Retention Strategies for Boutique Fitness Studios

Retention—the magic component to a successful fitness or yoga studio.

Keeping a client is so much easier than finding, wooing and converting a new client to become a member. Plus it’s much more cost-effective. With retained/repeat/auto-renew clients you don’t have to worry about the costs of advertising to new customers or the expenses of free trials. 

In 2019, the average retention rate for fitness studios was around 75%. However, COVID-19 has impacted retention significantly—over the past two years, studios have struggled to keep their clients—and those that have been successful have largely factored in two key components—new services and continued value. When consumers and clients shifted to virtual options they changed their perception of value. As a brick-and-mortar space, continuing to keep these clients is vital. Recurring revenue is a key indicator of a successful and profitable fitness and yoga business. As clients return to your studio you want to make sure that they see and feel the perceived value of your offerings.

There are a variety of retention strategies that are essential to any fitness or yoga studio. Each of these strategies plays into a different aspect of your business: marketing, building community, and providing the best service possible.

If you’re feeling overwhelmed, look at each component individually and really hone in on how to do that piece as successfully as you can. Maybe you’ve let your social media strategy go—perhaps handing off some of these tasks to a professional team of fitness studio consultants can make the other retention strategies easier to build and strengthen.

Our 4 pillars of retention:

Building Community

A happy community will keep your business thriving. Clients who love your offerings, enjoy the camaraderie, and share their experience are not only going to continue to support your business but they will also help you grow. 

For starters, keep your clients engaged by personalizing their experience. As much as you can offer personalization, whether it’s a complementary mat set-up or regular check-ins to see how they are doing and progressing. 

Second, continue to offer unique community events that allow clients to get to know one another and invite others into your space. This can be a casual post-yoga wine and cheese hour, a book club, or a fun trunk show of a new line you’re interested in carrying.

Finally, position your offerings so that they see your business as an investment in their health. The more your clients feel your services are “essential” the more they are going to continue to support you and your staff.

Providing the Best Services Possible

Clients are looking for top-notch services and a full experience when they visit a gym or yoga studio. Clients have become even more discerning, especially as they return from virtual offerings during the pandemic. This means you need to be truly on-top of your studio. The cleaning schedule is paramount, as is maintaining your front desk staff and keeping everything running smoothly. In addition, you’ll want to focus on what you’re offering and how it can be leveraged to offer even more added value. Maybe this means adding in a free guest pass for members on a regular basis, or free towels for members; or perhaps adding in your VOD channel to make their membership feel more valuable. Finally, if you want to improve your retention, look at your offerings. Is there any way you could improve the experience for the client? From the moment they walk in the door until they leave—how could you possibly streamline or make them even more satisfied? If you need some inspiration, check out our recent post on Barry’s.

Boost and Share their Successes

It’s likely that the better your clients feel about themselves, the better they will feel about your business. If they are seeing progress in their yoga practice, or are able to increase their weight or reps on the gym floor, they are going to want to keep returning to see growth. Mark their growth by having fitness challenges, or sharing the news of milestone visits on your social media channels. Your ultimate goal in creating a fitness-based business was to bring wellness and health to your clients—so why not share their successes and boost them along the way?

Marketing

The final pillar for your retention strategy is fitness marketing. Keep your clients engaged through your social media channels—but keep the content varied. Yes, you’ll want to share information about any schedule changes or new classes, but also give them the opportunity to get to know your staff. We’ve found “Spend a Morning With…” type reels do really well with community engagement. Plus, it gives the instructors and the clients an additional way to connect. (I.E. After watching a reel where they’re favorite instructor shares that they love matcha, a client might bring it up post-class.) Every opportunity you have for staff and clients to interact will only boost your retention rate. 

Telomere Consulting provides business consulting and marketing services to studio owners in the boutique fitness and yoga space. The Telomere team helps you navigate business strategy from conception to implementation. We provide end-to-end marketing support and would love to hear from you. Click here to book your free intro call. We want you to treat your business the way you treat your body – making the right choices now to optimize its potential for a long and healthy life. Visit us here to learn more.