App Design Checklist
Take a minute to review your app design against this checklist -- if your app is missing any of these, you may not taking full advantage of the solution:
| What | Description | Check |
| My Bookings | If your app has Class Booking then you should have a My Bookings tile | |
| News | All apps should have a News tile to publish News with Push | |
| Push notifications | So you've got a News module, but don't just use it to tell your users about closures and cancellations. Use it to promote your facility and services -- upcoming events, new classes, achievements, what's new, sign-ups, half-term and holiday activities... get IMMEDIATE response from your members, News with Push is a direct channel to their pocket 24/7 | |
| Info | All apps should have at least one Info module with interesting content about your centre and facilities with pictures, videos and links. | |
| Activities | If you have bookable activities you should have an Activities Booking tile | |
| Schedule | Great for showing timetables of non-bookable items like swim sessions (if they're bookable, use a Class Booking or Activity Booking module instead). If you use web timetables from Active-in-Time we have a special module for that, ask your reseller support team | |
| Lead Generation | Every app should have Lead Generation -- while this is an extra-cost option it only needs to attract one or two new members per month to pay for itself. Active Newham recruited 163 new members in 3 months at just 1 site which pad for the app and Lead Generation 20x over ! Lead Generation should be in every app. | |
| Web modules | Don't be tempted to use web modules for news and info. Use News and Info modules instead, they can be much faster to load, their content is shareable in the app and can show offline. | |
| Personal tracking |
If your centre promotes the use of any of the following personal tracking solutions, we have specific modules to link to their apps:
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| Multisite searching | If you have multiple sites in your organisation, once your app is built, go to the Search Club page and check they all appear there. If not, you need to adjust your Club Search settings in the cockpit to include the site search keyword. | |
| Login Settings | The login page in the app appears when a user tries to book for the first time or visits the My Bookings tile -- there are settable options in the cockpit so that non-members can register on this login page, members can reset their password and other customer buttons. By default these are set "off" but it's very useful and if you have Join@Home or other online joining, you should ask your reseller to set it "on". More info here. | |
| AWS on HTTPS | All AWS installs should be on HTTPS (secure) rather than HTTP. If they are on HTTP they are not secure and vulnerable to attack. With new GDPR regulations from the EU coming in May 2018, now is the time to ensure that your AWS installation is running on HTTPS and so is secure. |
If you have bookable classes you'll want to add the native Class Bookings module. It's quick and easy to find the class you want and book it. For casual members the module takes payment and depending on configuration, users may be able to cancel in the app also. You can add multiple Class Booking modules to your app and configure which classes appear on which tile. Click here to find out more.
Assuming your app has Class Bookings, you should add a My Bookings tile. This is made from an Activity Booking module, but it shows Class Bookings as well as Activity Bookings. From experience My Bookings is very popular with app users, so do include this in your app.
Every app should have at least one News tile. This allows you to publish news and send a Push Notification to all users who have selected that club. This is a great way of getting news to your users:
- Marketing messages -- events, promotions, new classes, half-term, holiday activities...
- Service messages -- pool's closed, trainer sick, room changes, Bank Holiday times...
News is shown with the most recent articles at the top and you can schedule multiple Push Notifications to remind users as an event approaches. Users love timely, relevant news -- you only need to save a family one wasted trip to the centre and they'll be hooked for life. Many apps use a second News module for Offers.
You should add Info tiles to your app to show off your
- Facilities, about us
- Services
- Memberships
- Personal trainers
- Swim programs
- Kids Parties
- Sports Hall
- Training tips
- Summer activities
- Spa, sauna, etc.
You may think that your app is just for members and they know all this stuff, but there are big benefits to doing this:
- Some users may just do one activity (take the kids swimming) and not know about your squash courts
- If you write interesting articles, users will post them on social media using the app's built-in social sharing
So it's really worth taking the time to add Info tiles with interesting content and the cockpit makes it easy to add images, videos and links to make these engaging for users. And with the new Content Syndication APIs in the cockpit, all the News, Info and Schedule info you add to the cockpit can be shown on your website (and kiosks and in-gym displays) automatically and updated in real-time.
Don't be tempted to use web modules to show info from your website in the app, because:
- Web module content typically takes some time to load, particularly on mobile networks
- Most websites are designed for desktop and while they may be mobile-responsive, it can take 2 pages of scrolling just to get past the header, and then another 10 pages of scrolling to get to that timetable you were looking for. Not a great user experience and users will complain vociferously on app store feedback about this (trust us, we've seen this many times !).
- Using Info modules the info shows very quickly and is cached so it can even show when the phone is offline, which can be a big help to users.
In summary
- Use Info modules, write attractive content, use images and links, encourage users to share it
- Set up Content Syndication API links back to your website
Activity Bookings
Some of our early app customers may not know about the native Activity Booking module. This is the easiest way for users to book activities such as badminton, squash, basketball, football... The Activity Booking module is fast and slick, it has a free text search, it can show activities across multiple sites you choose and users can save their favourites. If you have bookable activities, you should be using the Activity Booking module. More here.
Schedules
Many app customers use the Schedule module for Pool Times. You can categorise these, include session descriptions and an image to show off your pool(s) and sessions. Some customers also put their class times into the Schedule module. If the classes are bookable, our recommendation is that you rely on the Class Booking module for this -- it lists the class schedule and lets users book with one click. So you may not need a Class Times schedule module. More here.
Web modules
Web modules are great for adding forms, 3rd party content or integrations to your app. Don't be tempted to use these to pull in info from your website, much better to use Info modules for the reasons above.
MYZONE, mywellness, eGYM, SWIMTAG
If your centre(s) use any of the above there are modules that make it easy for your members to access their data and monitor their progress. We have modules for each of the above that take the user to the appropriate app and let them easily return to your app.
Finding multi-site clubs
If you have multiple sites, when your users go to the app Search Club page they should all appear automatically. If they don't there is a problem with your Club Search settings. Please contact Gladstone