Located in St Helens, Merseyside, Evolution Fitness XL has rapidly grown to become the biggest gym in the town. Committed to providing members with the best in free weights and machines, the gym is a place where hard work pays off.

The team has successfully created a hub for the community, uniting like-minded new and seasoned lifters to achieve their goals. The club rejects negativity to motivate everyone to be included and celebrated.

Ability to scale and evolve hindered

With big ambitions to grow, Evolution Fitness XL was increasingly held back by barriers created by existing systems and ways of working.

Growing member numbers left the team facing billing challenges. Hours each day were spent reconciling and manually processing membership payments – negatively affecting collection rate success.

Driven by this challenge, Evolution Fitness XL decided it was time for a change. The club was on the hunt for an all-in-one gym management solution that could handle all member billing and more.

They wanted a scalable solution that could cope with any amount of growth and complexity. And beyond billing, provide all the membership management and marketing automation tools needed.

It needed to be easy for the team to learn and use, with a cutting-edge user experience to match the expectations of members.

They wanted a true partner, to help them make their growth plans a reality. A partner invested in the success of Evolution Fitness XL. There to help tackle future challenges.

“We needed an all-in-one solution that could handle all the member billing for us now and in the future, as well as general member management and marketing. We would spend hours a day reconciling and manually processing payments. Our collection rates needed to be better. We needed a system that would automate these processes and improve efficiency and collection success.”
– Mike Garner, Director, Evolution Fitness XL

More time to create exceptional member experiences

In 2021, Evolution Fitness XL decided to partner with Xplor Gym to solve the challenges the business faced.

By choosing the Xplor Gym all-in-one club management solution, Evolution Fitness XL has been able to significantly reduce admin work. Having membership payments embedded within the solution has streamlined financial processes. No more reconciliations.

Evolution Fitness XL has automated the whole billing process. Resulting in a higher success rate of membership collections. Ultimately, creating reliable income without having to manually chase payments.

The team is now able to devote more time to delivering an exceptional member experience.

Xplor Gym provides a real-time 360°-member view, so the Evolution Fitness XL team always has the information they need when serving members. And can rely on the marketing capabilities the software offers to communicate with members even when they’re not at the club.

Getting started with Xplor Gym has been easy. With an intuitive and easy to navigate interface, the Evolution Fitness XL team got up to speed quickly. The staff love using it!

“Xplor has a team that is second to none. They make themselves available to help when we need. The aftercare team goes above and beyond every single time for us. Xplor Gym is a true partner, not just a software supplier. The Xplor Gym team works alongside us to ensure we are set up for success.”
– Mike Garner, Director, Evolution Fitness XL

A partner for future growth

Evolution Fitness XL has ambitious plans. With Xplor Gym they are ready to scale and grow – a major reason for choosing the solution.

With software that’s ready to adapt and handle what the future brings from a hands-on partner, Evolution Fitness XL is set for even more success.

“If you’re a club with big ambitions and want a truly flexible solution that will support your growth, streamline your club operations, and give you and your team valuable time back to focus on your members, then Xplor Gym is the solution for you. We are delighted with the system to date and just wish we had it in place sooner.”
– Mike Garner, Director, Evolution Fitness XL

Operated by YMCA Black Country Group and located in West Bromwich, YMCA Western Gateway is home to YGym. With a state-of-the-art gym, dance studio & sports hall, YGym serves around 800 members. Plus, offers roughly 20 classes a week.

YGym is a friendly, community gym offering affordable memberships for the whole of the local community.

Time for a change – a fast, simple switch

YGym was using two different systems for payments and membership management when they were given the opportunity to see Xplor Gym in action. Recognising the benefits of upgrading to a modern, intuitive all-in-one solution, the gym operator decided it was time to make the change.

As well as bringing software and payments into the same solution, YGym were attracted by the extra features Xplor Gym included. Particularly, Xplor Gym’s smart messaging marketing automation technology to communicate with members through personalised messages.

Switching was straightforward and painless. YGym were given a clear understanding of all key dates and what the transition would involve. The move was faster than expected and with limited day-to-day impact on the team and members.

“Constant communication and being able to ask any questions that come up is vital when moving to a new solution. The biggest positive was how fast the Xplor team responded to questions, concerns, and issues. Everything was addressed and resolved quickly. We were given clear dates and details of what would happen. From signing the contract, we were able to switch quickly and were never left waiting.”
– Luke Tyler, Head of Health and Wellbeing Services, YMCA Black Country Group

Better experiences for staff and members

Since YGym went live with Xplor Gym in September 2022, there have been benefits all round for the team and its members.

YGym has found the software easy and straight forward to learn and use. As Xplor Gym is intuitive and simple to use, new team members can get up to speed quickly. Less time is spent on training and more time is spent serving members in-person.

Intuitive, useful functionality means daily tasks are simple. Having a single solution for member management and payments gives the organisation a complete view of all their members, without switching between systems.

The backend is easy to use, making tasks like assigning membership cards and updating class details fast. The software is also used for POS to manage the YGym shop. This allows additional revenue to be earned from ancillary sales.

Managing the online sign-up process has been made easier for YGym. New membership types and prices can be added at any time directly by the management team. And promotional codes can be created too – letting the team run campaigns whenever needed. This puts YGym in control – no waiting for these to be set up or incurring admin fees.

Members have their own digital member area. This allows members to manage their membership, wherever and whenever they want – including class bookings and cancellations.

Communications have been improved too. It’s easier than ever for YGym to stay connected with members and keep them engaged with the club.

Xplor Gym provides a cost-effective solution that allows YGym to target different groups of members with relevant, personalised email and SMS messages. These can be conveniently scheduled ahead of time in the software – set and forget.

“With Xplor Gym we are able to communicate with our members in a more personalised way. Previously, this required additional staff time and cost. Now, all emails sent out are included in our package, these can be scheduled and/or sent out automatically and require very little time to send. That's a big benefit.”
– Luke Tyler, Head of Health and Wellbeing Services, YMCA Black Country Group

More improvements to come

YGym plans to improve access control at the club in the future. Going from two systems into one, a barrier system will be installed that will be linked to Xplor Gym.

It will help control access through one system with members using their membership card for access. This will give the club detailed reporting on visits and check-ins that can be used to optimise onboarding, marketing, retention activities and more.

With software that makes life easier for YGym and its members, the organisation can focus on supporting its community.

“I appreciate how simple and effective Xplor Gym is – it’s not over complicated and gives us the functionality we need to succeed. It’s easy to learn, new staff members have completed the basic training in 10 minutes on their first shift.

I’d recommend Xplor Gym to other gym operators because of how simple it is. It has everything you need without unnecessary complication.”
– Luke Tyler, Head of Health and Wellbeing Services, YMCA Black Country Group