In fitness and wellness, experiences are more than transactions, they’re transformative moments. From achieving a personal best in the gym to discovering a skincare routine that transforms your week, every interaction influences how members perceive your brand. Delivering a great experience isn’t just about equipment or facilities, it’s about understanding members, responding to their needs, and helping them achieve their personal goals.
In our latest research, we surveyed over 3,000 executives worldwide, including those across gyms, wellness centers, and health brands, to uncover how organizations collect, analyze, and act on customer feedback.Â
The findings reveal that while most organizations understand the value of listening to members, there’s still a gap between collecting feedback and using it to drive meaningful change.
With membership growth, retention, and engagement becoming increasingly competitive, fitness and wellness organizations that can turn insights into action will be the ones that thrive, and the ones members rave about.
Collecting feedback is the first step toward creating better experiences, but how organizations do it can make all the difference. Our research shows that fitness and wellness brands are embracing multiple channels to understand members, reflecting both convenience and changing expectations:
Notably, 0% of organizations reported not collecting feedback at all, showing a strong recognition that member insights are essential.
For fitness and wellness brands, the takeaway is clear: members expect to be heard wherever they engage with your services; online, in-person, or on mobile. Brands that rely on a single channel risk missing nuances in member experiences and may struggle to address pain points in real time.
Collecting feedback is only useful if it’s measured and analyzed. In fitness, health, and wellness, organizations are tracking a mix of metrics that capture both short-term satisfaction and long-term loyalty:
Fitness and wellness brands are increasingly recognizing that short-term satisfaction is not enough. While CSAT tells you how members feel today, retention, NPS, and CLV highlight the long-term health of your business. By balancing immediate feedback with loyalty-focused metrics, brands can make smarter decisions about programming, staffing, and member engagement.
How often fitness and wellness organizations reach out to members, and how quickly they act on the responses, can make a big difference in retention and satisfaction.
When it comes to survey frequency:
Collecting feedback is only part of the story, acting on it is where impact happens. Encouragingly, 100% of organizations say they consistently act on the feedback they receive. But critically, the speed of response varies:
For fitness and wellness brands, timely action is mission-critical. A member who experiences a problem with class scheduling, equipment, or a digital program expects it to be addressed quickly. Slow responses can not only frustrate members but also increase churn. Conversely, rapid follow-up builds trust, shows members they’re valued, and reinforces loyalty.
Collecting member feedback is only valuable if it leads to meaningful change. Fitness and wellness organizations are using insights in multiple ways to improve experiences and outcomes:
While many organizations are proactive, the findings also highlight an opportunity: feedback shouldn’t only address problems, it should shape everyday operations, inform programming, and guide staff development.
In fitness, health, and wellness, this could mean adjusting class schedules based on member preferences, improving onboarding for new members, or personalizing digital programs to keep participants engaged. Organizations that systematically turn feedback into action are not just improving satisfaction, they’re creating experiences that encourage long-term commitment and loyalty.
Frontline employees, that’s your trainers, clinicians, instructors, receptionists, and wellness coaches, are at the heart of every member interaction. Our research shows that organizations that involve staff in the feedback process see stronger results:
Involving employees in feedback not only improves service quality but also fosters a culture of accountability and engagement. Trainers and staff who can see how members respond to their work are better equipped to personalize sessions, resolve issues quickly, and reinforce positive behaviors.
For fitness and wellness organizations, the takeaway is clear: feedback should empower staff, not just management. When employees are part of the loop, members notice the difference, and loyalty grows.
Collecting feedback is one thing, making sense of it across multiple locations, channels, and teams is another. Our research shows that fitness, health, and wellness organizations are taking steps toward smarter feedback management, but challenges remain:
When it comes to analysis:
For many organizations, feedback still exists in silos; digital app data, in-studio surveys, and social media comments are often tracked separately. Without integration, it’s difficult to see the full member journey or respond proactively to trends.
Fitness and wellness brands that centralize and analyze feedback effectively can identify patterns in member behavior, optimize programs, and make data-driven decisions that improve satisfaction, retention, and growth.
In the fitness, health, and wellness industry, customer experience isn’t just a feel-good metric, it’s a growth driver. According to our research, 94% of executives believe there’s a direct link between CX performance and business growth objectives.
That belief isn’t misplaced. When members feel supported, listened to, and valued, they’re more likely to renew memberships, purchase add-ons, and recommend the brand to friends or family. High-quality experiences translate into tangible business outcomes: higher retention, stronger brand reputation, and steady revenue growth.
