Leisure brands looks to replace customer service with human experience

Industry entrepreneur Jack East has noted a significant shift taking place where unique experiences and new competitors are continuously resetting customer expectations.

East, Head of Business Development and Strategy for Leisure Fit Insights, explains “we are moving into a time where exceptional service is not appreciated. It’s expected.

“Brands that are doing particularly well in terms of retaining their customers and driving revenue are tapping into the human values of their customers. At Leisure Fit Insights we work with our partners to deliver more human experiences - making them become more purposeful, cognitive, adaptive and conscious."

East, whose Leisure Fit Insights (LFI) provides consumer insights to brands - including detailed insights into their delivered experience - advises that the concept came about in response to the generally poor level of service he received as a consumer.

He notes “there was a clear disconnect between what senior management assumed was going on at customer level verses what was actually being delivered.

“With the need for brick-and-mortar stores being brought into question you’d expect those retailers still in operation to be delivering an exceptional service … but that’s definitely not the case

“As consumers, we are very much embracing the Experience Economy. Research clearly shows that Australians are pulling back on physical purchases and ‘things’ and increasing their spend on experiences.”

LFI was started by East in 2018 and is now the third party consumer insights provider for some of Australia’s largest leisure operators.

What began as a startup exclusively servicing fitness industry operators has now extended its offering to operators in the broader leisure category.

Commenting on the growth of the business, East believes there is significant appeal in his business’s ability to quantify experiences, stating “we no longer use the term ‘Mystery Shopping’ to describe the work we do as that is really only one small piece of the puzzle.

“Our methodology ensures we gain a comprehensive and hollistic understanding of where a business is at, as well as where it wants to be. Based on that we custom-create a detailed strategy to collect the right data. This is then provided to the client in the form of digestible and valuable insights, as well as data-backed recommendations.”

To be able to assist with a business’s strategy, East first assesses the business. He believes his unique experience measuring metrics are his brand’s market differentiator, adding “anyone can measure operational performance. It’s not particularly complex. As well as developing unique metrics that measure success in terms of a business’s operations, we also apply our Making a Memory metric (MaM) set.

“Our MaM measures have been developed over the last 24 months, based on both research and practical case studies. Our six experience-measuring metrics - which include Learning, Positive Cues and Memorabilia, to name a few - allow us to collect objective feedback from our surveys and quantify an overall brand experience by providing a number-based score.”

East admits that being able to offer a service that drives a brand’s bottom line is generally what gets initial buy in from senior management teams. Recognising this, East has built a Client Growth and Strategy team dedicated to driving client revenue. Shauna De’Vine, Head of Client Growth and Strategy, says she works alongside East so that the client solution is sales-driven right from the beginning of a partnership.

De’Vine advises “Jack lives and breathes the human experience side of things and I work on adding value where appropriate.

“I’ve never been a natural salesman so it’s the perfect skill set mix.”

East, who has previously worked with brands like Fitness First, Nice & Natural and Blackmores, is now working alongside new attractions and fitness operators.

He adds “July was a really exciting month for us because we hit our Year 2 revenue goal of $1.1 million after operating for less than 11 months. As a serial entrepreneur it’s a huge relief - I have had my fair share of business flops in the past 10 years so it’s exciting to see such fast growth.”

East is the owner of East Brands which is the umbrella brand for Leisure Fit Insights as well as East Fitness and EASTkids. He is also a qualified fitness instructor and personal trainer with over 13 years experience in the fitness space.

Click here to contact East Brands/Leisure Fit Insights via their entry in the Australasian Leisure Management Supplier Directory.