Here are simple ways for you to plan what's next for your community as COVID-19 still lurks.
Punchpass Webinar Introduction
Hello. Thank you for joining us. My name is Victoria here with Punchpass. And today we're going to be going over how to reopen with confidence, moving from online to in-studio, and everything in between. We’ll be talking a lot about different options you have for your studios: some things we recommend; some things we're seeing from our users that have been working well; and also we’ll be taking questions at the end. So if anything comes up while we're going through our webinar, please use the Q&A area to reach out, and we'll cover that at the end. So a little bit more overview on what we're talking about today.
Phased Approach to Reopening
Certainly we're going to be thinking about a phased approach to reopening. Everyone's at a different stage right now. Different locations and your geography might really determine what you're able to do. So looking at a lot of different options may be something that you'll be looking at in the future if you're not able to reopen and offer in-studio classes now but will be thinking about doing soon. Maybe you’re looking at the opportunity to offer a hybrid option and recording classes, doing them live still with video and what that might look like afterwards as well; and how that might be a constant factor even as restrictions lesson depending again on where you are; and talking about the ways that you can restrict and limit certain access and then also open up certain access for people who are more comfortable with using online classes still. So you're going to be looking for ways that you can make everyone feel really comfortable about what you're able to offer and also make sure that you feel comfortable about what you're able to do. So we'll go ahead and get started here.
Restrictions from Local Government
When you're making the decisions as to what you're going to be offering moving forward and taking everything into account, please review anything that's been sent out from your local government. If you're still under a stay-at-home order; if there are certain restrictions in terms of can a gym or fitness studio operate right now; we hope that you'll look into that and make sure you're making the right decision based on where you are. Something we really at Punchpass support is taking a look at what your local officials are recommending. So, please review that first. That's definitely a really important thing. But even if certain things are approved in your area, you might also want to look at what's going on around you. So you might be able to open but we've also seen a lot of people make the decision to not offer in-studio classes even when they're able to by the local officials. So that's something you might want to look at and make sure that you feel comfortable with. And another thing is you can definitely reach out to your customers because if Zoom classes are all they're comfortable with right now, you might make the mistake by moving to in-studio too soon. We also definitely recommend talking to your instructors as they might also have some concerns about whether they're ready to move in-studio or not.
Survey Monkey
We recommend using certain tools that you have at your fingertips to find out about this. If you've never tried a Survey Monkey, that's a free survey tool that you can use to ask some questions. Something I've also seen a lot lately is the Instagram story pull tool. You can certainly ask fun questions like this: “Are you going to get up early to catch the sunrise?” But I've been seeing people saying, “Would you be comfortable with taking outdoor classes? Would you be comfortable with a class in-studio with a limit of this many people?” So you can put that out there, share it, and make sure that your customers give you a little bit more information about where they're at so that you can make sure you're making the right decision for your customers because if they're not ready then offering all in-studio might not be the right choice for you right now.Consider Your Space and Options
Definitely important to consider what your space looks like. We have been hearing about the situation where breathing heavily can spread more of the virus. And so that's something where people are often being told to stay six feet apart or two meters apart. And so if you have a very small tight space, you might want to look at other options: maybe consider doing private sessions; may be consider finding an outdoor space where you could do an in-person class but have a little bit more ability to social distance. So that's something that you want to keep in mind in terms of what you have access to. You might also want to think about what kind of things you are going to put in place in terms of mass and materials. So if you're using equipment, if you have people near each other, what things you might want to consider where that's concerned, and you might also want to think about your customers here as well. If you have older customers, if you have more people at a high risk similar to what grocery stores are doing, you could set at your location mask only hours where everyone is required to wear a mask so that people might know what they're getting when they go in, and be aware of that if you're not going to require them to be worn all the time.
Cleaning Opportunities
Also, what we're seeing is people limit access to shared machines or making sure that only certain machines are turned on so that people aren't too close together. Again, these are things that you have the ability to do and if it's going to make everyone feel more comfortable, it's something to consider. It's also really important to think about your cleaning opportunities and what you're going to be doing to go ahead and disinfect when you're offering in person classes. So if there's any shared machines or materials props, what does that process look like-- just the studio and floors? And what does that process look like so that your instructors know; and then, very importantly, sharing that out with your customers so they know what's going on-- how to feel safe. Encourage them to feel comfortable going back into your location. Share that out by email and any platform that you have at your fingertips to make sure that people know what's coming, and they understand what you're doing to make sure that they stay safe. Anything you can do to evaluate and then share that information out is going to be really helpful in order to make this a successful transition.
