Apps have long been heralded as tools that help drive personalized communication and put the club experience directly in members’ hands. Now, AI integration into apps offers the opportunity to take those personalized experiences to the next level. If one-to-one interaction has been where the industry has wanted to go in terms of spurring retention, AI just might be the holy grail.
Tapping AI’s Potential
AI algorithms can predictively project individual choices, preferences, geographic behaviors, and patterns by analyzing user data. This enables mobile apps to deliver truly personalized, tailored content, recommendations, and notifications, creating a more engaging and personalized user experience.
None of that is “potential.” Those are real capabilities.
What’s helping AI make the jump to getting more granular is its ability to overcome “inherent bias.”
Also called machine learning bias or algorithm bias, AI bias refers to the occurrence of biased results due to the human biases that skew the original training data or AI algorithm—leading to distorted outputs and potentially harmful outcomes. Given that the foundational layer of AI is human data and decisions, any biases ingrained in our culture also become baked into the machine. In essence, AI is only as good as the information that feeds it.
Here’s where apps have the ability to escape that bias: If you download your individual member’s data—what you know about their physical state (age, gender, weight, existing fitness assessment, conditions like diabetes or cardio issues, demographics, usage patterns, exercise programs, workout regimens, etc.)—your outputs become extremely targeted.
Beyond the data mentioned above, there’s an increasingly large pipeline of member information that can bring a laser focus to those outputs.
"We’re starting to see a trend in the fitness space, where clubs are incorporating multiple data points to tailor programs for members,” says Bill Davis, CEO of ABC Fitness. “Specifically, genetic testing, body composition, mobility assessments, strength assessments, VO2 and cardiovascular tests, and sleep and recovery information. These biomarker data points start to blend and merge the worlds of healthcare and fitness. AI can help revolutionize club apps by incorporating biomarkers into the equation."
By leveraging biomarkers rather than social data as a method of personalization, clubs can limit the amount of bias being introduced into the predictive models and output, addressing members’ specific needs or desires in ways that were never possible before.
"That objective data, focused on the individual member, driving adaptive, real-time interaction across fitness routines and more, will truly enhance fitness apps," asserts Al Noshirvani, co-founder of Alta Technology Group, a technology consulting firm focused on health, fitness, and wellness companies.