Impact of free app content The audience for Planet Fitness is also growing significantly, partly thanks to its app. The company made free workout content available to members and non-members throughout lockdown to engage more potential members and there’s still some free content on offer. “It’s been a way of introducing people to fitness and to the brand, and hopefully get them to feel confident to come in and try to exercise in the clubs,” says Rondeau. Planet Fitness has also launched PF+, a full digital subscription charged at US$5.99 a month. “We have a lot of app users who are non-members and former members, and what’s been interesting is that about
40 per cent of PF+ subscribers have gone on to buy a club membership,” says Rondeau. “It’s really turned into a gateway, which is great because there’s only so much you can say in a 30-second commercial! “This tech didn’t exist for us two or three years ago, so it’s interesting to think about this new world and how we leverage digital to expose the brand to more people, and hopefully drive more acquisition for the clubs.”
photo: Planet fitness
“Even if you just look at the 2020 cancellations – the people who cancelled in the first year of COVID – the percentage that have come back this year is slightly higher than the 2018 cancels who joined in 2019.”
Changing behaviours “We’ve also definitely seen the digital world integrating into the clubs beyond digital workouts,” he says. “For example, if you look at 2019, about 30–35 per cent of our join-ups were done digitally and mostly through our website. Now it’s about 70 per cent and it’s done via the app as well as via the website. People are also using the crowd meter in our app to adjust their workout schedules, too, so they can avoid crowds in the club. ©Cybertrek 2021 Issue 11 2021
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