7 ways to make your new digital offering a success

Whilst lockdown restrictions have been lifted across the UK, there is still a requirement to provide your members with a digital offering.

With uncertainties surrounding the spread of Covid-19, and as we enter the winter months, you need to be prepared for changes to how your gym is to operate, to be enforced at any time. The best way to future proof your business is with a hybrid fitness offering.

Things to consider for a hybrid fitness offering:

• A branded member App – gym, swim & class bookings. News and club updates. Marketing automation & push notifcations to keep your members informed.
• At home – on demand workouts. Livestreams, re-streams & third party content.
• Access control – an easier way for members to access your club and register attendance.
• Lead generation – using your own current members as a sales tool to generate new members.
• Monetisation – new revenue opportunities through digital memberships.

We understand the new digital world can be daunting, so we have provided you with some tips to help you make your gym, leisure centre or health club thrive with a digital offering. Take these steps when going hybrid…

1. Why?

Ask yourself why do you need to go digital? There may be certain problems you’re trying to solve, or member needs you are trying to meet.

We know the ‘why’ at this point in time is to ensure your business will succeed in a new, post-lockdown, digital world and to keep up with the ever-changing restrictions that have been in force and may continue to be faced in the future. Not only this, but the new hybrid fitness model gives you the opportunity to generate more revenue with a new, digital offering.

Your offering needs to be member-centric, so it’s important you understand your customers needs and wants to help you prioritise the solutions to offer.

2. Choose your digital partner

Your partner should reflect not only your brand but also your business model. Any technology you implement needs to compliment your future plan and goals.

Make sure the tech does everything you need, from livestreams and re-streams to marketing and commerce, there’s a lot out there to get your head around. Use your answers to ‘why you need a digital offering’ to guide your decisions.

You also need to ensure you trust your provider to be there to give you the support and guidance you need to make your digital offering a success. Our Customer Success Team will be happy to support you before, during and after you have gone live.

3. Consider your pricing strategy

It’s important to get the price tag for your digital offering correct, take some time to consider this – talk to your partner for advice and guidance if this is something that is new to you.

Things to consider:

• Are you looking to make a profit?
• Do you want to enhance the current customer experience or bring on new members, or both?
• Will you have a ‘digital only’ membership offering?

Need further support with this? Read our pricing strategy blog here.

4. Communicate

Spread the word about your new offering. You need to be considering the communication for both current members and potential new customers. Whatever digital solutions you decide to implement, you need to get creative and excite your audience! Ask your digital provider for marketing ideas and support if you require it -they’re the experts after all.

Things to consider:

• Social media campaigns
• In-centre campaigns
• Launch day promo
• Competitions to get members and prospects engaged

5. Plan your launch

It’s really important to get your launch right. Make some noise about launch day to build up the excitement amongst staff and members. Make sure your team are prepared for questions from customers, and confident in talking about your new offering. Give them a brief in advance and make sure they are trained adequately – remember your staff members can be your biggest brand advocates.

You could even run induction sessions, either virtually or in-centre, to share your exciting new offering with members and potential customers.

6. Keep the momentum going

Make sure you have a content plan in place to make sure you are talking about your new digital offering frequently, across all channels. It’s important to keep the momentum going to really maximise the potential of your new digital offering.

7. Monitor success

The joy of a digital solution is the data that comes with it! It’s important to report on and track the progress of your new solutions. This will allow you to see what’s working and what may need a little more love to get it off the ground.

You should work with your digital partner to optimise your offering. Testing and learning is all part of the process with a new digital solution – so look at what is working and do more of it! 

What are you waiting for?

If you want to know more about how myFitApp can transform your gym and its digital offering, we are here to help!

How Generation Z are changing your gym

The ‘digital natives’

Generation Z, born between 1997 and 2010, are the age group becoming more and more dominant in your gym. Certain characteristics are attributed to each generation and Generation Z are known as the generation of ‘digital natives’. They were born into a society with the Internet, cell phones, and modern technology, and of course grew up with it.

They don’t know a world without digital media and for them, the transition between virtual and reality is fluid. They mainly shop online, stay in touch via apps and social media and their smartphone is an essential everyday item.

Your future customer wants a hybrid offering

Statistics show that Gen Z first seek information about places online rather than through face-to-face contact and 70% of them already use apps or other digital offers to track their health.

Since this generation is your current and future customer, you should turn to a hybrid fitness offer to keep them engaged . Hybrid means both in gym and online at the same time. This not only includes hybrid classes, i.e. workouts that you broadcast live to members at home during a class in the studio, it also means creating a smooth experience between on-site in your gym and at home on the sofa.

