Amanda Hart is Director of Customer Success at Keepme, a software solution for the fitness industry, which uses everyday data alongside machine learning models to afford operators increased transparency throughout the entire member journey. We spoke to Amanda, formerly Director of Sales and Operations at Soho Gyms, about why the kind of 360˚ customer view Keepme offers is more essential now, as the sector looks to rebuild after lockdowns than it’s ever been.

What do you mean by a 360˚ customer view?

Fundamentally, Keepme offers operators clear, concise and real-time insights into prospect and member behaviours from the point of data capture followed by their membership journey thereafter. The AI identifies where early intervention may be required to either close a sale or save a member. Utilising the data insights, operators can also identify member patterns and tailor member engagements accordingly via ongoing automations or suggested campaigns.

At Keepme’s heart is an AI engine that ensures operators can glean a truly rounded view and at last make data-driven decisions. No more relying on gut instinct, on what ‘feels right’ – something as an industry we still do all too often.

Keepme plugs into existing Membership Management Systems and is programmed to track and trace member habits, from the moment they swipe in, to the purchase of PT, membership bolt-ons, booking classes, ancillary spend and frequency of attendance. Operators have data in spades but so rarely utilise it. Only with this level of insight can you translate member actions and use them to create hyper-personalised engagements, reduce attrition, increase secondary spend and, ultimately, raise operational revenue.

Why is this extra level of knowledge so vital right now?

The pandemic has made the day-to-day running of a fitness facility infinitely harder. Considering the ongoing fallout from COVID-19, as the sector fights to rebuild and regain its footing, proving your operation is COVID-secure has added another layer to the age-old challenges of attracting new members and retaining existing ones.

Sadly, many teams must now multi-task even further, following redundancies, but members will want human interaction – after all, they’ve spent the majority of the year either training alone or alongside digital offerings. The success of each and every fitness business as we move forwards is locked in its data – only by gaining in-depth insight and using technology to manage prospecting and membership communications for us can we free up our much-reduced teams for vital member engagements.

How can data help form a robust COVID-19 bounce back plan?

Who knows what the next few months hold for this industry? As part of a pandemic recovery plan, operators will have to re-forecast spend and ROI. Having total transparency on everything from where leads have come from, and which source has stronger conversion rates, to which members are most at risk of leaving will allow operators to realign marketing spend accordingly.

We know within our sector that it’s more expensive to attract new members than to retain loyal fans – having the ability to view successful campaigns enables more effective sales and marketing planning, which for many right now is crucial. The Keepme system can automatically reach out, engaging with every single member at club level, regionally or nationally – it’s quick, effective and built-in within Keepme’s engagement suite Connect, therefore making communication a lot swifter and more accessible. From there, GMs can track which members have opened the communication, see how many come in, and when, then create automations based on how engaged the membership base is.

A truly accurate 360˚ view will support business planning for a post-pandemic future. With a clear picture of leads > sales > conversions > membership plans > member engagements > retention > revenue projections and team performance an operator is able to inspect and streamline time management; whilst praising performance and addressing areas for development. The operators who stay afloat will be those who use their data to their best advantage and make every member count.

As an ex-operator yourself, with 26 years’ experience, what advantages would Keepme have afforded you?

It would have made a world of difference to my marketing strategies, my retention campaigns and my teams’ time management, ultimately resulting in an increased profit margin! At Soho Gyms, I managed a big sales team. I had to log into three platforms to track sales and membership data to be able to present and share it – Keepme would have allowed me to do everything from one platform as well as better identify training needs, and praise and reward more effectively. Your team is your most valuable asset but can also be an expensive challenge, so being able to simply identify where support is needed would have been hugely beneficial.

What role will data play in the coming year?

Every fitness organisation could be worth more than they think … we can do things today with standard data sets that we couldn’t even think of five years ago. And this will only continue to improve over time. The value operators have in their data won’t present in their datasheet, but will be invaluable over the next 10 years.

For too long, fitness operators have wasted significant time, effort and revenue jumping between different sales and marketing tools. Only with an AI-powered CRM can the industry truly understand the whole member lifecycle — from lead capture and sales to retention, secondary spend and ex-member win back. Harnessing unused and currently, hidden data will create a genuine step-change in this sector’s success, enabling operators to take actions with confidence as they’re based on fact, drive additional revenue and increase profitability at every stage.

To find out more about Keepme visit www.keepme.ai