The success of any fitness business takes a lot of hard work. The gyms that can leverage technology effectively increase the probability of their business becoming a success story. Here are eight things to look for in software that can help you achieve your goals.
1. Gamification. This includes points, rewards, achievement notifications, leaderboards, contests, etc. All of these will contribute towards engaging your members. This leads to members spending more and improved retention. Will also make going to the gym fun and exciting for your members.
2. Video services. Offering video workouts to members can help your business in multiple ways. Members can follow workouts from their phone on different cardio machines. You can also set up an on-demand area for a member to attend a class. Include videos as part of a training program or as part of a membership.
3. Texting. This is the most effective way to communicate with people. Texts receive a 90% open rate compared to a 10% open rate from email. You can set up appointment reminders, create monthly auto texts that include pricing specials or health tips, and drip campaigns after a member initially signs up.
4. Member mobile app. A mobile app will help to brand your business by putting your logo in the app stores. Let members manage their account information, check-in, purchase services or products, and register for personal training and fitness classes.
5. Door access. Members can enter your facility using key tags, fobs, phone or retina scan. Access is denied if members owe money. Member can access your app and pay their balance in order to regain access. Door access makes it more effective to track check-ins and facility usage. You can lock down other areas such as a pool or tanning room and only only grant access when that membership level is purchased. This will help you easily monetize those areas.
6. Upsell screens. Typically, many employees are not good at sales. Look for software that provides the ability to offer upgrade choices on the checkout screen. Let the software do the selling.
7. Auto billing. The ability to auto bill your monthly paying members. If a member purchases a membership on the 10th, look for software that can auto bill every 10th of the month.
8. Customization. It’s always great to be able to have the ability to discuss with your software vendor a potential function or report that could have a big impact on your business or the fitness industry.
If your fitness business has software that can provide all of the above, you will substantially increase the probability of your gym becoming a long-lasting success story. If not, you will need your staff to manually manage some of these things which leads to higher employee costs and more human error.
