Last week I was served a social media ad by a local gym for their new healthy living challenge group. I’d tried this gym before and LOVED it - their classes are innovative and unlike any workout I’d done before. I shared that class I took with my social media followers and encouraged people to go, so when I saw this challenge/ad pop up, I instantly wanted “in”.
The ad was effective and informative. I clicked through to their website and signed up using their auto-scheduler on the website - a feature I’m growing to love and will be adding to our site very soon. I also have started suggesting it to our clients’ for their websites and/or landing pages because (when used correctly) it’s really seamless for your customer. These schedulers are also mobile-friendly and can sync with the customer’s Facebook so they barely even have to type out their information.
After my seamless experience with the Instagram ad and on their website, I was excited to head over to their gym today for a consultation. I received a reminder text yesterday and two reminder emails leading up to the appointment.
So…here’s where this company failed. They delivered what seemed to be an exceptional, seamless experience - until I showed up in person.
I am writing this standing outside the gym, where I’ve been for 20 minutes waiting for someone to answer the phone or show up for our appointment. I took time in the middle of the day to come over here for orientation and check out what their offering, and from my point of view as the consumer, they couldn’t take the time to show up for me or even send me a text or email asking to reschedule.
Now, remember - my initial interaction with them all happened over a week ago. This appointment/orientation time that I got to select from their scheduler tool is not something I scheduled last minute or sprung on them.
This leads me to wonder - where is the disconnect? Is the social manager in charge of these ads and the website appointment scheduler, but didn’t communicate with gym staff? Is the scheduler not synced to the main gym calendar? What could they have done differently?
As someone who does digital marketing for companies I’m not physically in every day, I have learned communication is the ultimate key. If I have clients with a scheduler on their website, I make sure it syncs directly with their work calendar(s) and the email address they will check the most. I also guarantee that social media comments and private messages that pertain to their appointments or could be personal are instantly texted to them so we can make sure to respond timely and accurately.
This all goes to say that (obviously), I won’t be back.
With how many specialty gyms there are in my region, it’s not worth trying to reschedule or hearing what went wrong on their end. I did write a public comment on the original ad and sent a private message (maybe I should even send this blog!) and I feel like that’s enough.
The takeaway I want to emphasize to every business owner from this story is this - make sure your online customer service experience matches what someone will receive in person. The quickest way to lose influencers, customers, and advocates is to blow off those who want to support you.