Many Options: Hybrid, In-person, Online, and Outdoor Classes
So we have a lot of options. And I think this is where some people are feeling a little unsure of what to do because we've been hearing about all these different things that are available to you when hearing the term hybrid class, in-person, online at the same time limiting the number of people who can attend. What about outdoor classes? That's something that your location and your area is allowing or supporting staying with Zoom. Is that something that is going to work better for your customers: the option to offer pre-recorded videos so that you can really control the quality and look of the fit and feel of the video as opposed to a Zoom live class; and then one-on-one options and focusing on personal sessions. So there's a lot of things out there and I think what we're going to find is you're going to be interested in a variety of these-- a mix and maybe a mix at different times as you continue to move towards reopening. You might find that a combination is really what's going to work best for you, for your instructors, and your customers.
Zoom
So we're going to walk through these and take a look and then discuss what you have again at your disposal with working with Punchpass and with your studio capabilities. So Zoom for online live classes, this has been extremely popular. You have a lot of Punchpass users who are still using this option. And that's the only option they're offering right now. We're seeing some people have a mix, but this is something that they certainly are still able to do. We actually have two pretty extensive webinars that are saved on punchpass.com that you can go take a look at if you have some questions about how to offer the Zoom integration and support online Zoom classes, but that's definitely still popular. We're seeing that happen and it's definitely going to be around. We're not getting rid of it. It's something that we think people will need from time to time or this is great for some people. It's working out really well because they can connect with previous attendees who used to come all the time. And once they move, this is a way for them to get back into the community. For some people, this is working out great (might not be for everyone), but it's certainly something we would like to talk about. Now I think many of us are feeling this and are aware of the Zoom fatigue if people have moved to working remotely. They're probably doing a lot of Zoom meetings: some for work and then they’re relaxing or their exercise move of the day is also through Zoom. So it could be a lot of meetings that could be a lot of that virtual interaction. And so there's definitely some ways we can combat the Zoom fatigue. One thing I always like to share is sometimes instructors feel like the class is really different because they're not really interacting with the customers. Some things we recommend are starting the classes early so that people can have a little social time. You go to gallery view and you chat with each other. You say hi to everyone as the instructor to make sure you're kind of getting that interpersonal connection so it feels a little less sterile. It’s a little bit more like a community feeling. Another thing I like to mention because I think sometimes people assume that people will take care of themselves when they're just at their home. Make sure to take water breaks, and encourage that because that is something that you would do in-studio and might not be consistently doing that on Zoom. And that's another way to kind of make the class feel more like a regular class. But sometimes we need to shake things up a little bit and another way to combat the fatigue is to get a little creative. Have theme classes. Have people dress up in silly costumes to an 80s week. Come up with something to get some excitement.
The Poll
I mentioned the poll earlier for checking in on our customers to see how they are and if they’re interested in doing online classes or are they ready to go back to the studio? Maybe ask, maybe take polls to say, “Okay, we're going to do either a Beyonce or Rihanna work out. Vote for your favorite.” Just get people more involved in the class. Get people feeling like it's a fun thing that changes up their routine, changes up their schedule. I think everyone needs a little breath of fresh air right now. And that might be, we're bringing in a special guest instructor. This is a time where everyone is accessible or could be accessible through Zoom. So if you know anyone in the industry, but they don't live near you, this could be the opportunity to set up a special workshop, something that again might drive more interest; might get people from different places to check you out; and maybe just give it a little love and different attention to your regulars who've been sticking it out with you with the Zoom classes.
Donations and Support Charities
Another thing you might be interested in doing, we know everyone's kind of struggling in this industry and you’re in a tough spot with dealing with the situation, but we've also seen a lot of really beautiful efforts to make donations and support charities, especially food banks and ways to help people who've been really impacted by the pandemic, civil rights organizations. There're ways to do some kind of “ all proceeds go to this' ' event and where this organization that you feel strongly about. Again, it's a way for people to feel like they're doing something special and really help out. And you might get some more notice if you partner with an organization and share that you're doing this. They share what you're doing. There's an opportunity there I think to again make it a little different; make it a little special. So that's something that we know we definitely are proponents of the Zoom option, especially if in your location, you really can't have people meeting in person. This is a really great alternative, and there are ways to make it fun.
