Communicating Science to Impact Health & Fitness Business Profitability and Consumer Behavior [Podcast Series]
[:54] Dr. Bantham introduces her guest, Dr. Rachelle Reed
Dr. Rachelle Reed is Chief Health and Science Officer for SweatHouz, a recovery focused wellness franchise.
She was previously with Orangetheory Fitness as their Senior Director of Health Science and Research.
[1:13] Academia pathway
“And so we did a lot of validation work, and then also a lot of work looking at, alright, when someone starts a physical activity program, how does that change their behaviors throughout the rest of the day? Like do they have any compensatory responses? What's happening there when we track the behaviors? What does that look like over time?”
[5:15] Industry pathway
“So how do we talk about exercise in a way that the everyday consumer cares about it, that we can make it accessible, that we can make it fun, so they actually show up. And so that was really interesting to me. And I knew that was something I wanted to do in a full time capacity, but it also wasn't like there were roles that really existed at the time, so I knew I was gonna have to figure out a way to make myself marketable to learn the language of business and start to carve out roles for myself.”
[10:46] Communicating science to impact business profitability and consumer behavior
“And so for me it required a quick mindset shift into how can I help use the science to either improve the product or service or to make the instructors more skilled and/or to help drive the sales process so that we can get more people in the door and keep them for longer? Because if we can keep them for longer, the business is more profitable and they're hopefully earning some of those health benefits that are associated with regular exercise.”
[15:37] Fitness sector as the third space
“Do we want everyone to have barbells and dumbbells in their garage and do progressively overloading resistance training programs? Sure. But do a lot of people rely on the fitness sector to be their third place where they show up and participate in a group activity that not only improves them physically and mentally, but also socially, emotionally, all of these other aspects?”
[19:01] Using data to drive programming and adherence decisions
“So we could use the data to better drive programming and adherence decisions. Because the brand was really well aware that if we could get someone in the door and keep them coming about two times per week, they were more likely to stick with us for months and years than if the workout was too difficult and alienated them right away.”
[22:31] Tips for communicating science to consumers
“And so when we're messaging to the consumer, we have to take that into account. It needs to be simple. It's usually short snippets of information, right? They don't, maybe they don't want to listen to an hour long lecture about physical activity, which I'd be happy to give them if they did, but they don't they want 20 seconds, right with something that feels genuine, fun, and trustworthy.”
[25:34] Examples of communicating science to consumers
“Their mission and vision right now is all around this concept of more life. So how does what you're doing in the studio and in their workout templates, how does that translate to what you do out of the studio? So they have a whole visual campaign, for example of someone doing like a woodchopper movement with a dumbbell. And then in the next frame, it's that same gentleman picking up his two-year-old daughter with that same movement.”
[28:30] Tips for communicating science to operators
“Yeah, so I think the main thing with communicating science to the operators is helping them understand how science can improve the profitability of the business and/or how well their studio managers and studio staff, whether that's coaches, trainers, part time, full time, etc, how that can better equip them to serve the member better.”
