Stop Losing Money on Unpaid Visits to Your Gym or Fitness Studio
February 15, 2021
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Memberships & Payment
Online, on-demand workouts are here to stay. With the uncertainty surrounding the reopening of fitness studios and ongoing challenges to curb the coronavirus, savvy fitness businesses are doubling-down on digital class offerings.
To compete with the ever-expanding universe of free, online fitness classes, successful fitness business owners are adopting some common practices. We’re sharing with you how to use these same strategies of industry-leading clubs to take your Punchpass online content library to the next level.
The golden rule of building your fitness business with online, on-demand classes is to make it super easy for potential new customers and existing bricks-and-mortar customers to instantly see and understand that you:
If you don’t yet have pre-recorded classes, only have a limited number, or have a library of classes that are all similar in type, length and ability levels, you’ll want to incorporate the following tips into your plan for new classes to record. If you’ve already got a wide variety of workouts online, great! You can use these best practices to hone your presentation and attract more paying customers.
For the following, we suggest using the homepage of your website to display each component of your online, on-demand class program. Or you can have a dedicated webpage that’s one click away from your website’s home page with a prominent call to action so that customers can’t miss that you’ve got a pre-recorded, digital training program.
In your program description, be sure to let people know that you offer a range of class lengths, levels, styles and instructors. Consider a mix of 5-10 min short and week pose or move specific ‘how-to’ videos, some “quick hit” 20 to 30 minute workouts, and full-length 50 or 60 min classes.
Clearly indicate whether classes are beginner, intermediate or advanced, and give students a sense of the intensity level as well. You can even post estimated calories burned!
You can do this in the title of your class, or by using Punchpass’ content library collections feature to create separate video playlists.
When you offer on-demand content with a specific goal in mind, potential customers can gravitate to the fix for whatever fitness goal they came to you seeking to accomplish. For example, you can offer collections of pre-recorded content for themes like:
You can sell these as separate programs, as well as offering full access to all of them to monthly online program members.
Another way to highlight goals without creating specific programs is to display a “tag” in the title section of each of your videos or on the cover thumbnail of the video to indicate the class level, type or result.
With Punchpass’ content library PDF feature, you can give digital library members access to supporting documents as part of their program. Use these to create engaging materials that users will use to stay on track and boost their results. Some examples include:
With Punchpass’ content library for fitness businesses, you have the flexibility to film and upload classes as you go, or film in bulk and set your on-demand class content on timers with start and end dates. You can also pin featured content, like a welcome video, or free teaser workouts, to the top of your library.
Whichever way you choose to generate your class, you’ll want to make sure that if you’re offering a monthly auto-renewing membership, that your customers get at least one new class video per week.
Pro-tip: You can use your Punchpass content library for regularly scheduled online classes too. Attach a pre-recorded video to a class on your regular schedule and only those participants who have paid and registered will get access to the class. This is a fantastic way to get that Summer vacation in without having to cancel class!
Another way you distinguish yourself from all those random, free YouTube and Instagram workouts is by communicating the quality of your instruction. Whether it’s simply you, or you and a team of awesome trainers, be sure to display your photos, bios and personality prominently on your website. After all, you are your product!
ProTip: Make a “Meet Our Instructors” video and host it in your content library. You could even have a short, fun video for each and every instructor, with a link in their bio on your website.
Ask your most loyal students to give you testimonials, and post these with pics on your website. Social proof goes a long way in helping build community and draw new people into your programs. We all know there’s nothing better at creating connection than a real human face and story.
Consider using your content library to create a higher priced “personalized” training plan that pairs students with specific instructors, and/or specific skill-level custom content. You film the customized content, and give specific groups of students’ password access to these custom-tailored video programs. This is a great place to use the new downloadable PDFs.
You can add in one-on-one or small group phone or live video support, and use a social media platform like Facebook Groups to deliver more community value and content.
Most online, on-demand fitness memberships start with a free trial period – anywhere from 7 to 30 day – and then monthly unlimited access is priced from $10 to $35/mo. For customized coaching programs, the price can be higher, around $90/mo or more depending on the touch points.
Surface a "Get Started" form on your Homepage to direct folks linked to your Punchpass pages so students can instantly pay and turn on their first class.
Punchpass’ content library gives you the ability to control which on-demand video content is free to the public, pay-per-session, or part of a membership package.
Inspired? We hope so! We can’t wait to see what you do with your online content.