News

Following on from their successful involvement with the Australian Fitness Industry surveys in 2008 and 2009, Ezypay took on the responsibility again in 2010 of providing the fitness industry with accurate information on the big picture to help with planning for the coming year.

Over 420 owners and managers in the fitness industry responded to the survey this year and, for the second time, over 7000 members gave their opinions on the industry. This provided the body and business owners with a clear picture of how they should run their business to meet the needs of their customers.

“It is significant that this year again we can provide the fitness industry with a clear message on what areas are important for business owners,” says Trent Brown, Ezypay CEO. “Having the responses from customers as well as the owners and managers provides an insight as to what the fitness industry sees as being important and whether that is the same as what their customers actually want.”

The main issue to have emerged from the survey is that both fitness business owners and managers see that no-fixed contract memberships are an important aspect to attract and retain members, and the members agree. The biggest trend in the industry is the development and implementation of ‘no contract’ terms, with 46.9% of fitness owners and managers naming it so. This is reiterated by the member responses, with 47.4% of people who had expired memberships indicating that they would be motivated to renew if they were given the option of ‘no contract’ terms.

Many gyms are already implementing this kind of approach to membership, Fit n Fast is one such gym.

“We have decided to go down the route of no contracts with our members,” says Tony De Leede, Director at Fit n Fast. “Through a combination of easy payment facilities and no contract we are finding that people are more inclined to take up memberships.”

With the removal of a fixed contract, more member engagement is needed to keep people attending the gym and the AFIS results show the fitness industry how to do that.

The most preferred method of communication is still via email with 47% of members opting for direct personal emails in preference to an e-newsletter at 18%.

Interestingly, Facebook is the most used social media tool by members at 61%, with only 4% of members saying they used Twitter. And, the fitness owners report that Facebook Fan Pages and Group pages were the most useful and most used forms of social media connectivity with 40.5% and 44.9% respectively reporting use of them.

“The discussion panel that we brought together following the AFIS results, discusses the use of social media in the fitness industry,” says Trent. “Justin Tamsett, a self-confessed Twitterer and social media user, and an industry thought leader, suggests that it’s still a largely untapped area that owners and managers need to get to grips with so that they can maintain engagement with their members.”

The AFIS results also show that there are still some areas that the fitness industry opinions differ from their customers. For example, 54% of clubs rated referral campaigns as the most successful marketing method with 64% considering that one month of free membership to be the most effective way of gaining referrals. However, 60% of the member respondents suggest that a reduction in their ongoing fees, followed by one month free membership (55%) and a complementary PT session (38%) would be persuasive in getting them to refer people to club.

“Because we can show the industry perceptions alongside the preferences of the clients and ex club members, we really feel that the report gives even more valuable insights to the fitness industry this year,” says Trent.  

About Ezypay

Ezypay is an outsourced direct debit service provider dedicated to offering a payment collection system that assists businesses in the regulation of their cash flow and revenue without the hassle of managing customers' bills.

With close links to the fitness industry through, they offer small to medium growth business operators of all types an easy online payment collection options at www.ezypay.com.au.