? The answer is usually ‘change paralysis,’ a.k.a the fear of change. There’s the common misconception that to change, upgrade or implement a new data system, it’s going to take endless amounts of time and cash, but that’s often not the case with the right data partner in place.  

Do I have enough data?

Even if you’re the smallest gym in the world, you’ll have hundreds of thousands of lines of data, but you may not know it; everything from your point of sales, to people walking in your door, to the personal data you obtain by talking to people. Using the trends found in your data can help you to understand, on a minute level, what your members are doing, so you can provide a much better service that keeps them motivated, engaged, and, ultimately, retained. 

What we’ve found over the last five years is that boutique brands like F45 and Barry’s Bootcamp have become very popular because of their ability to deliver more personalised experiences and build community, where people feel included and have that genuine rapport with trainers, fellow members and the brand as a whole. They’re usually more agile, too, as we witnessed with the speedy launch of Barry’s At-home during lockdown. The data that comes from this method of operation helps to reduce cancellations, unpaid membership fees, and more.  

That being said, the bigger gym chains can replicate this personal service by using data to create those extra touchpoints and opportunities. For example, a traditional gym that’s only ever offered in-facility training could create a digital-only or hybrid (digital and physical) membership, using its superstar coaches to record or stream workouts direct to members’ devices. This is effectively transitioning the brand outside the gym, providing value to the consumer, possibly reducing wear and tear on equipment, and increasing the facility’s potential membership. Additionally, a data system could be created with a rule to notify the operator every time drop-off rates fall below a certain level (harder to spot in the large gym chains without the use of data), providing a list of all those people so that immediate, personalised action can be taken to correct this.   

Regardless of size, however, most operators still have some way to go to harness the true power of data. Many of the smaller, boutique gyms and studios are based on a booking mentality, with studios generally holding around 20 people (maybe fewer during Covid because of capacity restrictions), and so they face different challenges. For instance, what happens when five people drop out of a fully booked class, but the people on the waiting list don’t get notified? The operator loses out financially and annoys the people on the waiting list who missed out on an opportunity to have a great experience. However, by creating an algorithm within your data system that redistributes a space out to those on the waiting list when someone cancels, it overcomes that potential issue, while also gamifying the situation (who can grab the space first?) to make the process a little more impersonal, so the operator’s not having to choose one member over another. 

Many boutique operators also sell packages, such as blocks of 10 or 50 classes. What happens when a member stops attending the studio but still has classes left to use? Using an automated system, you can remind members that they have classes remaining to keep them engaged and returning to the facility so, in future, they buy more packages and tell their friends about their experiences, driving referrals. Additionally, if data shows that on the member’s last three visits before they stopped using their class passes, they bought a banana protein shake, you could offer them a free shake the next time they come in to further incentivise and re-engage them. A low-cost, high-impact action that helps to drive attendance, retention and growth. 

Over time, you could see exactly how many people respond to a free shake or a free day pass as part of your re-engagement strategy, then take this a step further by looking at the minor detail. What age brackets are most receptive to this? Which channels are best to target them through? Really understanding what the profiling is within each subset of members, so the next time you plan a sales campaign, you know that 19 to 24-year-olds, for example, solely respond through Instagram and are most attracted by a ‘two for one’ class pass, leading to increased conversion rates. 

A final point to add here is that a data system is only as good as the information put in. For example, it’s hard to market to someone if you don’t have their correct email address or phone number. Thankfully, a system like our virtual hub can spot fake email addresses and spit them out to create and maintain a clean and useful database, so you’re not wasting time marketing to people that don’t exist!  

Don’t take the first digital concept you see!

During Covid-19, it’s understandable that many operators have taken the first digital concept they’ve seen, and not really thought about it in as much detail as they could in terms of post-Covid and their long-term strategy. This is dangerous to the brand and indeed the future success of the business. 

Starbucks is a great example of how not to follow the crowd and, instead, end up with a data system tailored to your unique audience and goals. President and CEO, Kevin Johnson, encapsulated this when he said, “Where others are attempting to build a mobile app, Starbucks has built an end-to-end consumer digital platform anchored around loyalty.” With a customer-centric strategy, Starbucks innovated the mobile order-and-pay app to overcome its customers’ pain points: convenience, line avoidance, and so on. Combined with its expansive loyalty programme, the app gives Starbucks the perfect platform to up-sell and market to coffee-lovers the world over. Furthermore, the app filters back huge amounts of data which can be used to better dissect their customers’ habits and desires. This enables Starbucks to implement new features quicker, deliver more personalised experiences for each customer, and a more integrated experience all-round. 

