Why your club needs “the missing link” — data, analytics and insights — and why you should use all three elements to make revenue-driving decisions.
Data, analytics and insights. These terms are often used interchangeably, but they are ultimately very different. Clubs and gyms should think of these elements as separate factors that all work together to help fuel membership and revenue growth.
So, what’s the difference between the three? More importantly, how can using all three elements accelerate growth for clubs and gyms? To better understand your customers and business, think about the three as a series of steps:
- Step 1. Collect data.
- Step 2. Appy analytics.
- Step 3. Interpret insights.
With a foundation of solid data, you can use analytics and the resulting insights to transform and grow your business. Here we’ll dig into the differences between the three elements and how using them in combination can accelerate business growth.
Data: The Foundation
Data is raw information gathered from your clients or business. With countless tools available that gather millions of data points, compiling information is easier than ever. Despite the accessibility of this multitude of data, it’s extremely difficult to make any sense of raw data points. That’s where analytics come into play.
Analytics: The Connector
Analytics is how you make sense of data to discover trends and patterns. With so much data available to businesses, analytics is the necessary connecting piece to help visualize what the information means.
Insights: The decision-maker
The final piece of the triad is insights. Insights are the results or enlightening moments that come from evaluating analytics. They’re the decision-making drivers that result from the combination of data and analytics. Without insights, why bother gathering data or running analytics on it?
Why the Triad is Important for Clubs and Gyms
A revenue-driving business move should be made using all three elements. Consider using the combination of data, analytics and insights to inform your decisions.
For example, data might show that you had 15 members churn last month.
- Analytics could show you a breakdown of your churned customers by membership plan.
- Insights could reveal that clients that purchase membership “A” are 40% more likely to churn than those on membership “B.”
Using this insight gleaned from your data and analytics, you can dig into the reasons why clients on membership “A” churn and react accordingly to increase member retention.
The Missing Link
Now is the time to evaluate whether you’re effectively using the multitude of data available at your fingertips. Are you merely gathering information, or are you regularly running analytics and discerning insights from them? Revenue-driving business decisions today necessitate the use of all three.
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Kevin MacCauley is the Founder and CEO of Upper Hand, a leading provider of sports and fitness managementsoftware. He can be reached atkevin@getupperhand.com.
