Articles Tagged with: leisure industry

10 People Joined Yesterday

Over the past few years, there have been significant changes in attitudes towards health and wellbeing, and how people can access and undertake activity. As a result of this, leisure operators have had to evolve and rethink how users are attracted, supported and retained.

Most operators have some form of acquisition, onboarding and retention processes in place but at TA6 we encourage them to ask the question “If 10 people joined yesterday, do you know what happened to them?”. This encourages you to analyse what you really know about your new customers and members and if you are really giving them the best initial experience into your services.

Latest Research

In a TA6 report due to be published in June 2022 we identified that 52% operators reported less than half their new members received a structured onboarding session, over 80% reported less than half of new members have prescribed workout plans and 52% had no digital onboarding journey.

The TA6 philosophy of “Meeting People Where They Are” is built around the idea that every potential or new customer has different experience, expectations and needs from their engagement with activity and your facilities so a one-size fits all approach to member experience cannot support individuals.

The last few years has highlighted more then ever before that facilities aren’t the sole providers of exercise options. People can be active anywhere and access to online fitness, home equipment, advice and technology means there was potential for facilities to become obsolete. However, the leisure industry has shown a strong bounce back after long term closures. Why? Partly because of activities such as swimming that cannot be accessed elsewhere but mainly because people want to be part of a live experience, a community and have personal support, so we need to ensure we deliver this.

Route to Membership

There are multiple ways in which prospects and new customers become aware of your facilities, but do you effectively track this, and more importantly does this affect the next steps?

To continue reading the full article to gain more insight into how you can positively affect your acquisition and onboarding processes, simply leave your details below.

Name: (required)

Job Title: (required)

Organisation: (required)

Email: (required)

Phone: (required)

After clicking Send you will be redirected to the download page

Our 5 Biggest Takeaways from active-net 2022

March 23^rd – 24^th 2022 saw the welcome return of active-net, a 2-day leisure industry networking event.

It was a great chance to get key leaders, suppliers and operators together to discuss the future of leisure, the challenges of the last two years and what this means for us all moving forwards.

The energy throughout the event felt collaborate and extremely positive but here are our 5 Biggest Take-aways from active-net UK 2022.

Reaching Beyond the 15%

There was a clear message of the need to shift our messaging from a focus on gyms and fitness to wellbeing and increasing levels of activity among our communities. Not only is this the right thing to do in the current climate to reduce the impact of ill health and inactivity on the NHS and public services, but the commercial opportunity to widen our market beyond the same 15% we are all competing over is something we need to react to.

The TA6 philosophy to “Meet people where they are” is driven by this. Understanding where people are on their journey, their previous experience and confidence with activity as well as understanding how, where and when they want to be active and how, where and when they want to receive support is how we should be directing our approach. We need to look at a more inclusive and holistic approach to our messaging, customer experience, processes and programming.

Workplace Wellness

There has been a lot of discussion on the impact of the last 2 years on our customers but less on the impact on our teams. Lindsey Simpson and Katie Lewis from Workplace Mental Wealth presented the findings from the 2022 Workforce State of Mind Report which revealed some stark findings. 73% of responders stated they had experienced mental health concerns at some point while only 11% stated someone regularly checks on their mental health at work, down from 19% last year showing the return to business has had significant impact on how we care for our teams. You can download your copy for free here https://www.workplacementalwealth.com/research

Nudge Marketing

With the above points in mind, it is clear that our campaigns should no longer be sporadic membership offers but instead we should adopt a longer term approach. At TA6 we strongly believe that truly effective campaigns should begin with awareness, messages that highlight the benefits of activity and impacts of non-activity. This may not lead to immediate sales but will target the pre-contemplators and start to nudge them towards contemplating options. At this point content led-marketing is key, assist them towards getting started, what to do and offer ways to take the first step, even if not yet through a membership. Once the initial steps are taken the move to membership becomes a more likely option with awareness of your brand and credibility. We then need the right pathways to guide them into.

At TA6 we work closely with our clients to ensure the right campaigns, reach the right people with the best content and via the most effective platforms, monitoring this to refine and adapt along the way. A brand-led long term campaign plan should always be part of your marketing strategy.

The Power of Data and technology

This isn’t new and the impact of multiple lockdowns forced our industry to quickly adapt to a more digital approach however, now the doors are open, are we truly tracking data effectively? Do you clearly know who is engaging with your content, what messages have impact, what are the appropriate mediums to connect with different personas, what activities are being accessed by whom, what difference this makes to their likelihood to continue and use this business intelligence to inform our strategies? At TA6 we believe in creating strategies and processes with clear objectives, outcomes and measures of success, whether that is your marketing campaigns or your customer experience pathways and delivery. We start with he question “If 10 people joined yesterday, do you know what happened to them?” If not, there is work to do!

