How Real Good Fitness increased active clients by 78% while keeping classes personal

About Real Good Fitness

Connor founded Real Good Fitness because he wanted to move away from what he saw in the commercial fitness industry: overcrowded gyms, impersonal experiences and a constant focus on appearance and weight loss.

His priority was to create something smaller and more supportive, limiting outdoor classes to eight people. Each session is adapted around the members' goals and abilities, while Connor's coaches follow structured, progressive programmes. The result combines the personal attention of one-to-one training with the energy and encouragement of a group.

"It combines the personal support of one-to-one training with the energy and community of a group, without the pressure or anonymity of a traditional gym," Connor says.

That approach has helped Real Good Fitness build a community of more than 50 members. The business now runs 17 classes each week across three locations, supported by four coaches.

But as the operation grew, maintaining the experience became more complicated. Connor needed a way to add locations and coaches without making the business feel less personal.

Keeping a small experience consistent

In the early days, Connor managed bookings, payments and member communication across several systems. He later tried a variety of booking platforms in the hope of bringing more of the work together.

Although his previous provider combined some of these tasks, it could not manage them effectively enough for a growing, multi-location business.

"As the business grew, almost every part of the day-to-day management became more demanding," Connor says. "It was becoming difficult to manage everything efficiently while continuing to grow and maintain the personal experience our members valued."

Every new location brought more classes to coordinate and schedules to organise. Members needed timely updates, coaches needed access to the right information and new enquiries still required a quick response.

The challenge was not simply reducing admin. Real Good Fitness needed to create consistency behind the scenes so its coaches could continue giving members individual support.

When the bsport team first contacted Connor, he was reluctant to switch. The business already had a platform in place, and changing systems meant disrupting an established part of its operation.

What eventually convinced him was the combination of automated messaging and more detailed analytics. Both offered practical support for running the business at its new scale.

One booking experience across three locations

bsport now brings the daily management of Real Good Fitness together in one place.

"bsport has streamlined almost every part of the day-to-day running of the business," Connor says. "It has made the member experience smoother, simplified coach and schedule management, and brought our key business data together in one place."

Members can book at whichever location suits them without creating separate accounts or learning a different process. Communication and payments are handled consistently, so the experience remains familiar when someone changes where they train.

"bsport allows us to keep booking, payments and communication consistent across all three locations, so every member receives the same smooth experience wherever they train," Connor says.

Having member information and activity in one place also helps the four coaches work as a team. They can pass on relevant updates and understand a member's history, even if another coach normally leads their sessions.

This is particularly important for a business built around knowing the people who attend. As Real Good Fitness grows, its personal approach cannot depend on Connor being present at every class or manually sharing every detail.

The platform creates continuity between locations and coaches. Limiting each class to eight people then gives the team the space to put that information into practice.

Removing friction from the first booking

The same principle applies before someone attends their first class.

People considering outdoor small-group training may be unfamiliar with the format or nervous about joining an established group. If registering and booking also feels complicated, it creates another opportunity for them to change their mind.

Real Good Fitness's personalised app gives prospective members a simpler route into the business. They can register and book their first session with fewer steps, while existing members can manage their training across all three locations.

"Trial engagement has improved too, as the smoother, lower-friction sign-up process makes it much easier for new people to get started and book their first sessions," Connor says.

That improvement is reflected in Real Good Fitness's platform data. The number of active clients using bsport increased by 78% during its first year, while payment volume rose by more than a third.

Connor has also seen an increase in bookings and stronger member retention. From his perspective, however, the biggest measurable change has been the reduction in time spent on administration.

Automated messaging means the team does not need to manage every update individually. Bookings and coach schedules can be coordinated through the same platform, leaving Connor with more time to support his team and plan what comes next.

Turning engagement into sustainable growth

As more people began booking, the way members purchased also changed.

The average transaction value increased by 60% during Real Good Fitness's first year on bsport. Two years after joining, it remains more than 50% above its starting point.

The analytics also mean Connor no longer needs to piece together information from several systems to understand how the business is performing.

"It gives us a much clearer view of how the business is performing, helping us make better-informed decisions as we grow," he says.

For other operators, Real Good Fitness offers a useful lesson: keeping an experience personal does not mean keeping the operation manual. The right structure behind the scenes can give a growing team more room to focus on members.

Building the next Real Good Fitness communities

Connor's immediate priority is growing and establishing the two newest locations. Longer term, he wants to open more small, community-based locations following the same model.

Real Good Fitness is also preparing to develop an on-demand offering through bsport. With four coaches now creating more capacity, digital content gives the business an opportunity to reach people beyond its existing outdoor classes.

The next stage will bring a new version of the same challenge: how to welcome more people without losing what made the experience work.

For Connor, the answer is not to make the classes bigger. It is to build the right structure around them, allowing Real Good Fitness to grow while continuing to treat every member as an individual.