Pop quiz: How many zeroes are in a quintillion? If you said 18, congratulations on your impressive mathematical memory (or easy access to Google). Would you believe over 2.5 quintillion bytes of data are generated every single day? That’s one huge number: 2,500,000,000,000,000,000.
But that number is more than just an eye-popping amount of zeroes — it’s an opportunity. This avalanche of information can be harnessed to benefit your club through data analytics, or the process of gathering and analyzing data to draw useful insights that drive information-based decision-making in business.
Here are four ways data analytics can impact your fitness business:
Enhanced Sales Performance
Data analytics can pay big dividends toward your club’s sales by helping you better understand your customer base. A survey conducted by the McKinsey Global Research Institute concluded organizations that use data to analyze customer behavior and then implement those insights into their sales strategies outperform their peers by 85% in sales growth and more than 25% in gross margin. In practice, this could be analyzing which lead sources drive the most conversions, or calculating the average number of follow-ups it takes to move a lead from new prospect to new member.
Improved Decision-Making
No one wants to make the wrong decision and inadvertently hurt their business’s sales or marketing efforts. Business decision-making can be especially nerve-racking and time-consuming when you’re working off intuition or your best guess alone. Data analytics empowers your team to source real-time metrics to support your business decisions. It’s been found companies that are very data-driven are three times more likely to report experiencing a significant improvement in decision-making within their organization. Better decision-making means your team can take action quickly and see results sooner rather than later.
A Competitive Edge in the Industry
The improved decision-making that comes with data analytics can also give your club a competitive edge over your competition. Across industries, relying on intuition to drive decision-making is still highly prevalent. A PricewaterhouseCoopers survey of over 2,100 executives found the following: “Two-thirds (61%) acknowledge their companies could rely on data analysis more and intuition less. They don’t consider their own organizations to be highly data-driven.” In a booming fitness market, you can separate your club from the pack by becoming an early adopter of data analytics and making more informed decisions than the gym next door.
Delivering an Outstanding Customer Experience
Providing an exceptional customer experience is one of the most effective differentiators a business can leverage to win customer loyalty. Through data analytics, your team can enhance your customer experience by tailoring it to each prospect and member. Best of all, research indicates a growing majority of people want their data used this way. In fact, “83% of consumers are willing to share their data to create a more personalized experience.” A tailored customer experience means offering prospects and members personalized offers or discounts to win their business and keep them long term.
Written by Kevin Talley at Club OS, to reach the Club OS team you can contact us at hello@club-os.com or visit our website at club-os.com.