Personal Development

Whether it is to support your workplace wellness, promote a confident return to normal operating, ensuring consistency or maintaining your workforce for longer, there has to be a focus on Personal Development within your business. One-off training simply isn’t always sufficient to have an impact and there should be a clear and on-going commitment to develop your teams.

The TA6 approach to personal development is 3 clear areas. Education to understand why skills, processes or systems are needed and how this will impact individuals, roles and the business. Training to ensure confidence in the specific skills required, and Coaching to ensure this is fully embedded and continually supported and improved.

If you would like to explore how TA6 can support your business in any of the areas discussed above please get in touch.

CONTACT THE TEAM HERE

Getting Women Back Into Physical Activity

According to the latest Active Lives Adult Survey by Sport England women saw more prolonged drops in activity levels and were slower to recover after lockdown then men.

As part of the TA6 philosophy of “meeting people where they are” this means we should understand the barriers and acknowledge where women are in their confidence and emotional readiness to start, or return to, exercise.

It is important to consider how we encourage women back into exercise and how we support them once they make the first step.

As part of the recognition of the importance of understanding the barriers to exercise for women and creating confidence and opportunities for them, This Girl Can and ukactive have joined forces to create a practical guide for operators. You can download this here.

Here are some recommendations from the team at TA6 for supporting women to increase activity:

Use targeted, content–led marketing focusing on real women and messages of confidence to exercise and benefits to positive mental and physical wellbeing
Consider linking into wider campaigns such as “This Girl Can” to speak directly to women in a way that feels inclusive
Promote how you can support them back into activity in a safe environment with home workouts, online advice and training programmes
Train your teams to understand the drivers and barriers to exercise and how best to support and offer solutions
Build in a focus on weekly activity plans, not just gym programmes, to meet women where they are and allow them to access exercise throughout the week in whatever format they are comfortable with
Once it is identified that someone might need to support to build confidence and exercise habits, create prompts for weekly touchpoints in the first few weeks. These could be a simple tracking diary or ideally utilising your digital systems to automatically flag a contact point as well as sending supportive content via apps, email and SMS

Advertiser's Insight

At TA6 we are passionate about supporting your success so for more advice and support in any of these areas, get in touch with the team.

How to Create a Successful Fitness Challenge

The “Gym Challenge” has been around for some time but how can you make them really effective? Not only do challenges give your customers a focus or a shake up of their routine but they should also encourage interaction between your staff and the users. Therefore, start to see fitness challenges more as engagement tools that can increase customer retention whilst also improving staff motivation.

First, let’s consider the purpose of your challenge.

Who is the audience?

Are you targeting your fitness members, all customers, potential prospects or the wider community? Do you have particular personas you want to engage with e.g. your truly fitness focused or your less confident exercise or is this for everyone? Can you use the challenge to encourage non-users to visit the centre? Check out our article on finding your target audience for more help on this.

What is the objective?

Are you looking to drive social engagement, generate more attendance, create a feeling of community, encouraging at–risk members to achieve or to support fitness goals? Can the challenge encourage new members of staff to find confidence in talking to customers?

Where will they be able to complete it?

Is it purely gym based, or can you include your other programmes and activities? Maybe you can encourage engagement in home workouts too? Can the challenge motivate and encourage users to try new activities that they wouldn’t normally do on their visit?

What is the incentive – can you offer a prize or is this about celebrating achievement?

If it is a prize, will you have a single winner or multiple? If a celebration of participation and achievement, how can you make this truly meaningful and shared? Be creative with your prizes. Can you link with local businesses to offer a month of free advertising in return for a prize? For example, a local sports shop could donate a pair of trainers or a local restaurant offering a meal for 2 in return for featuring them in your app or advertising around the facility.

Never underestimate the power of recognition though! Celebrating achievements or public thank yous for contributions to a charity challenge milestone can be just as rewarding as physical prizes for some!

A recommendation from us

We recommend that you avoid challenges that reward the fittest/fastest/strongest/best unless specifically targeting the fitness focused, this can be alienating to your members most in need of encouragement.

