Market Research for Gyms and Health and Fitness Centres

Q: Who is health and fitness centre market research for?

Any gym, fitness centre, health club, or studio — whether a large national franchise network, a regional chain, or an independent operator — that wants to understand its members more deeply, improve retention, or strengthen its brand.

Q: What is Google review aggregation and how does it help fitness brands?

10 THOUSAND FEET aggregates more than 70,000 Google reviews annually across 24 health and fitness brands and 2,380 locations — giving brand and operations teams an at-scale, real-time picture of how the member experience varies across locations and where improvements are needed.

Q: Do you work with franchise-based gym networks?

Yes. 10 THOUSAND FEET has extensive experience with franchise-based gym networks including Anytime Fitness and World Gym, conducting franchisee satisfaction research and consumer-facing research tailored to the franchise context.

Q: What is the AUSactive Member Love Award?

The AUSactive – 10 THOUSAND FEET Member Love Award recognises the fitness businesses members love most. 10 THOUSAND FEET has compiled the research underpinning this award for five years, alongside powering the AUSactive Employer of Choice Awards for four years.

Q: What makes 10 THOUSAND FEET different from a general research agency in this space?

Over 15 years of health and fitness category experience, 15 years of continuous franchisee satisfaction research in the fitness sector, a five-year Member Insights Tracker, aggregation of 70,000+ Google reviews annually, and key research partnerships with AUSactive and Pathology Technology Australia.

Market Research for Gyms and Health and Fitness Centres: Insights That Keep You Ahead

The health and fitness industry never stands still. New trends emerge constantly, technology reshapes how people train and engage with brands, and consumer expectations keep rising. What stays constant is the passion of the people who work in this industry and the need for brands that their members genuinely trust.

At 10 THOUSAND FEET, we’ve been working alongside health and fitness brands since 2008. From large national gym networks to boutique operators, we help fitness centres and health clubs make faster, better decisions; empowering their teams to deliver outstanding member experiences and building brands that stay relevant in an industry that never stops evolving.

What Is Market Research for Gyms and Health and Fitness Centres?

Market research for gyms and health and fitness centres is the systematic collection and analysis of insights about members, prospective customers, staff, franchisees and the broader market; helping gym operators and fitness brands understand what’s driving consumer behaviour and where the opportunities for growth lie.

In a sector defined by intense competition, rapidly shifting trends, and deeply personal consumer relationships, research is what separates the brands that lead from the brands that follow. It helps health and fitness organisations:

Understand what drives member acquisition, satisfaction, and retention
Track brand health and competitive positioning over time
Identify the emerging trends shaping consumer expectations and the vital role fitness and health plays in people’s lives
Evaluate new products, programs, and campaigns before launch
Benchmark member experience against competitors and industry standards
Empower staff and franchise networks with the evidence they need to excel
Size markets and quantify growth opportunities

Our Experience in Gyms and Health and Fitness Research

We’ve been a trusted research partner to the Australian health and fitness industry for more than 15 years, and our experience spans the full breadth of the sector; from national gym networks and boutique studios to industry associations and government health bodies.

We are proud to be a key research partner for AUSactive, the fitness industry’s peak association and for Pathology Technology Australia, a leading health technology association. These partnerships give us a privileged, industry-wide view of the trends, challenges, and consumer shifts shaping health and fitness in Australia.

Our broader experience in health, wellness, and fitness extends to NSW Department of Health, Victoria University, and Fitness Australia, giving us a rounded understanding of how Australians engage with health and wellness across both the public and private sectors.

Gym and fitness centre clients we’ve had the privilege of working with include Anytime Fitness, Aquafit, Crunch Fitness, Fernwood Fitness, Fitness Enhancement, Gold’s Gym, Jetts, KX Pilates, Plus Fitness, Viva Leisure, World Gym and YMCA.

Our longitudinal research programs give us a depth of insight that one-off studies simply can’t replicate. We have run a Member Insights Tracker for five years within the fitness industry; continuously measuring member sentiment, satisfaction, and engagement to help brands identify trends and act on them. We have also been running franchisee satisfaction surveys and brand health surveys for fitness brands continuously for 15 years, making us one of the most experienced partners in Australia for understanding what drives brand health and franchisee performance and retention in this sector.

