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The Impact of User-Centered Research on Small Gym Businesses
The Impact of User-Centered Research on Small Gym Businesses
Baseline research to provide context and support for the new gym owner in making strategic decisions about his newly acquired business.
Baseline research to provide context and support for the new gym owner in making strategic decisions about his newly acquired business.
Outcome:
20% increase in business revenue
Methodologies:
Qualitative and quantitative
Duration:
7 weeks
Initial hypothesis:
Adequately organizing the equipment that would prevent accidents in the gym while users walk between exercises.
Initial hypothesis context:
It all began with observing the gym during a visit. This sparked the first hypothesis about enhancing this aspect of the customer experience, which then led to proposing a study to the gym's owner to delve deeper into this matter.
That became a more complete research process.
- Defining the research
After a kick-off meeting, it was important to gather the most relevant doubts and suspicions about the business that the owner recently acquired.
CSD MATRIX
Doubts
What's the client's perception of the cleanliness of the place?
Is it possible to sell other products, like T-shirts?
Suspicions
The clients think that the gym is for wealthy people because of the former owner's social circle.
There were only two profiles of clients the heavy users and the ones who seek to gain muscle.
MY INPUT AS AN EXPERIENCED UX PROFESSIONAL
Since he was a personal fitness trainer and now a new entrepreneur, I understood that he needed a holistic view of what was happening to the company to gain the knowledge to transition from tactical to strategic thinking.
What data did he have, and what could it tell us about the company?
Who were the customers? Why did they go to the gym, and especially, why did they choose Tubarun Gym?
What were all the touchpoints of the services he provided in the gym, and how did they work together?
The main research question was defined:
How might we enhance the daily gym experience for our clients?
- Choosing the approach
CONTEXT DETAILS
Company:
Tubarun Gym
About:
The business was one year old and operated alongside five other competitor gyms in a coastal neighborhood. It was based in a tourist destination, attracting both regular and seasonal clientele.
The company didn't have many metrics or quantitative data.
In this scenario, I opted for a mixed-methods approach, triangulating the information to achieve a more comprehensive understanding. This allowed me to explore various hypotheses and validate them through subsequent methodologies.
For example, during an interview, I gathered a client's perspective on their gym experience. To gain a deeper understanding and assess its validity, I employed both observation research and desk research.
- Analysis process
SELECTED METHODOLOGY
INTERVIEW and CONTEXTUAL INQUERY
With clients, gym's personal trainers, gym's owner and gym's nutritionist
OBSERVATION RESEARCH
on select days with and without high traffic, across morning, afternoon, and evening hours.
WORKSHOP
With gym's employees
Main results:
By analyzing user data, I was able to categorize five distinct client personas: students, business owners, employees, freelancers, and tourists. Each persona has unique ambitions, needs, desires, and behaviors. This insight led to recommendations for tailoring gym offerings, schedules, and trainer approaches to better serve each client segment.
The workload for all employees was more than they could handle; even the owner faced the same challenge.
DESK RESEARCH
Collected ethnographic data available, researched at the Gym's market in Brazil, searched for the best practices on equipment position and safety
DATA ANALYSIS
They utilized the Next Fit app service, which provided some basic data to guide their decision-making.
BENCHMARKING
Look at the five competitors, examining their social media presence, marketing strategies, and customer reviews on platforms like Google and social media.
Main results:
With a comprehensive market overview, mapping of similar players' practices, and competitor analysis, we developed a strategic SWOT. This allowed us to define the brand's positioning on social media, and its value proposition, and chart the best paths for the future, both in the medium and long term.
The initial hypothesis was reevaluated as it wasn't a significant concern for clients, employees, or according to best practices research.
To analyze all the data, I utilized some of the following tools that aided in the prioritization process.
USER JOURNEY
SERVICE BLUEPRINT
SERVICE PROCESS ANALYSIS
Using a service blueprint allowed me for the visual identification and showing case of breaking points across all services offered by the gym.
Main results:
The gym's side services lacked cohesion, and neither the user experience nor the owner's approach instilled confidence or a way to track the gym's progress.
Example:
The owner lacked a system to track all the assessments performed by the nutritionist (resulting in potential missed payments for the service). This data disconnect also meant users weren't seeing the impact of the assessments on their workout routines, leading to frustration.
- The results
This research yielded 28 actionable recommendations,
categorized by priority (short-term and long-term), client segment (business, individual), and focus area (structure, social media improvement).
The recommendations were delivered in both a comprehensive report and a verbal presentation.
I select the 2 most relevant to present in this case
I select the 2 most relevant to present in this case
- Social media improvement
Research results revealed that the social media accounts gym's clients followed offered a more diverse and educational content experience compared to Tubarun's current social media strategy.
Some actionable recommendations:
Hire a social media professional to present a cohesive approach and alleviate the gym owner's workload.
Diversify the influencer pool to include representatives of different demographics and fitness goals
The number of followers on the Instagram account increased by 55.82% after those actions.
The number of followers on the Instagram account increased by 55.82% after those actions.
“With a change in marketing strategy, people are eager to become part of our community. They are tagging the gym more and attending events more frequently.”
Gym owner's Quote
Hence, this was put forward as the key alteration
How might we enhance the daily gym experience for our students?
How might we enhance the daily gym experience for our students?
Tubarun's gym reception
2. Hiring a receptionist
2. Hiring a receptionist
The most remarkable aspect of the gym's operation for the users was the service provided by the trainers, yet it faced jeopardy because they were burdened with additional duties in reception and cleaning, thus diverting attention from the necessary improvements.
This solution streamlined trainer workloads, boosted sales of plans and products, and elevated the user and stakeholder experience.
The gym achieved a significant 20% increase in business revenue
The gym achieved a significant 20% increase in business revenue
“It reflected in the number of active students (fluctuating from 200 to 270) compared to the same months last year (200 - 210).
“It optimized the gym's revenue; sales of new products and plans started to happen. We've already increased revenue by 20% since then.”
Gym's owner quote
Employees felt relieved and more focused on their core responsibilities.
Employees felt relieved and more focused on their core responsibilities.
“Extremely positive impact, neither I nor my colleagues are overwhelmed anymore.”
Gym's personal trainer quote
The feedback of gym users expressed satisfaction with the increased attention they received.
The feedback of gym users expressed satisfaction with the increased attention they received.
"[...] the trainer can now pay attention to my exercise, before he would spend a lot of time attending to people who arrived [...]"
Gym' user quote
Lessons learned
Lessons learned
Although the initial hypothesis was incorrect, it served as a starting point for the research. I highlight my ability to delve deep into investigation and prioritize areas for service improvement, aiming to positively impact customer experience and business performance.
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