In this article, it’s clear how Starbuck’s forward-thinking, digital strategy paid off during the disruption of the Covid-19 pandemic. Sales from Starbucks Rewards were up 4% on the previous year, which was above the pre-Covid trends, while drive-through and mobile order-and-pay amounted to almost 90% of sales volumes in their latest period. Delivery also made a big difference for the brand. Johnson stated, “We are seeing first-hand the power of integrating physical and digital customer touchpoints to meet customers’ growing need for convenience. Our digital assets have proven to be a competitive advantage.” At Volution, we’d call this the digital, hybrid gym model. 

What Starbucks has done is the difference between using a data system to put a bandaid on a problem, and actually using it as part of an overarching strategy to drive business success. By having the right data, it’s much easier to build that plan so operators can maximise their physical footprints, digital presence and customer journeys. For example, at that vital point when you’re thinking of opening a facility in a new country, you can use the data from your current model and benchmark this off existing facilities within that region and the known cultural differences, to create a model that works. Once up and running, you can then use data in real-time to make the adjustments quicker than waiting until the end of the month to get the report on performance – sales, penetration, uptake in classes, and more. With a virtual hub, all of that information is available immediately from a central dashboard.  

Head office can then compare how facilities are performing across different regions, taking into account their unique differences. So, if the business is doing really well in South East Asia but struggling in China, for example, you can ask the questions, what’s different? What can we learn? Or if the business is doing really well in South East Asia, then this could present an opportunity to expand into Indonesia because the demographics are quite similar. This approach is one we’ve used successfully with Anytime Fitness, helping to translate its offering into new markets. 

Fine-tuning the sales journey to boost member acquisition

As Dan Zarrella said, “Marketing without data is like driving with your eyes closed.” Thankfully, one of the major benefits of data is that it allows you to better understand – and fine-tune – the customer sales journey. How do you get the lead in? Where does it come from? Who talks to the prospect? How does that then play out? All questions that data can answer.

By digitising and automating as much of the sales process as possible, operators can track the engagement with prospects across all channels (phone, social media, email, etc) to learn which messages, delivery times, journey stages, and channels get the most engagements, and, ultimately, lead to the most member conversions. With the dashboards featured in a virtual hub [Link to virtual hub blog], operators can quickly see their funnel metrics (number of prospects in the awareness, interested, consideration, intent and decision phase of their purchase cycle). Armed with the knowledge of which actions convert the most prospects, and in the best lead times, operators can then optimise their funnels and double-down on the most efficient tactics to drive more memberships and revenue.

Generating secondary spend

One of the brilliant things about data is that it allows you to spot opportunities for generating secondary spend amongst your most engaged members (those most likely to spend money) by understanding what they like to do when they’re inside the facility and then capitalising on this. For example, if you identify that a group of members likes to buy a certain food, drink or supplement after each session, you could target them with a membership package tailored to their tastes. For example, Fitness World in Denmark offers its members the option of paying an extra 100 coronas per month, which means they can enjoy one item from the fridge, such as a protein shake, a protein bar or a bottle of water, per visit. Not only does this help to create a culture, but also an additional revenue stream.   

Ramp up referrals 

As the phrase goes, “happy customers make happy customers.” In other words, if your customers like your product or service, they will refer more. In fact, research shows that brand advocates are 83% more likely to share information about a product than typical web users, and 50% more likely to influence a purchase. Furthermore, word of mouth (referrals) is the primary factor behind 20 to 50% of all purchasing decisions, not to mention that referred customers have 25% higher lifetime value than non-referred members. By using data effectively and utilising a digitised referrals system, you can identify ways to strengthen your internal community and create a feel-good vibe around your business, which, consequently, increases the likelihood of members making referrals to their inner and outer circles.  

Just look at the way Monzo has been able to engage customers and grow a successful business by taking the old brick and mortar bank system and flipping it on its head. Through digitisation, Monzo has made it so easy for people to share money, to pay for items, and to travel. One of the great things about this company is that it’s very open and transparent about what’s coming next. It has a community function in its platform, so you can see on its Trello board what’s being developed and have your input, so it has really understood the power of customer feedback, data, and the desires of the younger generations driving consumer behaviours. What’s stopping gyms for gaining member input this way? Monzo has been successful at standing out from the crowd and differentiating itself. Instead of being transactional in its approach, Monzo has gone community-focused and it’s paying off. If anyone’s in a prime position to adopt this model, it’s gyms, as community is the very foundation upon which they’re built. 

