Preva networked fitness solution a powerful tool in boosting fitness club performance

Since Tasmanian fitness club Healthglo became the first gym operator in Australia to install Precor's networked fitness solution, Preva, in December 2012, club owner Andrew Keen has seen his membership and renewals increase.

Healthglo is a family owned, full service gym located in Burnie, with a population of just 18,000. While the facility might not be located in a densely populated city, Keen is committed to delivering innovation to all of his 820 members.

As a result of installing Preva, Keen explains "the feedback on Preva from members has been exceptional - they love it.

"We had some good quality treadmills before with the usual exercise programs on them, but nothing like this. Initially they all loved Preva Net, where they could check their Facebook accounts and use the internet, but now it is all about personalisation.

"I love technology so I started getting everyone excited about Preva Personal Accounts. Members were so keen to get started and it is so intuitive, we didn't have to actually show them how to use it, they just worked it out for themselves!"

Roughly three quarters of Healthglo's members are now using Preva Personal Accounts when they complete their cardio workouts. And Keen reports the business benefits are tangible, with a 70% increase in new membership sales in January and 28% in February, but perhaps more telling is his 33% increase in renewals in January and a whopping 95% increase in February (2013 versus 2012).

As far as cardio machine usage goes, Andrew estimates he's had at least a 400% increase in uptake of cardio since December.

He adds "I've not changed anything else in the gym or anything in our marketing strategy all I've done is installed Preva, and it is just amazing the effect it has had."

From Andrew Keen's perspective, what makes Preva such a powerful tool is the way in which the system helps his members make improvements in their fitness tangible and real, but also about helping him run his business more effectively.

Keen adds "as members achieve their personal milestones they get badges, which seems a bit geeky but members are actually talking a lot about their latest badge it really is motivating them.

"It's not just a random 'well done' message at the end of a workout, but something that lets them know what they are achieving towards their goal.

"It's also great that you can modify the profile of a workout so rather than just using a pre-programmed workout, you can build your own version of it then replay it next time as a personal workout. It's not just about personalising records but the actual workout itself, which is extremely powerful."

From the business perspective, Keen also uses Preva to identify his high use machines, with the ability to which type of machine is the most popular being a very useful feature as he currently has plans to add eight new machines. This functionality tells him which ones are in the most demand.

He continues that "from a servicing point of view Preva is excellent, very quick and easy. We've had a couple of minor faults and through a simple email we've had communication from Precor to fix the fault as they can dial in via Preva to see what's going on."

As for his initial decision to install Preva, Keen cites his commitment to innovation as well as wanting to demonstrate to his members that he is committed to them.

Keen concludes "installing Preva and state-of-the-art cardio equipment shows the community that we are always seeking out the best for them we are willing to invest in them. We could have put in any old cardio but instead we've chosen the latest technology, which is a clear point of difference to our competitors.

"Basically, in terms of the investment we've made, I think the important thing is we're not stuck with 2012 model machines. I've already had two software updates in only four months, and the functionality changes and i

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