Episode 90: Innovation in the Fitness Industry with Landon Burningham, Founder, President and CEO of Physiq Fitness

On the latest episode of Subscriptions Scaled, we speak with Landon Burningham, founder, president and CEO of Physiq Fitness. Physiq Fitness is a subscription-model-based gym aiming to make fitness fun, affordable, and life-changing. 

Topics discussed in the episode include how to best engage with customers, membership plans, social media channels used, target demographics, and so much more.

Keep reading to learn more about the episode.

Physiq Fitness

Physiq Fitness was founded in 2007 and started as a personal training company. People soon started signing up on a subscription basis, and eventually, the training studio was opened. 

Today, Physiq Fitness has four (soon to be five) big-box fitness gyms. Everything runs on the subscription model, from memberships to personal training to everything in between.

Physiq Fitness stands out from the competition in various ways. One is their flexibility: customers can save money with longer-term memberships or pay more for shorter-term plans that they can leave more easily. In any case, the cancellation process is smooth and straightforward for customers, which is becoming increasingly important in the subscription industry.

If the members that do leave Physiq Fitness have a good experience and tell others that it wasn’t hard to leave, that’s positive.

Engaging with customers

Landon claims the best way of retaining and engaging with customers is by giving them ‘the Disney experience’ - the best experience possible. 

Generally, most people hate exercising. Working out isn’t inherently fun for most people. So Physiq Fitness’s whole mantra is asking how they can engage people as they come through the door to brighten their day. 

They ask how they can make customers happier and make them enjoy being there so that it isn’t as bad as they thought it would be once they do their workout.

Physiq Fitness questions how they make people feel when they leave. Positive engagement from the staff is the first thing customers will get when they come through the door and the last when they go.

The second part of engaging and retaining customers is ensuring that the amenities offered and the equipment provided are top-notch and the best.

Subscription plans

Physiq Fitness offers a basic plan that includes basic amenities. There’s also a mid-tier plan that provides customers with a few more amenities. Then there’s a top-tier, all-inclusive plan that gives customers everything Physiq Fitness offers.

The top-tier plan includes virtual on-demand exercises and amenities on the Physiq Fitness app.

Physiq Fitness realized that the fitness consumer today may want to come in and do weights without wanting the extra features like group fitness classes. Or, they may prefer a more all-inclusive package. As such, the team has put subscriptions together and priced them accordingly to suit various preferences.

Landon tries to create a frictionless environment for both the team and its members. Members can either sign an annual membership or month-to-month within the three core plans.

That’s really where the only complexity comes in. If the member chooses month-to-month, they’ll pay more than someone committing to a year plan who’ll receive a discount.

Physiq Fitness is seeing most members signing up for one of the top two-tier plans, with not many registering for the lower option. Landon believes this is because they have four, soon to be five, locations. The top two plans allow people to use multiple facilities instead of just one site for a lower price.

People want the flexibility to move around and, for example, work out at the same gym their friend is at.

Marketing

Post-pandemic, around 95% of Physiq Fitness’s marketing is digital. They market with Meta, Google, YouTube, email, text, and various other types of channels. 

Physiq Fitness is also looking at other avenues, like OTT marketing or radio.

Around 70% of Physiq Fitness’s consumers are 35 and under, so the team needs to go where they’re looking. They’re probably not watching cable TV or looking at billboards, for example.

Instead, they’re looking on their phone at Instagram, Tik Tok, Facebook, and other social media channels - so that’s where Physiq Fitness are putting their dollars.

Landon and his team like to experiment with different marketing strategies, first dipping their toes in for around 30 days or so. This doesn’t require much, and the company doesn’t lose much if it doesn't work.

Technology

Technology is top of mind for everyone in the fitness and subscription industry. Physiq Fitness looks outside the fitness industry to see how it can adopt some of the best practices that others are doing to continue to have a competitive edge.

When it comes to technology, this could be having an amazing website, or it could be the way they market. It can also refer to things done in the club.

Currently, Physiq Fitness has a custom-branded app. It provides workout and nutrition tracking and a video-on-demand workout builder to create an engaging member experience.

Members can engage with the brand even if they’re not engaging with the staff.

On the Physiq Fitness website, certain membership tiers have access to video on demand so people can continue to engage with staff even if they’re not physically present at the club.

Within the club, Physiq Fitness offers heart rate tracking. Members can wear a wristband or a monitor on their chest and can see in real-time what their average heart rate is and how many calories they’re burning. Physiq Fitness gives members specific points depending on their heart level, which are displayed throughout the facility.

Someone could be walking on the treadmill and see their heart rate and then move to another area and see it pop up on the TV with other people in the area.

In the fitness industry, it’s essential to adopt technology to stay relevant. When adopting technology, Physiq Fitness goes through the process of figuring out how well it engages members or whether it brings too much complexity and chaos.

Learn more about Physiq Fitness or reach out to Landon and his team by heading to the Physiq Fitness website. You can also reach out to Landon directly by visiting his website Landonburningham.com.

#Saas #subscriptions #subscriptionbusiness #subscriptionservice

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