Challenge

Back in 2017 Lagree West instructors had two ways of reaching out to clients: They either saw them in-person or they sent messages through Instagram. Unfortunately, both methods were inefficient and difficult to track.

Barbara Bent, the owner of Lagree West, knew her studio needed a better way to communicate with clients outside of class, as well as a better way to measure customer experience.

So Bent and her team set about looking for tools that would help them understand the overall client experience as well as communicate more effectively and efficiently. Their goals included the following:

• Improve trainer-client communications
• Track instructor performance
• Increase client retention and strengthen customer relationships

Solution

Today the team at Lagree West leverages FitGrid to communicate with clients as well as to collect and analyze client feedback across its five studio locations.

“As an owner, I love the core functionality of FitGrid messaging—having clients being able to interact with trainers,” says Bent. “FitGrid makes it easier for instructors to build relationships with clients and provides a great way to track instructor performance.”

The results speak for themselves. By using FitGrid Lagree West has nearly doubled its client retention rate and tripled the return rate of first-time visitors. Lagree West has also strengthened the relationships between instructors and clients through FitGrid’s personal messaging. Clients now open four out of five messages they received from instructors, on average.

Bent says that she loves the “new client feedback feature that allows my instructors to view client comments about their instructor and class experience. It makes the team feel good.”

Bent adds that her instructors like “the way they can establish deeper relationships and grow their clientele.” Lagree West even uses instructor messaging from FitGrid as part of its staff performance evaluations.

Impact

• Client Retention Rate: 60%. Percentage of clients returning to the studio 2 or more times in 30 days (industry average = 33%)
• Return-Rate Increase after 1st Visit:3x First-time clients were three times more likely to return to the studio after receiving a FitGrid follow-up message vs. those who didn’t receive any messages
• Follow-up Message Open Rate: 81% Average open rate of all follow-up messages sent by instructors to studio clients via FitGrid’s instructor app