Turn up your team’s efficiency

According to Gallup, an eye-watering “85% of employees are not engaged or actively disengaged at work,” causing the global economy approximately $7 trillion in lost productivity. Contributing to this is the fact that employees are interrupted from their work an average of 56 times a day and it takes an average of two hours a day recovering from these interruptions, as getting ‘back into the zone’ isn’t something that just happens instantaneously. 

Of course, every business is different and will have its own unique set of barriers to productivity, but through automating processes, it’s possible to remove distractions, streamline processes, and free up staff, so they can concentrate on what’s most important, like coaching, interacting with members, and keeping the facility Covid-safe by carrying out regular cleaning tasks. Even in the ‘big box’ gyms where personal trainers are self-employed, you can give them the tools – and freedom through automation – that enables them to drive their businesses and gain more customers, generating more revenue for themselves and the facility. 

By automating the prospect journey through a lead management tool, it takes a lot of the ‘hard graft’ away from the sales team, and provides them with the insights to concentrate on the highest converting actions. Additionally, because every action taken by the sales team is logged and time-stamped via a virtual hub, there’s no way of cheating the system and earning commission from work that’s not been completed. 

From an operating perspective, you can see how many Net Promoter Scores have been gathered to understand gauge reputation and member engagement levels, how many free consultations have been delivered by the PT staff, the length of time between a new member joining and them receiving a wellness consultation, and how they are getting approached. A data system can also be used to hold staff members to account by monitoring stock-take versus takings in the cafe area or the number of PT sessions that are actually taking place, highlighting any discrepancies and lost revenue. Of course, there’s buckets more you can do! 

Why Volution should become your tech partner

Now that we’re clear on why data should be central to your ongoing business strategy, how do you choose the right data partner for your business? In a Harvard Business Review article, “Digital Transformation Is Not About Technology,” we’re reminded of the importance of involving the ‘insiders’ – those who understand the daily demands and operations of the business – in this process. Not only will this create buy-in from your team, but it will also ensure that you select a data partner capable of meeting the unique requirements and objectives of your business. If you get this right, you’ll wonder why you’d never done this sooner! 

At Volution, we understand that every business is different and benefits most from a bespoke data solution, which is a lot quicker, cost-effective, and hassle-free than many people would expect.

To give you a brief over, we start by conducting an initial consultation/workshop with the client to really get to know their business and each different aspect of how it operates and functions. Although we can create your entire data systems, our main solutions plug in and bolt on to your existing frameworks, meaning we don’t interfere with the systems you’re currently using  but instead look to unite and evolve your digital ecosystem into one centralised dashboard to exploit opportunities and plug gaps, driving member experience and commercial results. We then suggest and implement the particular modules and data analytics functions required to achieve the operator’s goals, following this up with a second workshop to refine those modules, really drilling down to the base level. For example, there may be differences between clubs which require some of the data functions/analytics to be tweaked. From there, we then build it back up to maximise the results.

Data is an evolving product, so we never just sell a product and walk away, but instead like to become an operator’s data partner, investing our time in your success to build that relationship. Therefore, we don’t charge a development fee, and you only pay for the features that you want.  

It’s not the data, it’s how you use it… 

Data comes from everywhere – emails, social media, surveys, club usage, equipment usage, face-to-face interactions, the list goes on and on. To make sense of it, every business could benefit from more digitisation, and for fitness facilities of all types and sizes, the opportunities are there for the taking.     

But before jumping headfirst into the digital world, it’s important to sit back and think about the fundamentals of your business to understand what data you need and how to filter it. That’s where we come in at Volution; helping you to develop a unique system to match the uniqueness of your brand, audience and goals. One that can be implemented day-to-day, in real-time to get ahead – and stay ahead – creating additional touchpoints with members and automating the trigger points to keep them engaged both inside and outside your facility through a digital, hybrid model. By pulling all of your data together, we allow you to look at data differently and get the ‘full picture’ of your business operations to unlock hidden potential. 

