It’s time to improve the health of local communities, adapt to shifting operating conditions and recover leisure facilities back to full health. Creating exceptional fitness experiences – both in-person and digitally – will help your leisure facilities recover faster.

Interest in fitness up, but time & satisfaction lacking

Earlier this year research conducted on behalf of Legend’s parent company, Xplor, found that personal health & fitness has become more important for over half of UK consumers compared to March 2020.

63% of those who now value health more highly, didn’t have a gym membership or attend regularly before the pandemic – a third of this group would consider joining a gym, leisure centre or classes.

While the value placed on personal health & fitness has grown, the average amount of time spent on fitness activities fell by 36% compared to pre-March 2020 levels. And, 76% of consumers were not fully satisfied by their lockdown fitness routines. Motivation, social interaction, adequate space & equipment, fun and proper routine were lacking.

With interest up, first-time customers open to joining local gyms, leisure centres or classes, and many wanting a more satisfying routine; there’s a real opportunity to reach these health seekers and power recovery in doing so.
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Exceptional fitness experiences speed recovery and drive growth

Now more than ever, to win new and retain customers you need to deliver a consistent experience that’s motivational, fun, and social.

What do you need to think about when delivery stand-out fitness experiences to your local community?

• Put members in control – It sounds simple, but user-friendly joining and booking tools are a must that can easily be overlooked. Making sure customers can join, book and access your facilities in a way that suits them creates a positive experience throughout their journey with you. Difficulty in these areas can cause drop out and attrition
• Focus on meaningful experiences – With more self-service for customers, the amount of admin will be reduced. Freeing in-centre team members to spend more time interacting and engaging with customers – especially those who are at risk of leaving and traditionally hard to reach groups
• Create frictionless payment experiences – While member payments are not necessarily the first thing that come to mind when you think about creating stand-out fitness experiences, making payments painless goes a long way. Cutting out paperwork, optimising payment journeys and bringing in payments expertise make it simple for customers to join and keep coming back to your facilities
• Get to know your community better – The more you know about the unique motivations of each group within your customer base and beyond, the easier it is to create compelling offers and service propositions. Your CRM should provide you with the right information you need to make key operational decisions that will drive exceptional experiences
• Make the most of existing and emerging technologies – From apps that help customers track progress towards fitness goals to gamified fitness equipment letting users of all levels compete in virtual races; choose the right technologies to engage your customer base. Start small considering adapting technology you already use and build on successes along the way
  

Recover Your Leisure Facilities Faster

For more insights from our consumer research, as well as practical ways you can achieve recovery faster for your leisure organisation, download our Recover Your Leisure Facilities Faster guide.