Return to Studio Classes
Now in terms of offering in-studio classes again, there’re a lot of things to think about. There’re a lot of things to consider about what you're able to do. One of the big things is limiting the number of attendees. In Punchpass when you're editing your classes and class type or setting up a new class, you have the option to limit the number of reservations accepted. And so this might be a different number than you're used to having. You might have a bigger space and you're cutting it by half or there's a set number of people who are allowed to gather based on your location rules. So that's where you can go in to do that and use the waitlist feature. We think that's a really important option, but really making not just the choice that's been given to you by your government, but making a choice that makes sense for your space and what you're comfortable with, So you're certainly able to do that in Punchpass.In terms of your locations, we talked a little bit about making sure that the space is available for people to stay socially distant if that's something that you're required to do. If masks are required that might be another option to consider as you're setting up and ready to go in-studio. This is an example of setting up spots and spaces for working out that you might have the ability to do in your own location to ensure that people are taking it seriously and are able to kind of visualize how far apart they need to be or where they need to stay for the class. So that's certainly marking off with chalk or tape or paint depending on what you have access to, might be something that you should consider for your in-studio classes.
Cleaning Schedule and Process
One thing that's really important is making sure that everyone is aware of your cleaning schedule and what your practice is. So that's something we talked about earlier, but to get more into it, make sure that people know who's responsible for doing what. If customers need to be responsible for doing certain cleaning or if instructors need to be responsible people who work at your studio or gym or are responsible for knowing what people need to do.And another thing is for your schedule of classes, do you have time built-in for the cleaning? Do you have time built-in for when it's going to get a deep cleaning versus again depending on your process, sanitizing wiping certain things down versus the deep cleaning time. Just making sure that you have that built-in your schedule. It's not something that should be codified. It should be a process that should be in place. You should know what they're supposed to do again to make sure that people feel comfortable and safe going back to your classes in person. Restricting Communal Touching and Limiting Self Check-In
Also, another thing to think about is restricting communal touching. So we talked a little bit about maybe props and mats, things that maybe people should be able to bring their own instead of sharing a communal object. Another thing you might want to think about is limiting self check-in. We were not recommending that right now, although we have that feature. We're recommending your instructors can open up Punchpass on their phones, touch their own device to mark attendance, and to prevent people from touching the same paper, pen, tablet, anything that you might have used previously. It'd be good to use Punchpass on your own phone so that you don't have to do that. You might want to also think about other communal features at your studio if you have touch water fountains. Something that maybe you want to close off and recommend people bring their own water bottles, bring their own props and mat, so that again you can restrict that situation.
Sick Policy
And then another thing to think about is the sick policy you have, and this goes for you and your instructors and your customers. So what we're seeing right now is a lot of people because you have to limit the number of attendees who are being pretty strict about a cancellation fee or cancellation, trying to restrict people from canceling, trying to prevent people from no-shows. So that's really important to have those policies in place. Absolutely when you limit the number of people who can attend, it's important to have that. But you also want to think about making sure that you're not having people who are sick or not feeling well show up to the class. So that might be something you want to come up with and discuss with your people. Tell them that they must stay home if they're sick. Ways to manage that when that happens, maybe suddenly, so you might have a strict cancellation policy, but you might also have if you are feeling unwell, please email us here. Please contact us here as a way to make sure that people aren't coming to your classes when they aren’t feeling well. So those are some really key things that we think are important about offering in-studio classes. But what we're seeing is a lot of people don't feel that the number of attendees they're able to offer maybe isn’t going to be enough to keep going and to stay profitable.
