Why You Value Human Touch More Than Your Customers Do

The Myth of the “Human Touch” in Fitness Sales

Members expect a human touch.

It is a concern I hear from fitness operators almost every time the subject of AI sales agents comes up. The sentiment is understandable. Fitness is built on human transformation, encouragement, and belonging. It is natural to want every exchange with a prospect to feel genuine.

The difficulty is that while operators focus on preserving that idealised version of personal service, the actual customer experience often looks very different.

The Reality Behind the Promise

Wanting to provide individualised attention is admirable, but the truth is that the service delivered often falls well short of the promise.

Our multi-market “Time to Reply” research, which analysed operator responses to membership inquiries across North America, the UK, and Australia, found that more than half of all messages sent by prospects through email and social media never received any reply at all.

In the US data set alone, the picture is stark. Close to 60 percent of email queries went unanswered. On Facebook, over six in ten were ignored. On Instagram, more than half never received a reply.

Even when operators did respond, the speed was nowhere near what prospects expected. Average response times in North America were almost four hours for email, over seventeen hours for Facebook, and more than a day and a half for Instagram. In the UK, delays stretched even further, with some channels taking more than eleven hours on average to get any response.

The gap widens when considering sales persistence. Nearly half of salespeople stop following up after a single attempt, despite research showing that most sales take at least five or more touches to close. And when replies do arrive, they often miss the mark. In Australia, 40 percent of email responses failed to fully answer the original question, and only a minority of social replies offered a clear next step such as arranging a tour.

This is hardly the “human touch” operators believe they are delivering.

What Prospects Actually Care About

The idea that customers always prefer to wait for human interaction does not hold up to scrutiny. The data shows speed trumps sentiment almost every time.

Nearly 80 percent of consumers would rather get a fast response from AI in a few minutes than a reply from a person days later. When asked to choose between waiting five minutes for a human or getting instant assistance from a bot, most still select the bot.

Prospects reward responsiveness. More than three quarters buy from the company that answers first. Leads contacted within five minutes are vastly more likely to convert than those left waiting even an hour. Eight out of ten consumers expect acknowledgment within ten minutes, and more than three quarters expect it instantly.

Despite this, even the most efficient operators we studied averaged seven and a half hours to respond to an email inquiry. The gap between what prospects want and what they actually receive is enormous. For younger generations driving fitness industry growth, the contrast is even sharper. Gen Z and millennials overwhelmingly prefer digital channels to voice calls and simply want quick, convenient answers.

The Impossible 24/7 Expectation

The deeper flaw in the human-touch assumption is the idea that staff can realistically provide support at the times prospects actually engage.

People research gyms in the middle of the night, send inquiries at weekends, and make decisions during holidays. Our studies reveal that more than half of fitness searches occur outside normal hours, with some regions peaking between midnight and five in the morning.

Operators using AI agents to cover these gaps see tangible benefit. Around one in four bookings with AI assistance are made when clubs are closed. Without that coverage, those opportunities either disappear or are picked up by competitors who are faster to respond.

Staffing levels, shift patterns, and competing responsibilities mean front desk teams cannot deliver this coverage. By the time Monday morning comes around, many high-intent leads have already moved on.

Proof in the Results

The introduction of AI sales agents like Keepme Antares has shown how transformational immediate, intelligent engagement can be.

At Fitness First Asia, lead-to-tour bookings climbed by 185 percent. Tour attendance improved by 16 percent. Tour-to-sale conversion rose by nearly half. In the Middle East, Ezdihar Sports saw visitor-to-lead rates increase by up to 355 percent and lead-to-sale conversion almost double.

These numbers are not outliers. They are representative of every deployment we have seen. And they are achieved without removing humans from the process. Instead, AI ensures no prospect is left waiting, giving sales teams the freedom to concentrate on the in-person conversations that actually close business.

The key advantage is consistency. AI agents deliver from day one, require no training period, never call in sick, and operate continuously. No team of humans can sustain that level of availability and precision.

Over time, the operational benefits accumulate. Sales teams reclaim upwards of twenty hours per month. Engagement is handled across all channels, in multiple languages, around the clock. Opportunities are never lost because of timing or availability.

Where Humans Remain Irreplaceable

This is not about diminishing human value but about directing it where it matters most. AI excels at repetitive tasks: answering initial questions, booking appointments, confirming details, and ensuring timely follow-up.

Freed from these demands, staff can focus on the uniquely human elements of the job: building rapport on a tour, sensing hesitation and addressing it, guiding technique on the training floor, offering motivation when members struggle, and fostering community within the club.

These are the interactions that AI will never replicate. They are also the interactions that create loyalty and long-term membership value.

Striking the Balance

The choice facing fitness operators is not between automation and humanity. It is about using both in the right measure.

Prospects care deeply about speed and availability. AI can provide that foundation, ensuring every inquiry gets immediate engagement. Staff can then bring the human connection at the moments it matters most, from the tour to the training floor.

By combining the two, operators can deliver the best of both worlds: reliable, round-the-clock responsiveness and genuine human connection when it truly makes a difference.