Increase the Value of Membership

Michele Wong is the Chief Operating Officer of Active Wellness, a fitness and wellness management company in North America. They manage fitness centers for corporations and healthcare partners. Wherever there is a need for fitness and wellness, they work on behalf of their partners - all over the United States and in Canada with almost 50 locations.

Michele's mission: "One of our goals is always to provide a very personalized experience for our members, and we think about doing that in a very high-tech as well as high-touch way. Additionally we look at how we can drive additional revenue and increase the value of the membership. We do that by bringing a variety of technology to them,  the best in class equipment, as well as a really top notch expert team of fitness and wellness professionals."

Two locations in Portland, Oregon have partnered with EGYM and installed the EGYM Ecosystem. One is a smaller facility - at Kruse Woods - that caters to a senior demographic: "We've had that facility up and running with the equipment for a year now. We've been positively surprised at the results members are getting and how well they've adapting to the technology. The members love it, they enjoy it. We're finding that our retention rate has improved, that their BioAge has reduced."

The second, larger facility at Reed's Crossing partners with Providence Health, and is part of the enhanced model called 'Activate' based on EGYM. The demographics are a little different: younger, more families, young professionals. "Again, we get a great response from our members: They enjoy the experience. Even those who already had experience with strength training complement the program. And those who haven't done any strength training before, EGYM makes it easier to get started."

Impact of the 'Activate' Model

The CCO Michele explains the mission of the Activate Model: "What we created, is an easy experience, a result-oriented experience, and something that would draw our members back-in, additionally making them want to say I'll pay a higher price point for that experience. The 'Activate' Membership is a higher level membership, it's an add-on, that is mainly EGYM driven. Our membership is $100 and members that are upgrading to the Activate Model would pay $150 in their membership fee. So, 50% more - and that gives them exclusive access to this separate space. We are able to get about 10% of our members to upgrade their membership to our Activate Model."

As a coach of 20 years, Fitness Director David Haebler knows that a lot of members are intimidated to strength train. "But EGYM  allows them to build confidence. What I've noticed about EGYM is that the members like the gamification and they like the data aspects and the progressive modules so they can stick with it - and there's a high retention rate, a very low attrition rate. Once someone starts EGYM, they seem to keep it going.

And one aspect that we trainers really love about EGYM is the analysis of muscular imbalances and asymmetries, which allows the trainer to tailor specific workouts to those imbalances and allows the members to get a full comprehensive, high-tech, digital way of looking at their movement patterns and their strength development."

Close Partnership for a Seamless Member Experience

Michele Wong: "We chose to partner with EGYM, because we like the equipment and the experience, but also because we felt they've been responsive to us as a partner: Listening to us, taking our feedback, looking at how we can create a more holistic experience with the membership base. And so, in choosing a partner to bring into our Activate model, it was really important to us that we would be able to work closely with that partner on all aspects of what we were trying to create."

"For us, the partnership with EGYM has produced the results we've really been looking for: In terms of our membership, we've seen an average reduction of 13 years in their BioAge within the first 90 days of those, who participate in the programs. We've seen a 93% retention rate of those who engage in EGYM. In terms of upselling: 10% have bought the Upgrade Activate model, that is 50% more than the standard membership."

"Part of our selection of EGYM was knowing that there was an open opportunity to integrate other technologies and other equipment that we were using and create a really seamless experience for the members. So we didn't just want a siloed piece of circuit equipment."

Michele's plan for the future: "We want to continue to replicate our 'Activate' model in other locations that specifically partner with healthcare, and we plan to continue to include EGYM as part of that experience."

Conclusion by Michele Wong

"Our partnership with EGYM has been a success for both our members and our business.

EGYM has enabled us to upsell 10% of our members to the 50% higher membership tier.

And we see a 93% retention rate in the Activate Model."