Strengthen brand loyalty

You don’t need to worry that your on-site studio will soon be obsolete. Although Generation Z has a little difficulty with brand loyalty, as they are aware of the variety of offers offered by the Internet, they will continue to come to your gym if you adapt to their needs through appealing online offerings. 

Therefore, the main thing is to strengthen their trust and bond with your fitness club. With an online offering, they will see the added value and remain loyal.

Digital customer loyalty – how to implement it

Our hybrid business platform helps you to keep this generation onboard as members. We help you design and create your unique branded App, thus creating a digital gym. This allows you to offer hybrid workouts, contact your members at any time and provide them with the latest information.

They can also use your App to view the range of classes, find out more and make bookings. Even more important, your members can refer friends digitally in return for a reward, something they’re extremely used to. 

Above all, our platform offers new sales opportunities for your gym. With in-App purchase, you can also reach non-members who want to test your digital offering. These may stick with the digital membership for the time being but could also come to appreciate your physical centre further down the line.

Questions?

If you want to know more about how myFitApp can transform your gym, we are here to help!

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How to maximise your time

Now your gym is open at full capacity

With your gym, leisure centre or health club back up and running at full capacity now the lockdown restrictions have been lifted, you and your team may have less time than before to spend on your digital offering – things like livestreams, marketing and member communications.

We have put together some quick wins that will help you save time whilst maximising output: 

1. Re-streams

Now they are back in the studio, your fitness instructors may not have as much time as they once did, during the pandemic, to host as many live-streamed workout classes. You may be considering reducing the amount of streamed fitness content your members can access, but with such a large demand for at home content, why not simply re-stream past livestreams?

With an @home platform, you can simply re-use any previously streamed classes, and schedule them in the same way as a live class. This not only keeps your at home content regular for members, it also gives them a chance to attend the class that suits them. You can even add the re-streamed class to the calendar, multiple times a day. Your members get the same motivating user-experience, whenever it suits them without you having to tie-up your trainers.

2. Use your members as a sales tool

Who could recommend your club as convincingly as your own members? The answer is, no-one! With a Lead Generation module, your members can send your offer to their friends, who receive a unique code to retrieve the offer. 

Increase sales and membership numbers with minimal work – all you need to do is create a campaign and your members do the rest.

3. Schedule marketing messages ahead of time

Promote all of your content with automated push messaging, ahead of time. Whether it’s marketing automation campaigns or news with push articles, you can build your content and schedule the message to send in the future, on the appropriate day and time. Whether it’s a new class that has been added to your timetable, or centre news, with an @home solution you can target your marketing campaign to specific audiences or share with all members. Create short messages that can be sent in-App with whatever call to action you like – simple!

4. Benefit from third party content

Are you looking for ways to build up your on-demand content library quickly, without the need to take up your trainers’ time? Supplement your content with high-quality third party content, like Wexer and Les Mills. This content can be fully integrated with your own current content and gives your members access to hundreds more videos at the click of a button in your App.

5. Use your App to get feedback from members

Find out what your members want, quickly and easily, with an in-App survey. Remove the need to spend time building emails or printing feedback forms for members to complete by simply linking to an online survey from your App. You can then send members a notification asking them to complete it. This way you will be able to gather feedback quickly allowing you to concentrate your time and efforts on keeping your customers happy.

Questions?

If you want to know more about how myFitApp can transform your gym, we are here to help!

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Stream workouts to the largest screen at home

with Chromecast and Airplay 

Are your members already streaming your workouts on their TV? Thanks to Chromecast or Airplay, members can stream directly from your branded member app to the largest possible screen at home. This creates the perfect gym feeling right at home.

Thanks to the fantastic user experience of myFitApp@home, over 50% of members watch their workouts on the TV. This was the result of a recent survey of 2,500 members of our @home customer ixmal.

Easy to use

The great thing is: it’s intuitive and effortless. Integrated into your app, your members can join your workouts with your trainers from their TV or another big screen with just one click via Airplay or Chromecast.

And even if there’s no TV nearby, your members can join the workout from their laptop via Magiclink, without any additional login.

So anyone, regardless of age or device, can have a great workout experience from anywhere!

Take your live classes to the next level

Give your workout videos the platform they deserve: The biggest possible screen and therefore the full workout experience!

Pixelated workout videos belong in the past, because with myFitApp@home your digital classes shine in breathtaking HD quality and with crystal clear sound.

Normal video conferencing tools are not made for irresistible customer experiences in fitness. However, we have developed the myFitApp@home solution exactly for that. With it, we can support you in your usual professional appearance in your app.

Offer your members the complete workout experience, amazingly close to your studio experience.

Your members will love it

Great results and positive experiences are synonymous with fun for your members. This increases their motivation and produces better results. Most importantly, it strengthens the bond between your members and your trainers.

