Virgin Active

Virgin Active wanted to transform how members felt about their gym experience. They needed to meet evolving customer expectations in the fitness industry. Our partnership with Virgin Active started in 2021 to shape and deliver a technology-driven solution that enhances engagement and drives measurable business outcomes.

Our approach ensured that the Virgin Active digital experience was not just a marketing tool—it became a fundamental driver of customer engagement and revenue growth. By combining deep expertise in digital product development with a results-focused approach, we helped Virgin Active create a new global member experience. An experience that fosters loyalty, increases gym visits, and ultimately reduces churn. The result: a digital fitness ecosystem designed for long-term business impact, that delivered from day one.

Navigating Industry Change with a Clear Digital Strategy

As the world emerged from the pandemic, the fitness sector faced fundamental shifts. Virgin Active recognised the need to adapt quickly—balancing in-gym and digital engagement while ensuring sustained member retention.

The challenge wasn’t just building an app; it was about crafting an experience that seamlessly integrated with a loyalty-focused business strategy and delivered tangible value from day one.

Through a structured, insight-led approach, we helped Virgin Active:

• Define a strategic vision for a next-generation digital experience
• Develop an intuitive loyalty ecosystem that drives behaviour change
• Rapidly test and validate concepts with real users to ensure adoption
• Execute a scalable, future-proofed technology solution

Designing for Retention and Engagement

At the core of the new Virgin Active experience is a data-informed loyalty engine designed to foster habitual engagement. Virgin Active knew that increased gym visits would mean lower churn—so our focus was to develop a system that rewards regular member activity.

Key features include:

• Personalised Rewards & Incentives: A dynamic loyalty system that reinforces fitness habits through immediate and long-term benefits.
• Seamless Membership Management: Frictionless class bookings, referrals, and trainer connections.
• Engaging User Experience: A high-quality interface that aligns with the Virgin Active brand while being optimised for usability and adoption.
• Global Scalability: A modular architecture that supports localised adaptations across nine markets.

Creating a Scalable Global Technical Solution

Virgin Active needed a robust global digital system ensuring security and performance.

• The layered architecture uses Azure Front Door for global traffic routing and an API Management Service to manage backend services, enforce security, and ensure performance.
• iOS and Android apps were built using Kotlin Multiplatform, providing a shared logic layer while maintaining native user interfaces. This single codebase improved efficiency and maintainability, while regional feature toggles and configurations allowed for simpler market-specific customisation.
• The Member Management System (MMS) handled member data, bookings, and gym functionalities, while the Loyalty Platform managed rewards. To ensure flexibility, event-driven messaging (Azure Event Stream, Service Bus) replaced direct API calls, enabling scalable, asynchronous interactions.
• Multi-region deployment was supported through dynamic infrastructure configurations, providing a consistent global experience.

This cloud-native, decoupled approach enhances scalability, security, and adaptability for Virgin Active's digital platform - also allowing them to make the most of their data.

Results: Proven Impact at Scale

From launch, the new Virgin Active experience delivered measurable improvements across key retention and engagement metrics:

• 76% of their 495,000 global members use it regularly
• Users go to the gym 70% more
• 86% have achieved a goal in the last 90 days
• People who didn’t come often now visit 164% more
• 67% of members say it’s now easier to reach their goals
• 85% of instant rewards have been redeemed
• 13x increase in average session duration, now at 11 minutes 53 seconds
• 7x growth in engaged sessions per user over 30 days

These outcomes validate a core insight: digital innovation, when strategically implemented, has the power to shift real-world behavior and create lasting business value.

Virgin Active’s Digital Ecosystem : Future-Ready

Beyond the initial success, Virgin Active now has a robust digital foundation to expand its offering. Future enhancements—including mental wellness and nutritional support—will continue to drive engagement and reinforce Virgin Active’s position as a leader in holistic fitness.

By leveraging technology to deliver immediate value while maintaining flexibility for future growth, Virgin Active is positioned to scale its digital member experience in an ever-evolving market.