This weekend, I began listening to a podcast recommended by one of my co-workers called “Epidemic” which delivers weekly episodic updates related to the Coronavirus. The podcast began back in early February, and it has been enlightening to relive the recent history of the pandemic and to hear the foresight offered by the expert hosts and guests of the show.

Dr. Tom Frieden, former director of the CDC and Administrator of the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry from 2009 to 2017, was the guest on the show’s second episode. He made a statement that resonated with me, as it directly reflected the changes that we at Easalytics have made during these challenging times. When asked what is important in dealing with a pandemic, Dr. Frieden replied, “Good public health programs base their decisions on data, and great public health programs base their decisions on real-time data.”

At Easalytics we have historically focused on making fitness clubs more successful by providing them with the tools and guidance to base their decisions on data. This has involved looking at long-term trends, performing comparative analysis, and using past activity to predict future events.

However, recent times have forced us to shift focus. There are no longer long-term trends to look at, nothing to compare current circumstances against, and no past activity that mimics current day occurrences. Clubs are faced with decisions today that could not even have been imagined just a few short months ago and, as Dr. Frieden said, today’s decisions now need to be made in real-time, looking at what activity has occurred in recent days as opposed to months and years. For health clubs, this means keeping communication open with members that are of highest value and knowing on a regular basis what patterns of behavior members are exhibiting during your reopening period. It requires daily or near-daily analysis of who is checking-in for the first time and, more importantly, who is returning for a second visit. You need to understand how people’s patterns have changed (e.g. are the members who routinely checked in three times per week only coming once a week?), and which demographic of members are returning at a higher rate than their counterparts. These and countless other as yet unknown questions will need to be answered.

While “we are in this together” can probably now officially be classified as cliché, it is an accurate statement. You need to reopen safely, regain the trust of your members, and regrow your business. There are many challenges to navigate during the reopening process and, while anecdotal observations may give you some ideas of what is going on with your members, Easalytics is already serving as a beacon for clubs, bringing to light what is actually occurring and helping to guide clubs’ business decisions.

Our offer to provide these daily analytics and hands-on collaboration for free and without obligation is not a marketing ploy. It is our contribution to reviving the fitness industry and to helping clubs do so in an appropriate manner. We have streamlined our processes to provide you with analytics in a matter of a day or two after signing up (for ABC Financial customers) and are already collaborating with a large number of peer clubs to produce insights that are assisting them in making smarter business decisions every day.

Take advantage of it.