Why Customers Come Back

What makes an in-person experience worth putting on autopay? This fitness studio founder has it dialed in.

- FRANCES DODDS

Customers might try something once. But how do you get them to return?

Angus Long thinks a lot about this. He used to be an Orangetheory franchisee, and then founded a new kind of fitness studio called Hylo Fitness. He and his business partner, Matt Herring, built Hylo on a thesis: The fitness world is fragmented, with studios that exclusively focus on yoga, barre, or other modalities. Why not have the same group-fitness membership model, but offer multiple modalities under a single roof? So Long founded Hylo, which has a room for "high-intensity" workouts-combining cardio and strength training-and a room for "low-intensity" workouts pulling from practices like yoga, barre, and Pilates.

But as he's learned, it's not enough to offer something new or unique. In addition, you must focus relentlessly on perceived value-making sure that your customers feel like they're always getting their money's worth. And here's the trick: Their perception is going to constantly change, which means that you must change with it.