Outdoor Classes
One thing you might be looking into our outdoor classes. It’s really important if you have a field that you can use, if you have a parking lot, something that you have access to already, that's amazing and that's great. But there's also a lot of open spaces that are probably in your community that you might have the opportunity to get permission to use. So your parks department or your school district might have, they might be able to give you more information as to what's available for you and whether you need a permit or you can use certain areas. They'll certainly have that information for you. So we definitely recommend getting permission and reaching out to make sure that that's an opportunity for you. And that's something that you can do. So definitely get permission. That's very important. What's great about outdoor spacing is that you have the opportunity to do more social distancing if you're used to having a very small space. So being able to keep everyone working out effectively 6 feet or 2 meters apart from each other, it's usually something that's a little bit easier to do once you're outside. One thing we definitely recommend for doing an outdoor class is to bring some kind of signage. Once you figure out where you want to go, please give your customers really good directions as to where to meet you so that people aren't getting frustrated by getting lost. A sign can help in that instance. But also if you're working out in a park, if you have a class in an area that some people might be walking around, walking their dog, again in the vicinity, having signage might be good because someone might be walking by saying, “That would be really nice to be able to do a class, take a class outside. That’s really cool. Who are these people?” Having a sign might be a really good way to say this is who we are (come check us out) without having to have someone come over and talk to you and disrupt a class.What's also important to think about is the kind of classes you're going to be able to offer when you're outdoors. So you might be able to offer different classes if you're working out on asphalt versus working out on the green grass space. We're seeing that mat classes are really great because you set your mat down and that's pretty easy to put that in the place that's socially distant from other people, and then take the class, roll your mat up, and head out without really running into a lot of other people. So that's a great opportunity. Certainly if you're on asphalt, you might want to set up chalk lanes or squares or areas where people can socially distance, do the workout, but still be far enough apart from each other to prevent any issues. And think about what's going to be easy to do and fun to do outside, certainly some things you might not have the ability to do when you're in the studio. So it's definitely an opportunity to start thinking about what that could look like for your classes.And it's also important to have a backup if it is going to be rainy; if it is going to be snowy; if it's going to be inclement weather or any kind that might be throwing a wrench in your plans. If your backup is a Zoom live class; if your backup is a recording; have something in mind and make sure you share that information out so that people know what the plan is. And yes, that's definitely a great option if you haven't considered it yet. But if you're getting a little tired or getting the Zoom fatigue, it might be something to look into.
Private Sessions
Another thing we have highlighted, talked about a little bit on our blog, and then I'll mention that again a little bit later, is the opportunity to consider private sessions; whether you offer them already, maybe offering them in an increased number or consider offering them if you don't yet. You know, we're probably not going back to the really big classes in the studio anytime soon for a lot of people. Certainly some places it's very different, but I certainly know here in the US, we have a lot of restrictions still. So the ability to offer more private sessions because they’re one-on-one, and it's a reduced number of people who are interacting, could be a nice way to add a bit more revenue to what you're already doing if you're doing Zoom classes and a way to kind of get you back in a little bit sooner. One of the reasons this is also something we're promoting and talking about is because typically a private session is about five times the rate of a group class. So if you are offering group classes, but maybe you're offering them at a reduced rate because they're over Zoom, you might want to think about, if you can get back in the studio, if you can do that safely, and people are ready, it might be easier to do private sessions and help people out in that way. I think you'll also find that it'll be a little bit more popular than maybe you think because people are looking for that personal connection right now. And the ability to do an one-on-one session could be just something that's absolutely worth it for their mental health and for the price. So that could be another great offering to add to your portfolio. Again, we think that that means you'll be able to move into class, in-studio quicker because there's probably a little bit less limitations when you have a one-on-one interaction. And certainly it's something that you already have your regulars and your people who you work with. Who might be interested in this if you're not offering it already? So that's certainly something that we think can help. We also think it's pretty easy to set this up. So in Punchpass, we have a really easy way. We've already talked about limiting the number of attendees per class. So that's an easy process. You just set it up to 1 so that when customers go to book, you can set up your private session schedule based on you and your instructor’s availability, and then people can book online.Another thing you can do is from a customer's account, you can just go ahead and create a private session just for them. So if you have regulars or you have people call, reach out to you and say I would really like to have a private session, let's schedule one, you can just do that for them so that they don't have to book online. And that's another way to get around that feature. What's also nice is that because of Punchpass’s pass class eligibility, you can absolutely restrict access to the classes for people who have purchased private training priced passes. So that's something that you can certainly set up and make sure that you're getting the revenue for the private sessions that you're looking to offer.
