As the climbing industry continues to soar in popularity, gym owners find themselves facing new challenges and competition from various other recreational activities. In the race for success, it’s essential to leverage modern tools and technology to stand out and thrive in the market. Enter BETA, a game changer for climbing gyms looking to unlock their potential and leave outdated practices behind. With BETA, gym owners can level the playing field and take charge of their business’s growth.
Below are five things we’ve learned from powering climbing gyms across the world (three continents and counting) and working to usher in the future of climbing gym management software.
1. Mastering First Impressions: A Friendly Welcome Matters
In the realm of climbing gyms, first impressions matter.
The power of a friendly smile and a warm greeting cannot be overstated when it comes to making newcomers feel at home. To prioritize these genuine interactions and cultivate an inviting gym atmosphere, it’s imperative to relieve the staff at your gym of superfluous data entry and administrative burdens.
BETA is a powerful software solution that can save staff members’ precious time by automating tasks and streamlining operations. By freeing up the hands of desk workers, routesetters and managers, the team at your gym can dedicate their undivided attention to what truly counts: providing unparalleled customer service.
Your climbing gym software should be focused on design and powerful automation to free up staff members’ time, from desk workers to routesetters, so they can focus on what matters most: the customers.
Your booking experience should be intuitive and user-centric.
The first interaction most of your clients will have with your business will be online. Just like your climbing space and routes, your software and booking experience should be accessible, intuitive and user-centric. Prioritize clarity, simplicity and consistency to create a positive user experience that fosters engagement and retention.
What to avoid:
Unnecessary clicking.
Repetitive admin tasks and data entry.
Not saying hello or bye as people walk in and out.
Opening booking windows in a new tab/window means a potential customer leaves your website.
Outdated UI.
No mobile-friendly interface.
2. The importance of optimizing website loading and booking speed
Have you ever thought about your web performance and the performance of your booking/waiver/check–in experience?
Customer satisfaction, perception and conversion rates are severely affected by even a slight increase in loading times. A study on mobile web performance found that user frustration went up by 26% and engagement went down by 8% when the website took half a second longer to load. We all know the pain of slow internet; don’t pass this burden to your clients in the booking process. In short, slow websites cost businesses money.
At BETA, we understand the importance of website loading speed. That’s why we use the latest and greatest UI and software architecture to ensure that everything is lightning fast. Our design team works hard to minimize unnecessary clicks, streamline flows, and remove pesky spinning animations.
Fast loading times offer a number of benefits to businesses, including:
Increased customer satisfaction.
Improved conversion rates.
Higher rankings in search engine results pages (SERPs).
Reduced bounce rates.
Increased time on site.
What to avoid:
Slow and clunky sign-up process.
Having too many click-through options.
No automatic validation in fields.
Unnecessary login to simply buy a pass or book an event.
Multiple check-out experiences on your website.
Redirecting customers on your website elsewhere.
3. Foster a Vibrant Community Through Diverse Events
Inclusivity is at the heart of every successful climbing gym. It’s essential for climbers of all skill levels to feel a sense of belonging. Hosting a wide range of events plays a pivotal role in building an inclusive community where climbers of all abilities, genders and ages can come together, connect and thrive.
Did you know building a stronger community increases member retention? Avoid pitfalls such as:
Events not tailored to building community.
Complicated sign-up forms.
Events where people of different abilities or social groups don’t mix.
Lack of ability to book multiple events.
Harnessing the potential of data is key to optimizing your marketing strategies and event planning. BETA’s Community and Event Analytics dashboard provides valuable insights into event attendee behaviors and preferences. By tapping into this data, you can refine your marketing efforts, ensuring they resonate with your audience and creating more engaging experiences for members of your gym.
Among gyms using BETA, event participation correlates with higher membership retention rates. With BETA, you can leverage these insights to send personalized and automated emails to members, informing them about upcoming events tailored to their interests and needs.
Personalized and automated transactional emails.
Automatic custom emails.
Automated event cancellations.
