How Escape Fitness Now Increased Revenues by 40% With Glofox

When they acquired the space to start their new business, Joe and Rich partnered with Escape Fitness Equipment, a company that provides unique setups for fitness businesses:

“We partnered with Escape for their equipment, but also for the service they offer with developing classes. They have a whole series of programs, and they had an instructor come and get all of my trainers up to speed. That helped us offer a high-quality and consistent product from the beginning versus creating and trialing new classes. You can tailor the programs to suit your target market, so we’ve evolved a lot since then.”

When it came to choosing a software solution, Joe had previously experienced poor functionality in using another gym management software and knew that this could drastically impact the member experience:

“As far as the member experience went with the previous software system I used – it was very outdated.”

Alongside wanting to provide an excellent member experience, Joe knew that for the business to grow, Escape Fitness would need features that could adapt alongside a changing fitness industry:

“The one thing we knew going forward was that when it came to running the business, everything would eventually be happening online. Even a lot of sales wouldn’t be in person. We had to find a very mobile, user-friendly, and member-friendly system, and that’s how we came to Glofox.”

How Has Glofox Helped? Providing powerful insights to help increase revenues and tools that deliver a seamless member experience

Before Covid-19, Joe had never planned to provide online fitness options at Escape Fitness. When the business was forced to go digital to survive, he had to adapt and learn quickly:

“Glofox helped us big time because, before Covid-19 we had no interest in online training. But when we were forced to, I had to adapt and learn so much to do that and provide an easy experience for members.”

Being able to automate a lot of processes through Glofox helped the business transition online smoothly and efficiently:

“I needed everything to be simple. Like getting members to sign up for a class easily by themselves versus me having to manually send them a link every single day for every single class. Glofox really helped us simplify the whole experience and make it a lot easier.”

The business ran entirely online through Covid-19, and as lockdown restrictions eased, Joe was able to focus his attention on growth. Before Escape Fitness, Joe would target adult members with a boot camp run through Parisi Speed School; the business Rich still owns today. This meant that Escape Fitness had a strong following of members when it first opened and stronger still once the gym reopened after lockdown.

“We had about 130 members from the Parisi Bootcamp as we opened up the new facility for the first time, so that’s now the Escape Bootcamp. When lockdown eased over here, we were running outdoor classes for five months. Every morning we’d go and move all of the equipment outside. We were the only people in the area that were doing that, so that helped us build a following before we were able to open back up fully.”

Since lockdown restrictions have lifted in New Jersey, the business has gone from strength to strength:

“Each month is getting better and better. We’re at a 50% restriction in New Jersey, and it changes people’s mindset – they’re much more comfortable with being able to get back into the gym. Our average churn rate is around 1.2 members a month, which is very low compared to your typical gym.”

Joe relies heavily on Glofox business metrics and reports to efficiently find areas for improvement. Monitoring the recurring revenue for each month allows Joe to see where he can drive more growth:

“The reporting system, especially the recurring payments – that’s a very important tool as a business owner. Just clicking in and straight away understanding how much is definitely coming in over the next month, and seeing that broken down by each day, that’s how you see areas for growth.”

Over the last few months, revenue has increased by 40%, and Joe will continue to focus on acquiring new members to maintain and build upon this steady growth rate.

What’s Next for Escape Fitness Now

Digital services will play a role in the business’s future, but in the coming months, Escape Fitness will be focusing on growing its onsite membership base:

“I definitely think we’ll keep offering online. Our digital product is awesome, and the amount of classes we offer live online is phenomenal. But right now, it’s more important for us to focus our resources on the physical gym.”

The business currently offers tiered memberships to provide members maximum value. Escape Fitness has built a tight-knit community in a short space of time, something Joe will continue investing in as lockdown restrictions continue lifting:

“When I bring in a new trial member to Bootcamp, within minutes, one of our current members will come over, introduce themselves, introduce them to others, and get them feeling welcomed and comfortable. And right there, they’ve just sold that membership for me. It’s pretty cool when the strength of our community comes through like that.”

Joe also plans to use the Glofox lead conversion tool to experiment with incentives to convert more members. Currently, every new lead can book straight into a 7-day trial through the integration. It’s an excellent opportunity for Escape Fitness to deliver a fast and efficient journey that drives more leads into members.