But one of the questions we get probably a lot more lately is how can I do a hybrid class. I want to have a live class in my studio, but because I'm limited by the number of attendees, we also want to live stream the class with Zoom. Absolutely you can do this. What we recommend in Punchpass is setting up two classes into class times. So you'll see here, there are two classes at 7:00. There's two classes at 8:00. One of them is in-studio. And one of them is online. So the reason that we think this is important to do it as two separate classes is for a couple of reasons. One, it allows you to set a restriction on the number of people who are attending in person. So you'll see there are spots left. So you can set it up so that if you have a rule and restriction for in- person, you don't have to set the same rule for online. The other great thing about this is that you're not, some people want, we're thinking well, we could have this many spots in-person, but allow just everyone who joins on the waitlist to do it online. But you're going to have some customers who aren't ready to go in person yet and just giving them the option to say I'm just taking the online class is going to just speed up that process for you, for them, and make it a little bit easier for everybody. So again that feature, it's definitely what we would recommend in terms of what you have access to in Punchpass.I wanted to stress a couple of things. Sometimes this option isn't ideal for certain scenarios. One of the issues you might experience by doing a live class while live streaming in Zoom is that the instructor might have trouble giving all their attention to everyone. So if they're working with the people in the studio, they might have trouble talking to the people on Zoom, and make sure that everyone's getting the attention that they need and the quality of a class that they're looking for. So one thing you can do, and we definitely recommend having it if you can in- person while you're doing the Zoom class, having sort of a demonstrator other than the instructor so that the camera can be on the instructor and them while the instructors pay attention to other people in the class as well. People who are in the virtual class can make sure they're seeing what they're supposed to be doing. So that's an option. I have heard a couple of people reach out to us about this, in doing these hybrid classes where you're live streaming Zoom at the same time as teaching people in the studio, music can be an issue. When you're just doing Zoom, music can sometimes be a challenge. But especially if you're filling up a large space with music while also live streaming, the sound is just something to take into consideration. So one of the things that we actually really recommend is doing your live in-person classes with the limited attendees and then filming it so that instead of doing the live Zoom, you can make the recorded class available later.We're going to get into our Content Library in a moment. But just to see what this looks like for a customer, I know it's someone identifying a video class. And then in terms of the instructions, letting them know that they'll login and when the video is available, they'll be able to select the Content Library from their account and access the class. I’ll be showing you what that looks like in just a few minutes, but just so you know, it's something to think about that you can have your live classes and then you can have pre-recorded classes so that people can again make the decision that's going to work for them. And you have a little bit more control of what the video content looks like.
Content Library
Alright, let's talk about the Content Library. So this is a fairly new feature for Punchpass where you're able to upload videos or link to videos with your content, set different levels of access, and we'll get into the monetizing part: how to monetize that content for your customers and maybe add a new revenue stream for you. So the first thing is access levels. There are four different access levels in the Content Library. You can set up a video that everyone can see, all people can see it from your public Punchpass page. Something that would be good there is maybe an intro class that people can check out before they can try before they buy. Maybe it's an introduction from a marketing video that you have or who you are, what your business is introducing instructors or something along those lines. You might want to have that be public. Log in--that option is for videos that everyone who has a customer login can log in and see that video from their account pass. This means that when you send a video to pass access, you can adjust your passes and designate certain passes or memberships. This means if someone has that password membership, they can access all the videos that are designated pass.Now and then class content means that a video is connected to a class so that anyone who books into the class or is marked intended for the class can access the video. So we're going to get into that in just a few minutes, and we're going to get into monetizing as well. But it's just another opportunity whether it's something that you're adding to make sure that people want to stick with you because your membership is worth it. You're giving them so much content, so much availability. That might be but it also might be an opportunity to offer a special membership offer; offer different pricing for pre-recorded classes; something that you can offer in addition to what you're already doing. And also we're seeing a lot of opportunities for this after the COVID situation is hopefully past. This is an opportunity to again keep going. Give people who maybe can't come in-person or aren't able to access your classes and studio, give them an option to attend. Give them an option to connect. Give an option to pay you to take your classes. So next we're going into an overview of the Content Library that is a recorded video. So we'll just head into that now.
