Gyms and studios are offered plenty of software, from booking systems to membership platforms to marketing tools. A website assistant is a different kind of tool. Its job is to answer the questions people ask before and after joining, at any hour, so reception is not the only place to get help.
This buyer's guide covers what a gym assistant should do, what to ask vendors and how to test before choosing.
What it should do
Answer common questions. Class times, prices, contracts, facilities, parking.
Capture leads. Trial pass requests, personal training enquiries and corporate membership questions, with contact details and goals. Trial capture is covered in free trial pass requests captured properly.
Hand over to staff. Complaints, cancellations with special circumstances and injury-related questions.
Work at any hour. Many people research gyms in the evening, and January brings a surge of late-night enquiries.
Show you what people ask. So you can improve your website and offers.
Questions to ask vendors
Where do the answers come from? It should answer from your own website, timetable and pricing, not generic fitness content.
What happens when it does not know? It should say so and capture the question, not guess.
How are leads delivered? Check that each lead includes the conversation and the person's goals.
How is it priced? Flat monthly pricing is easier to budget than per-conversation pricing, which can climb during January.
How long is setup? It should be an afternoon, not a project.
Does it work with my website platform? Most gym sites run on common platforms, and installation should be a single script tag.
Testing with real questions
Ask reception for the twenty questions they answer most. Put each to the assistant word for word. Score each answer as right, vague or wrong. Timetable questions are a good starting point, as covered in class timetable questions that tie up reception.
The same test method works in any industry; estate agencies use it too, described in choosing a website assistant for an estate agency.
Watch out for
- Claims about lead increases with no explanation of how they were measured.
- Demos that only use perfect questions.
- Long contracts before you have seen results.
- Tools that answer from general fitness knowledge instead of your own information, which can give wrong prices or times.
Planning for January
Whatever you choose, test it before the January rush, when enquiries from new year resolutions arrive in large numbers and often late at night. Make sure your pricing, joining offers and trial terms for January are published and accurate before the first of the month, and check how the assistant answers questions about them. A tool that works in a quiet November week but falls over in the first week of January is not the right tool.
Multi-site gyms
If you run several locations, check that the assistant can answer location-specific questions accurately: different opening hours, classes and facilities at each site. Members asking about the wrong site's timetable is a common and avoidable source of frustration.
Where SpideyChat fits
SpideyChat for gyms and fitness studios answers from your website at any hour, captures trial and PT leads and hands over to staff. It points members to your booking page rather than writing into your booking system. More on how gyms use it is in AI chatbots for fitness studios and gyms.
Seeing it before deciding
Spend ten minutes with working examples in the live demos, then compare the monthly cost on the plans page with the time your reception team spends on repeat questions.