Managing member communications across multiple platforms while keeping service personal is tough for fitness and wellness centers. The Farm Club, a family-run venue sitting on 300 acres of Cheshire countryside, hit this wall hard when member messages started pouring in from everywhere.

Staff were juggling Instagram DMs, Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, and website chat all day. Messages slipped through the cracks. Response times were all over the place. The team just couldn't keep up with the service their community expected.

The multi-channel problem

With over 140k Instagram followers, The Farm Club was drowning in questions about class schedules, memberships, and facility availability. Every platform had its own constant stream of messages.

They tried assigning different staff to different channels. It didn't work. Response times completely depended on who happened to be free. Members got different answers depending on which platform they used. Worst of all, staff were spending hours glued to their phones instead of actually helping people at the facility.

Unified inbox: everything in one place

The Farm Club brought all its communication channels into a single dashboard. Now, staff can handle Instagram, Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, and website chat without switching apps.

Here's what changed: when someone asked about weekend classes on Instagram, staff could pull up their previous WhatsApp chats for context. No more hunting through different apps trying to piece together conversations.

Multi-channel integration: meeting members where they are

The Farm Club hooked up four main channels. They added a WhatsApp icon to their website so members could start conversations right there. Instagram DMs and Facebook messages all landed in the same inbox. Nothing got lost.

Members use different channels for different things. Quick questions go to WhatsApp. Workout photos and follow-ups happen on Instagram. Younger members stick to Instagram. Older members prefer Facebook Messenger or the website.

Task and request management: handling what matters

Personal training bookings, facility rentals, membership changes. The Farm Club deals with complicated requests every day. Their system sorts these automatically. Urgent stuff gets handled right away. Routine questions can wait until business hours.

Staff can jump on emergencies like locked-out members while queuing up follow-ups for less urgent stuff. Every request gets tracked until it's done.

Automation: dealing with the repetitive stuff

The Farm Club set up automation for the questions they get asked constantly. Hours, schedules, basic membership info, all automated. This frees up staff for the complicated questions that actually need a human.

"What time do you close?" Gets answered instantly. "Tell me about personal training packages" goes straight to a staff member. Less time on repeat questions. Members still get instant answers.

Visito's automation lets The Farm Club handle way more messages without losing that personal feel. Basic questions get answered immediately. Staff can focus on members who are actually there.

Results

The Farm Club handles over 2,000 messages every month now. Automation takes care of three out of four. That's freed up more than 60 hours of staff time over nine months.

When messages jumped from under 1,000 to over 3,000 during busy periods, automation handled it. No scrambling to add staff. Quality stayed the same whether they were dealing with 900 messages or 3,200.

Staff aren't stuck on their phones anymore. Automation covers urgent questions after hours. Members get help even when staff are busy with in-person sessions.

Those 60-plus hours? They're going into fitness classes, wellness sessions, personal training, and building the community vibe that makes The Farm Club special.

Key takeaways

The Farm Club figured out three things that work. Put everything in one place, and the chaos stops. Let automation handle the boring stuff so humans can focus on what matters. Keep response times consistent everywhere, and members stay happy.

Other fitness and wellness centers can do this too. Connect your website chat, social media, and WhatsApp Business in one system. Just be smart about automation. Handle the routine stuff automatically, but make sure complex questions still get personal attention.

Ready to fix your fitness and wellness center's communication mess? Connect WhatsApp, Instagram, and Facebook Messenger in under a minute. Try Visito for free and stop letting messages slip through while keeping the personal touch members want.