As your true data partner, we will help you to understand the key metrics to make smarter, faster decisions, while also enabling you to future proof your business by identifying opportunities to enhance or expand, such as opening additional clubs in new territories or growing your business digitally through apps, on-demand content or virtual training. And if there’s data you need but no solution available, then we’ll do our very best to create it. 

Perhaps best of all, data gives you the power to really diversify your offering very quickly ,to reflect the desires and expectations of members to keep them engaged and enhance lifetime value. Ultimately, a business that uses data is a business that cares about its customer experience, and this will be reflected in member loyalty, your bottom line, and the longevity of your brand.  

Download our Playbook

We know we need to engage more with our members, but what exactly does effective member engagement deliver? Lifetime value – yes.  Member retention – yes.  More referrals – yes.  Done right, it can also be a key driver of your secondary spend. Auxiliary spend will be an area we know is going to be critical to commercial success in 2020 and beyond, especially as operators get to grips with new operational procedures due to the Covid-19 pandemic, such as capped capacities.   

Since facilities were forced to close in March 2020, we’ve seen brands such as PureGym pivot their business models to offer home fitness equipment to their members, recognising the importance of driving revenue into the business during a time of uncertainty.    

And historically, we’ve seen the likes of Virgin Active and David Lloyd Leisure lead the way in terms of generating secondary spend, driven by high dwell time and high-end food and beverage outlets. You’ll often find members enjoying their morning work out followed by a day spent in the cafe working. Add to this additional services from kids soft play, tennis lessons, PT, parties, and clothing, they’ve seen a very healthy income from getting this part (as well as other areas of the business) right. And, of course, none of this can be achieved without the help of data to make smart business decisions.   

More recently, the boutique market has been shaking the dust off this approach and driving quick wins around secondary spend. Instead of installing high-end food and beverage areas, they have been able to maximise their reception desk to install protein shake stations, smoothie stations, and sell over-the-counter food on the go.  

1Rebel, as reported by Health Club Management, is a great example of how to develop secondary spend, driving multiple benefits for its business. The boutique fitness brand acknowledges that if the member experience isn’t good, they won’t be coming back for more. An important part of this involves ‘selling’ to its members every time they step through the doors. Recognising that ‘I’m healthy and I’m wealthy’ is a statement that today’s consumers want to make, and capitalising on the ‘fitness-and-fashion’ trend, 1Rebel sells t-shirts and hoodies to crop tops and street-to-gym-wear. This enables its members to achieve a ‘look’ that represents them and their connection with the brand. Beyond secondary spend, this creates awareness, builds loyalty, increases brand advocacy, and drives sell-out sessions. 

Two different approaches, two different audiences, but both doing well because they know their members and customers; trust that starts with the brand and is reciprocated by its customers in the form of increased spend.

The way forward – a solid defence and protection strategy 

There’s no doubt about it, operators are facing incredible challenges. Key to a successful defence and protection strategy is to look at alternative areas to drive revenue. For this to be successful, and to see secondary spend increase, operators will need their member engagement strategy to be firing on all cylinders, requiring accurate data to drive it. 

We know that assisted members deliver a higher lifetime value; they attend more frequently, they are more loyal and they refer more people.  

As we’ve seen in our previous blog, the better we are at delivering a good member engagement strategy, the happier and more loyal our members are.

Impact 

Think about the impact a great member engagement strategy could have on your secondary spend. What would the impact be if you enhanced or started to offer a range of other brands, products or services, such as at-home fitness equipment, home-delivered nutrition packages and subscriptions, clothing, virtual PT sessions; all delivering you a ort kick-back? A great exercise for your finance team to scope out!    

Done right, your brand could be seen as a health hub, delivering and recommending a network of partnerships that support and enable your members to lead a healthier, happier lifestyle – something we all want. A report showed that millions of Brits class themselves as ‘too busy’ to be healthy. More than half of the people polled said they want to eat healthily and get plenty of exercise – but are hindered by their hectic lifestyles, and two thirds admitted they often eat ‘badly’ because they don’t have the time to prepare nutritious food.  Imagine if, at the touch of a button, you could offer your members access to everything they needed to lead a healthier lifestyle… we think they’d be pretty happy! 

Most of us will admit we are time-poor and will do what we can to claw back time – where we can; whether this is buying ready-grated cheese, having a cleaner, using dry shampoo, or simply sending emails late at night whilst you have dinner or attempt to watch TV. 

