Even though the fitness industry produces $22.4 billion of annual economic activity in the US, it’s not necessarily reaching its full potential: Between 40% and 65% of gym-goers drop off within five to eight months of starting—and that has been a stable rate for the past two decades.
But gamification can be a disruptor that makes exercise a consistent habit.
Early versions of gamification in fitness included pedometers and, eventually, step tracking via smartphones and other fitness wearables. One study from Stanford University found that the average person increased their physical activity by 23% when participating in a walking challenge (i.e. competing with other mobile app users to take the most steps over a number of days).
It’s not just effective for walking, either. A meta-analysis published by the NIH confirmed that gamified interventions are effective at promoting physical activity in various populations. Plus, the effect persists after a follow-up period, meaning it’s “not just a novelty effect caused by the playful nature of gamification.”
Wearables, fittech apps, and at-home equipment are often what people think of with fitness gamification. But fitness studios can also gamify class attendance and performance to make physical exercise more fun and challenging—like an addictive game.
3 Ways for Boutique Fitness Studios to Use Gamification
There are many clients who enjoy breaking a sweat without needing too much external motivation. But plenty of others don’t feel that way, and utilizing gamification technology to make a workout both competitive and fun can help attract and retain those members.
Here are three ways we’ve seen boutique fitness studios use gamification to keep their clients coming back:
1) Challenges
Challenges are a powerful gamification tool to drive increased engagement. Joining (and completing) a challenge can bring your customer base together with a shared goal while creating a positive form of competition. You can even use the challenge to benefit a social cause that aligns with your brand values.
How to do it: With Mariana Tek’s gamification tool, you can run fully custom challenges and create leaderboards to invite everyone to push a little harder—together—through your studio’s mobile app.
See it in action: Boutique fitness studio M3 upgraded their challenge records from cards on the wall to the Mariana Tek app. Going digital led to a huge increase in client engagement. Despite being in a typically slow season (summer), this challenge led to a 31% increase in visits. Read the full story here!
2) Goals & Streaks
With 40-65% of gym-goers dropping off in the first eight months, it’s crucial to help people find consistency and form healthy habits. No matter what goal they started with on their fitness journey – strength, weight, mental health, mobility, etc. – your studio team and instructors can play a huge role in helping them achieve these goals.
How to do it: With the Goals and Streaks features, you can help your clients to keep their ambitions top of mind and show that you’re just as invested in their goals as they are. You can also leverage Mariana Tek goal and streak reports to create weekly custom segments: Use them to send meaningful messages or even create incentive programs for those customers who hit a goal or streak milestone!
- Goals – Any user can set their individual goal for weekly classes at your studio. It’s a simple, straightforward way to set accountability!
Streaks – Each consecutive week a user hits their goal, their streak increases. If they miss a week, they lose their streak. But they’ll always see the longest streak as their own personal record.
3) Member Milestones
Life is sweeter when we celebrate milestones together. Whether it’s reaching a certain number of workouts over the course of a membership or achieving some other significant goal, studios can make the most of these special moments by acknowledging and even rewarding these results.
How to do it: Mariana Tek enables instructors and front desk staff to see immediately if someone has reached a milestone—or even if they’re doing a workout on their birthday! Studio owners can create fully customizable milestones for all their clients, tracked within the app, to boost engagement.
See it in action: Mariana Tek studios have come up with some seriously cool milestone programs. Grit Fitness honors “100 Club” Members with a trucker hat. High Ride Cycle shows off riders’ milestones on a polaroid wall. And SweatPGH has the SweatyAF Club for members with 1,000+ rides, giving them access to special perks and events.
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Gamify Your Studio Experience to Keep Clients Coming Back
Anecdotally, many of us have experienced some sort of competition or gamification in a workout or activity, and we know how much it can boost our motivation and level of effort. The data says it’s effective, too. And Mariana Tek makes it easy to add these fun, competitive moments that keep members engaged.
But these gamified experiences are only one part of the customer journey. To understand all the key opportunities for your brand to stand out, and how Mariana Tek can help, read The Moments that Matter: Critical Engagement Points to Build a Strong, Vibrant Boutique Fitness Community. You’ll discover detailed strategies and product tips for creating meaningful connections throughout the entire member journey.
by Xplor Mariana Tek
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First published: 31 March 2025
Written by: Xplor Mariana Tek