Once you have a clear objective and audience in mind, consider which type of fitness challenge would be achieve this. Here are some challenge types to consider:

Team challenges – encourage people to achieve as a group. For example, ask for teams of 5 to complete a marathon distance or climb the equivalent of a local mountain – this encourages attendance/completion through community and not wanting to let the team down. It also allows people to contribute as much as they are able to.
Staff leader challenges – each team has a member of staff as its captain to achieve a team goal or ”win” a challenge. This creates competitiveness from staff which drives them to actively encourage their team and create opportunities for contact and communication.
Participation – this encourages everyone to “have a go” and anyone taking part gets entered into a prize draw so it doesn’t matter who is the fittest/fastest/best as everyone has a chance of winning.
Charity based – Create a challenge driven by a goal for a local charity, maybe something meaningful to the community or individual members. This taps into people’s desire to do good and feel good about it! For example, for every 100 miles completed we will donate £10 to the charity. Achieve a target that reflects the charity e.g. 160,000 people die of heart disease every year in the UK, so a collective attempt to burn 160,000 calories over a time period realistic for your total membership base.
Personal Best – This isn’t about competing with others but encouraging anyone to improve their PB at a given activity, or one of their choice, in a given time frame. Every success is a winner/celebrated or is entered into a prize draw. This often means less fit participants have a better chance of larger improvements
Daily Challenge – simply, daily challenges set by the fitness team in the morning and last for 24 hours. A whiteboard can be used to display the daily challenge and can be changed regularly.

Now decide how to promote it for best uptake:

Do you have a fitness challenge “brand” you use to support an on-going challenge calendar? Build this into the on-going member journey and engagement strategy.
Can you utilise your social media channels? Encourage members to share a photo of them completing the challenge.
What on site assets will you need? Maybe a branded tracking board so participants can see their name or contribution on the sheet or so teams can keep updated with their position.
Can the challenge be linked to options within your app? Adding as a workout of the day or pre-set workout or can your app send invites and updates on new challenges?
Do all your team across the facility know and understand the challenge, consider where it can be embedded into the member journey?

Be creative, relevant and have a clear objective when creating challenges and consider how, where, and when you promote them.

For help and advice on creating successful member challenges please get in touch with the team at TA6 – we will even share 3 free challenges that you can adopt for your facilities!

Black Friday 2021: Are You Ready?

BLACK FRIDAY 2021: FRIDAY 26TH NOVEMBER

CYBER MONDAY 2021: MONDAY 29TH NOVEMBER

Black Friday started off as an American tradition to mark the start of the Christmas sales the day after Thanksgiving. Asda introduced the UK to Black Friday first in 2013 with limited success and then, as more UK retailers adopted the promotion, everyone smashed their retail sales records in subsequent years.

After scenes of looting, fighting and rioting back in 2015 stores couldn’t cope with demand so many retailers moved the majority of their sales online. This has affected Cyber Monday which was traditionally the peak online sales day prior to the Christmas shopping period.

The other notable change over the last few years is the length of time the supposed one-day Black Friday event runs for. Many high-street retailers including the likes of Argos and Currys and online retailers like Amazon started their sales up to a month in advance leading to the period being known as ‘Black November’ or ‘Cyber Month’.

Obviously 2020 was impacted by the pandemic, notably the last-minute November lockdown and Welsh firebreak, and very few operators used Black Friday as a campaign period. But that’s not to say Black Friday in 2020 wasn’t a success for the retail sector. Salesforce reported that online spending in 2020 was up by 23% and estimated consumers globally spent 116million hours shopping on Black Friday. However in the UK Barclaycard reported a 10% decrease in payments made in physical stores and online combined. Shopping via mobile devices increased by just over 25% indicating a strong trend towards smartphone usage. Intent to spend was predicted to increase in 2020 over 2019 from an average of £295 compared to £254 in 2019, but this didn’t quite materialise due to the lockdown and restrictions on physical stores opening.

STRONG PERFORMER: ROEFIELD LEISURE

Offering a huge 50% discount on all annual memberships Roefield, based in Lancashire, generated 106 new sales for the period 25^th-28^th Nov. In previous years Roefield would average 25 sales in the whole month of November. This gives the centre a huge cash boost going into the quietest month of the year for the industry.

To summarise the performance of leisure centres across the UK over recent years it would be mixed. Prior to 2020 those sites that had a strong offer and allowed customers to pre-register in the lead up to the promotion performed strongest, whereas those with an offer that wasn’t necessarily unique to Black Friday struggled to boost sales beyond last year’s figures. However, in all cases sales for the Black Friday period were up for a similar period in any other month of the year. Some sites who had used flash sales or 24hr offers throughout the year struggled to make their intended impact compared to sites that had stayed away from short term deals (however regular flash sales throughout the year gave better overall sales than just doing the one in November!)

Here are some of the lessons learned from previous year’s campaign which are invaluable tips for most promotions throughout the year.

MAKE AN IMPACT

Against such strong competition from every retailer in the UK your message has to stand out from the crowd. Use videos or GIFs on social media to catch people’s attention with moving images. If your offer is strong then lead on the discount/saving/hook and leave the gimmicks and fancy taglines alone.

