At Elevate 2022, Rob Lander was joined by Carl McCartney, Customer Experience Director at Les Mills and Pip Black, Co-Founder at Frame, to discuss how best to prepare for the next generation of gym users. Here are the key points that came out of the discussion.
According to recent research, Gen Z’ers and Millennials are already open to the idea of being active–making them the perfect target. Research shows that time, motivation and value for money are their most important pinch points. Having had smartphones from an early age, this digitally savvy generation are influenced by Instagram, bloggers and professional athletes and brands–and are well informed and fitness aware.
Just as millennials are unique relative to other generations in regard to how they shop, work, and play, they are also distinct in their approach to health and wellness. Millennials have been called the most health-conscious generation, and for good reason. Whether it is eating clean foods, exercising frequently, or taking a mental health day, they believe in a holistic approach to wellness. They want wellness to be integrated in their daily lives and are willing to pay for the privilege
Digital is the new personal. We need to create highly bespoke experiences for every member through the personalisation of communications, content and purchase opportunities. Every member is an individual, has bespoke needs, motivations and preferences.
In today’s market, brand giants such as Netflix and Amazon have driven consumers to expect brands to identify and respond to their individual requirements. This has become the new baseline requirement that members will demand from their gym partner. A personalised experience now needs to be delivered across all aspects of the member journey.
There are 5 key areas that are important to utilise in order to best target GenZ and Millennials:
How can you really know what your members want without asking, or using technology to capture their preferences? Don’t capture data for the sake of it, use the data at your fingertips to better shape the member experience for each and every individual.
Create your own library of exercises and make these available to your trainers so that they can have ownership of putting together personalised training programmes for members and PT clients. However, it’s important to focus on quality, and keep the brand experience consistent, so that members feel a link from club to digital offerings.
With the right digital solution, trainers can have access to a web platform and mobile app customised to include all the programme categorising and coding references required. From there, trainers can also programme some workouts centrally or deliver them in required segments, personalising the journey for the member, be it a four-week cycle, or perhaps a training programme in preparation for a set event.
Understanding how people use your services is key to understanding what people think about them. Having one system that manages everything – from classes and personal training, to visits, purchases and booking, where you can see and report on customer actions, is essential so that the businesses can keep an eye on KPIs, trends and adjust and adapt quickly.
By having data visible and just the click of a button, and analysis of this easily viewable through a user-friendly interface allows for the democratisation of data – for all levels of the business, not just the executive team, to do their job better and feel like they have some responsibility, and input over the continued success of the business.
What Google, Amazon and Apple do very well is provide a specific service in a simple way that is designed with the customer in mind, based on how customers interact with their platforms. For health clubs, gyms and studios, it is vital that we do the same.
Within our industry, this works across a few levels. Firstly, we communicate relevant information quickly so that members can get the most from their membership. We then need to place that information in a single account page so that they can control their membership directly. And then there are moments where we look to provide the added ‘magic’ – for example, using the data to acknowledge and reward the user’s behaviour through congratulating behaviour streaks we want repeated, or providing a congratulatory summary of their training achievements at the end of the year.
The Covid-19 pandemic has created monumental shifts that are changing the game for many industries, including ours. People are going to work from home more and technology companies have created a new, higher level of experience with the quality continuing to rise.
Users want to feel connected to the trainers from the club, but need this feeling accessible through a blended membership that gives the members the best of both worlds – the hybrid offering.
We can do this by taking the trainers they know and love from the clubs into their smart devices.
Your app experience needs to be as good as your in-club experience, extending digital tools seamlessly out to the member wherever they are. The sweet spot is not just the in-club or the digital, it’s the in-between, giving them the fitness journey to fit their everyday lives, on the go.
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