Content Library Recorded Video
To enable the Content Library, click manage settings and head to the Content Library and check enabled. Once you enable it, when you go to manage settings, you'll see some other options here. We have the Content Library and from this page as you can see, we've already set up a few, but you can go ahead and upload or add a new video. So if we click on new content, you can enter your name. You can choose to pin a video to the top of the page where your customers have easy access. Add a description. Then you can choose to upload it to Punchpass directly at a YouTube link or Vimeo link if you're using one of those tools to host. Otherwise, you can upload directly to Punchpass. You can set an active and expiration date or leave that open if you're not planning to expire the video. Set the level of access: when you're adding a video directly to the library, you have three options. You can make it a public video. You can set it to logged in customers only or you can set it up where you need pass access to see in the Content Library. Then we have collections. So you can add it to your general video library, but you can also create new collections for organizing your videos. You can even add one as you add a new video, but we'll just go ahead and upload that there. And so you can see the different features. You can edit it. You can remove it. But if we go back to the Content Library, you'll see that's now listed.So you can see from here, you can also add a new collection from here. You can see you're in active content and you can see it is a description of the different access levels. If you do select the pass access level from your manage passes page, you'll need to select the page, the passes or memberships that get access. So if you have a membership, perhaps that you want to use for this, you can click on it, click edit, and then toggle on for access to the Content Library. What that means is anyone who is holding a pass or a membership with that feature turned on will get access to all of the videos that are set to the pass access. The other feature that this activates is if you go into your schedule, all we can do is we can add content specifically to a class. So from a class that you have set up, you can go ahead and add content. What this means is that anyone who has a reservation for this class or when you mark attendance for this class, that means they will have access to that video. You can do the similar process here, but it's just specifically for access. And through this class, you can set the expiration date. It's going to be automatically set to the date of the class, but you can adjust that, set the date for expiration, and then go ahead and click save. Add it to a collection and then go ahead and click save. And what that means is now it's only accessible when the active dates go into effect and for customers who are booked into that specific class. So what that means is that even if you're not running a live class here, maybe you're just offering the pre-recorded video, you could go ahead and when you know, the class comes around you can market tenants for everyone, who you want to give access to that video and deduct from their passes.In order to make that work from the customer end, go ahead and click here. We’ll go to a public Punchpass site. So what your customers, say your regular schedule, if you add any public videos on the Content Library, you'll see this here, and you'll be able to see them without signing in. Otherwise, they'll need to sign in if they need to access it because it's a logged in video; because it's a pass required video or if it's a class video. So just in and then click on the Content Library tab to access the videos.
(End of Video)
All right, so hopefully that gave you a pretty good feel for the Content Library. If you have any questions about that, absolutely we’ll get them at the end. But you can also reach out to us. We have quite a few documents showing you how to set that up and walk you through it. We can also share that video along with that. Ways to Monetize the Content Library
Once you have the idea of how to use the library; how to upload videos; how to make that work for you; you can think about how you're going to price videos and access to the Content Library. So one thing we see a lot of people considering is a membership, setting up a new separate membership from maybe some regular memberships, you have four classes, but specifically for access to the library. So a monthly membership might not be the same pricing that you would say for unlimited in-person classes, but it's another way that you can add a revenue stream, a different offering that some people might be super interested in. And having that just happen on the back end, you just upload your videos and give people access if they have, if they pay for the membership, is a really an easy way to run the Content Library, and it's an effective way to add a new revenue stream for you.Another thing you can do is using the class content to debit passes. So we went over this in the video, but you can set up a class. You can add a video to it and then on the day that the class is on the schedule you'll be able to mark attendance and that will take a credit from your customers’ passes. So that is another way that you can monetize the Content Library, monetize access to your pre-recorded videos.This is also another opportunity to do private training videos similar to how you would set up a private session for a customer. You could set up a private session for a customer and add a video just for them. So that might be a different pricing level than taking a generic class, but that's another way that you could monetize the Content Library in a different way and think a little bit outside the box.What we also see is sometimes people set up just a single day pass or week pass to access the Content Library. The reason being is you can have people say, “Hey, I just want to take one class. It's the price of a drop-in or something around that amount to access the library for a day.” Generally, they won't be able to watch every single video that you have in there. They'll probably just watch and attend one. So that's why that’s a way to work around that or maybe give them a week access. Again, that might be something in addition to a monthly membership people could access for a certain amount of time.
Adjust Pass Class Eligibility for Access
And then with the class content, one of the things that's nice is that you can adjust your pass class eligibility for access. So similar to private training or the classes that are just pre-recorded, you can set the pricing differently. So if you have questions about pass class eligibility, it's a really important feature in Punchpass so that you could ensure that people are booking who have paid, and people who are booking have paid for the right class because if you offer your private training at a certain amount, you want to make sure that they've paid. So that's another way again to look at monetizing your Content Library so that those videos are passively making you some money.
