The current state of a global pandemic worldwide has posed quite a challenge for fitness studios. It has forced fitness business owners to close, reopen, and for some, close again.
No matter where your fitness business operates, your in-studio services have probably been impacted. If you have reopened, you might be facing restrictions on your way of operation. At many places, there are strict limits on the number of people allowed inside your studio at any given time. If you haven’t been fortunate to reopen, you cannot provide in-studio services at all.
Digital fitness was already on the rise before the pandemic started. It became a norm in 2020 when fitness businesses had no other way to offer their fitness services.
For the same reason, Inqline launched Inqline Fit to provide such businesses a digital platform to continue offering their services in the form of live stream sessions and on-demand videos.
To make life easier, Inqline Fit automates many operations that make it simpler and easier to use. For example, the live stream sessions hosted by your fitness instructors get uploaded on YouTube automatically as on-demand videos. Inqline Fit uses private YouTube playlists for on-demand videos.
To help keep up with the momentous changes in the fitness world, studios must adopt new methods to engage members and increase client retention.
From live stream sessions to on-demand recorded workout videos to now smaller, in-person services, fitness business owners and instructors have had to get creative to keep the engagement high and deliver on their promise of keeping clients safe while still helping them achieve their fitness goals.
This article discusses the ways you can keep clients engaged during this period of a global pandemic:
Although a 60–75 minutes class might be a sweet spot for classes that take place inside your studio, these can be too long for someone working out virtually with you from their home.
Whether your online members are leveraging your live stream sessions or on-demand videos, there may be many distractions at home that impact their attention span and their workout. Shorten your virtual services to 30 minutes or less to allow them to stay engaged while getting a good workout in.
Currently, you either have a limitation on the number of people allowed in your business, or you have to cancel your in-studio services temporarily. Meanwhile, some studios are succeeding by taking their classes outside for several reasons.
Although people are still quarantining, that does not mean they have stopped caring about their fitness.
After being confined to home for a long period, we all are looking for excuses to step outside the house at this point. You can offer a safe, socially distanced class at a nearby park, sports stadium, or perhaps at your unused parking lot to retain and reinvigorate members by keeping their fitness goals and your studio top-of-mind.
You can also live-stream your outdoor classes on Inqline Fit. People watching online would know what the environment of your outdoor classes is like. In fact, you can live stream some of your classes on your social media pages and convince your viewers to sign up on your virtual platform to watch more of your free content.
If they are impressed by your service, they might end up either joining you physically in your classes or subscribe to their live streams on Inqline Fit.
Know that this option may not work for everyone. You should be aware of any municipal government, logistical, or weather-related restrictions — especially if your city or country still has sheltering-in-place restrictions.
Reinvigorate your studio services to keep clients on their toes and keep them excited to see what you are ready to experiment with next at your studio. If you run a HIIT studio, your clients probably need stretching not only after the class but also a few times throughout the week.
You can try to add a 15-minute yoga class to your schedule to help keep your clients’ muscles long, lean, and prepared for their next at-home or in-studio HIIT workout. If you run a yoga studio, consider adding 10-minute classes that focus on strengthening certain body parts such as abs, arms, and back to help your clients strengthen their practice.
The global pandemic has made remote work a norm. It means that people’s timeframe for working out may have changed. Before the pandemic, people were used to either squeezing in a workout early in the morning before heading to work or hitting the gym directly after their last meeting of the day.
Now people can burn those calories in-between morning meetings or on their lunch break. Therefore you should consider adding virtual classes to those time slots, too.
Whether you are learning to adapt to the new period of decreased in-studio capacity or looking to help fill your virtual classes, you know that every spot is important now more than ever before.
Do you know that Dynamic Pricing can help you earn more for each spot in your high-demand classes?
Dynamic pricing is another way to persuade your casual drop-ins to join you for a virtual workout.
What is dynamic pricing?
It is a tool to generate revenue designed to harness the power of supply and demand and built specifically to fill the empty spots in your classes.
Although the technology is complicated, the principle is elementary: classes with high demand can be sold at a premium, whereas a class with many vacancies might require a temporary price drop to increase attendance. Each spot in your class is a potential source of revenue for your business. Therefore, it is important to have all such spots filled.
You can earn more revenue by putting up the class price as the start time approaches, and available spots decrease. Dynamic pricing can also be employed to encourage consumers to book early when class prices are low.
Whether you offer in-studio classes with a set limit or temporarily closed, know that virtual fitness is here to stay.
The virtual wave brings a chance to retain members by promoting video content in your email communications. Increase your client retention by providing members access to virtual offerings they love and help them stay focused on achieving their fitness goals.
Besides, video content also increases your email performance. On average, adding videos to your emails can result in a 16% increase in the open rate and a 65% increase in the click-through rate. It is all about getting the word out and being creative with it.