It’s almost unbelievable, but it has been a year since the fitness industry was forced to pivot to the digital space to survive the coronavirus pandemic. Since the first round of fitness studio shut-downs, there’s been an explosion of innovation and offerings online.
The good news is that your customers have become way more tech savvy and used to creating human connection through their screens. Many have also become bored with the available mix of free or low-cost on-demand fitness classes.
The challenge for small, local fitness instructors and studio owners, is that large, well-funded gyms and fitness companies have had time to develop fairly robust online fitness class options with fresh, professionally-produced content rolling out daily.
Your competitive advantage is that given the choice between sweating it out with a Zoom room full of strangers from all over the country – or world – we bet your loyal customers would much rather invest in taking classes from you and connecting with other like-minded folks in their local community.
To succeed with online classes offerings, whether live or on-demand, make sure you’re maximizing the innovative features Punchpass offers you to keep your fitness business going strong.
Without further ado, here are…
4 Ways to Optimize Your Online Fitness Class Experience
1. Give Every Class an Online Option, and Record It for Your On-Demand Library
One of the easiest and most efficient ways to ensure you’re keeping up with demand for online fitness classes in your community is to give your customers the choice of attending in person OR online from home, every time you teach.
We understand that there may be classes you don’t want to live stream, and that’s ok. But set your camera up every time you teach so that you have a robust stream of fresh content for your online, on-demand class library (we’ll talk more about how to optimize your pre-recorded class content later in this article).
Punchpass makes it incredibly easy to integrate Zoom into your class schedule with a few clicks. Plus, when your customers view your schedule online, they’ll see a clear, colored button indicating that specific classes will be offered online. If your customer opts to attend online, they’ll automatically receive a Zoom link 2 hours prior to class.
2. Encourage Customers to Add Online Classes to their Calendar
Punchpass helps you keep your students accountable and boost regular class attendance by offering an option to integrate their class registrations with their calendars (for example, Google Calendar).
When your customer pre-registers for class, they will receive a link to save the event to their calendar.
With extra encouragement from you, and a little FOMO messaging – “be sure to sign up early for classes because they do sell out” – your community can get into the habit of pre-registering days, or even weeks in advance, which helps you fill up classes sooner.
Getting students in the habit of pre-registering also helps them stay accountable and on-track to achieve their fitness goals, a win-win for you both!
3. Make the Most of On-Demand Fitness Class Content
Borrow a page from the playbook of successful brands offering online workouts and organize your pre-recorded classes into themed collections. Punchpass makes it easy to categorize your content library so that you can offer different types and lengths of classes, classes for a variety of intensity levels, or specially themed classes for specific demographics.
For example, you could offer groups of classes or a series of classes custom created for post-natal moms, runners, seniors, customers looking to lose weight, or build strength. Group classes by the area of the body you focus on: ab workouts, legs and butt, upper body toning or class programming that targets rehabilitating common injury zones: back pain, knee or shoulder injuries, tight hips and hamstrings.
With Punchpass, you can also create a personal training program that spans multiple weeks and includes instructional videos, meal plans, worksheets and other downloadable materials.
4. Offer Clear, Attractive Pricing Plans
A proven way to keep your pricing on-target, clear and simple is to offer your customers a tiered package of options that include online classes. Right now, the most common way to price online classes is through time-based memberships, ideally, monthly memberships that automatically collect payment and renew each month..
Typically, the least expensive tier gives customers access to pre-recorded, on-demand classes only. The next tier of classes would include access to live, online classes. And the premium tier would give an option to attend classes in person, if that’s available.
Finally, remember that your “IT-Factor” for success is you. Your customers love you and the priceless community you have created. Your students will prioritize investing in online classes that you create, because they value the relationship they have with you.
The silver lining in these challenging times is that digital platforms have brought new groups of people together in ways none of us could have imagined. Through continuing and growing your online fitness classes, you will inevitably meet and grow to love many new people in your community you may never have reached before.
When you have the opportunity to finally meet and sweat together in person, it will be that much sweeter!
For more information on growing your fitness business online, download our recent Webinar “Zoom to Success with 100% Online Classes.”
