You may know how tough gym management can be as a gym owner. There are a dozen things to juggle simultaneously – while trying to keep members happy and continue walking through those studio doors. It’s not for the light-hearted, that’s for sure.
Along with general business operations, a few external factors have made gym management system even more challenging. Starting with the more obvious reason; the recent pandemic. Everyone had to adapt to moving their fitness regimes from studios to living rooms, basements, or bedrooms. This was a difficult time for gyms as many had their doors closed for over a year.
But it was also a bit of a change for consumers. Suddenly, they felt that working out from home had its perks, too, such as flexibility and less commute time. In addition, consumers started to want more from their wellness programs. They wanted individualism and personalized training plans. This was the second considerable challenge that fitness center marketing instructors had to deal with.
These major challenges can be overcome today using advanced tools like gym management software.
Over the last few years, gym or fitness industry marketing management software has become increasingly popular. This is because it is designed to help you streamline your operations using end-to-end software systems personal trainer. Furthermore, these management tools are advancing to cater to more streamlined marketing strategies, sales pipelines, and payments. This, of course, results in more relevancy for customers and consequently more revenue for gyms.
In 2021, the gym management software market was valued at $13.1 billion and is projected to reach $36.3 billion by 2029. That’s a CAGR of 13.60% from 2022 to 2029.
What is Gym Management Software?
In a nutshell, gym management software provides gym owners with all the features needed to manage and operate a gym successfully. These features could be things like member management, automated marketing, sales tracking, customer support, and team management.
This is ideal for anyone working in the gym and fitness market because it allows you to continue focusing on your daily tasks. In contrast, gym software takes care of all tasks that can be automated or simply done by a computer.
Fitness center software is designed to help gym owners keep up with the ever-changing needs of their members, the competition’s creativity, and any external environmental factors (like a pandemic). But more than anything, fitness industry marketing software helps business owners retain their members and provide them with top-class service (in and out of the studio).
How Does Fitness Software Work?
The top gym management software options are designed to help you manage your members and operations through it. Here are a few of the many features that you can expect to gain from your fitness industry marketing software:
Real-time Analytics:
Business operations can be managed through gym software, and many of these tools help you automate tasks and provide data and analytics for every process. For example, you can track when members signed up at your gym, renewed memberships, and decided not to renew.
Personalized Campaigns:
You can also track how engaged members are with your fitness brand from specific campaigns. These email or text campaigns are there to help you send out personalized offerings to members, so they feel appreciated and respected.
Pipeline Management:
Fitness marketing software allows you to create your own flow of leads to track and view them more efficiently. The entire sales pipeline can be viewed and managed from within the platform, allowing you to quickly see which leads are in, which have moved onto the appointment stage, and which have closed. You can also automate sales CRM tasks to save time on a daily basis.
The Best Fitness Management Software for Marketing in 2022
In times of change, businesses have had to adapt to new consumer tech quicker than you can imagine. But gym software can help future-proof your fitness business – whether you’re a boutique gym or one of the larger chains out there.
By looking into esteemed and proven gym management software, you can be sure of two things; 1. Your daily work life will become more streamlined because you’re automating mundane tasks, and 2. Your members will start to recognize your gym’s value over the competition because you’re personalizing their experience.
Let’s review some of the best fitness center software for marketing efforts out there right now.
Connecteam
This fitness marketing software was built to help automate several processes within a gym, including front desk, team, and member management tasks. The platform thrives on being a reliable communication tool between your gyms and your members. You can do many organizational tasks, such as creating checklists for your trainers, building custom forms for your team to fill out, building schedules, and chatting with clients on a group or individual basis. The tracking is also rather good with the ability to track staff hours directly to the payroll.
Features that stand out:
- Efficient organization tools
- Simple checklist creation
- Hour tracking
- Good client communication chat
Pricing:
You can start with a free plan if you’re a small business (up to ten users only) or select the Basic plan from $29 per month. On the Advanced plan, plans go up to $99 per month, and custom Enterprise solutions are available. However, it’s important to note that you will be prompted to choose between the operations, communications, or HR and skills categories.
Mindbody
You may have heard of Mindbody before. It’s one of the biggest online business management software providers worldwide. The company focuses on the health, beauty, and wellness industries and offers business owners a range of valuable features. These include automated bookings, point-of-sale assistance, and marketing tasks. This allows business owners and managers to streamline many of their functions and, above all, save time. The brand also offers point-of-sale hardware to help capture digital payments, signatures, and receipts.
Features that stand out:
- Point-of-sale hardware and software
- Automated bookings
- Multiple-device management and delivery
- Workflow views via the app
Pricing:
There are several pricing options for each industry that Mindbody serves. But if you’re looking for fitness industry marketing software, the Starter plan is $150 per month, Accelerate at $279 per month, Ultimate at $499 per month, and Ultimate Plus at $699 per month. Mindbody encourages you to book a demo to view its capabilities in real-time, then understand which features you may require.
GymMaster
This gym software solution is built to help business managers and gym owners book appointments efficiently and quickly manage their sales data. The fitness marketing software helps track all members’ customer information and membership data. This is helpful when trying to gauge membership trends. The fitness management software can also track sales and chat with members. If clients are proactive and you’re happy to onboard them with this club management software, they can book their training sessions directly from the software – it’s a win-win for both parties.
