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Engage Your Members

At the Gym, At Home, On the Go

ENGAGE YOUR MEMBERS FoF
Webinar

Future of Fitness

Covid-19 has accelerated the adoption of a hybrid model of online/in-person workouts – creating a shift in how the industry works and ripping up the rulebook on how to engage members. It’s no longer enough to simply engage members inside the four walls of a facility. Today’s operators must become omnichannel, providing a whole ecosystem of fitness offerings to engage members at the gym, at home, and on the go. Anything less, and they risk being left behind.
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Key Takeaways


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OVERCOMING THE BARRIERS TO IMPLEMENTING A HIGH-IMPACT DIGITAL SOLUTION

1 | ENGAGING, INTERACTIVE, EXPERIENTIAL

Digital fitness is here to stay and it’s something we need to embrace, but it’s important to remember that not all fitness content is equal. Any content that you use from a digital platform must be engaging, interactive, and experiential. Members have to enjoy what they’re doing and be hungry for more.

2 | ENHANCING MEMBER CONNECTION

As you follow a member through their fitness journey, the location becomes agnostic – staying connected to that individual whether they’re at the fitness center, at home, at work, outdoors, or on the go. Look for a digital fitness platform that can be accessed anytime, anywhere, and any place, both inside and outside of your facility, to complete your fitness ecosystem and keep your community engaged.

3 | CREATE A POWERFUL PARTNERSHIP

Find a partner that’s mastering the space, allowing you to offer a best-of-breed digital fitness experience to your new and existing members. Ask yourself, what companies have really put in the expertise to build a content library that’s high-quality, timeless, robust, and ever-growing?

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SUPER-CHARGING MEMBER ENGAGEMENT WITH IFIT 

1 | WHAT IS IFIT?

iFIT is the world’s only truly interactive, connected fitness platform, enjoyed by millions of people across the world in the home, at the fitness center, and on-the-go. More than just a fitness streaming service, iFIT is a powerful engagement tool and retention magnet for your facility. And here’s why…

  • 4.9 million users
  • 12.9 million monthly workouts
  • 80,000 hours of content streamed daily
  • 12 workouts per active user per month (on average)
  • 51 million+ calories burned per day
  • 524,000 miles travelled per day
  • 4.7/5 star rating

*Stats accurate as of 01 February 2021

iFIT takes fitness content to another level and, once your members experience how engaging, immersive, and interactive it is, they’ll want to experience that each and every day.

2 | CREATING MAGIC IN YOUR FACILITY WITH INTERACTIVE, AUTO-ADJUSTING TECHNOLOGY

The magic of iFIT is in the way it moves you both emotionally and physically – auto-adjusting the speed, resistance, incline, and/or decline of the Freemotion 22 SERIES cardio equipment in sync with the on-screen coach’s command. By accurately simulating the topography of the iFIT Global Workout, this leading-edge technology makes the user feel as though they are running, walking, or cycling alongside their coach; living every step or pedal stroke for a uniquely immersive and interactive, true-to-life experience. Removing the need to manually adjust the machine allows the user to focus on their workout and make every second count.

3 | MEETING MEMBERS WHERE THEY’RE AT

In today’s world, you need to be able to meet members where they’re at – meshing together all of the ways people consume fitness. iFIT is available at the gym, at home, and on the go – meaning you never lose connection with your community.

4 | ULTRA-PERSONALIZED CONTENT THAT BOOSTS RETENTION

iFIT offers an ever-increasing library of over 16,000 live and on-demand global workouts and studio classes, filmed across all seven continents in over 55 countries. This allows your members to become worldwide adventurers, with the power to personalize their workouts at the touch of a button. They could be hiking Mount Fuji today and riding the streets of Paris tomorrow! Delivered by 170+ world-class, multi-disciplinary trainers, from Olympic athletes to pro athletes, all with their own unique training styles and personalities that motivate and inspire, your members will quickly find their new favorite trainers – building connections that will keep them returning day after day, week after week.

5 | GO FURTHER WITH GOOGLE MAPS!

iFIT is the largest user of Google Maps™ in the world – enabling your members to train almost anywhere around the globe without ever leaving the facility! Members can create a route using Google Maps and iFIT will adjust their Freemotion machine to match the on-screen terrain, allowing them to virtually explore 10 million miles (16 million km) of mapped locations. Whether you’d like to take a trip down memory lane, run a famous event route like the Boston Marathon, or explore a country you’ve always wanted to visit, Google Maps makes the world your members’ workout zone.

6 | BRINGING THE ‘NETFLIX’ EFFECT TO FITNESS

iFIT features an extensive library of progressive, coach-led, global and studio workouts, bringing the ‘Netflix effect’ to the fitness industry. The beauty of the iFIT-driven 22 SERIES is that it enables gym-goers to build up their fitness and confidence levels over time, in the same way a Netflix series gradually unveils the story, piece by piece, with each episode – making members eager to return for more.