Looking Into Reopening—Phases That Will Work
So getting back into your options and what you have as you might look into reopening or coming up with a combination of options that you offer, we're looking at this as an opportunity to come up with phases that will work for you. This graphic is really just a high level idea of what Phase 1 looks like. Maybe that's just doing one-on-one personal training. Maybe that's outdoor classes and Zoom classes. You can really continue to think about how the process of reopening will look like for you because it might be different opportunities and different offerings-- different steps along the way. The real key factor here is that you're giving your customers an idea of what the future looks like. Right now it's a little scary. People aren't always sure what's happening and what it's going to look like at six months. Where am I? It doesn't mean that you know all the answers. It doesn't mean that you’ve solved this. It just means that you're giving people an idea of what to expect-- just to feel like okay, I have a general idea of what's going to be offered this month. Up and down the road we're thinking we're going to be doing this. You might need to move back a phase. You might be moving forward. But I just give people an idea of what that might look like. So as an example, you might say, as we start to do some reopening, we're going to keep doing Zoom live classes, but we're also going to offer some special outdoor classes to kind of again increase your revenue; and maybe get some people out of the house, maybe get people, exercising a little stronger than they would do in their apartment, just thinking about ways that this might look for you. Again, this is not a rule. This is not a road map. This is an idea. This is something that might work for certain places. Phase 2 might be doing Zoom and some limited in person classes. They have a limit of 10 people when in-studio, more specifically focusing on those personal training sessions that you're able to offer. And Phase 3, it could look like we're doing the in-person classes like you would normally do, just being very conscious of maybe safety and cleaning practices that you weren't before. But also maybe having this recording opportunity for all these people who found you on Zoom, but they can't come to the studio. Maybe the monthly membership access to the Content Library is Phase 3 for you. It doesn't necessarily mean, this is not what we're telling you to do. It's just an idea of what this could look like and something that you should consider in terms of what you're looking to offer, when you're looking to offer it, and of course understanding that that flexibility is going to be key. What's the quality of the class like at each point in the phase? How much time is this? Take away from just certain things to take away from others, and the cost of course for you, and what kind of prices you can get depending on what you're offering. So it's going to require a bit of flexibility. We're all pretty flexible right now. We all understand this is a tight situation and everyone's sort of learning as we go. So don't be afraid to have to say we thought about offering outdoor classes, but based on the situation we tried it. It just really isn't working for what we have to offer. We're going to focus more on the Zoom side of things. That’s perfectly okay. Take your time figuring out what's going to work for you, your customers, and your instructors and it is going to be the most important thing as you look and consider reopening.
Resources
In terms of resources that you have, I always recommend if you don't have this saved, save it. It's support.punchpass.com. This is where we have all of our help articles and how to's. So if you're looking for something that we covered today, it's most likely in there. But if not, you can always reach out. Another resource that you might not know about is our blog--so punchpass.com\blog. We have two really awesome blog posts right now that I want to highlight. One is considering moving to more personal training or semi-private classes because that's maybe something you haven't been able to offer before, but it looks like it might be the future for your business--really recommend that article. We also have an article talking about a lot of things that we covered in this webinar: how to reopen safely; how to consider what you can do and make people comfortable. So that's another one. I definitely recommend if you haven't looked into that, check out our blog. We have some cool posts up there.You can always email us at hello at punchpass.com. That's one way to reach out and ask us questions if you have any or you could always reach out in the chat. So those are really good resources. We really recommend checking that out. If you have any questions, that's all we're going to get to next.
Questions
Let's see here. Okay, some great questions. Someone asked if the video on the Content Library is going to be available on the site? It's not posted just yet. What I'm going to do, probably as soon as we get off here, is add it to our how to get started Content Library document, but we can maybe, I'll look into this, but we always share out the link to this recorded webinar afterwards, and we can also include a link to that “how to” video as well. We will post our webinars; we post our webinars on our website. And so you can share that out to everyone who signed up for this, but you can also check out our webinars as they are posted on our website.
Someone asks about a Punchpass blog. We don't have an every time we post a blog message; you get an email about it. But what we do have is our newsletter. And what we normally do in our newsletter (its monthly}, we include links to posts on our blog. But I'll also check out, I'll reach out to you specifically, but if you go to punchpass.com\blog, you'll see our blog post. If you need to sign up for our newsletter, definitely reach out, and we can do that really quickly.
Someone asked, has anyone done an outdoor class and also filmed on Zoom, and does Zoom need Wi-fi? This is an excellent question. You do need internet connection for Zoom, but you can do that from your phone. So anything that has cell data could work for using Zoom or simply filming and uploading later. If you're looking to do Zoom and an outside class, you can look at any device that can use cell data. If you can't access Wi-Fi you could also use your phone if you need to. If you want to use a computer, presume you can use your phone as the hotspot so that way you could still have Zoom going on while outdoors. Again, I have a feeling that sound could be a little challenging where that's concerned. But depending on your space, it might work out for you.Got another question here.
