The Problem
Inspired Method Fitness, Santa Monica's premiere outdoor fitness program, originally took attendance by hand and managed member accounts through a combination of analog methods and an outdated payment system.
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Sarah met Founder & Master Trainer Jared Rodriguez through smaller freelance projects they had worked together on in the past and invited her to help improve the member experience for registration. The goal was to create a user flow for learning about classes, booking, payment, and continued engagement with the Inspired Method brand in a way that was as automated and simple as possible.
The Solution
Step 1: Research & Discovery
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Sarah worked with Jared to first migrate the old website onto Wix, which had a built-in bookings and payment system specifically designed for fitness verticals. Sarah discovered this in the research phase and trialing some of the features on a practice website. The benefits of the new website platform included:
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Integrated digital attendance (that synced with a booking calendar)
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Desktop and mobile optimization
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Automated booking platform
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Automated payment system
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Automated account management
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Pricing plans, packages, and subscription management
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In addition to the website migration, user surveys were conducted to assess the current pain points of the member onboarding experience from the user side. Sarah also collected data on pain points from the management side. The result was the beginnings of a new user journey map.
This new flow meant that new members had an official onboarding process that was completely automated and the internal team could see new bookings by notification. Attendance would also be moved onto a digital platform via the Wix Owners App, and would sync with the booking calendar on desktop instantaneously. This also paved the way for several additional automations, including email campaigns triggered by marking someone on attendance.
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Step 2: Implementation & Revision
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Implementation work was a collaborative process. Sarah set up the entire system based on sketches similar to the image above using the back-end of Wix for Inspired Method's new website. This website would not be made live until everything was tested. Sarah would design and implement the new system, Jared would test and provide feedback, and they would repeat this process until the flow was ready to be user-tested.
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User testing involved inviting a group of select loyal members to test the new flow. Members would register using the new system and provide feedback on their overall experience, how clear the language was, how they would rank the new system compared to the old one, and more. Based on this feedback, Sarah continued to fine-tune the system over a period of two months.
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Step 3: Going Live & Continual Improvement
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Once the new system was LIVE and open to new and existing members, the next challenge was to continue collecting feedback and being ready for bugs that would arise. While there were no major hiccups, Sarah did end up adding some additional improvements over time:
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Claim First Class Free Offer
This popup allowed new members to branch off into their own user journey flow. Once users filled out the short form, they would receive an automated email with a unique code to book their first class free.
The bookings would then send an automated notification to the Inspired Method team to reach out with workout information for the booking date and to make personal introductions.
Integrated Customization & Agreements
When signing up for a specific program, members could choose a package/pricing plan or a single drop-in directly in the payment screen. An automated liability release collection was also implemented so members didn't have to sign a physical copy during the onboarding process.
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Two-Way Account Management
Because the workout sessions needed to be counted by attendance, the new flow allowed for members and the Inspired Method team to keep track of where each member was in their package. Members could access this anytime once logged into the website.
The Results
In the next four months following the new user journey implementation, Inspired Method enjoyed the following successes:
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Increased member base by 33%
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Increased new and existing member email engagement by 12%
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Increased email list by 20%
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In addition to these immediate successes, the system is still being used and continually improved today. There is an automated journey for new members and existing ones, with additional segmented flows and an integrated POS system for in-person card payments.