4. Guide New Climbers With Care
Entering the world of climbing can be daunting for a newcomer. There is a lot of jargon, new skills to learn, and new ways to move your body. The staff, services, events and software at your gym can play a vital role in curating this experience and helping new climbers feel welcome and supported.
Offer introductory climbing lessons on your booking page. Only show events that matter to a beginner.
Provide a variety of climbing experiences, introducing new climbers to the nuances of movement.
Have a friendly and knowledgeable staff.
Go the extra mile to create a welcoming and inclusive environment.
Use clear and concise language.
Generate calendar widgets to hide everything that is not relevant to new climbers. Guide your clients through a curated experience. You know your products and services best.
You can generate calendar widgets that are tailored to the needs of new climbers by only displaying the information that is relevant to them, to not overwhelm them with many choices. You can also allow new climbers to filter the calendar widget by their interests. For example, they could choose to only see events that are related to bouldering, top rope climbing or lead climbing.
Don’t scare away beginners through a complicated process of signing up to an event, such as logging in or not being able to join multiple events through one check–out process.
What to avoid:
Showing all your events on one calendar.
Hidden pricing, availability and event details.
Not having a cart for your events.
Unnecessary multi-step process for booking an event.
Using jargon or technical terms.
5. Build Community and Stay Connected
Keeping in contact with the community members at your gym builds and strengthens relationships. This communication can lead to increased customer loyalty and repeat business. Keeping in touch with customers can help them stay engaged and create space to discuss your products and services with them, helping customers meet their needs and increasing sales and revenue for your business.
Push notifications and mail marketing can be a very effective way to stay in touch with climbers at your gym. However, it is important to use these methods wisely and to only send notifications that are relevant to the recipients and respect their privacy.
Whether sending out push notifications on the BETA app or using the newsletter integrations, BETA allows you to segment your audience based on their behavior and interests, so you can target the correct audience, use a customer’s name, and see purchase history and other data to personalize your emails. This functionality can make your emails more relevant and engaging to the customers of your gym.
Better yet, your email marketing campaigns can be fully automated, so you don’t have to spend hours sending out emails manually.
Send a welcome email to new customers.
Send a reminder email/push notifications to customers about upcoming events they are subscribed to.
Send a follow-up email to customers who haven’t visited your gym in a while.
Trigger an automated email when a customer exhibits behavior associated with attrition.
By utilizing user data effectively, you can offer personalized recommendations, content and experiences, creating a sense of ownership for climbers and ultimately boosting retention.
What to avoid in your communication with the community members at your gym:
Not segmenting your audience.
Using impersonal language.
Too many notifications.
Non-relevant information.
Not using a call to action (CTA).
Bonus Tip: Celebrate With Birthday Parties
Birthday parties are a fantastic way to introduce newcomers to your gym, and even some world-class climbers began their journey at such events.
However, organizing birthday parties can be labor-intensive for gym staff. BETA software can streamline this process, offering a Party Management Page for event organizers. This page simplifies participant tracking and waiver management, eliminating the need for manual follow-ups. BETA integrates seamlessly with your systems, automating data cross-checks and form-filling through BETA bots.
Leverage insights from BETA to identify optimal party times, ensuring minimal disruption to regular operations. Avoid common pitfalls:
Excessive administrative work overshadowing the event.
Last-minute waiver collection, causing delays.
Complicated booking and payment procedures.
Scheduling parties during peak hours.
BETA: Smart • Simple • Secure
It’s never too late to improve how your climbing gym is managed. Discover the power of BETA Climbing at www.sendmoregetbeta.com to start revolutionizing your climbing gym.
This story was paid for by the sponsor and does not necessarily represent the views of the Climbing Business Journal editorial team.
BETA aims to revolutionize the climbing gym industry by adding cutting-edge features to the standard gym management toolkit. With a user-friendly interface and seamless integration, BETA empowers gym owners to streamline their operations, boost customer satisfaction, and elevate their gym’s performance. Take charge of your gym business’s growth by booking a demo today.
