Trust is also about being true to what you are as an organization and ensuring that customers know what to expect of your brand.
“Trust comes from delivering exactly what you promise every time,” says Atwood. “You can love or hate McDonald’s or Dunkin’ Donuts, but the customer gets what they expect every time. Clubs like Planet Fitness consistently deliver what they promise, so members trust them.”
Creating a feeling of community is another way to engender trust and be more fully engaged with members, adds Atwood.
“Something we know about psychology and our society is that our brand preference reflects what we feel and think about ourselves,” notes Christy Brown, director of enterprise marketing at Club Automation. “A strong brand gives people a way to categorize themselves as either part of a community, or not. That brand becomes a powerful tool to shape how people perceive your club and whether they choose you.”
Engagement as a Tool
A powerful brand drives consistent emotional and intellectual responses. To do that well requires accurate information on a market. Staying engaged with an audience is the best way to ensure you’ve got accurate data to use in every other aspect of brand building. You can then leverage that data to develop a message that resonates with your members and then determine which channels are best to share that message.
Among the most effective engagement tools now available is a mobile app.
“Communication channels for businesses have changed quite a bit from the age of phone calls and mailers,” asserts Brown. “Today’s consumers prefer real-time communication sent directly to their phones. Having a mobile app that takes advantage of push notifications is essential to communicating with your health club’s younger audience.
“The world has gone mobile,” she continues. “Consumers spend an average of three hours and 45 minutes on their smartphones daily. Mobile app downloads are up 45% since 2017, and app usage accounts for 89% of total time spent on mobile phones. Consumers crave the convenience mobile apps provide, and fitness club members are no different. Considering the recent pandemic, this trend has doubled down. Members expect to be able to engage with businesses how they want, when they want, and from the comfort of their mobile phone.”
To that end, she adds, Club Automation’s new, native mobile app solves the problem by providing a one-stop shop for members to manage their club fitness experience. The newly designed, branded app provides health and fitness clubs the ability to offer members engagement on their own terms. Its features include:
Allowing members to update their profiles, manage packages, register for classes, view statements, review check-in history, and pay bills,
In-app registration for classes and courts with waitlisting,
Push notifications for class reminders, schedule updates, new offerings, helpful content, and customizable options; in one user-friendly application,
Social media sharing, and more.
Click here to learn more about the Club Automation app and to schedule a demo.