MAKE IT WORTHWHILE

Black Friday was always intended to be a short term sales period with exclusive offers so give your customers an offer they won’t forget. ½ price first month membership just won’t get the response you’re probably looking for! If you do go big then limit the number on offer or stick to a 24 hour sales period.

BREAKTHROUGH OFFERS TO GET NOTICED

3 months free – 12 for 9 on annuals
Free junior membership with every new adult membership
2-4-1 on all PT packages (min. spend)
£50 Amazon voucher with every new membership
Refer a friend and get a free month – refer 3 friends and get a YEAR FREE!

GENERATE LEADS EARLY

Announcing a “crazy deal is coming” just a few days before the event can result in a few early leads being generated if prospects are directed to a data-capture landing page. Make these customers feel like they’ll be the first to know and create some urgency using “limited offer”, or “only 20 memberships available” messages.

REALISTIC TARGETS

You can’t evaluate your campaign if you don’t set a target or have some expectations at the start. Look what your competition are likely to be doing, how did you perform last year, what budget are you willing to invest in the promotion, how strong is your offer.

Once the campaign starts ensure you have clear reporting channels and schedules in place so that amendments can be made to online adverts, budgets adjusted and Plan B actioned if necessary.

HAVE A PLAN B

What happens if you’re not going to hit target? Reacting on the Tuesday after Cyber Monday is too late! Especially with digital advertising which can be adapted in seconds there’s no excuse for not monitoring your performance throughout the campaign period. Emails and SMS broadcasts can be sent to databases, Facebook posts can be boosted, Google Ads campaigns tweaked, Instagram adverts budget increased, staff brought in to call hot leads, announcements made at the start of classes. Proactively be reactive!

ONLINE PROCESSES

A flash sale can create lots of enquiries which is great for sales but not for staff if there isn’t sufficient cover to cope with demand. Driving leads and enquiries online minimises this pressure and can deliver a greater customer service for many of your new members. Online advertising should steer customers to micro-sites that capture data, provide info and direct customers to online joining portals. Utilising promo codes to create urgency and track your sales is essential. Digital channels also offers the opportunity to automate some processes such as auto-responders thanking customers for their interest or directing them to a joining link.

OFFLINE ADVERTISING

Whilst digital adverting channels might work for many customers there is still a place in leisure for traditional offline outreach and lead generation. Brief your staff to be interacting with every potential new customer face-to-face, schedule some local leaflet drops to housing estates, retail parks and businesses, hit the phones and call ex-members and prospects, run a sweepstake competition to gather leads, the list goes on!

ARE YOUR STAFF UP FOR IT?

From the initial briefing sessions through to the individual incentives you may offer them for hitting target, your staff will be crucial in the success of the campaign. Incentives don’t have to be huge financial bonuses but a day in-lieu, box of chocolates or a bottle of wine can all motivate some staff. Make sure the promotion brief covers all T&Cs, FAQs and clear admin procedures so the staff are well informed.

4 A’s OF MARKETING

These will be your best friend as you plan and implement your campaign.

Aims – Set your targets and decide on what success will look like.

Audience – Who are you targeting? What advertising channels will they respond to?

Action – Plan carefully and carry out your strategy.

Assess – Monitor performance throughout the campaign and produce a report at the end.

Read more about the 4 A’s of Marketing here.

In Summary

Black Friday will start earlier and run longer
Retailers will focus online
Advertising space will be very competitive and drive advertising prices up
Strong offers will win the day, but may not be beneficial long-term

If you'd like some support with your Black Friday campaign or would just like to chat through some ideas, please get in touch.

Get In Touch

Discussion Topics at Tomorrow’s Workout

Discussion Topics from Tomorrow’s Workout

The Bolton Whites Hotel was host to Tomorrow’s Workout trade fitness event on the 14^th September 2021 and was attended by a range of suppliers, private operators, councils, leisure trusts and personal trainers.

Alliance Leisure and TA6 sent along a few of the team to listen to the speaker programme as well as meet with suppliers who were exhibiting at the conference. Here’s a brief summary of the discussion points throughout the day.

The morning session kicked of with a simple question, what’s the word on the street?

Sarah Watts, founder and CEO of Alliance Leisure spoke about value, decarbonisation and localism, particularly in relation to the public sector.

The challenges of pivoting a franchise model to selling a club within a club was explained by Jamie Cartwright, owner of Hatton Boxing and co-founder of BOX12. Jamie also explained the difficulties in scaling a business that is reliant on its rockstars.

Kate Landers from Creative Fitness Marketing explained about organic reach and suggested attendees check out Facebook Blueprint for training opportunities.

Mike Hind MBE, talked passionately about building a community within his club and how word-of-mouth advertising is more powerful than paid-for campaigns.

