Why Visitor-to-Lead Conversion is THE Most Underrated Metric in Gym Sales

3940%

That’s how much one of our EMEA-based, multi-site fitness customers improved their visitor-to-lead conversion rate in just four weeks.

They went from converting just 1.5% of digital visitors…

To converting 60.61% via Antares - our AI Sales Agent.

That’s a 39X improvement.

And no - it’s not a typo. And it’s definitely not a gimmick.

It’s the outcome of one simple, powerful change:

💬 Every person that interacted with the AI sales agent got an instant, intelligent, real-time response - whether it was 10am or 1am.

The Moment That Most Operators Miss

Fitness operators are investing more than ever into sales and marketing:

📣 Bigger paid campaigns.

📲 Smarter social strategies.

🤝 Larger sales teams.

All of this contributes to getting more traffic across their channels, more reach, more interest.

BUT here’s the problem: that investment often leaks at the moment of highest intent — when the prospect lands on your site or social pages and… crickets.

❌ No one there to greet them.

❌ No immediate answer to their question.

❌ No conversation started.

❌ And no lead captured.

You’ve paid to get them there… and then lost them.

That’s not just poor user experience - it’s commercial waste.

Tour Bookings After Hours? 25% Says Yes.

In the same case mentioned above, 15% of their booked tours happened outside of staffed hours.

Think about what that means: That operator didn’t just capture leads that would’ve bounced — they actually converted them to high-value bookings when no one was in the building.

N.B In general the results coming out of Antares show that 25% of all tour bookings are happening outside of our customer's operational hours!

That’s the Antares difference.

It doesn’t just act like a chatbot or lead form. It behaves like a 24/7 team member — answering questions, guiding users, and nudging them toward action when they’re ready.

The Funnel Trap: Why We Focus Too Low

Fitness sales teams are rightly obsessed with two core metrics:

• Lead-to-Tour

• Tour-to-Sale

And why not? These are easy to measure, close to revenue, and sit squarely in the domain of sales.

But here’s the truth...

📉 If your visitor-to-lead conversion rate is weak, you’re filling your funnel with air.

It doesn’t matter how good your lead-to-tour conversion is if you’re only capturing 2% of the people showing up.

The real opportunity? Increase that top-of-funnel performance, and you instantly create more downstream opportunity - without spending more.

Let’s break that out:

👥 More site/social visitors ⤵️

💬 More conversations ⤵️

📅 More tour bookings ⤵️

🏋️ More new members

Every step flows from that first moment of engagement.

Visitor-to-Lead Is a Lever — Not a Statistic

This isn’t just a metric to monitor — it’s a lever to pull.

When you focus on engaging more visitors in real time, you’re not just increasing lead numbers — you’re changing the shape of your entire acquisition strategy:

• You get more leads without increasing ad spend.

• You reduce reliance on outbound follow-up because you’ve already had the first conversation.

• You unlock greater return from your existing marketing activity.

All of that, from one metric: visitor-to-lead conversion.

How Antares Makes It Happen

The results we’re seeing aren’t random. They’re the product of a system built to:

✅ Engage every visitor across multiple channels (webchat, WhatsApp, IG, Facebook, SMS and even phone!)

✅ Respond instantly — no waiting, no missed opportunities

✅ Guide users toward meaningful actions like booking a tour or trial

✅ Nurture leads with dynamic, conversational AI 24/7

✅ Seamlessly hand off hot leads to your sales team for follow-up

Final Thought: The Opportunity is Already There

You don’t need to increase spend.

You don’t need to add headcount.

You don’t even need to change your offer.

You just need to start having the conversations your visitors are trying to start. And when you do? You just might 39X your conversions too.

Want to see what your visitor-to-lead conversion rate could look like with Antares?

Book a demo or reach out - we’ll show you what real engagement looks like!