Modern technologies allow fitness centre managers to deploy and take advantage of advanced software that enhance interaction with clients and boost efficiency by implementing solutions like a member management system. Membership management software can be implemented as a single module or as part of a more complex system that takes care of various business processes from billing, to marketing, to customer support, to appointment and exercise scheduling. Moreover, modern gym management systems are able to provide extended functionality that can help managers in retaining customers, identifying prospective clients, and attracting new gym members.
Most software products for membership management systems are based on customer relationship management (CRM) platforms and provide functionality that is similar to that offered by CRM systems but are designed to cover the needs and requirements of single gyms and large chains of sports centres. Ready-to-use and user friendly solutions in the sphere of membership management can greatly increase efficiency and reduce overall costs, while helping marketing specialists to retain best customers and develop campaigns and services targeting prospect gym members.
Best results and faster return on investment can be achieved through implementation of member management software that offers complex functionality, nevertheless is user friendly and does not require employees to waste time managing redundant data, while providing easy-to-use interface. A great number of on-premises software tend to offer solutions that are overwhelmingly complex and their sophisticated nature can force fitness centre employees to perform needless tasks that have no direct positive effect on companys business performance. In addition, such software solutions can be very expensive, especially for single sports centres, which can instead consider purchasing less costly licensed software solutions offered under a monthly payment system by a number of reputable software vendors.
Fully-functional membership management software is able to keep records on various vendor-client interactions and communications, which can assist managers and employees in providing best customer assistance and design new communication strategies to retain gym members and target prospective ones. A good solution would also feature an exercise-scheduling module that is able to schedule and re-schedule exercises and appointments, and analyse overall workload of the facility in order to optimise training schedules and provide better customer service. Keeping customers happy is crucial for retaining best customers, thus, membership management software should be able to keep track on clients preferences, analyse client behaviour, deliver invoices that are billed correctly and on-time, and provide functionality to organise multichannel marketing campaigns and include and invite gym members to discount and promotional programmes organised by the gym.
Online capabilities are integral part of many solutions for managing gym members and can markedly increase overall customer happiness while providing tools for better communication with clients. Some software vendors embed modules allowing gym members to login to the gyms online system, schedule their exercises, pay bills online, or take advantage of other services offered by the fitness centre. Such functionality can markedly reduce customer service and technical support costs, while allowing the gym’s marketing department to take utmost advantage of tracking and analysing customer behaviour and preferences.
At first glance, implementation of such advanced software solutions seem to take considerable time, including time-consuming and costly personnel training. However, the fact is that a fair number of software vendors provide membership management solutions that can be deployed within hours and require little or no additional workforce training. Thus, a properly selected member management system can help a fitness centre retain best customers and target potential clients, using an advanced software system that offers obvious advantages in terms of cost reduction, overall business process enhancement, and better interaction with customers.