Fitness & Lifestyle Group (FLG) has upgraded its digital joining process across Fitness First Australia, Goodlife Australia, Jetts New Zealand and Zap Fitness brands as part of a revamped digital offering.

Following a transformation of both front- and back-end operations, joiners can now signup online, set up payment and attend a health and safety induction directly through their smartphone.

Watching the safety video (www.hcmmag.com/FLGtech) is compulsory for members and clubs are alerted if a new member arrives without having seen it.

The overarching aim is to provide members with access to a range of digital products across all FLG brands, which are backed by analytics.

“We wanted to turn onboarding into a quick, easy, self-service model for maximum customer convenience,” explained chief digital and product officer Eddie Swinnen in an exclusive interview with HCM. “We believe it’s one of the best joining experiences in the ANZ region (Australia, New Zealand and Singapore), in spite of the complexities of creating something that works across our multiple markets and brands.”

The groundwork for FLG’s digital operations started in 2016 when the group moved its data into a cloud-based data lake called Snowflake which allowed for data analytics and business intelligence across all departments. Since then Waldron and Swinnen have standardised FLG’s systems and integrations so all brands use the same operating platform.

“They all benefit when we add new features, such as online joining, new ways to contact customer service and pay bills, just to give a few examples,” said Waldron. “But each brand also has unique elements with which to create a branded experience.”

By incorporating user insights into the joining process the teams can now also see how people select memberships and join online.

“As a result, we’ve been able to minimise clicks versus industry standards and slim down the product choices on offer: we give a few simple membership types to pick from, a handful of options to customise to people’s needs and that’s it,” said Swinnen.

“The way those choices map to our internal systems may be more complicated. But to the end-user, the experience is simple and streamlined.”

As a result of the improved systems, data analytics capabilities identifying successes and growth areas throughout the business is also now possible, and moving from Google Workspace to Microsoft 365 has heightened visibility and control over data management, privacy and usage.

“Reporting of key metrics – such as sales, leavers, visitation, personal training and group exercise attendance – has been consolidated and streamlined across Goodlife and Fitness First Australia, Zap Fitness and Jetts Thailand and New Zealand, with standardised definitions driving consistency of data across brands, sites, markets and systems,” Waldron told HCM. “It places insights, trends and opportunities for a competitive edge at everyone’s fingertips.”