New year, new business: MINDBODY reveals the best months to plan impactful discounts in 2019

Sports Insight 12/12/2018

0 0 2 minutes read

Nearly 40% (2 in 5) of leisure centres and other publicly operated fitness facilities are considering reducing services or closing sites entirely by March, due to ongoing high energy costs.

The turn of the calendar year is a great opportunity to launch new offers and drum up interest among current and potential customers. But knowing when to launch new offers can be difficult, especially during the winter months.
Using Google Trends, business management software for the fitness and wellness industry, MINDBODY has investigated the most popular gym-related searches over the past five years alongside the most favoured classes of 2018. From the findings, MINDBODY can reveal when gym and studio owners should look to advertise new offerings in 2019, to help them stand out from the competition, drive engagement and increase sales.
According to Google Trends, and based on the average volume of monthly searches (over the last five years) for the phrases ‘gym discounts’ and ‘no joining fee’, the five key months to launch discounts and no joining fees in 2019 are:
Gym discounts:
1. January
2. September
3. July
4. March
5. August

No joining fee:
1. January
2. August
3. July
4. March
5. June

Considering the findings, Charlotte Newton, Senior Manager EMEA Marketing at MINDBODY, said: “It’s no secret that after an indulgent Christmas people set wellness goals for the year ahead from January onwards, hence this being the most popular month for fitness-related searches.
“Over the past five years searches for the phrase ‘gym discounts’ have also increased in September. Come September, people are looking to up their fitness routine ahead of the festive party season, therefore will be looking for appropriate gym discounts to help with their party prep whilst also saving some money ahead of Christmas. It’s also the time of year when the kids are going back to school and people are looking for new routines.
“In August, the light, summer days prompt people to want to workout, whether that’s in the morning or evening, explaining the spike in searches during the summer.
“Businesses should use this insight to plan their new year offerings effectively. Taking this time to plan ahead of the key seasons, will help to ensure studios are targeting customers at the most appropriate times throughout 2019.”
MINDBODY also investigated the most-searched-for-classes of 2018. According to the findings, the top ten classes were:

1. Weight training
2. Bootcamp
3. Personal Training
4. Yoga
5. Climbing
6. General gym
7. Pilates
8. Cycling
9. Spin Classes
10. HIIT

Charlotte added: “It’s great to see that people searched for a wide variety of classes in 2018! Working with our customer base of health and fitness businesses, as well as gathering global insights from our company’s head office in California, we recently revealed the top five wellness trends business owners should tap into in 2019. Amongst the trends were workouts for menstrual health and rowing classes over spin, therefore, implementing offers and discounts on these specific exercises in the new year could really help businesses capitalise on the trends and popularity, whilst appealing to ever-changing consumer demand.”
For more information, please visit: https://uk.mindbodyonline.com/business