The real difference in success is the user experience, so offer your members a fantastic training experience and keep them engaged with continuous excellence. 

But you can also convince your members professionally in trial training sessions thanks to Chromecast and Airplay and thus win new members.

Show your studio in the best light with your own hybrid workout platform with myFitAppy@home and upgrade now!

Do you already have @home?

Then share the great features with others! If not, we’re always available to help. Your members will love it.

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Delay to freedom day

How to support your members

After Prime Minister Boris Johnson confirmed a four week delay to Step 4, which should have been the final easing of lockdown measures, lots of health clubs, gyms and leisure centres in England will be wondering how to maximise their digital offering.

Gyms need to operate for four more weeks at reduced capacity. Having a hybrid fitness offering in place can make a big difference, to keep members engaged and active. This is a great option when space is limited both on the gym floor and in fitness classes.

What is hybrid fitness?

Hybrid fitness means you can offer members the option to join a fitness class either on-site or online. On-site classes are those within the four walls of your studio and online is where the member can access the class, from the comfort of their own home, through live-streaming or on-demand content.

How to go hybrid

With our myFitApp@home solution, you can create your own digital offering through your existing branded member app from Innovatise or any of our reseller partners. It’s really simple, fully integrated and much more effective than any other video conferencing solution.

Benefits include:

1. Say goodbye to limited capacity classes

Members can be frustrated by the limited capacity both in the gym and in the studio. Hybrid classes gives them the opportunity to train at home whenever it suits them; from a morning HIIT workout before work to a yoga session during their lunch break, the options are endless!

2. Seamlessly integrate third party content into your App

You might be wondering how to keep up with the demand for workout videos from your members. This is where third party content, like Wexer, comes in.

With the Wexer video option in our myFitApp@home platform, you can add over 700 high quality videos into your shopfront. There’s something for everyone and members can watch in-App or on their SmartTV or PC.

Find out more about Wexer and how you can monetise this content here.

3. You can support members who don’t feel confident returning to the gym

Lots of people who used the gym pre-pandemic, don’t feel comfortable returning, even now restrictions are starting to ease. The delay to ‘freedom day’ will only delay these members return even more. Offering a workout from home option will ensure they stay connected with you, and can continue training from wherever they choose.

4. You can acquire new customers

With a hybrid offering, you can acquire new members who are looking to work out online, or try a taster session before coming into the gym once restrictions have lifted.

Digital is here to stay

A recent survey* shows that 70% of customers want to continue using livestreams after reopening. As well as this, one of our customers has reported that 65% of App users, are now using the myFitApp@home solution to workout online, in a location that suits them.

Questions?

If you want to know more about myFitpp@home, and how to transform your hybrid fitness offering, we are here to help!

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*One club survey by ixmal to 2,500 customers.

The future of the fitness class is hybrid!

Is your studio already open? Have you considered hybrid fitness classes? If not, you should be! Whatever stage you’re at, as you re-open after the pandemic, offering live streaming of limited capacity, in-person classes should be at the front of your minds.

What is a hybrid class?

A hybrid fitness class offers customers the option to join the class onsite or online. Onsite is within the four walls of your studio and online is through live streaming or on-demand content.

Why hybrid?

1. Your customers want it!

A recent survey* shows that 70% of customers want to continue using livestreams after reopening.

2. It’s a simple way to adapt your business model to suit a digital first world

During the pandemic, the best chance of survival was a digital first fitness solution. As gyms and leisure centres are reopening, you still need to operate a business model that incorporates both services. Digital is the future!

3. It’s an easy way to expand your offering to current customers

Since the pandemic, customers are looking for more flexibility with their gym memberships. With many enjoying training from the comfort of their own homes, hybrid classes are a simple and effective way to give your current members more choice.

As well as flexibility, a hybrid class keeps your trainers close to your members with a real, motivational, class room feeling.

4. Say goodbye to limited capacity classes

With booking systems still in place in most gyms and leisure centres, members can become frustrated by the limited capacity both in the gym and in the studio. Hybrid classes give members the opportunity to train at home whenever it suits them; from a yoga session during their lunch break to a HIIT workout in the evening, the options are endless!

5. You can acquire new customers

With a hybrid class offering you can acquire new members that are looking to workout online, or try a taster session.

6. Members can increase training frequency

Lots of members will find they can increase their training frequency with the flexibility of hybrid workouts. Remember, results = happy customers!

Go hybrid today!

What are you waiting for? Create your own digital, hybrid offering or take your current digital solution to the next level. You can do this with your own myFitApp@home solution. With myFitApp, it’s really simple, and much more effective than any other video conferencing solution.

Get in touch today to transform your business and expand your digital offering.

*One club survey by ixmal to 2,500 customers.