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ENHANCING THE MEMBER JOURNEY THROUGH DIGITAL FITNESS

1 | DRIVING MEMBER ACQUISITION

Certain populations can be intimidated by fitness centers because they don’t know what to do inside them – they don’t want to be embarrassed, they don’t know what to expect, they are simply uncomfortable going into a fitness environment.

Delivering digital workouts to people in their homes – correlating those with activities in the facility – helps prospects become more comfortable and confident. They learn how to use certain pieces of equipment, how to take certain classes, and how to perform certain movements, which makes them much more likely to accept an invitation to your facility. So, even at the very top of the sales funnel, digital fitness can have a very powerful impact.

2 | SERVING UP THE “BEST OF BOTH WORLDS” TO PERSONALIZE THE FITNESS EXPERIENCE

When a person joins a fitness center, they start off excited and enthusiastic, but oftentimes, they look around the facility and don’t know what to do. Some people can afford personal trainers, while others can’t. So what’s the solution?

Digital platforms can help people to create personalized fitness plans based upon their goals, activity preferences, personal schedules, and their physical readiness. Furthermore, coach-led digital content, like that provided by iFIT, gives members the support and guidance of a fitness professional without having to pay for the luxury! These solutions can help people know what to do, how to do it, keep track of their progress, place and stick to workouts onto their calendars (which is one of the most crucial components for compliance), stay motivated, share progress, and invite/refer friends to their facilities.

When you combine the type of personalization you can achieve through digital engagement with the energy of a fitness center or studio, members get the best of both worlds. They get digital guidance plus the incredible motivation of human interaction; a powerful combination that enables fitness to really become a part of their lives, driving acquisition, engagement, and retention.

3 | STRENGTHENING FITNESS HABITS THROUGH DIGITAL SOLUTIONS

No matter how highly committed people are to fitness, sometimes life gets in the way. They get off track, can’t make it into the facility as often as they’d like, and, pretty soon, they break the fitness habits they had developed.

A digital fitness offering can fill that void, keeping members on track with their fitness activities while helping to maintain relationships with members beyond the four walls of the facility – leading to significant retention advantages.

Digital fitness also gives members the ability to build their own bespoke programs that work for them – for example, combining boxing classes at their facility with iFIT cardio workouts at home, in the gym, or on the go.

4 | FIGHTING BACK AGAINST MEMBER ATTRITION

One – if not the – biggest causes of attrition is people becoming inactive; we essentially lose them to their sofas. So, the ability to keep them moving while they are at home is crucial for a facility’s retention. If you can keep the yo-yo members (those that join and quit, join and quit) digitally engaged with your brand, if they cancel their land-based membership, you’ll have a much better chance of winning them back.

If you properly integrate digital fitness at the different touchpoints in the member journey, it can have a very positive impact on human behavior and a great impact on our industry as a whole.

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MONETIZING DIGITAL FITNESS

It’s clear that the future is integrating a holistic digital solution with land-based operations to enhance member experience and commercial outcomes. Here are just some of the ways you can monetize the digital fitness element of your business…

1 | A value-add that drives people to your door

Adding a digital fitness platform that provides engaging, immersive, and interactive content is a value-add to your typical membership. From an acquisition standpoint, high-quality content can help drive people to your facility door.

2 | Subscription models to suit every member

Creating subscription models to cater for all the different types of members is a savvy way to monetize digital fitness. For example, you could offer different subscriptions for new members, existing members, at-risk members, digital-only members, and hybrid members (those wanting a digital and brick-and-mortar membership). The possibilities are almost endless! Having a more diverse offering will also help to increase referrals because it gives your community and brand advocates more membership options to recommend.

3 | Keeping members active to boost retention and revenue

You want to keep people active because the more active they are, the more they will stay in touch with your brand. A digital platform enables that continuous communication with members, allowing you to stay in contact with them even if they’re not within your facility. If you get people to create a habit by staying active inside and outside the facility using the in-club, hybrid, or digital model, you’ll boost your retention and revenue. Digital platforms can be a great way to scale member engagement and acknowledgement, making a big difference to your membership base and commercial outcomes.

4 | Overcoming the barriers of onboarding to keep members for longer

A digital platform allows people to ease into their memberships and beat any ‘gymtimidation’ they may feel. With more members getting off to a better start and staying for longer, you’ll be able to increase their lifetime value – benefitting your bottom line.

Note: Before signing up to a digital platform, always make sure you have properly thought through the potential return on A) the investment and B) the value you can add to your current offering.

Dan Toigo

Senior Vice President | ICON Health & Fitness                      Managing Director | Freemotion

Jeff Esswein

Vice President of Strategic Accounts and Digital Content

Tom Lapcevic

Executive Chairman and Co-Founder

Greg Dowd

CEO

Cheryl Barnett

Chief Growth Officer

22 SERIES HEADER Upright Bike(2880×120)
THE CARDIO EXPERIENCE REIMAGINED

22 Series

Powered by iFIT, the 22 SERIES keeps users engaged with vivid imagery, motivational coaching, and auto-adjusting technology that delivers an immersive and interactive cardio experience.