Three Lasting Post-COVID-19 Trends in the Fitness Industry
Posted: April 6, 2021 in Suppliers
VFPnext
Pandemics have a way of accelerating changes, and COVID-19 is no different. So, what are the three main changes that are so rapidly accelerating?
- 1. Digital Member Relationships;
- 2. Connected Wellness;
- 3. Fitness Anywhere.
1. Digital Member Relationships: During the pandemic, clubs were unable to have face-to-face relationships with their members and had to rely on their digital relationships. This quickly exposed how little information most clubs have on their members outside of their billing information. Creating a digital relationship with members has now become a must for competing into the future. The ramped-up need for in-depth member data not only relates to their billing but, more importantly information on the member, such as their fitness goals, their number of children, their marital status, their club usage, etc. This information gives the club the ability to send personal messages and create a true digital relationship.
The deeper and more personal digital relationship you have with your members, the more likely they are to recommend friends, spend more money and remain a member longer. Clubs are now searching for and engaging true member data collection systems that can activate that data to create a deeper digital member relationship.
2. Connected Wellness: As hard-hitting as it was to the fitness industry, the pandemic helped expose the reality that healthy lifestyle choices strengthen the immune system and help prevent chronic diseases. Clubs will need to quickly adapt their messaging, marketing and brands to emphasize the connection between fitness and wellness. Post-pandemic research will clearly show how health club members and fitness conscious individuals fared much better through the pandemic. The post-pandemic consumer will be highly focused on how clubs can help them connect fitness, wellness and age mitigation strategies.
The club organizations that have the ability to message, brand and communicate how they are connecting fitness, wellness, and age mitigation strategies will be able to leverage this post-pandemic realization.
3. Fitness Anywhere: The fitness industry had been slowly moving in the direction of on-demand fitness, but the pandemic made it essential for survival. Clubs quickly adapted to on-demand fitness creating a new consumer expectation that on-demand fitness will be an offering available with memberships.
In summary, the post-COVID era will accelerate the need for organizations to collect and leverage data to establish deeper digital relationships with their members. Clubs will need to connect their members’ fitness to their health and wellness outside the four walls of your club.
VFPnext™ CRM turns touchpoints into sales opportunities and provides complete task management systems for sales, personal training, and staff retention. The solution is customizable to your club’s lead and member communication cadence and style. It is simple to use and provides an intuitive user interface designed by health club experts and the leading health club sales system.
To learn more about VFP and the VFPnext, go to vfp.us.
