Press Office

The Mystery Goes On...

Date: 24 Aug, 2004

Esporta launched its nationwide mystery member campaign in February, and has already received invaluable feedback on the service and standards of the clubs. There are 87 mystery members in place throughout the UK, with each club having at least one member and the top performing clubs with two or more.

The mystery members were sourced through the regional press with members of the public being recruited as opposed to professional mystery shoppers; this was in order to receive genuine feedback from people that use the gym regularly as a bona fide member.

The initiative was launched in an effort to challenge our rivals on the issue of customer service, which we believe is lacking across the UK fitness industry, as well as attract and retain new members. Standards in the clubs are being closely monitored including the friendliness of staff, and the range of classes and equipment available.

Each month, the members are set a different focus, for example food and beverage or the communication mediums within the club. The members then complete a monthly online questionnaire which is fed back to the board and operations team.

Sample feedback by club includes:

• "Very friendly atmosphere, the staff are incredibly helpful and nothing is ever too much trouble."
• "Someone always makes a point of greeting you on arrival and wishes you well on departure, the staff even know my name."
• "Service in the restaurant is consistently slow, I have had to wait 20 minutes just to be served."
• "The steam room has been out of action for weeks, with no explanation as to why."

Analysis of group feedback:

Commenting on the initiative, marketing director Scott Wallace, said: "Maintaining good customer service is integral to attracting and retaining new members, we want the Esporta clubs to be known as being the best run health clubs in the UK."

The members will be in place until Spring 2005.

Ends