However, on the flip side, research shows that Millennials and Gen Z – often dubbed ‘the wellness generation’ – now make up 80% of health club members and have a more intense focus on holistic health. This means it can really pay to expand your offering to provide other services that make you ‘more than just a gym’ – looking after the minds, bodies and souls of your members.

Recommendations

It’s not rocket science to recognise the power of personal recommendations. How many times have you looked at a product or service off the back of a friend or family member recommending it to you? And how many times have you bought something online after the website you were shopping on recommended it? 

Let’s apply this to your network of facilities. If you have the right engagement strategy and you have a membership base of avid members, think of the impact recommendations for additional services and products could have on them? If you’ve fine-tuned your strategy and you’re engaging with your members both virtually and in-club, the trust level will be high. You’re already serving them content and classes they like and are benefiting from. Add to this third party brands and services, all giving you a healthy kick-back on sales, and it’s a win, win.  

Summary 

You have the potential to offer your members everything they need in a bid to become healthier, happier versions of themselves, and what’s more, you can drive significant revenue to your business. By recognising the part you play and seeing the bigger picture by utilising the data, you have, at your fingertips, the power to navigate your way through this time and continue to drive your revenue now and years ahead. 

Download our Playbook

What do Amazon, Netflix and Cadburys all have in common? They are nailing personalised marketing and the key to doing this is data. Data rules in all modern businesses but if you want yours to deliver genuine commercial results, it’s about collecting data, personalising it, tracking it and learning from it.  

Netflix is in over a third of U.S. households and, in the UK, has over 13 million subscribers. The success of Netflix comes from its intuitive data platform and expansive range of content, but what it has done better than any other brand on the market, is turn “customer engagement” into an exact science. The platform has prioritised learning who its customers are and how to reach them. It takes our viewing data and serves up personalised recommendations based on our habits and likes. To learn from this global zeitgeist, we must adopt more sophisticated data strategies and view member engagement as part of our daily operational systems.  

Personalisation isn’t new, but to succeed, your service, your marketing and your communications need to be tailored to your audience/membership – understanding their likes, dislikes, motivations, and goals.  

We are at the epicentre of some of the biggest shifts in society and this in itself presents its own challenges and considerations. Today, we are more aware than ever before of our health and wellbeing, and we expect brands, businesses we buy from, and even companies we work for, to recognise the part they play and take ownership of these issues in partnership with us. 

51% of consumers expect that companies will anticipate their needs and make relevant suggestions before they make contact. 88% of U.S. marketers reported seeing measurable improvements due to personalisation, with more than half reporting a lift greater than 10%. In fact, 81% of consumers want brands to get to know them and understand when to approach them and when not to.

Engaging with members is more than an email on their birthday or offering them a couple of guest passes each year. Effective member engagement goes deeper and is often about understanding their needs, wants, issues and even worries and concerns, and creating solutions to help and support them.   

For clubs and operators with thousands of members, this can sound quite a task but with data-tracking, member engagement is far simpler than ever before. At the touch of a button – using a virtual hub – you can view trends, opportunities, issues and instantly capture the mood of your membership.  

Member engagement starts from the moment someone becomes a member; from the first needs analysis, you should begin to build up a profile of what makes this person tick. Creating a simple questionnaire about their lifestyle, habits, family life, work, current health, and more can provide the data and insight required to start your data-driven member engagement strategy. By plugging in the right data-application, you can start to create bespoke and personalised tactics that drive usage, engagement and outcomes that can all be tracked and monitored.  

The right data partner will enable and encourage you to use your current and future data in a more intuitive way in a bid to serve up recommendations and different products to support members achieve more; as Netflix and Amazon do so well. The simplest way we know how to do this in the first instance is to encourage and promote your assisted products such as group exercise classes or PT. We know that this leads to increased retention. Research by IHRSA showed that “the risk of cancelling is 56% higher in gym-only members compared to group exercisers.” whilst another study found that members who take part in just one group exercise class per week are “20% more likely to be loyal members than those who visit three times per week and only workout on the gym floor”. 

Your superstar team 

We’ve all been to a fitness class with a standout instructor; one who blows your mind and makes you want to return time after time. You’re probably thinking about members of your team right now. Perhaps you have a PT who has a waiting list of six months? How can you bottle up this magic and spread it amongst more members in a bid to inspire, motivate and ultimately drive more revenue? It’s pretty simple really, you can use data and digital strategies to stream and host these classes and sessions 24/7. We aren’t suggesting you change your model of operation to become the next Les Mills On Demand, but you should be capturing these magic moments and using them to engage and galvanize your current and future membership base.

