Ed Zouroudis, a co-founder and the CEO of Evolt, shares three tips to use data to fast track member satisfaction.
The fitness industry’s adoption of new technologies and innovative problem solving has been supercharged after several years of lockdowns and restrictions. Fitness has become a highly personalized and digitally-engaged experience for every club member. Premium on-demand fitness content and streaming instructor classes are an expected part of every operator’s offering. As members expect more personalized experiences at gyms, health data and analysis will help operators stand out from the crowd and retain members at a higher level.
Embrace data analytics to understandbusiness opportunities.
Club members scroll and click, jump from your social channels to the club website and back to your app to book a class or reserve a slot. Instructors track and detail class registrations and attendance. Your marketing team tracks social post engagement and offers redemption on promotions. Together, the modern club is a data-rich environment that can help operators understand member preferences, trends and behaviors. Which instructors need more studio time because of member followings? Where are activity peaks and troughs and why? Which digital tools score the highest engagement from your app to content to social channels? Despite the wealth of business-building data available, research shows 30% of club managers still don’t use data analytics to inform critical business decisions. If you’re among them, it’s time to embrace the numbers and the many analytics tools that can help.
Build member experience withperformance metrics.
The most important measurement of your fitness club is the health metrics of your members. With the explosion of wearables, members are already collecting personalized data, which is something operators need to embrace. Some members may be basing their success on the metrics they receive from these devices, so it’s important to integrate into your programs and provide expert advice that revolves around what people are seeing every day. Calorie burn rate leaderboards in HIIT classes, and the instructor’s ability to see the heart rates, blood pressures and other key metrics of class participants are areas operators should invest in. They open the doors for your team to provide expert advice and flag issues or make corrections.
Utilizing personalized data also allows trainers to build deeper connections with their members. Everyone’s bodies are different and everybody has different health goals, so being able to work one-on-one with a client and show them the data points most relevant to them is only going to strengthen the level of trust they have in their trainer and increase their motivation.
Focus on individual member experience with body composition analysis.
The advent of a next-generation sophisticated body composition analysis scanners, and their integration into personal training and club experience, is another excellent way to retain members and attract new ones. These scanners can provide a detailed body composition analysis over 40 measures in just 60 seconds. Members and their trainers can now access an instantaneous picture of muscle, visceral and subcutaneous fat composition and build a far more tailored workout and nutrition plan to achieve goals. Results are provided via an easy-to-access app where members can find individual nutritional macros detailed and integrated nutritional recommendations to support their fitness programs.
Many clubs are also beginning to realize new revenue streams from body scanning and data analysis. Trainers recommend frequent scans to chart progress over time, and clubs charge members a fee for monthly, quarterly or unlimited body scans. In this way members feel better informed, are motivated by detailed progress reporting, and trainers feel they’re providing a more highly personalized experience driven by individual body composition and nutritional needs.
As you consider all of this, understand these technologies aren’t the future. They’re in existence as we speak and growing at a pace that is propelling the experience of members to new heights
