New Les Mills website keeps members moving during lockdown chain

After working with Les Mills on the development of its mobile app a few years back, the team approached Sandfield again, ready to whip their website back into shape in 2021.

Les Mills needed a premium website that supported the needs of their users, while enabling the company to grow their online offering.

The project included a new members portal, integration with Dynamics CRM, migration to a new CMS (Kentico Xperience) and customised sign up, trials and timetable pages.

It was a great collaboration between Les Mills, Frontier Studio (website design) and the Sandfield team which kept the member experience at the forefront the whole time. The new website recently earned a spot in the Kentico Top 10 websites for October 2021 and finalist for the Designers Institute of New Zealand Best Design Awards 2021.

“Working with the team at Sandfield is always an act of collaboration, with quick thinking and great communication present at every stage of the project.”

Hamish Russell, Digital Marketing Manager, Les Mills

Screenshot of Les Mills website

The new digital foundations would prove even more valuable with what was waiting around the corner…enter the Delta variant and the beginning of NZ’s longest lockdown since COVID-19 first hit our shores.

Don’t sweat, there’s a plan

Fortunately, the team at Les Mills have always led with a ‘digital-first’ mindset that has resulted in a strong level of community, engagement and purpose with its members, whether they were at the gym, at home or on the go.

Tapping into that community was key to keeping members engaged and continuing to offer value as their chosen fitness partner. So, within days of the lockdown being announced, Les Mills contacted Sandfield with a plan to create a dedicated section within their member portal. Les Mills at Home (LMAH) would bring the full gym experience to everyone at home.

“Les Mills at Home is something we’d been planning for a while, but the sudden Delta outbreak meant we needed to move faster than anticipated. The Sandfield team were quick to respond to our brief and made our ‘ASAP’ timeline work to ensure we launched to an audience in need of home workout inspiration.”

- Hamish Russell, Digital Marketing Manager, Les Mills

The new CMS and Members portal, implemented by Sandfield, provided flexible foundations for Les Mills to work with, allowing them to adapt to the change in situation and spin up a new digital offering for their members.

The key to success of this project? The speed of delivery.

Members’ workout schedules and fitness plans had been disrupted. Les Mills knew they needed to act fast to support their community.

A fast workout, is a good workout

The main concept of Les Mills at Home was to repurpose the library of Les Mills video workouts into a dedicated section on the Members portal. The end users (members only) would be able to explore and watch 150+ workouts, online and at no extra cost.

Screenshot of Les Mills website on tablet on mobile devices

The LMAH project needed to have a quick turn around time considering the amount of work and team members involved. Alt group (external design agency) had supplied Sandfield with designs for desktop, tablet and mobile. We then got to work with developing the member portal screens and an admin portal.

To improve the member experience, we also implemented a recommendation engine that incorporates video popularity, class bookings, member goals, and member watch history into the algorithm.