The metrics that leaders tie most closely to business success include:
In an industry where members have endless options, from boutique studios to global digital platforms, the organizations that prioritize experience gain a competitive edge. CX-driven fitness and wellness brands are proving that the path to growth isn’t just through new sign-ups, it’s through creating loyal advocates who stay, succeed, and share their stories.
In the competitive world of health and wellness, few brands have embedded customer experience as deeply into their DNA as Caci. As New Zealand’s leading provider of medical aesthetics, Caci operates a nationwide franchise network offering treatments such as laser hair removal, beauty treatments, and body shaping. Under the leadership of Chief Experience Officer Emily Stevenson, the company has built a culture where feedback fuels both performance and growth.
For Caci, listening is just the beginning. The company collects net promoter score (NPS) data and other insights through seamless, user-friendly surveys, ensuring every customer has a voice. But as Emily puts it, “Feedback alone doesn’t matter if you don’t do anything with it.”
That philosophy drives Caci’s proactive approach. Each piece of feedback, positive or constructive, is routed through a robust case management system that ensures the right teams can respond quickly. Whether it’s resolving an individual concern or identifying a pattern across clinics, Caci uses customer input to power continuous improvement.
As a membership-based franchise business, Caci faces a unique challenge: delivering consistent experiences across dozens of independently operated clinics. To solve this, the company developed a “flywheel” model designed to measure and improve performance at every location.
The model combines data reporting, customer management, and goal-setting to ensure each clinic upholds the same high standards. Clinics performing below benchmark receive support, training, and coaching to help them realign. “While we focus on delivering skin confidence through our treatments, it’s equally important to make our customers feel valued and cared for,” Emily explains.
Caci understands that great experiences start with people. To empower their teams, they’ve launched Caciverse, an innovative incentive program that rewards estheticians, clinicians, and other customer-facing staff for delivering exceptional service based on real customer feedback and NPS results.
“We wanted to be able to incentivize all roles and in all activities in the clinic,” Emily says. The program reinforces customer-centric behaviors, celebrates wins, and turns feedback into motivation.
Customer insights are also shared widely across the organization (from monthly newsletters to company meetings and even at the board level), ensuring every decision keeps the customer at its core.
The results speak for themselves. Since implementing AskNicely, Caci has seen transformational improvements in customer experience. Higher NPS scores, more referrals, and improved retention rates have become measurable outcomes of their feedback-first strategy.
As Emily puts it, “Excellent customer experience not only helps in customer retention but also in acquiring new customers through referrals. For us, it’s all about building long-term relationships with our customers.”
Caci’s story demonstrates what’s possible when an organization treats customer feedback as a growth engine rather than a reporting exercise.
TL;DR — Caci’s success in customer experience comes down to three principles:
The message from the data is clear: in fitness, health, and wellness, customer experience is the ultimate differentiator. Members and clients aren’t just buying services, they’re investing in how those services make them feel. Organizations that prioritize CX are seeing higher retention, stronger referrals, and more resilient growth.
Here are the key lessons from our research and the success stories of leaders like Caci:
Collecting feedback is essential, but acting on it is what drives transformation. Create closed-loop systems that ensure customer insights reach the right people and result in meaningful changes, whether it’s resolving an issue or improving a process.
Your trainers, clinicians, and customer-facing staff shape the experience every day. Give them visibility into real-time feedback, set clear performance goals, and recognize their achievements. Incentives and communication are powerful tools for building a customer-first culture.
Feedback often lives in silos; app reviews, in-person surveys, or social media comments. Centralizing these insights helps identify patterns and spot opportunities that might otherwise go unseen. Integrated CX systems enable faster, smarter responses.
For multi-site or franchise models, experience consistency is key. Setting clear standards, monitoring performance, and providing targeted support for underperforming sites builds trust and loyalty at scale.
Track key CX metrics like net promoter score (NPS), customer satisfaction (CSAT), and customer effort score (CES), and link them to business outcomes such as retention, referrals, and revenue growth. These connections make CX measurable and meaningful at every level.
Customer expectations evolve, and so should your experience strategy. Encourage teams to treat every piece of feedback as a learning opportunity and celebrate progress along the way.
AskNicely helps fitness, health, and wellness organizations collect real-time feedback, empower staff, and turn insights into action. Discover how you can grow loyalty and retention through better experiences.Â
