Unless you’ve put some significant work into it recently, the answer to this question is probably ‘no’.
At Foundry, we’re taking a long hard look at our product, our overall customer journey, and more specifically our onboarding process. With customer behaviour and expectations evolving faster than ever before, frequent reviews and upgrades are a must if we don’t want to get left behind.
The customer onboarding process is probably the most important stage of the customer lifecycle. While it comes right at the start of the journey, it sets the tone for a member’s relationship with our product and business.
Obviously, it improves trial (or other low-barrier-to-entry) conversions, bumping our ultimate membership sign-ups. But it has a wider knock-on effect, too. The 30-day milestone is one of the best times to ask for a referral, and an amazing onboarding process boosts the success of this strategy significantly. Thinking longer term, great onboarding also impacts retention and CLV (customer lifetime value), which are some of the most important KPIs out there.
The research backs up my anecdotal experience, too: in research recently published by McKinsey, taking a broad and systematic approach to the customer journey was found to increase customer satisfaction as much as 10%. Another study, by Boston Consulting Group, found that companies able to significantly rethink and modernize their customer journey reduced costs by up to 25% and achieved margins 15% better than average.
Ten years ago, it was pretty groundbreaking to provide a Myzone belt, branded t-shirt and water bottle – supported by an automated email sequence with nutrition and lifestyle tips. Add in a couple of in-person check-ups, and we were miles ahead of the competition. Nowadays, this setup doesn’t set you apart from the competition (but I still 100% recommend including a Myzone belt in your onboarding process).
For training gyms offering premium products, the absolute baseline for onboarding is a seamless process that welcomes the new member into the gym community and gives them the info they need to succeed. A trusted guide who helps them through the process, an education and setup process that’s integrated across channels, well-trained staff who deliver frictionless service: all should be a given. We need to go above and beyond to become best-in-class – as MD of Foundry, right now I’m in the research and brainstorming phase of making that happen.
I’m looking for ways to create an onboarding experience that makes clients go “Wow! That is surprising, unforgettable, remarkable…”
OR
That make them think, “Aha! I really learned something new/did something new that’s changed my perspective”.
Here are some of my thoughts on how to make these ‘wow’ and ‘aha’ moments happen.
- Use tech to level-up the experience. What are the latest developments that we can leverage to make onboarding more impressive/seamless/effective? Video? QR codes? Augmented reality? Virtual reality?
- Go old-school with connection points. Don’t underestimate the value of a hand-written card, some ‘bulky mail’ to a client’s house, or a simple face-to-face conversation.
- Make the facility itself a ‘wow’ moment. If it isn’t best-in-class, it’s not good enough.
- Provide a way of life, not just a fitness product. Provide physical space and structure for a 360-degree health and wellness offering: community and social, nutrition, mental wellbeing, etc.
- Think macro and micro. Big showy ‘wow’ moments are great, but having the client think ‘wow’ about a dozen small contact points every time they walk through the door is the true way to tip the scales.
- Use every moment of client attention and engagement to create maximum impact. So rather than them spending two minutes scanning a generic email about nutrition tips, we can use that same two minutes to give them a free gift from our supplement supplier, as part of a personalised conversation about their nutrition goals (for example). We’ve covered personalisation, supplier partnerships, branding, personality, and nutrition in a short amount of time. The idea is to give the biggest value at every onboarding contact point, and get the biggest bang for your buck in terms of client satisfaction and loyalty in return.
- Excellent onboarding isn’t always about adding more shiny things. Sometimes removing a step and allowing the client to ‘breathe’ makes it simpler, more sophisticated, and more impactful.
- Take personalisation to the next level. Excellent staffing systems, centralised client notes and membership management systems are the key to making this happen. How can we anticipate client needs before they even arise?
- Get staff on board. You can put a touchpoint or a physical experience in your onboarding process fairly easily, and have some success. But making the customer journey outstanding really depends on you building a culture of client-centricity, where everyone upholds a dedication to making the client’s experience blow them away. A remarkable brand that permeates every aspect of the business and client experience goes hand in hand with this staff buy-in and consistent experience.
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