In the afternoon discussions focussed on the consumer. Ian Mullane, founder and CEO of the AI-powered sales and retention platform Keepme kicked off by talking about the importance of health and wellness to the consumer and using wearables to personalise an experience.

Andy King, chair of GMactive and CEO of Link4Life, explained how customers had missed the connection and sense of community during lockdown. He also referenced talk of the sector achieving a 20% penetration rate by 2030.

Lynn Wilson from Volaire Leisure explained to the group about projects in St Helens that had focussed on mental health, particularly in younger customers as part of the Holiday Activities and Food Programme (HAF).

Thanks to Tony Barry and his team for organising the event, and to Dave Wright and Graeme Hinde for leading the panel discussions. We hope to see you all next year!

Woody chats to Hussle about marketing in a post-COVID world

Over the summer our Director of Marketing & Partnerships Paul Woodford was interviewed by Hussle for one of their ‘Side Hussle’ expert insights. Woody discussed all things marketing, particularly around the impact COVID has had on the future direction of travel for leisure operators.

The interview started with Woody being asked, what sales and marketing challenges did he see gym operators facing during the next 12-months as the UK recovers post-pandemic?

Changing, developing, growing and moving your sales and marketing on will be crucial; operators who just go back to their pre-Covid acquisition strategies are going to struggle and even fail.

The fitness sales marketplace has changed dramatically; consumers have had more than a year to reflect on where they direct their spend, if indeed they direct it our way at all.

For too long our sector has focused on short term, price-led promotions to drive interest. It’s time to step up and develop brand-led, inspiring campaigns that focus on why your facility is the right fit for the target market you’re trying to attract.

Think of your brand as a person, with a clear personality and passion. Your brand values are like that person’s DNA – the commitments they live by. Your brand vision is what drives and defines that passion; use this vision to create the energy and clarity your team need to deliver.

For operators who wish to revisit their brand, where should they begin?

When we build/develop brands we focus on vision, mission, goals, values, commitments and messages. We use these triggers:

1. The Why – what’s your purpose? What impact do you want to have? Who are you aiming your offer at?

2. The What and the How – this is all about your venues and your products … what you offer, and your people and your pricing

3. Identity and Personality – what’s the essence of your brand? What are your core values? These needs to be relatable, believable and unique to you

4. Tone of voice – what emotions and passions are you looking to evoke in your customers with your messaging?

The key here is to ask: does your brand make a difference to customers’ wellbeing? Your facility is just one element of your product that contributes, but there is so much more you can offer. Customers need to feel they are part of something bigger than just a club.

The marketplace is noisy and marketing spend is lower than ever. Rather than the ‘outside to in’ marketing approach most take, focus on an ‘inside to out’ campaign, using real member stories to inspire new customers, using your community as a lure.

The interview continued with Woody being asked about how whether he felt the sector was damaged from 2020, as well as giving some advice on how operators can focus on getting back to normal. Read the full interview here.

Alliance Leisure and TA6 Receive Silver Investors in People Accreditation

Alliance Leisure and TA6 Receive Silver Investors in People Award

Alliance Leisure and TA6 are thrilled to announce that, following an assessment process, we have been awarded Investors in People’s We invest in people, silver accreditation.

Silver is a fantastic achievement and something only 20% of the organisations we assess achieve.

It means that the right principles are in place but more than that, it means that our people and leaders are making active efforts to make sure that there’s real consistency, and everyone in the organisation feels the effects.

Alliance Leisure and TA6 received some truly outstanding scores and results, including a first ever instance of a full 100% of staff answering that they trust the leaders of their organisation. Other results include:

92.9% of people strongly agree that they embody and believe that their behaviour reflects our values, with the rest agreeing

12%

Our score was 12% higher than Investors in People’s average benchmark

10%

Our score was 10% higher than industry standard

92.9% of people strongly agree that Alliance Leisure and TA6 are great places to work, with the rest agreeing

We'd like to congratulate Alliance Leisure and TA6. Silver accreditation on We invest in people is a remarkable effort for any organisation, and places Alliance Leisure and TA6 in fine company with a host of organisations that understand the value of people.

Paul Devoy

CEO, Investors in People

We are immensely proud to be recognised by Investors in People for ensuring that Alliance and TA6 are enjoyable and rewarding places to work. We were particularly delighted to see that many Team members described the company as being like an extended family, with the Alliance core values embedded in the Team DNA.
We are committed to maintaining this and improving the experience and opportunities for our Team even further.

Sarah Watts

CEO, Alliance Leisure and TA6

Ten things we learned from MAD//Fest

Ten Things We Learned from #MadFestLondon

Yes the free ice cream helped us get through the day and the face-printed espressos were a nice touch, but what a line-up of speakers and sponsors! Cadbury’s, Amazon, Facebook, KFC, Boots, Snap Inc., FitBit, Burger King, and the list could go on. We sent both Johns (Leaver and Robertson) down to London to check out MAD//Fest 2021 and here are their top 10 takeaways.