And we go beyond surveys. We aggregate more than 70,000 Google reviews annually across 24 health and fitness brands and 2,380 locations; giving our clients a real-time, at-scale view of how members are experiencing their brand across every location, and where the experience gaps are emerging.

We’re also proud to power the research behind two of AUSactive’s most prestigious recognition programs. For the past 5 years, we have compiled all the research for the AUSactive – 10 THOUSAND FEET Member Love Award, a category in the AUSactive National Awards that recognises the businesses members love most. For 4 years, we also powered the AUSactive Employer of Choice Awards and recognition program, helping identify the fitness businesses that set the benchmark for workplace culture and employee experience.

Credential	Detail
Years of experience	15+ years in health and fitness research; 20+ in health and wellness broadly
Industry association	Key research partner for AUSactive (fitness industry peak body)
AUSactive Member Love Award	Research partner for 5 consecutive years
AUSactive Employer of Choice Awards	Research partner for 4 consecutive years
Member Insights Tracker	5-year continuous member sentiment and satisfaction tracking program
Franchisee satisfaction and brand health	15 years continuously running franchisee satisfaction surveys and brand health surveys for fitness brands
Google review aggregation	70,000+ reviews annually across 24 brands and 2,380 locations
Gym clients	Anytime Fitness, World Gym, Fernwood Fitness, Gold’s Gym, Viva Leisure and more
Research scope	Brand, member satisfaction, employee engagement, campaign testing, market sizing

The Heartbeat of the Industry: Passion, Trust, and Experience

The health and fitness industry attracts people who are genuinely passionate about what they do; and that energy is one of the sector’s greatest assets. But passion alone isn’t enough. In an environment where consumers have more choices than ever, the brands that win are the ones that combine that passion with a deep, evidence-based understanding of their members.

Research is what bridges the gap between what brands believe about their members and what their members actually experience, feel, and want. It’s what turns passionate teams into consistently outstanding ones.

At 10 THOUSAND FEET, health and wellness is genuinely part of who we are. Since our founding in 2003, we’ve maintained a strong personal commitment to fitness and wellbeing. Our team engages in regular fitness challenges, from steps, squats and plank challenges to yoga and HIIT; because we believe that understanding this industry at a personal level makes us better researchers and better partners to our clients. It also helps keep our team fit, healthy, connected and mentally sharp to produce the best research work for our clients.

Staying Ahead of an Evolving Market

Few industries move as fast as health and fitness. The rise of wearable technology, the explosion of virtual classes, the growth of recovery-focused training, the incorporation of once specialist equipment and classes like reformer pilates into big box gyms; and the blurring of gym and lifestyle: all of these shifts have happened in the span of a few years, and the pace of change shows no sign of slowing.

Research is the mechanism that keeps brands ahead of these shifts rather than chasing them. Our ongoing Member Insights Tracker gives fitness brands a continuous, longitudinal view of how member sentiment and satisfaction are evolving; enabling them to identify emerging issues early and anticipate change rather than react to it.

We aggregate more than 70,000 Google reviews annually across 24 brands and 2,380 locations — providing an at-scale, real-time picture of how members are experiencing fitness brands across every location in their network. This kind of systematic review aggregation surfaces patterns that individual location managers rarely see, and gives brand and operations teams the evidence they need to focus their attention where it matters most

Combined with bespoke research programs tailored to specific business questions, we give health and fitness brands the insight they need to make faster, more confident decisions and the evidence base to bring their teams and stakeholders along with them.

Our Market Research Services for Gyms and Health and Fitness Centres

We offer a comprehensive range of research services tailored to the specific needs of health and fitness brands; and we love designing bespoke solutions for briefs that don’t fit a standard template.

