11 Gym Features To Attract More Clients
Attracting and retaining fitness members at your gym or health club should always be a priority. However, knowing what clients value or what areas of your business to invest in can be difficult. At FitKit, we have collated a list of gym features and amenities that will help you attract new clients and keep the ones you already have happy.
Contents
- 1. High-Quality Fitness Equipment
- 2. Wellness Options
- 3. Healthy Snack Bar
- 4. Workout Classes
- 5. Flexible Working Hours
- 6. Location
- 7. Personal Trainers
- 8. Community Feel
- 9. Cleanliness
- 10. Childcare service
- 11. Towel Service
1. High-Quality Fitness Equipment
Many gym goers are motivated to achieve fitness goals and stay healthy. High-quality fitness equipment is key in helping your members achieve these goals.
Understanding these fitness goals is important and will allow you to map out the types of fitness equipment you need to add to your space.
Cardio equipment
Choosing a range of cardio machines gives members options on how they get their heart rate high. Cardiovascular fitness isn’t always fun, so being able to cater to the different needs and providing options is crucial. Adding high-quality treadmills, exercise bikes, steppers, and more to your cardio area helps users switch up their workouts and stay motivated.
Strength machines
The same applies to strength machines. With so many different goals, being able to offer a wide range of machines that target muscle groups is a fundamental consideration for gym owners. If you want the stress removed from your selection, you should browse through our range of gym packages.
Quantity
One of the biggest frustrations for many gym members is a lack of equipment. Ensuring you have plenty of equipment and options for users will increase the happiness of your members and support retention.
2. Wellness options
Including wellness options within a fitness space opens your business up to a large demographic. Not every fitness facility has to focus solely on sculpting better bodies, there is a large percentage of gym goers who are looking to improve their mental wellbeing.
Adding wellness options that aid recovery and relaxation is a great way to target new customers and keep existing customers in your club for longer. Think about including wellness options such as:
- Sauna
- Steam room
- Cold plunge pool
- Massage package
- Hydrotherapy pools
- Hot tubs
- Meditation rooms
- Napping pods
- Stretching and mobility zones
- Acupuncture or reflexology services
- Compression therapy machines
- Body composition scanners
Including some of the above options within your fitness space is a great way to increase revenue, with add-on charges being applied or allowing you to introduce premium pricing.
3. Healthy snack bar
Nutrition is such a big part of the fitness industry that offering healthy eating options within your fitness space makes sense. Introducing a healthy snack bar that serves a range of nutrient-rich foods and smoothies will keep members in your club for longer and provide another revenue stream for your business.
If you want to introduce this slowly to your business, you could start with healthy smoothie options and scale into other options.
4. Workout classes
Many gymgoers find staying motivated challenging and don’t like to train alone. This is why workout classes have always been popular in gyms and fitness studios. Offering a diverse range of classes will help attract new customers and encourage a community of users.
Keep your classes fresh and employ personal trainers who can deliver premium workouts. You can constantly review the uptake of classes, assess which workout classes your members are interested in, and remove the ones with minimal attendance.
One frustration for gym members to note here is the availability and schedule of classes; make sure you offer an open forum for members to give feedback.
Some workout classes you can try include:
- HIIT workouts
- Spinning classes
- Yoga or Pilates
- Strength circuits
- Cardio dance parties
- Warrior bootcamp
- Core classes
- Kickboxing or combat
- Stretching and flexibility classes
5. Flexible opening hours
Ensuring your fitness space is open to your members at convenient times is important. The opening of 24-hour gyms has shown a demand for working out at any time of the day.
Being flexible with your gym opening hours allows users to train who work shifts or prefer training during quieter hours. You can easily cater to the night owls and early risers and accommodate a wider range of demographics simply by expanding your hours.
Having flexible opening hours also increases the perceived value of your fitness space for members and will be a compelling advantage for users considering various gym options.
6. Location
When opening your gym, ensure your fitness space is accessible and in a prime location. If you want more specific advice on where to open a gym, read our blog, “Where is the best place to open a gym?”
In this blog, we discuss everything from local market competition to the building and even give some examples of prime gym locations. You could have the best facilities in the world, but if health club members can’t easily find your fitness space, your chance of finding new members will be limited.