Injecting a SENSE OF HUMOUR into your brand only works if its authentic and established over time. KFC’s #ratemyKFC campaign in May 2020 say thousands of customers submit their home-cooked efforts only to be berated by the KFC social admins. Jack Hinchliffe, Marketing Director at KFC, commented “we only got away with that because we knew our customers”. KFC have tried and tested their tone of voice for years, with customer feedback being at the centre of that process.

carwow’s Victoria Bruce, Media Partnerships Manager, and Michael Oates, Programme Manager, reminded us that there is not one single customer journey for your customers but many CUSTOMER JOURNEYS. Expecting all customers to follow a single buying cycle is a recipe for disaster and brands are urged to be flexible to each individual customer’s circumstances.

AUTHENTICITY was at the heart of Cadbury’s talk from their marketing director Benazir Barlet-Betada. Going to back to your brand routes might be a way to re-establish yourselves and remind people of your core values. Well worth checking out Cadbury’s Donate Your Words campaign in partnership with ageUK.

AR, VR and AI was discussed by many speakers but David Norris from Snap Inc. summed it up with the line “AR is currently the biggest opportunity in retail”. Whilst it may be difficult for leisure operators to utilise AR and VR in the short term, as the technology becomes more accessible it may be an opportunity to increase your touch points and engagement with customers outside of physical facilities. If you want to keep up-to-date with developments from Snap Inc. then check out their newsfeed.

EQUALITY AND DIVERSITY were also hot topics with many speakers talking passionately about the need to acknowledge, reflect and act on issues surrounding inclusivity. One of the first sessions of the two-day event called upon agencies and brands to sign up to BRiM, a cross-industry initiative that “provides actionable advice to help anyone, no matter their level, improve the representation of Black people in marketing”.

“GOOD ENOUGH IS GOOD ENOUGH”. Lucy Sheehan, Marketing Director at Fitbit, used this phrase when discussing campaign production and how teams can waste time over-analysing the minutiae of a campaign plan. Sometimes you just need to get a campaign done and accepting good enough is good enough will help speed things along.

CONVERSATIONAL ADVERTISING is an interesting way to challenge how you currently interact with your customer base online. Combining an AI or chatbot experience with the likes of RCS messaging will result in a media rich experience that customers will engage more with than an old-fashioned messenger response or SMS message.

COOKIELESS FUTURES. Probably the most referenced change on the horizon is the removal of 3^rd party cookies by Google. Whilst cookies have had a stay of execution til the end of 2023 (originally planned for 2021/22) that’s only given brands about 18 months to get their house in order. Big message from every speaker; focus on your 1^st party data and start collecting and managing it NOW.

7 P’s OF POST-PANDEMIC MARKETING takes a fresh look at a well known marketing mix. Chief Creative Officer of Cook, James Rutter guided the discussion introducing new P’s with People at the centre. Play; with people still having fear about the next steps have fun with marketing and facilitate discovery of the new environments we live in. Purpose; relating what your purpose is to people and social issues will build trust, which in turn increases sales. Participation; increase your audience participation through any channel you communicate with them. A common theme through the MadFest sessions was “Pig not bull” – be honest and treat your customers clients and staff as equals (remember, transparency breeds trust). Poetry; to be bold in your marketing and stand out.

CONTEXT OVER CONTENT. Content is secondary to the context of the message you are trying to put out – 83% of people distrust social media ads so how do you make your ads successful? Context! Ensuring the message is correct and the story behind the content is relatable will drive engagement. 70% of an ads performance comes from the creative story behind the ad so its important to get that right for the audience you are aiming for. Context is King, Content is the cherry on top!

We said 10 but here’s a bonus…

LANGUAGE STYLES change frequently so its important to stay on top of what works for your brand. Large brands such as Burger King and KFC monitor trends weekly and adapt the language type used to ensure an effective campaign. Three main types; straight, topical and sarcastic. Having the same message in different language styles can give you the freedom to update ads as trends change.

Thanks to the team at MAD//Fest for the event and we’ll see you again in 2022!

Create a Successful Referral Programme

Since GDPR came into effect back in May of 2018 leisure operators have had to adapt their member referral processes to comply with the legislation concerning personal data. This guide gives some tips and suggestions for how you can still make referrals your number one source of hot leads by utilising word of mouth marketing techniques.

