FitSummit Snapshot – Part 2
Our first attendance at FitSummit 2021 was courtesy of an invite from our friends at Virtuagym. There were some world class speakers on show with lots of informed opinion about the state of the consumer landscape post-COVID. In our Snapshot Part 1 we gave you the low down on how major franchisor, SNAP Fitness, was adapting in post COVID. In Part 2 we are looking at a workshop run by Shari Casatelli of ClassPass, full of real data about consumer behaviours and how ClassPass ic changing for the new era.
What is FitSummit?
FIT Summit is the business network for health, fitness, wellness industry, with a global reach and a special focus on the Asia-Pacific region. It represents multiple industry pillars: fitness, wellness, corporate wellness, hospitality/spa, health and sports. The organisation looks to connect brand owners and managers to each other, as well as technology companies, equipment providers, distributors, suppliers, insurers, advisors and investors, to discuss market trends, industry challenges, investment outlooks and new business opportunities.
Who are ClassPass?
ClassPass is an app that connects fitness consumers to operators all over the globe. The mooted value of $1bn for this aggregating platform specialising in fitness, manifested in a huge deal when Mindbody acquired ClassPass in October 21. But we are here to compress the valuable insight that Shari Castelli, Director of Industry Development at ClassPass (CP) gave us during her FitSummit talk into a 2 minute read.
How is ClassPass Doing?
The first topic Shari overed was that in-person fitness is recovering well and people that have returned are actually using more. The customer acquisition rate has improved i.e. it is easier to convince people to use CP. From the data streaming in, they conclude that studio fitness is durable and resilient, and is bouncing back when COVID risk decreases. The type of in-person fitness user experience coming back fastest is that requiring specialist equipment; this is not surprising so reformer pilates, strength and cycling are at the forefront of recovery.
From surveys that CP has carried out it is apparent that people do like being in a room with other people doing similar activity – it’s social. They also prefer being coached and encouraged when working out. Plus, when you make a booking for in-person fitness there is more accountability, you have to show up.
What Can You Offer as a Fitness Operator
People’s daily rhythmns have changed. Evening workouts have shifted an hour to 5.30pm from 6.30pm; demand for lunchtime workouts up by 2* and 30 minute workouts are very popular. Things have changed as the hybrid workplace looks here to stay. Half of workers are reporting that there is a new remote working policy in place; there is a lot of part time office presence. Look at your fitness scheduling and check you are fulfilling changing needs.
There is a new attitude in that people want flexibility in pricing, packages and policies; you as an fitness operator now have to help fitness consumers deal with uncertaintity. For example, CP put in more customer friendly freeze policies and a video package. This worked well and built a lot of trust and improved their conversion to purchase by 10%.
It’s almost impossible to over communicate. You need to proactively help people, put them on pause if they are not using or freeze. This helps build trust. Be transparent. Of course, cleanliness and safety are super important and you need to push this out. For fitness studios and operators that do this it bookings improve.
Authenticity Sells
In ClassPass’s experience, user generated content performs better than professionally generated content so as an operator you need to help your fitness presence online by encouraging all your members to show and tag. And use humour! It pushes a +20% increase in click through. Light hearted and fun TikTok style really won over conversions. Another tip is to use micro influencers e.g. people who have 80k followers rather than macro influencers; these will have more effect and their cost per click is in par with big bloggers – give them a membership as a quid pro quo.
RISE Franchise is all over this
RISE as a new concept is designed to hit the mark on encouragement & accountability using expert coaching AND getting people to schedule two outdoor sessions per week. By having a hyper-local focus, we are right there to cater for the lunchtime demand and new earlier evening slots that fulfil the needs of the hybrid worker. RISE is flexible, no contracts are applied and the safety element is enhanced with individual work stations and of course being outdoor is a tremendous plus on COVID risk.
The RISE app has a community section and because we use Myzone heart rate tech the fun activity challenges are within the RISE community and global!
If you are interested in becoming a franchisee please talk to us by filling in the contact form or DM on social media.
#fitnessfranchise #risefitness #businessopportunity
Also featured by our friends at Franchise Local, click here to read.
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