Features that stand out:
- Members app
- Online booking for gyms and members
- Efficient point-of-sale system
- Billing integration
Pricing:
With GymMaster, you are able to choose between buying the software only or purchasing the software with door access. Note that the software-only option has tiered plans starting at $89 per month but is limited to 100 current members. Tiers go up with the Advanced plan for $129 per month and 400 current members. The Professional plan is $189 per month for 1300 members. If you want the software and door access option, all plans are priced slightly higher than the software-only service.
Gleantap
This premium fitness management software is built to help manage your gym efficiently and scale it successfully. The software focuses on four core areas: sales efficiency, marketing automation, personalized customer experiences, and member engagement. What sets Gleantap apart from some gym management platforms is that you can mix and match its suite of products according to your needs. You can even host live fitness classes or an on-demand library on Gleantap. The company owners have vast years of experience in the health and fitness industry marketing and understand that not all gyms operate similarly, so they create custom solutions for clients.
Features that stand out:
- Marketing automation via email, text, and Facebook
- Sales pipeline management
- Conversations automated through chatbots
- Mobile app
- Host live classes and an on-demand library on a customized and branded website
- In-depth real-time analytics
Pricing:
The Boutique plan is just $99 per month for up to 1000 members. The Growing plan is $199 per month for up to 5000 members, and the Large plan is a custom price for up to 10,000 members. You can choose to add on certain products as you see fit. These include things like adding sales CRM functionality or additional contacts.
Zen Planner
Zen Planner prides itself on assisting a range of fitness studios. These include yoga studios, affiliate gyms, boutique gyms, and martial arts schools. The fitness center marketing software is about centralizing marketing, logistical, business, and administrative tasks. With Zen Planner, you can manage your billing, members, staff, and marketing all in one spot. The software also allows you to track workouts and skills development, a handy feature to have for members. However, there has been some debate about how user-friendly the software is. It could be a learning curve for new customers in the initial phases.
Features that stand out:
- App for members
- Efficient automated billing
- Many features to use in one space
Pricing:
Pricing is based on how many active members you have. For example, 0-50 active members cost you $121 monthly. But more than 251 members will bump that up to $257 per month. This is a good way to start if you’re a smaller fitness studio but bear in mind that your monthly cost could go up drastically as you scale up.
Virtuagym
All-in-one gym management software, Virtuagym focuses on letting you run your fitness business with flair. It is all about helping businesses and individuals create sustainable lifestyle changes. You can manage scheduling, invoicing, and marketing communications through it. You can also streamline administrative tasks and manage memberships. The Virtuagym dashboard monitors member analytics and keeps track of purchasing behaviors. You can also access the club community feature, which helps you engage with members, similar to how you would on an online forum or Facebook group.
Features that stand out:
- Online community
- Class access management
- Membership analytics
- Scheduling capabilities
Pricing:
Virtuagym does not have pricing on their website, but you can book a free demo and get pricing then.
TeamUp
TeamUp is a club management software that enables online and remote bookings via apps. Club administrators can manage class bookings and schedules, process all payments and use a chat feature within the app to communicate with staff. The software also comes with built-in analytics to better understand how your members behave and use it to create data-driven decisions for your gym. TeamUp is known for its simple setup process, and being able to customize your dashboard is quite a handy feature too. Some feel that TeamUp is an excellent scheduling tool but isn’t necessarily an all-in-one fitness marketing management software.
Features that stand out:
- Good customization capabilities
- Built-in analytics
- In-app messaging
- Class scheduling management
- Integrated payments
Pricing:
If you like, you can try the free plan from TeamUp. This includes eight sub-calendars and one year of historical data. If you need something a bit more advanced, you can go with the Plus version for $8 per month. The Plus plan also includes a daily agenda and password protection features. Premium plans are available for $20 per month, and the Enterprise is $80 per month. Sub-calendars and years of data history increase with each plan.
Teamsnap
Teamsnap is a gym management software that allows fitness managers and trainers to engage with their teams better. This is done using streamlined team organization and communication features within the software. It handles the team’s website design, gym registration, scheduling, and database management. You can also use the online registration feature to automate payment processing. The software also integrates with Facebook and enables its users to integrate with other apps, thanks to its open APIs.
Features that stand out:
- Well-organized scheduling
- Online registration
- Roster management
- Automated invoicing and payments
Pricing:
The Basic package starts at $9.99 per month, ideal for small teams looking to track availability and use the reminders feature. The Premium package is $13.99 per month, and the Ultra package is $17.99, designed for larger teams looking to receive premium support. The more extensive plans are ideal if you want to monetize sponsorships, track statistics, and have unlimited storage.
Gym Management Software for Marketing: In Summary
The right fitness marketing management software can help you retain members, create a central hub for your staff, and help you keep on top of things daily, monthly, and annually. The software is designed to help streamline all the mundane tasks so that you can focus on the more complex parts of your business – like creating rich content for members. Or selling unique promotions. Or hosting creative fitness events at your studios.
Gym management software is all about your members’ experience and ensuring that their experience is a positive and engaging one. This results in happy customers and, eventually, loyal ones.
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