A data-driven virtual hub gives your members access to the superstar coaches and trainers with opportunities to increase member-trainer touchpoints and interaction through online training, coaching, classes, and support. This can significantly boost engagement and retention rates not to mention giving you rich-data information to learn from.  

Virtual hubs show which classes, PTs, and even equipment have the highest and lowest attendance and usage levels. From there, you can swap low performing classes with more high performing classes (online and offline) and see the direct effect this has on club attendance and lifetime value of members.  

You’ll also be able to learn who is attending your clubs, classes, PTs, and more importantly, who isn’t attending. Finding out what is, and isn’t, working for your members is valuable insight that can help you to adapt your strategies and act early to retain and acquire members. 

Leverage your facility through ‘fitfluencers’

Alongside being able to maximise the potential of your ‘superstar team,’ a virtual hub gives you the ability to stream live or recorded classes from any instructor, anywhere in the world to complement your in-house staff. No longer are you restricted to just your community of coaches. You could potentially team up with fitness influencers or other commercial brands to create even more inspiring content to reach and engage new audiences.

Why not have an amazing, Insta-famous Yoga teacher stream one class a week to all of your members across all of your facilities nationwide? Not only could this ‘sprinkling of stardust’ elevate your business locally, but you may even attract people from other countries around the world that want to take out a ‘digital membership’ with your club just because of the ‘fitfluencers’ on your books. The opportunities are endless…

Driving secondary spend 

Linked closely to effective member engagement is the increase of secondary spend and when executed in the right way, engaged members can drive your auxiliary revenue. The reason for this is pretty simple; trust. People buy from brands they trust. Therefore, if you recommend brands and services to your members, the data tells you that they are more likely to buy as they trust you know them.  

And it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to conclude that all this activity drives the lifetime value of a member.   

Case study of effective member engagement through the effective use of data – Anytime Fitness 

Working with Anytime Fitness, we’ve been able to deliver data-driven member engagement strategies to secure the operational stability of 100+ clubs across the Philippines.  

The challenge:

One of the largest fitness centre chains in the Philippines, Anytime Fitness tasked Volution with an urgent challenge to deliver a technical solution bespoke to their needs that would keep them operational during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond.

Following the news that all Anytime Fitness locations in the Philippines would be temporarily shut down due to Covid-19, Anytime Fitness quickly realised that their membership base wouldn’t be able to engage with their services as normal – and that apprehension to do so may remain for some time. 

Any remote-focused solution would need to be driven by digital expertise and bespoke to their needs as a business. They couldn’t have an “off the shelf” product that didn’t quite fit the bill.  

The process 

It was clear Anytime Fitness needed a virtual platform and mobile application that allowed its team to continue to deliver personal training sessions from any location.

Developed within a matter of days, members were able to log in to a personalised portal, which had all the Anytime Fitness branding. They were able to book Virtual PT sessions, join live or pre-recorded classes and create their own at-home workouts, all within just a few clicks.

The outcomes

• 14.2% increase in PT revenue 
• All staff remain employed during the lockdown period
• Increase of $1M in revenue through data analytics and digitisation 
• 50% of members who have signed up to the virtual hub so far are using assisted services for the first time, enhancing their engagement with the brand

The launch of this virtual hub was critical to operational stability. It kept revenue flowing and helped to minimise financial disruption and allowed senior management to maintain their budget with ease. Member engagement was high, even when members couldn’t physically visit their local gym.  

The beauty of launching a virtual hub was that it integrated perfectly into the current operating systems and, from the moment it was launched, the team had the ability to generate proprietary data insights.  

Anytime Fitness was able to monitor data visualisations of each of their selected KPIs in real-time from a central dashboard. Senior managers were able to track key trends in user engagement, how many PT sessions had been sold, where penetration rates were high, which classes were proving more popular, and how much revenue had been generated.

Shift managers also benefited directly by giving them a clear view of staff availability, which has since led to fewer complications in scheduling and far less risk of double-bookings.

Anytime Fitness’ decision to integrate a remote module has ultimately allowed them to stay operational and sustain revenue throughout the most challenging crisis of our time – though the impact of this project goes much further than that.