Another consideration when it comes to location should be parking. Can your members easily park close to your gym? Is the location safe enough that they will feel comfortable leaving their car for extended periods? Do you have enough space to accommodate all of your health club members?
7. Personal Trainers
Having a mix of personal trainers in your business can help make the place feel vibrant, keep members motivated, and even bring in more business. Choosing personal trainers who bring value to your users and can help them achieve their fitness goals will set your gym apart from your competitors.
Catering to the needs of your members is important, and bringing in passionate staff with the skillset and qualifications to deliver fun and engaging classes will be crucial to your business.
Many gym-goers need to be motivated to work hard towards their goals. Offering their services within your business can help draw a new audience and revitalise your gym.
When hiring personal trainers in your fitness space, you have several options. They can deliver one-on-one sessions to paying clients, group sessions in a boot camp style, or lead scheduled sessions for members. Giving your clients a choice will also increase the perceived value of your space and help you gain a strong reputation.
8. Community Feel
Fostering an environment that feels like a community is difficult and is an amalgamation of different features and can take years to build. There are a few things you can do to encourage a community feel in your gym space, which include:
- Create a welcoming environment – Train your staff to greet members by name, offer help and always remain positive. Make sure the fitness space feels inclusive for all fitness levels and backgrounds. Keep the gym tidy, clean and organised.
- Group activities – Organise group fitness classes to allow users to make new friends, bond, and interact with others while having fun.
- Social events – Host workshops with industry professionals for your members (this could include nutritional advice sessions, wellness topics, etc). Alternatively, you could host a member’s mixer session for users to socialise outside of their regular sessions.
- Provide feedback opportunities. As business owners, we don’t always get it right on the first try. Creating an open and honest forum or suggestion box is a great way to start a conversation with members and show them you are listening to their concerns.
9. Cleanliness
If fitness spaces aren’t cleaned properly, they can quickly become a playground for bacteria and dirt. With so much sweat and determination occurring throughout the day, it is important to have a cleaning schedule for the health and hygiene of your customers.
This also extends to the organisation of your gym. Nothing is more of a turn-off than a gym that feels messy, cluttered and unorganised. Make sure you have staff members rotating regularly to check the cleanliness of your gym. They should check machines have been wiped down, dumbbells are in the correct place and bins have been cleared.
10. Childcare service
For gym bunnies with children, finding time to train without childcare can be difficult. A childcare service within your fitness space will attract a broader membership base and differentiate your gym from competitors.
Having a childcare service is also greatly convenient for parents and can help increase member retention as parents won’t have to arrange separate childcare. You will also find your workout class attendance becomes more consistent as parents are less likely to skip workouts if they know their child can be cared for on-site.
It also helps create a family-friendly environment, fostering a community feeling and connecting families.
11. Towel service
Offering a towel service to your health club members can significantly enhance the experience for users and provide practical benefits for the gym and users alike. Members love a towel service as it means they don’t have to bring their own or worry about forgetting them.
It is also a great way to promote sanitation and cleanliness within the gym. Members are more likely to wipe down machines and reduce the spread of germs. It also helps with the cleanliness of any spa areas on site.
Providing a luxury towel service is also a great tactic for increasing perceived value and gaining a reputation as a premium facility.
Top tips and tricks to make your gym attractive to clients
- Offer a wide range of gym equipment that will help users achieve their goals
- Go beyond just fitness and give customers more wellness options to explore
- Allow users to purchase healthy snacks
- Challenge customers with fitness classes
- Be flexible with your opening hours
- Make sure your gym is accessible
- Hire personal trainers that bring an energy to the place
- Foster a community feel
- Make sure your gym is clean, tidy and organised
- Offer childcare services so members don’t have an excuse not to train
- Start a luxury towel service to increase the luxurious feel and cleanliness
Create the gym of your dreams with FitKit today
Now that you know which features will be important to attract new customers to your gym, why not make a start? We have a diverse range of fitness equipment for you to explore, including cardio machines, strength training machines and a whole host of other options for you to choose from. What are you waiting for? Create the fitness space of your dreams and help clients achieve their fitness goals today with FitKit UK.
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