Brand and Market Research

Brand Research and Strategy — Understanding brand health, positioning, and the trust and loyalty drivers that matter most to members and prospective customers
Sales Data Aggregation and Market Sizing — Quantifying market opportunity, benchmarking performance, and understanding the competitive landscape
Online Reputation Management Research — Monitoring and understanding how your brand is perceived in the digital and social environment

Member and Customer Research

Customer Usage and Attitude Research — Understanding how, why, and when consumers engage with health and fitness brands and facilities
Member Satisfaction Research — Measuring the end-to-end member experience and identifying where it can be meaningfully improved
Customer Journey Mapping — Tracing every touchpoint in the member relationship from first awareness through to long-term loyalty; and finding where the critical moments occur
Segmentation and Profiling Research — Understanding the distinct member segments within your market and what each one needs from a fitness brand

Employee and Franchise Research

Employee Engagement Research — Understanding the experiences, motivations, and engagement levels of the people who deliver your member experience every day
Franchisee Satisfaction Surveys — For franchise-based gym networks, measuring franchisee engagement, support satisfaction, and network performance

Campaign and Innovation Research

Campaign and Product Testing — Evaluating new programs, campaigns, and concepts before they go to market, reducing risk and maximising impact
Social Impact Research — Measuring and communicating the broader community impact of your brand and programs

Don’t see exactly what you’re looking for? Get in touch: we love designing research solutions that address a specific challenge.

Why Specialist Research Matters in Gyms and Health and Fitness

Health and fitness is a sector where the stakes of getting research wrong are high. Member relationships are deeply personal; people are investing their time, money, and wellbeing in your brand. Understanding what drives their commitment, what erodes it, and what keeps them coming back requires a level of category knowledge and sensitivity that a generalist agency simply doesn’t have.

Specialist research in this space also needs to account for the operational complexity of gym networks; often a mix of corporate locations, franchises, and varying formats; and the need to benchmark performance not just internally but against a rapidly evolving competitive set.

At 10 THOUSAND FEET, we bring more than 15 years of health and fitness category experience to every engagement. We understand the language, the culture, and the consumer dynamics of this industry; and that understanding shapes everything from the questions we ask to the way we present findings to leadership teams.

Client Case Studies

AUSactive — Advocacy Research for the Safe Reopening of Gyms

At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, gyms across Australia were closed and had not been classified as an essential service. AUSactive (then Fitness Australia), the fitness industry’s peak body, engaged 10 THOUSAND FEET to independently survey gym members and build the evidence base needed to advocate for the safe reopening of facilities.

We surveyed 14,333 gym members — the largest sample size AUSactive had ever achieved — capturing detailed insights into their usage and attitudes towards gyms, the role fitness facilities play in their physical and mental health, and the impact closures were having on their daily lives.

The research delivered a data-rich, credible picture of what gym closures were costing Australians — and gave AUSactive the evidence it needed to successfully lobby government for the safe reopening of gyms across the country.

This partnership has continued to grow. For years we have been powering the research behind the AUSactive – 10 THOUSAND FEET Member Love Award, recognising the fitness businesses members love most.

Read the full AUSactive case study →

Fitness Enhancement — Growing Reputation and Recruiting New Team Members

Fitness Enhancement Personal Training engaged 10 THOUSAND FEET to independently survey both their franchisees and their employees — combining our industry-leading franchisee satisfaction survey and employee engagement survey to objectively measure satisfaction across a collective 100 metrics.

The research revealed that Fitness Enhancement excelled in employee engagement and in providing franchisees with an outstanding lifestyle — strengths that, once validated by independent research, became a powerful platform for brand credibility. The findings were directly attributed to brand growth, with the objective, third-party endorsement giving Fitness Enhancement the evidence it needed to attract new franchisees and recruit high-quality team members with confidence.

Read the full Fitness Enhancement case study →

AUSactive — ECOactive Sustainability Pilot Program

Our partnership with AUSactive extends beyond member research. When AUSactive secured an innovation grant from the City of Sydney Council to launch the ECOactive Pilot Program — a groundbreaking sustainability initiative helping fitness businesses reduce energy consumption, minimise waste, conserve water, and optimise chemical use — 10 THOUSAND FEET was engaged to support the research underpinning the program.

ECOactive audited 15 diverse fitness business sites across the City of Sydney, ranging from large facilities with pools to small Pilates and yoga studios, establishing a benchmarking framework that lays the foundation for a nationwide rollout. Drawing on more than 15 years of experience in sustainability research and the development of proprietary consumer sustainability segmentation models, we played an integral role in shaping the audit framework and consumer survey design. We then surveyed both members of the participating gyms/studios and the broader public to understand attitudes towards sustainability initiatives in the sector. Our involvement reflects the breadth of our partnership with AUSactive and our commitment to supporting the fitness industry beyond traditional research briefs.