By taking this opportunity now, the brand has opened a new revenue stream that will continue to support the growth of their business for years to come.

Summary

What’s clear is that without a decent data strategy, you can kiss personalisation goodbye. The key to personalisation is data. And as personalisation is the key to winning the retention battle, data should be your focus. So, what will you do to become more data-driven? Perhaps it’s time to create a bespoke virtual hub for your business…

Download our Playbook

We’ve explored what it means to engage with members virtually, how to achieve this, and why it’s so vital as we enter the ‘post-Covid’ age. Now, let’s have a look at how you can set up a virtual hub to take full advantage of the opportunities available to enhance member engagement, retention and lifetime value. 

You’ll be pleased to know that building and integrating a virtual hub involves just three straightforward steps, meaning you can be up and running in no time, unlocking even more of your business’ potential. 

Step 1: Brand Identity

We understand just how important it is to maintain brand consistency. It’s a pattern of expression that affects the way people think about your business. The more consistent your visual branding and messaging, the more you’re able to grow awareness around your club and develop trust and loyalty with your members, which subsequently drives results. In fact, research states that “a coherent brand presentation across all platforms will increase revenue by up to 23%.” Our virtual hubs are white labelled, so using your company’s colours, fonts, logos, and media assets, we can design the app and dashboard of your virtual hub to perfectly match your brand and fit seamlessly within your website or alongside your existing systems. 

Step 2: Company and Member Data

To populate your virtual hub with club and member data, it couldn’t be simpler. By downloading the data from your existing CRM systems, this can be quickly and efficiently transferred to your virtual hub through a series of hassle-free migrations. With your club details, trainer information, and that all-important member data added to your virtual hub, you’re now in a position to start utilising all of the data and insights available to enhance your engagement levels and maximise the success of your business. 

Step 3: Payment System

You choose whether you’d like to create a pay-as-you-go or subscription model for your virtual hub and, better still, we can integrate with any existing payment gateway, such as Stripe, Paypal and PayFort. If you opt for a subscription model, we’d need to define access to products based on the subscription levels and the monthly instalment plans you wish to offer. If you opt for pay-as-you-go, we’d need to know how much each product/service costs, whether members can make single or bulk purchases, and if any complimentary products form part of your membership packages or reward schemes. We’d also need to factor in any ‘free trials’ that you’d like to include as part of your marketing strategy. 

It can be an exciting process coming up with all the great new products, services and initiatives you’re able to offer now that you have a way of engaging physically and virtually with your members – increasing opportunities for additional revenue and secondary spend.

What does the virtual hub look like? 

The virtual hub would be hosted on your website via a portal, with the option to have an app. Members can use the online portal or app to manage their subscriptions, access live and on-demand content, book PT sessions, update their profiles, track goals, and so much more. 

From the operator’s perspective, KPIs, reporting, analytics and uploading in-house content, would all be managed via the control panel of the web portal. Through the app, staff can perform functions, such as scheduling and monitoring classes, communicating with members, and delivering virtual content. 

During the ‘discovery sessions’ at the beginning of every project/partnership, we make sure that we fully understand the uniqueness of the client’s business so that we can create a bespoke virtual hub that contains all of the reports, analytics, trends, and admin features they require to increase efficiency and profitability. As data people, we’re all about the details, and believe that every virtual hub should be tailored to the client’s needs and goals. It’s what drives us. 

And, as an added bonus, there is nothing to pay during the design phase, meaning you’re able to keep valuable money inside your business until the virtual hub is ready to be implemented.     

Summary

IHRSA summed it up brilliantly when they said, “Across the industry, the perception of technology is shifting from a standalone silo to a package of member experience tools that should be integrated throughout the business.” And, especially in testing times, we need to make this technology work harder than ever for our businesses to survive, and thrive. 
As you can see, setting up a virtual hub is a quick and pain-free process. With a virtual hub in place, you’ll be able to provide digital content (classes and PT sessions) to your members via a purely ‘digital hybrid’ membership. Going far beyond simply offering Facebook or Instagram Live classes, each virtual hub is completely bespoke, measurable, and created to deliver commercial returns from day one. It enables you to offer both a virtual and ‘bricks and mortar’ service, connecting the dots between home fitness and the gym environment to deliver an engaging, ‘joined-up’ member experience. With a slick online presence, this enables you to channel members back towards your physical sites, driving commercial results.

The future is virtual, so let’s get started!