If you want to continue to attract new members and retain the ones you have, you need to focus on what they think is important. With the world opening up again, many people are planning to again enjoy in-person fitness facilities. If you want to ensure they’re choosing you over your competition, take a look at these eight insights from a recent Legend survey.
- Accessing your facilities shouldn’t be a hassle
- Your facilities must serve your loyal customers
- Show how you provide value for money
- Cleanliness and hygiene is paramount
- Go beyond fitness and embrace wellness in your offering
- Use your facilities for a range of activities
- Create space for online services
- Connect with member’s wearable technology
Accessing your facilities shouldn’t be a hassle
In recent years, getting access to health and exercise facilities has become difficult for many people. Whether this was because of restrictions in hours and capacity, or just because of procedures and checks needed to gain access. People found the experience frustrating and time consuming.
Ensuring your members have fast and easy access to your facilities is critical now that life is returning to normal. While you would still want to ensure their safety, a software-driven access control system can provide real efficiencies.
When using something like leisure management software, your members may gain other benefits such as being able to make reservations for classes or activities online.
Your facilities must serve your closest customers
The easiest people to connect with will be the ones closest to your facility. When you’re trying to squeeze in a workout in between your usual schedule, it can be very useful to have your fitness facility close at hand. These should be the easiest members to bring through the door and you need to ensure that you’re meeting the needs of the closest community.
You should always be striving to drive awareness around this community for your facility and your services.
Show how you provide value for money
If you want to ensure you have happy members, there’s no better way then showing that they’re getting real value for the price of their subscription.
Firstly, you need to ensure that your prices are competitive for your area and services. If other centres around the area are either charging much higher or lower rates, then there’s definitely some revising that’s needed.
When it comes time to renew a membership, cost is often the factor that makes people cancel. This is especially true in times when the overall economy is tight.
You can accommodate this by having a flexible pricing strategy and allowing members to adjust contracts when needed.
Cleanliness and hygiene is paramount
There’s no doubt about it: Customers expect the highest levels of cleanliness and hygiene from recreational facilities. Leisure centres that only do “enough” will not satisfy members. To accomplish this, there must be a philosophy of hygiene at all levels of the organisation. Every employee must understand how important it is to maintain a strict routine.
Go beyond fitness and embrace wellness in your offering
The worldwide market for health and well-being has never been more lucrative. Recreational facilities should actively embrace this idea. Members are increasingly looking for facilities that offer a more holistic approach to health and well-being. You could supplement existing classes with meditation instructors or offer space for wellness workshops.
Use your facilities for a range of activities
Leisure centres must be adaptable and sensitive to changing market demands. As mentioned earlier, you’re trying to serve your local community, and the more you can offer to them, the better. Aside from fitness facilities and health and wellness areas, you could also look to add spa treatments, physiotherapy and massage facilities.
Create space for online services
The many lockdowns all around the world provided a major boost to online workout programs and classes. Even though restrictions have been eased, people have become use to the ease of digital fitness options. Health and fitness facilities like leisure centres need to embrace this and provide ways for members to either access their classes online, or even provide spaces where people can take digital classes while using their facilities.
Connect with member’s wearable technology
Since the start of the pandemic, members of leisure facilities have placed a high value on wearing fitness trackers. For many health enthusiasts, keeping track of one’s fitness journey has become a must. This provides an opportunity for leisure centres to connect with and integrate their members’ trackers. Whether this is just so that members can connect to any exercise machines, or to even run incentive programmes as they hit their fitness goals.
