Tips and advice on how to take full advantage of mobile apps and their many capabilities to improve member experience.
In 2010 “app” was the American Dialect Society’s Word of the Year which signifies how much of an impact this technological advancement began to have on our lives 14 years ago. The influence of apps has yet to slow down. Modern-age technology is seeping into more corners of everyday life including health and exercise. If you don’t have a club app or haven’t revisited its functions recently, now is the time to reconsider.
At The Houstonian Club, members can connect with all 10 of the gym’s departments. While users can access a plethora of information about the different areas of the club, staff recognized some functions of the app will be used more than others.
From the home screen, members can explore tabs that allow them to sign up for exercise classes, explore events and programming, order food to-go or make restaurant reservations. Having these actions front and center makes the app accessible to a variety of members at differing levels of comfort when using technology.
“Our app is a one-stop-shop for our members, and that’s how we market it,” said Allie Clark, the marketing manager at The Houstonian Club. “We have a very wide demographic. Some of us are tech savvy while others aren’t as much. The nature of having an app is it trickles down to how we use technology as a whole.”
A unique feature Clark highlighted was the ability to connect with staff from almost every department. Users can easily request an appointment with an instructor or contact other staff from their phone.
“In the app, you can request a lesson from our dieticians, swim instructors or personal trainers, or find staff to ask about Pilates, locker rooms, yoga or guest passes all on your own time,” said Clark. “Their message gets emailed to the respective department that can reach out to the member when they get the chance. It’s a passive way for members to know of our services and connect with us.”
Each department’s tab is specially designed after receiving input on what would help limit calls, emails and walk-ins from staff. Software from Pacesetter Technology gave The Houstonian the option to build out what each office needed, and each department tab looks different. For example, locker rooms has one tab where members can reserve a locker while racquet sports and group exercise have multiple.
“The number of tabs helps segment out and connect with different aspects for specific departments,” said Clark. “From requesting lessons to kicking back to the website to see an overview of our programs, we personalized it based on how each department operates their own business.”
Another important piece of advice from Clark is to make sure your app can evolve as needs within the department or industry change. The club hasn’t made any major edits since the app’s launch, but small changes still need to be communicated. She recommended utilizing social media to reach more users and educating front-line staff who help members.
As the member services manager at The Houstonian, Brittney Raphael knows a lot about training front-line staff to handle questions especially when it comes to technology. They can’t have their phones, so staff have to memorize and truly understand the app to help members.
“We’ve done a good job making the app feel different but also similar to our website,” said Raphael. “Members come to my team first, so we need to understand functions in the app and where to find things. It’s huge for us, and it’s not easy.”
Teaching members how to use the app — especially for those who have been with the club since it opened over 40 years ago — is a challenge. Helping users get over their apprehension is worth it as Raphael noted how rewarding it is for them after understanding its capabilities.
“The longtime members who have become acclimated to it really enjoy that they can communicate with staff and department heads about their concerns,” said Raphael. “They like that because of the feedback they can pass along in the moment since we use MXMetrics.”
Contrastingly to how members can provide feedback through The Houstonian’s club app, F45’s software provides feedback to the user and can help them navigate their workout. David Murray, the head of digital product at F45, explained these features to be a companion assessment to in-studio workouts which help members track their results.
“We think these tools are impactful because people train to hit some form of goal, and like most habits, that takes time,” said Murray. “You can demonstrate incremental progress to members even if their goals may not be aligned. For example, if somebody wants to lose weight but has unrealistic expectations, we can show them they can do more of a certain exercise which sells the value of our product and membership.”
Another unique feature is the app’s connectedness to the F45 studio space when members want to track their workouts. Instead of users having to remember and input the specific weight amount they used, they only have to remember the color of the equipment. From there, the app is programmed to know the amount of weight they’re using.
Part of the overarching goal with this and similar features is education and engagement. Along with recommending exercises, the app can give detailed explanations about how to do them most effectively. These recommendations can also change depending on the equipment or weight being used.
“We see this as complementary to our coaches,” explained Murray. “It helps members who may be initially shy to take steps to improve their form and understand at their own pace.”
According to Murray, the purpose of the app is to help clients maximize their membership. Along with basic features like class booking and companion assessments, members are provided greater and multi-faceted insights from their health journey when using the app. Building upon class booking software from Mindbody, F45 creates a tool to help members see the value of their membership through its app.
“Developing part of the F45 Training app in-house ensures we’re intentional and focused in making sure everything we do is custom-built around the experience an F45 member would expect,” explained Murray. “We’ve seen significant success and positive user satisfaction from where people are saying they love the F45 training app because we’re building on it with them.”
While there are numerous and creative ways apps can improve member experience or help with operations, Murray emphasized the need to remember where the capabilities of mobile apps end. While apps can help organize or jumpstart the process toward one-on-one connections, they can’t replace them.
“I think it’s very easy for people to not realize there’s an actual human behind the screen,” said Murray. “Our team is vehemently focused on making sure we’re using technology to scale while being intentional and making sure we’re talking to members and studios one-on-one. In order to drive a great experience, there’s a lot more that happens than someone using an app on their phone. It takes collaboration across all fronts.”
