RESEARCH
STRONG
RECOVERY
The results from the first Moving Communities Customer Experience survey present a positive picture of overall satisfaction with local authority facilities, explains Mike Hill
T
he Moving Communities Customer Experience Survey is the one of the largest consumer surveys ever completed in the public leisure sector in England. Conducted during April and May 2021, it was commissioned by Sport England to measure the impact of a £100m grant provided by the government via Sport England’s National Leisure Recovery Fund to support leisure centres in dealing with the impact of the pandemic. The survey featured responses from over 50,000 individuals who visited at least one of the 1,183 local authority gyms, pools or leisure centres across 158 local authorities in England since reopening in April 2021.
The data suggests that customer expectations have been met, with overall satisfaction levels at an all-time high and a strong customer response. The Net Promoter Score – an indicator of satisfaction and loyalty – has increased to 52 from pre-COVID industry averages of 40-45 and there’s an appreciation of greater levels of cleanliness in both activity areas and changing rooms. Most importantly returning customers have higher levels of confidence in COVID-secure measures put in place by operators, compared to previous surveys. The Confidence Indicator Score is a metric that has been introduced during the pandemic to measure customers confidence and comfort levels when returning to their leisure centres.
86% prefer exercising in a local authority gym or leisure centre compared to at home or in a park
86% of people are satisfied with the cleanliness of changing areas and toilets in leisure centres compared with 70% pre-COVID
69% are extremely confident in COVID protocols, compared with 50-60% in 2020 Net Promoter Score has increased to 52 from pre-COVID averages of 40-45 89% say they exercise more intensely in a leisure facility than in an informal setting such as home 90% are very satisfied or fairly satisfied with the cleanliness of the activity areas
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Issue 7 2021 ©Cybertrek 2021
77% of respondents say staff give them the guidance they need to be more active 97% say they intend to exercise at least once a week in their local leisure centre in the next six months Only 9% say leisure centres ‘do not play’ a significant role in the lifestyle they wanted to live
