The fitness industry is increasingly competitive. If you want to succeed, you need to do more than just get in front of the right people. You also need to give people a reason to choose you over the many other gyms, fitness centers, personal trainers, etc.
You can talk up your fitness business — how awesome your equipment is, how great your personal trainers are, how many classes you offer — until the cows come home, but what you say about your fitness business will never have as much of an impact as what your members or clients say.
When you want to make your fitness business stand out, a great place to start is by building a strong reputation.
6 reputation management tips for fitness businesses
#1. Start by offering a five-star experience
The first thing every smart reputation management strategy needs is a great customer experience. Without that, you’re going to be fighting an uphill battle.
At the end of the day, your reviews are a reflection of the experience you provide. Getting a negative review every now and then is normal, but if you’re getting negative reviews on a regular basis, it’s worth some self-reflection.
Make sure that the experience you’re providing is worthy of a five-star review so that when you ask your clients or members to write reviews, you can be confident they’ll be positive.
#2. Ask for reviews
Even if you provide a great experience, a lot of people won’t write a review on their own, unless they’ve had a bad experience. That means that if you leave it up to fate, your reviews will probably skew towards the negative and paint an unfair picture of your fitness business.
But, there’s good news. The vast majority of people are more than happy to write a review if you ask. If you ask everyone — and you’re also providing a great experience — chances are good that you’ll get a lot more positive reviews than negative ones.
An easy way to ask for reviews is to set up an automated email campaign. Automatically send out feedback requests to your members or clients. If they have positive feedback, send them to your review profile on Top Rated Local® or Google. If they have negative feedback, send them to an internal feedback form so that you can address their concerns one on one.
#3. Offer an incentive
While most people are happy to write a review for your business when asked, there will always be people who are unwilling to put in the time or effort unless you give them an incentive.
If you need to generate a lot of reviews, try offering an incentive in exchange for a review, like a discount on a personal training session, a special pro-shop offer or a free smoothie.
Keep in mind that some review sites will penalize you for incentivizing reviews, especially if you ask for a specific star rating. Be careful to offer an incentive for all reviews, not just positive ones, and make sure that you offer the same incentive to everyone, not just happy members and clients.
#4. Respond to reviews
Some people write reviews to help other consumers make the right choices or share their experiences. Others do it because they genuinely want to provide feedback to your fitness business.
No matter someone’s reasons for writing a review, it’s important to remember that it takes time to do so. Respect the fact that they took the time to leave you feedback and let them know that you’re listening by taking the time to respond to their feedback.
Responding to negative reviews is especially important. It gives you a chance to show off your customer service skills and turn a negative experience into a positive one. When someone reads your response, it shows that you really listen to your customers and care about providing them with a great experience.
#5. Monitor your reputation
How you respond to reviews is an important part of reputation management, but equally as important is when you respond. A response three months after the review was written is a lot less effective than a response the next day.
In order to respond to reviews promptly, you need to keep an eye on your reputation across the web. Considering the fact that you may get reviews on Top Rated Local, Google, Yelp, Facebook and a host of other review sites, that can be easier said than done.
Use reputation management software, like the Marketing 360® Reputation app to monitor your reputation across the web. You can also track review growth over time, quickly respond to reviews and see your average star rating as a whole.
#6. Embed a reviews widget on your fitness website
When you want more reviews, one of the easiest things you can do to start getting them is to embed a reviews widget on your website. This allows your members or clients to rate your business quickly and easily.
Plus, embedding a reviews widget on your website allows you to harness the power of social proof right on your website. Don’t make prospective members or clients have to click away to read your reviews. Keep people on your website with a reviews widget.
Pro tip – In addition to displaying reviews on your website, use them to enhance your other marketing efforts. Posting reviews on your social media timeline, for example, is a great way to demonstrate the value you offer to your followers.