Power to the people: giving your customers digital freedom

It’s no secret that with how accessible technology is at our fingertips that people want more freedom and control to do the things they need to at a time that suits them. Anything from booking appointments, to classes, to submitting forms.

Technology has formed a key foundation in society and how consumers interact with businesses – including those in the fitness and leisure sectors.

The importance of digital technology to propel the fitness industry forward hasn’t escaped pioneers in the industry. ukactive and Sport England, supported by the UK branch of Gladstone and other strategic partners, recently announced a plan for a knowledge program to help leisure businesses to improve their “digital maturity” and effectiveness. This was found after a gap in skills and strategies was identified after a Digital Futures report, following a 3-month consultation with operators, was compiled.

As part of the initial consultation, 44 businesses representing more than 1,300 facilities in the UK, and about four million digital touchpoints for members, received an analysis and score for their digital maturity. For the first time, they’re empowered to benchmark and track their progress in their digital efficiency through the annual report.

The strategy sets out to help improve the way fitness and leisure providers use digital mediums in their business. The anticipated outcome being that the industry can grow to meet the needs and demands of consumers and guarantee complete digital accessibility and inclusivity.

Some of the key findings quoted directly from the report include:

  • Around 30% of operators said they do not have a digital strategy, and 84% admitted they do not have a digital strategy that is up to date, complete, ambitious enough and supported by an achievable roadmap.
  • Overall, the organisations scored an average of 55% for digital maturity and effectiveness. The index describes this level (40-59%) as ‘Digital Experimenter’, typically meaning that operators are making great strides forward but missing the investment, goal alignment and rapid advances to yield a strong performance.
  • The average score for private operators was significantly higher, at 63% – with public operators scoring 55% on average.
  • Private operators with more than 51 sites were the highest-scoring cohort, with an average score of 72% putting them at the ‘Digitally Established’ level (60-79%), with only one operator classed as a ‘Digital Leader’.

Click here to read the whole report.

With these findings, it shows what work can still be done to help businesses become more digitally inclined and adopt new technologies in their businesses.

At Jonas Leisure, our sole mission it to empower leisure and fitness businesses to grow, streamline, and improve the member experience through innovative software solutions.

We strongly believe in giving your members the power and freedom to manage their own bookings as society becomes ever more entrenched in instant gratification. That’s why Envibe, our hero solution, has several online features so you can give your members the flexibility to manage how they engage with your business anywhere, anytime.

Envibe’s online courses module allows customers to complete the full enrolment process when signing themselves or their children up for course-based leisure programmes such as swim school lessons or tennis academies. Full registration and payments can all be done online for any course enrolment.

Likewise, Envibe gives leisure facilities that run sports competitions and leagues the power to have teams register and pay their registration fees entirely online via the Teams Module. Team captains can register and pay their league fees online, to remove the need for all payments to be processed at a facility’s front desk ultimately streamlining the centre.

The online passes module also gives leisure clubs the ability to offer ‘Pay As You Go’ style memberships online for members that prefer more flexibility. Leisure centres can sell multi-use passes online (e.g. 5x Casual Visit Pass, 10x Casual Visit Pass, 20x Casual Visit Pass), to better serve customers who aren’t looking for fixed-term memberships or contracts. Single use passes are also available for purchase online, which is ideal for a casual swimming session or group fitness class.

These are just a few of the online features Envibe offers the Australian and New Zealand leisure market to help empower their businesses to become more digitally advanced. While the Digital Futures report was conducted overseas for the UK leisure market, there are still some parallels to draw in their findings. Embracing technology in the leisure industry and using it to better serve members and your relationships with them will only better strengthen your business.

Giving customers the ability to process payments online, manage their own bookings, and team registrations will ultimately help you meet your business goals faster, increase efficiency in your centre, and take some of the workload off your teams and resources.

Technology has, and always will be, the way of the future.