LegitFit, an EMD UK strategic partner, share some tips as to why you should take your fitness business online.
Why should I take my business online?
There are of course a number of reasons why you should consider going online such as enabling exposure, raising customer awareness, sharing info, managing leads, taking bookings/payments etc… but all at once, these can seem like too much. Let’s focus on what will have the most impact on your business right now.
Okay, so what are the top 5:
1. Website
One of the major advantages of having a website is that it is accessible to anyone, anywhere, anytime. This year, 2.14 billion people are expected to be shopping online and not having a website is thought to restrict you to only a 7% market share (and yes, that includes gym-related products and services). Generally, we can categorise the purpose of most websites into 3 parts: Awareness, sales, and information.
Awareness:
With 93% of decision-making starting with a search engine search websites are a surefire way to gain awareness with non-customers. The more developed your website becomes, the higher you will rank on Google and that means the higher the chance that new people will see your business. This can lead to a steady stream of new customers.
Sales:
Selling through your website comes in many different forms. You can use your website to post discounts on current packages/memberships if you are looking to boost revenue around a particularly difficult time of year. You can also utilise your website to sell products such as merchandise or supplements to your customers for an additional revenue stream.
Information:
Even during non-business hours, customers can access your website, avail of your services and get the information they need, which is one of the key elements of the importance of a website in business. Having a place where you can update your customers on upcoming events, changes to opening hours or inform them about new equipment purchases is very important. It helps to foster a sense of community within the business while making sure everyone is informed and on the same page.
2. Social media
Social media is an essential part of doing business in this modern world, and it can help your business to: attract customers, get customer feedback and build customer loyalty. It can help you engage with your customers and discover what people are saying about your business quickly and efficiently. You can use social media as another contact touchpoint for your customers who may be slightly less tech-savvy.
Social media can be another great place to build a community through things like promotional giveaways, online webinars or even just useful informative content. You can have all Social Media links added to your Sites platform.
3. Online timetable
Having your timetable appear on your website so your customers can see the classes on offer makes it quick and easy for them to connect with your services, register and book a class/session. The best part is that this all requires little to no work on your end once the timetable is set up. You simply schedule the classes and go about your day while customers are booking in and your classes are filling up!
Think about how much easier this is than taking phone calls, booking people in a diary and taking payment in cash on the day. On which note, over half (52%) of customers are asking for more payment options, so adopting efficient online processes will save both you and your customers valuable time and money.
4. Online classes
We can all agree COVID-19 changed the world and the way of fitness forever. Whilst in-person classes are gaining popularity again there are still lots of online and hybrid classes, so ensure you’ve tools to create and host them. Is your audience only the audience that is physically present in your club or are there more opportunities out there?
We know that nothing will ever beat the experience of an in-person class but having the ability to host your sessions online has numerous benefits. It can give you access to new markets, such as those who may be housebound due to age or illness or simply away but still want to keep fit. They can still sign up and do what they can from the comfort of their homes, hotel rooms or anywhere in the world making fitness accessible to everyone.
Having the ability to reach your customers even in the event that restrictions around movement are brought in again in the future offers a sense of security that is unmatched. It will also help to strengthen the sense of community that we discussed earlier.
5. Client and financial management
Having everything in one place means that it is easy for you to gather insights from your data. This applies to many different aspects of the business. You can look at your attendance data from the last month to determine your best/worst customers, who may be dropping off and who is keeping to their scheduled plan.
You can view all of your payment information in one place. This allows you to not only ensure that everyone is paying on time and that you no longer have to chase people for payment. It also means that you can look at your business’s overall profitability and see at a glance how well you are doing.
This offers better visibility of your business and you can then act with this new and up-to-date knowledge. Should you see that a customer is coming to fewer classes than they did last month this may mean they are in danger of leaving. You can then offer them a discount to encourage them to stay or simply have a quick chat with them to make sure everything is okay.
Having an all-in-one platform is also useful for managing clients giving you the ability to message all clients as well as take notes on each individual and keep them in an easy-to-access location. This means that you can store important information such as injury history or exercise preferences so you can personalise your clients and their experiences.
How to find out more?
Thank you for taking the time to read our blog, we hope you found this useful for you and your business. If you have any questions or are interested in finding out more about our partners over at LegitFit you can check out their website or book in for a chat.
- https://thecircularboard.com/online-shopping-statistics/
- https://www.webfx.com/seo/statistics/
- 3. https://www.theindustry.fashion/over-half-of-consumers-want-more-payment-options-at-the-checkout-study-reveals/
