Supporting local fitness has always been our ethos—how we do so during the COVID-19 pandemic, and how we plan to continue doing so after will help ensure success for our community.

We’re currently helping to promote live stream classes for thousands of our Fitness Partners, most of whom hadn’t heard of Zoom until three weeks ago. The hard facts are, this is a stressful time—and according to FEMA, only the most resilient 60% of businesses will be reopening post-pandemic.

There’s no telling if things will ever go back to “normal”. As business owners, you should build resiliency and prepare to bring in revenue from as many avenues as possible. 

Now’s the time to prepare. Do you have a post-pandemic Plan A, B, and C? 

• If social distancing is still required...

• • You’ll want to seek out options in your local area to conduct outdoor classes. In addition, how can you create more space in your gym or studio?

• If the maximum capacity in your facility is regulated and/or lowered...

• • You might want to plan a way for people to book hourly “gym time” slots, or lower the group fitness class attendance limit. You can even differentiate yourself as a small group or personal training facility. In addition, how will you adjust your schedule to help fill the gaps? 

• If there are stricter cleaning requirements…

• • You might need to hire additional cleaning staff, for additional hours of the day. Be transparent with your cleaning plan to squash member concerns.

• For any small business… 

• See if you’re eligible for financial assistance and apply for a Small Business Administration's (SBA) disaster loan.

Is virtual fitness the new normal? 

Due to potential ongoing restrictions for physical facilities, starting and continuing your digital offerings will still be crucial to bringing in additional revenue. It can be expected that people will be slow to return to your facility due to a fear of crowds and ongoing restrictions. You can continue offering digital as a buy-up to your physical facility membership, after re-opening—or as a separate service altogether. 

The market is saturated with virtual options right now. We can’t scroll through Instagram without seeing multiple live workouts at once (Jane Fonda’s even back at it!). How do you plan to target your audience? 

When it comes to Peerfit users, in the past 30 days we’ve noticed a few insights:

• They’re craving routine. 

• • Monday is still the #1 day for users to plan out their weeks by reserving classes.  
  • When are users working out? Same as always. Monday - Thursday, 9 a.m., noon, and 6 p.m. are still the top class times users are reserving.
  • Although most people now have more flexible schedules, users still seem to be planning out their weeks, and looking for class times to commit to.

• They want to stand by your side.  

• • A vast 80% of our active users have shown loyalty to their typical gym or studio, rather than trying something new, during the past 30 days in quarantine. 
  • That being said, more than 10% of our active users did try an entirely new studio during quarantine. As a facility offering live classes, you have an opportunity to broaden your reach, with virtually no limit to capacity (depending on your streaming service subscription). 
  • We recently held a class for 65+ seniors from CA with ConBody, an NYC prison-style workout studio. This magic wouldn’t have been possible without the ability to live stream across the country. 

• They need accountability.

• As a studio, your live stream classes can bring more value, accountability, and fulfill the human need for social connection, while on-demand (pre-recorded) class memberships can drive consistent revenue and maintain themselves in the background.
• Don’t hesitate to charge for live-streamed content (although at a lower price point than in-person classes). The goal here is to maintain your revenue stream! 

If you haven’t jumped on the digital bandwagon yet, read through our last article for some tips to get started. 

Reach out to us with your thoughts, and if you’re not a Peerfit Fitness Partner yet, let us know and we can help offer your classes to our users.