Background

For decades, marketeers have been generating leads through referral incentive programmes. If you buy double glazing then you’ll likely be offered a further discount if you provide 3 friends’ names and numbers who might also be interested. Sky TV regularly promote their ‘Introduce a Friend’ offer and have used wine, M&S Vouchers, Sky package discounts and pre-loaded credit cards as incentives.

Leisure has followed this route too, and for years we have been training sales teams and frontline staff to ask new members to provide names and contact details for their friends who might also be interested in joining. We estimate that word-of-mouth marketing is directly responsible for up to 20% of new membership sales each month and influences another 30% of buying decisions. Over 90% of consumers trust peer-to-peer recommendations than any other form of advertising.

GDPR Implications

The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) came into force on May 25^th 2018 and was designed to modernise laws that protect individual’s personal information. In the context of referrals it is the section regarding ‘Consent’ that has had the most impact. For a person’s data to be processed that individual must give consent that is “freely given, specific, informed and unambiguous”. Therefore, an individual cannot provide consent for another individual, and so providing contact details for anybody other than yourself is not permitted within the GDPR.

Any Loopholes?

Nope, none. Marketeers and advertisers will often look to manipulate or interpret the laws to still allow them to operate in a certain way that benefits their company’s goals. For example, within GDPR it allows individual’s data to be processed if the legal basis for doing so is “legitimate interest”. This ambiguous terminology is being used by many companies to promote their services to anybody based on the fact that the individual being targeted has a legitimate interest in their product. In leisure the common example is contacting ex-members with an exclusive offer just for previous customers. In this case has the customer given consent or are they being contacted because organisation can justify a legitimate interest? Currently this is left to each organisation to interpret and make a judgement based on their risk levels towards GDPR.

Referrals Post-GDPR

Without the ability to collate referrals directly from new members where does this leave us in leisure? Well, if you’ve been at the frontline trying to collect referrals in this way, then you’ll know over the past few years it has got more and more difficult to obtain contact details from new members. In an era of heightened awareness of privacy laws, protection over personal data and data breaches being reported in the media, customers are becoming more protective over their data let alone giving out the details of their best friends and family.

Over the past few years operators have had to adapt their strategies concerning referral programmes.

Here are some ways to operate a successful, GDPR-compliant referral programme.

Referral Incentives

WIIFM – What’s In It For Me. Why should your members refer their friends and family to your centre? It might be because they have seen some amazing progress with their fitness and can’t wait to share that with them, but do they actively encourage their friends to sign up? Your referral programme needs an incentive for the member to refer their friends and the most common offer in leisure is a free month’s membership.

One of the concerns we discuss with clients regarding free months is: what if the new member being referred doesn’t stay for a full month and yet the business has given away a free month in return? This all comes down to your terms and conditions, membership contract and average length of stay. Issuing the free month to the member after the new customer has remained active for a minimum of 2 months would be a start, however this slightly detracts from the incentive given to the existing member in the first place. I would always start by analysing your average length of stay and make a judgement call on whether giving away 1 free month compared to getting an average of say 8 months in return is worth it.

Other incentives often used by leisure operators are goodie bags, free gifts, hampers, cases of wine, etc. Issues around stock control and choice of gifts can make these unattractive to certain centres. However, there are a number of businesses (GoftPay, MentionMe and Appreciate) who provide referral programmes whereby you can offer a range of referral gifts typically redeemed using promotional codes or vouchers. The provider handles the stock and the operator simply chooses the range of gifts they want to offer, often with a higher perceived value than what you purchase the gifts for. A tiered-approach to the value of the gifts allows members to refer multiple friends and receive a higher valued gift.

A huge benefit to this system is that only 70% of vouchers are redeemed by customers and the operator normally only pays the provider for redeemed gifts. Compare this to 100% of free months issued in the other examples above.

Guest Passes for New Members

We’ve clearly ruled out obtaining friend’s contact details from new members so your only option is to give some guest passes to them which they can pass onto friends and family. However, make sure you give some value to these passes and that staff explain them to the new customer as part of the sign-up process. Don’t let them just get stuffed inside a welcome pack with some timetables that end up in the customer’s bin at home! At this point an expiry date should be given to the passes to create some urgency.

But how long should a guest pass be for? 1 day, a week, 3 days? We see conversion rates for trials vary from 10% to 50% depending on how the operator treats the guest. If you have a sales team in place then a 1 day pass might be sufficient to get new customers through the door to see the facilities and the sales team make contact and convert. A 7 day pass provides more opportunities for the customer to experience the centre and if you’ve got a lot to offer then this might be the option for you. A longer pass also provides the opportunity to show off your amazing customer service. We would advocate making the guest feel like they are already a full member and not actually on a trial period. Calling it a trial reminds them of the lack of commitment and the opportunity to back out. Give the guest a welcome pack, allow them entry with a membership card, give them the same appointments a new member would get – treat these few days like they are the start of their full membership.

