If you’re running your gym without accessing and utilising analytics, you’re running your business blind. Although all that ‘data stuff’ may seem overwhelming at first, there’s no denying that analytics is simply great at answering key business questions, and without it, you’ll get left behind. So many opportunities open up to you once you know how to get and then analyse the business data that really matters.

And we’re not just saying that. Some of the biggest players in the fitness industry (including The Gym Group in the UK and Goodlife in Australia) openly admit that they depend on their analytics for their continual growth and success.Unfortunately, many gyms aren’t utilising analytics or gym management software to the best of their ability. That’s why we’re here to share some advice and tips with you on how to get more out of your gym analytics.

The Type of Business Intelligence Data You Need and What to Do With It

Conversions

Do you know how your members found you and the way in which they signed-up? Did they click on a social media ad, find you on Google, pick up a flier and make a call or did they just walk into your gym off the street? You need to be aware of this, so you know what promotional and marketing efforts are paying off for you. Simply include a ‘how did you find us’ section in your physical or online sign-up form so new members can tell you exactly how they found you.

Membership Sign Ups

Every member fills in a sign-up form to join your gym. Use that information to your advantage and work out if any significant trends are present that could help you define your target audience. Are you noticing a particular age range, locality, gender or fitness goals/lifestyle factors that are particularly common amongst your members? If you have a better understanding of the type of members you have, you will be in the best possible position to attract others like them to the gym.You can also track and calculate sign-ups to track how many membership sign-ups you get over a period of time. When pairing this data with membership drop-offs, you get a good visualisation of your retention rate too.

Attendance Tracking

You can access a number of different tools to help you track attendance and visualise data showing how often members are using your gym, at what days and times and the duration of time they spend in your gym. By doing this, you can clearly see if attendance at your gym is growing, declining or flat lining at a glance. When you have attendance tracking in place, if attendance is falling for any members, you can jump on the problem quickly and proactively act on making their experience in your gym better.

Google Analytics

Any business with a website needs to be utilising google analytics. Through Google Analytics you can discover how many people are finding your website organically or through other sources, how long people are staying on your page, the amount of conversions you are getting through your site and more. You can then use this data to optimise your website better and determine what your digital spend needs to go towards to attract more prospects.

Track Fitness Data

Analytics doesn’t just need to benefit you and the business. It can add value to your member’s experience in your gym too. Being able to track your members’ key fitness metrics is a huge advantage and one that will likely make your gym more appealing. Not only can members track their own progress, but your staff can too, allowing PT’s to offer better and more targeted advice and assistance to members.

Earnings Projections

You have to keep across your earnings and spending when in business. Poor financial management and cash flow is a big reason why many gyms fail. Being able to see your incomings and outgoings can tell you how successful your business is. By keeping a steady record of your earnings over time, you should be able to make earning projections for the future too, allowing you to more accurately plan for the future.

How to Use and Visualise This Data

While having pages and pages of raw data is great, it needs to be analysed and presented in a palatable way that’s easy to read and understand, such as a tables or graphs. For example, bar graphs are great for showing the age and gender of your members, while line graphs offer an ideal visualisation of your membership sign-ups over a period of time.Excel has these capabilities, but any good data or reporting program built into your gym management software should be able to do this too. It also helps if you have gym management software in place that can pull data in from multiple sources, allowing you to see all of it in one place.

Gym Analytics and Reporting from Clubworx

When you have access to gym analytics and in-depth custom reporting, you can analyse and understand your business better. You’re able to make future projections about earnings, convert more leads to members, retain members longer and grow faster.Excel has these capabilities, but any good data or reporting program built into your gym management software should be able to do this too. It also helps if you have gym management software in place that can pull data in from multiple sources, allowing you to see all of it in one place.

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