The post-pandemic consumer

A new set of post-pandemic consumer behaviours are impacting fitness operators of all shapes and sizes. Dr Paul Bedford shares the findings of new research, and offers insights into how operators might respond. 

Earlier this year, I put together a report into changing dynamics in the fitness marketplace: new post-pandemic nuances in consumer behaviour compared to pre-COVID norms.

The report was inspired by a request from one of my customers, concerned by some of the changes they were seeing and wanting to know what they could do about it. Their question: ‘Are we alone in this?’

My answer: ‘Absolutely not.’

Because – although all the headlines show club operations returning to pre-pandemic membership numbers, and great news that is – some things have nevertheless changed. And they’ve changed across the sector and around the world, with consistent themes emerging around customer usage patterns.

I’ll dive into the findings of our research in a moment, but ...

Nike have announced they are to open the first of a series of studios later this year.

We have already seen Hermes, H&M, alo, Resolve and Aviator Nation deliver concept studios both as an addition to their brand offering or as pop-up location to grab media attention.

Nike will launch with two Californian locations the first will both be Nike Training Studios (NTS) with Nike Running Studios (NRS) to follow.

I will be keen to see if this is truly an attempt to enter the fitness studio market or a marketing project to create content for use across platforms. It will certainly attract the one and done influencers and the fitness tourists who will want to post their views of the studios, to their social media following, but have no intention of becoming a regular visitor. I would imaging mainstream media will also jump at the chance to feature this extension of the Nike brand.

Now while the marketing is suggesting all-inclusive the images representing the participants is very much the...

Introduction by Luke Carson - Discover Strength 

Retention is the period of time between when someone joins and they either stop exercising or when they stopped paying. Depending upon the markets we work in, it depends which one of those two or if we measure both.

Attrition is the number of people that cancel from your business. So one is measured in months and the other is measured in people, so they're not the opposite of one another, Like many people think. They're related, but then they are separate measures completely.

Lots of people say, oh well if your retention is this, then your attrition is the opposite.

We use traditional statistical analysis that's found in medicine insurance companies to actually track and plot what people are doing. Some of the things that the Fitness industry use to measure attrition just have no value. You might as well measure the size of a room with an ice cream.

Retention needs to be measured in people, not percentages.

The approach that's most appropriate, is called survival analysis. Survival an...

Each week I get contacted by suppliers who have developed products that claim to improve retention. Some are existing companies and others are start ups. So I have decided to review them and publish those reviews. This is the first is with Shai from CoachAi. I discus the product, how clients are using CoachAi and the result they are getting. I summarise and give my evaluation a the end. 

You can also download the one year case study hear.  https://www.coachai.com/pub/coachai-one-year-case-study-2019.pdf 

Considering the current situation globally I decided to make a short video for my clients to help them understand what they need to do to retain customers at this time. It ended up being a little long than I had planned (14 mins), but in it I describe the three phases of change that need to be managed. 

These are the phases you need to manage as a health club operator 

1. Reduce Exercise Phase
2. Isolation Phase 
3. Returning Phase. 

As this week progresses I am sure I will have more ideas about what operators can do and will update within our lunchtime lesson posts on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

If you have any questions email me at [email protected] 

Please share the video 

If you are not comfortable sending people to this website to watch the video you can download the video from Vimeo and embed it somewhere you feel more comfortable. 

https://vimeo.com/397627889 

Paul Bedford PhD

Retention Guru Ltd

+44 (0) 7956 311 899 

In gaming infinite variability are games that no matter how long you play them for you never repeat the same experience. The highly successful and very addictive Fortnite is just such an example. Many games have finite variability where players can become very accustomed to the landscape and challenges placed in their way. Some of this is by design, so that game producers are able to release further additions of popular titles or new versions every year.

The more niche you are the more finite your variability. The challenges that may be faced by boutiques and single activity studios over the long term is the concept of finite variability, a posh way of saying nothing new. Which can only combated by larger population density and frequent turnover of inhabitants. 

Now no business can ensure that its customers will use its products or services forever, however the more limited the options or choices the quicker someone reaches the point where the experience just becomes repetitive. W...

Talk To Retain

The data on member communication doesn’t make pretty reading for the industry, says Dr Paul Bedford – but some simple mindset changes can make all the difference.

There is no doubt about it, talking to members improves retention and reduces attrition. This delivers advantages to the operator: it increase revenue and is good for the member, as it improves the overall health club experience.

How can we say this with such certainty?

Research evidence generated over the past 12 years clearly demonstrates a relationship between staff, member interaction and retention.

This data identifies that health club members interviewed on the gym floor while working out want some level of interaction with staff. The statistics show that staff interactions are a strong predictor of membership maintenance.

Members who are spoken to every visit are 60% less likely to quit than those who are spoken to occasionally and 70% less likely than those who are spoken to rarely or never. This ...

Retention: The importance of self-knowledge

There’s no one thing that will fix your member retention, but clarity of mission, a strong culture and an eye for data will drive significant change. Kate Cracknell reports from this year’s Retention Convention

“The fitness industry today is a place of blurred lines between a proliferation of business models,” said Dr Paul Bedford at last month’s Retention Convention. “Before you can define your customer experience, or create your customer journeys, you need to define who you are.”

Bedford was speaking at his fifth annual Retention Convention – this year sponsored by Precor, The Retention People, DFC, Coach AI and Willmott Dixon – which saw a series of high-performing operators sharing their retention best practice.

Bedford’s message: Be absolutely clear about who you are and who you’re targeting, and build a company culture that reinforces this at every touchpoint. Only then will you be in a position to deliver the sort of compelling ...

Best in class

As I travel around the world I see a variety of practices, which I sometimes look at with my head tilted to one side,questioning the decision theoperatorhas made.  One of these, more common in North America than Europe, is buying equipment from a variety of manufacturers on the premise of giving members access to 'best in class’ kit.

Firstly I would challenge the methodology used to decide best in class. All too often it means the person choosing the equipment has a personal preference or is buying the equipment they want to use, rather than thinking about the experience of the customer. Some of this is based on what we are used to; the feel of a certain type of equipment or the way we want to train, but how can you decide what is best in class unless you’ve have tried every piece of equipment in that category?

Simplicity is key

As I look at equipment choice through the lens of retention and attrition my first consideration is the exercise experience. How easy is it...