Throughout a guest’s use of the club staff should take the opportunity to make them feel welcome whilst a proactive sales approach is taken to ensure they convert. An SMS on day 2 to say hello, a phone call on day 5 to see how things are going, an email on day 6 with a conversion offer should all be scheduled in as part of an automated process. To create some urgency any conversion offers should be restricted to be redeemed within their trial period.

A useful tactic with guest passes is to have a ‘Day 1 Conversion Offer’. When a guest first visits the centre to redeem their pass, they are presented with the opportunity to use the facilities on that day and if they decide to join before leaving then they can benefit from a small discount (50% off the first month, no joining fee, £10 off their initial payment). We’d recommend having a physical voucher to give them as a reminder whilst they’re in the centre of the benefits of joining and the offer available. Frontline staff will need training on this procedure to ensure it feels natural and not too pushy.

Touchpoints to Highlight your Referral Programme

Your referral programme should have two key focuses so far; an incentive for the members to refer their friends, and guest passes to encourage new customers to visit your centre.

A comprehensive referral strategy will then have a number of touchpoints with both members and guests to highlight and promote the referral programme:

Point of Sale

As an alternative (or in addition) to handing out guest passes in welcome packs you could offer to send the new member an email that they can forward to their friends which invites them to redeem a free pass. We would recommend setting up a bespoke landing page on your website that this email directs them to which can track the responses and includes a “Name of Referring Member” on the contact form.
Reception Reminders

Train your front-of-house teams to recognise and acknowledge new members. Not only is this great customer service to make the new customers feel welcome, it presents an opportunity to open up a sales conversation such as:

“How are you enjoying the centre? Did you get your guest passes when you joined?” or “Is everything going ok with your membership? Just a reminder that your guest passes expire after 2 weeks”.
Fitness Achievements

Your fitness teams should have access to guest passes which can be given to new members if a conversation opens up about their friends who may be interested in joining.

Also, when a member achieves something positive (participates in a gym challenge, hits a fitness milestone) the fitness team can hand out a guest pass as a reward and encourage their friends and family to join in their success too.
Monthly Correspondence

Each month your centre should be sending communications to new members, existing members, ex-members, prospects and casuals. Each of these messages should be bespoke to the target audience but take the opportunity to talk about the referral programme.

New member emails should welcome them to your centre and remind them of the free guest passes in their welcome pack. Ex-members and prospects should be encouraged back with a free pass and reminded that when they join they can also refer their friends and benefit from the referral programme.
Digital Activity

Word-of-mouth is now being replaced by world-of-mouth, in that social media is making it easier for us all to have conversations across the world and spread good and bad news further and quicker than we ever have. Ten years ago if we found a great product or service we’d tell people face-to-face when we next saw them, nowadays we share it on Facebook, send it round a WhatsApp group, write a blog about it, video it live and post it on Twitter, etc. Leisure operators need to capitalise on this with their social media channels.
- Encourage customers to leave reviews on Facebook, Google, Yell.com, TripAdvisor and any local directory sites that you may be listed.
- Turn these reviews into testimonials and share them with your followers and use them in your next membership campaign literature.
- Post on your own channels about your referral programme and the incentives for members to refer their friends. Encourage followers to tag friends who may be interested.
- Use social media advertising (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter) to promote free passes at certain times of the year. Analyse your conversions from passes and target these demographics when setting your advertising criteria.
On-Site Displays

Our final tip is to ensure you have literature around your facilities promoting the referral programme. Avoid having these as permanent fixtures otherwise they simply become wallpaper that customer’s ignore. Consider some of these alternatives:
- Movable roller banners that can be rotated between the studios, reception and on the gym floor.
- Floor stickers in areas where customers hover, i.e. drinks fountains, noticeboards, reception areas.
- Ceiling hangs – large dropdown posters from the ceiling that catch people’s eye
- Strut Boards – bespoke die-cut strut boards that stand out from the rest of the banner adverts
- Machine tags/displays – discreet but noticeable promotions on gym equipment
- Digital Screens – these are becoming increasingly lower in cost to advertise multiple services and products within your centre. They can also be a revenue stream if you advertise local businesses.

Summary

GDPR has not killed off the referral process, it has merely made leisure operators think differently about how we encourage our members to be our best source of leads and future sales. It is worth noting that members will not refer their friends if they don’t enjoy using your facilities, and guests won’t join if your service levels don’t live up to ever-increasing customer expectations. Whilst referrals are seen as part of your sales and marketing strategy, they are heavily influenced by your retention efforts across the whole centre.

Excellent Service

+ Customer Results

+ Referral Incentive

= More Leads

= More Sales

123 4 5 6