Learn more about the AUSactive ECOactive program →

More case studies coming soon.

What Our Clients Say

“The Member Satisfaction, Franchisee Satisfaction and Employee Engagement programs are extremely worthwhile and essential in providing feedback and direction for the brand, our team and our members.”

Roger Westerman, CEO — World Gym Australia

“I would recommend 10 THOUSAND FEET because of the depth of their insights and recommendations, their timeliness delivering to the schedule proposed and their communication where they provide clear updates throughout the process.”

Billie Hutchison, Marketing Manager — Anytime Fitness

Frequently Asked Questions

Who is gyms and health and fitness centre market research for? Any gym, fitness centre, health club, or studio; whether a large national franchise network, a regional chain, or an independent operator that wants to understand its members more deeply, improve retention, strengthen its brand, or make more informed decisions about products, programs, and marketing.

How does research help with member retention? Member retention is built on satisfaction, connection, and a sense of value and research is what helps fitness brands understand exactly how well they’re delivering on each of these on a brand level and location by location. It surfaces what your most loyal members love about the experience, identifies where there are opportunities to strengthen engagement, and gives operators the specific, prioritised insights they need to focus their efforts where they’ll have the greatest impact. Rather than guessing what’s driving member decisions, research puts the answers in your hands and provides the evidence to unite stakeholders and frontline teams behind initiatives that improve member satisfaction, embed best practice, and take member experience to the next level.

What is the Member Insights Tracker? The Member Insights Tracker is a longitudinal research program we have run continuously for five years within the fitness industry; measuring member sentiment, satisfaction, and engagement over time to help fitness brands identify emerging trends and act on them. It gives brands a continuous, evidence-based view of how their member relationships are evolving.

What is Google review aggregation and how does it help fitness brands? We aggregate more than 70,000 Google reviews annually across 24 health and fitness brands and 2,380 locations; systematically collecting and analysing the reviews members leave about their gym experiences. This gives brand and operations teams an at-scale, real-time picture of how the member experience varies across locations, surfacing patterns that individual location managers rarely see and enabling targeted, evidence-based improvements.

Do you work with franchise-based gym networks? Yes. We have extensive experience with franchise-based gym networks, including Anytime Fitness and World Gym, conducting both franchisee satisfaction research and consumer-facing research. We understand the specific dynamics of franchise networks in the fitness sector and how to design research that is meaningful at both the individual location level and across the network as a whole.

Do you work with boutique studios, independent gyms and council facilities as well as large networks? Absolutely. We work with fitness brands of all sizes, tailoring our research scope and methodology to suit the scale, budget, and specific objectives of each organisation.

What is the AUSactive Member Love Award? The AUSactive 10 THOUSAND FEET Member Love Award is a category within the AUSactive National Awards that recognises the fitness businesses members love most. 10 THOUSAND FEET has compiled all the research underpinning this award for the past five years, alongside powering the AUSactive Employer of Choice Awards and recognition program for four years; reflecting our deep, ongoing partnership with the fitness industry’s peak body.

What makes 10 THOUSAND FEET different from a general research agency in this space? Depth of category experience. Over 15 years working with Australia’s leading fitness brands and associations, 15 years of continuous franchisee satisfaction research in the fitness sector, a five-year Member Insights Tracker, and the capability to aggregate 70,000+ Google reviews annually across entire brand networks. We understand what drives members, what builds trust in a fitness brand, and what the industry’s most pressing research questions are because we’ve been asking and answering them for a long time.

The health and fitness brands that thrive are the ones that understand their members, franchisees and employees most deeply. We’d love to help yours be one of them.

Enquire here or book a complimentary strategy session with a research expert — we’d love to hear from you.

Let’s start a conversation

We’ve helped other clients transform their organisations and would love to be part of your story.

Address

Level 6, 275 Alfred Street North,
North Sydney, NSW, Australia, 2060

Email

info@10thousandfeet.com

Phone

02 8080 7544