What does the essential chatbot look like for a gym?

This week, we've taken a look at a specific business model to demonstrate how effectively a chatbot can be integrated into an existing online set-up to improve customers' core journeys, answer FAQs, and improve sales.

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Being January, what better business models to look at than the gym? Whether it's part of a large chain of gyms or a more niche setting, gyms have many standard functions, and therefore receive common questions. Of course, with the avalanche of new users that appear every January, it is not always possible to have sufficient staff available to answer inbound questions promptly, which can deter some users and result in a loss of business.

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That's where chatbots come in. Having a chatbot available through your website or app allows existing and potential customers to get information 24/7 and even make bookings or sign up for memberships. A chatbot can guide users through all of the related essential journeys, such as:

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• How do I create a booking?
• Do you do trial memberships?
• What do your memberships cost?
• How can I speak to someone?
• I'm running late, can I amend my booking?

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The chatbot can respond to questions and walk the customer through the process of making the bookings or amendments while providing a call to action. Customers appreciate the ability to seamlessly flow from asking questions about a topic and then taking action on the information they have received.

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Naturally, all your FAQs can be integrated into the bot, allowing customers to access information that has been pulled from the website easily. Customers appreciate not having to dig through 3-4 pages to get to the information. If perceived as simple information, customers will expect it to be on the front page or easily accessible. This information includes; opening times, length of sessions, how to amend a booking, or even whether or not they can bring a friend. Removing barriers increases your existing clients' satisfaction while also improving sales.

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If a business chooses to integrate its CRM with the chatbot, it can pull up customer information and reply to a broader range of questions, such as how many months a client has left on their subscription. It can take warm leads and help the client complete their booking or arrange for a staff member to call and secure the booking.

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All this acts to reduce the volume of inbound calls that your staff have to field. This allows your front desk staff to be free to work with clients within the building, providing a much more attentive service, which increases the likelihood of clients returning.

Ultimately, your chatbot adds an incredible amount of value by removing a large volume of calls from your site while at the same time turning conversation into customers, reducing unnecessary inbound contact, saving time on queries, and allowing your staff to spend more time with customers who need human help.

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The great news is that chatbots for gyms are already implemented across many businesses, and their success is proven. Each gym's core set of questions is the same, so most companies will only need to add a handful of specific questions relating to their site and tweak the answers to suit their needs. This means that a chatbot can be up and running on your website in next to no time.

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If you haven't got a chatbot for your health or fitness business yet, what are you waiting for?

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