Digitally Transform Your Gym in 2019

While the term ‘digital transformation’ might bring to mind huge tech conglomerates with rows and rows of developers hard at work coming up with the next all-encompassing digital solution, that’s not always the case. The digital transformation is impacting every single corner of the service and retail landscape, including gyms and health clubs.

Why are digital solutions so important?

As today’s consumers become more used to digital innovation in other areas of their lives – aka retail, social media, etc. – they have begun to expect the same ease and convenience everywhere, including the gym. It’s no longer enough to simply deliver personalized training offerings or amazing member experience. Gyms must have some sort of digital power on the back-end driving customer satisfaction.

Additionally, with the growth of online and at-home workout options, digital solutions give brick-and-mortar gyms and health clubs a powerful competitive advantage. As more and more people turn to online subscriptions, videos, and even social media influencer workouts, traditional gyms need a digital presence to help find footing in the industry. Digital transformation is no longer just a nice-to-have buzzword in the fitness industry. It’s a must-have to continue to survive and thrive in the space.

How to digitally transform your gym

Digital transformation can benefit both your internal team members as well as your members. Most digital solutions geared towards gyms and health clubs focus on fitness metrics and internal operations. Other ways to digitally transform your gym include:

• Identifying where new member sign-ups are originating from and then doubling down on those marketing efforts. For example, if you can identify that a majority of your sign-ups are coming from email, then you can make a data-backed decision to ramp up your email marketing campaigns.
• Automating prospect and lead follow-up to minimize manual efforts and streamline operations. Instead of having an employee manually follow up with every single member who is past due with their fees, your team can leverage a marketing automation platform to automatically send an email, leave a voicemail, or even send out a text.
• Delivering a safe and secure membership payment experience to members. With so much uncertainty and worry around data breaches and leaks, your gym’s digital transformation can deliver peace-of-mind to members that their payment data is safe and secure with your innovative, updated software.
• Investing in connected, updated workout machines that integrate with members wearable fitness tracking devices. These devices are incredibly popular with people who exercise regularly, and now gyms are finally catching up. Smart equipment can deliver workout metrics directly to a member’s health profile through their wearable device, creating an even stronger connection to your gym and the workout itself.
• Creating a strong social media program to engage directly with your members and new prospective consumers. Social media is a great way to ease into a digital presence, but it requires consistency and dedication. Your gym can leverage social media to become a media influencer in your own right instead of watching members leave because of the competition.

How is your gym currently leveraging digital solutions? What plans do you have in place to take your digital transformation to the next level? To talk through some ideas with a specialist, give us a call at 801-272-8623.