Someone asked about how to present pre-recorded classes on the Content Library in the schedule? So the main process here is setting up the class, setting up a class like you would normally set up a class. You don't have to turn it into an online class in Zoom, just set up the class then from that class page, the specific class details page, you'll click on content. And you'll be able to add a video to that page. The important thing here, and actually I will go back, might take a moment here, but I wanted to highlight this page where someone who's using this is highlighting this, where they're setting up a class and saying it's a video class. When customers are booking, you'll see in their description, they’re explaining, you need a login to view the video that's really important, is that if you sign up and you set up class content for pre-recorded videos, it's going to be, you're going to, they're going to need to log in to Punchpass to know that they've signed up for this class, and then you'll see the next direction is login, select Content Library at the top and your video will be viewable. So that's exactly what I would recommend. Once your video is active, the customer can go to your Punchpass page. They'll sign in, click on the Content Library, and the video is waiting for them. One thing that's important though is make sure that you mark attendance for those classes. If you're planning on debiting passes, you definitely want to mark attendance to make sure that you're taking a credit. So that's something that's really important, and that was a great question. Thank you.If you don't have logins right now, the only plans in Punchpass that support the Content Library are the Balsam and the Banyan plans because as you can see there are a lot of requirements in the system to require a login in order for the Content Library to work. So if you have any questions, if you're interested in testing out Balsam or Banyan, if you're on the Bedrock plan or on a different plan, definitely reach out to us. And have another question here about Zoom recordings.
This is a great question. So when you record your class, if you have a Zoom class and you record it in Zoom, you have the option if you have a paid Zoom plan, you can save it to the cloud. It will be a cloud recording or it can be recorded right to your computer. And so there are two options that you have in Zoom. If you have a free plan, your only option is to record to your computer. If you're using the cloud recording, our recommendation is to download that video and then upload it right to Punchpass. So from your Zoom cloud account, you can download the video to upload it right to Punchpass. What we also are hearing, and this is pretty popular lately as people are using the Content Library more, is instead of using the Zoom recording, they're running Zoom and they're recording with a separate device. So you might have Zoom on your computer, but have your cell phone propped up and actually taking the video recording of you or the instructor, and the reason being is for the Content Library, they rather use a clearer, more higher quality video that might be taken from their cell phone camera versus the Zoom recording. So it's certainly a personal preference, but we always like to mention that you have a lot of opportunities where that's concerned.
I have one more question then we'll close it up. Asking about the Content Library people who've purchased or accessed the pre-recording. So when you're using the class feature for the class content, what customers are doing is they are booking into the class in order to get access to the video. So all you need to do is mark attendance like you would for a regular class. It's going to show up on your schedule. You're going to click on mark attendance, but you don't have to host a class. They're just accessing the video. If people are purchasing a pass to access the video, you don't really need to get involved. Also if you set up your Content Library with videos that are accessible via pass or membership when your customers purchase, maybe the monthly membership, to access your whole library videos, all they need to do is log in. They'll click on the Content Library, and the library videos are available to them. So it's pretty easy and hopefully feels again pretty easy for you to manage.
We will be making this webinar available and will be making that “ how to” available as well. So hopefully it'll resolve any questions about the Content Library. You can absolutely reach out to us if you have additional questions. Hope everyone is safe and I wish you all the best. Thank you so much for joining us today, and thanks again.
name is Victoria. I'm the customer success specialist with Punchpass. Just so you know, we're going to be sending you this recording when we're done. If you need to come back to anything or if you need to jump out for any reason, we will be sending you the recording; so don't worry about it. We'll also be taking questions in the chat we’ll be doing at the end. If you need to add anything, you can add whenever you want, but we'll be dealing with questions at the end. If we might not cover anything that you're looking for, feel free to message about that. We’ll also be doing a survey at the end. When you do the survey when we end the webinar, we're asking you to add your request for topic. If there's something you'd like to see us cover in one of our webinar series, that's what we'll be doing then. If that's everyone, we're going to get started.
Treating Customers Like VIPs and Customer Retention
This webinar is about treating your customers like VIPs (rolling out the red carpet for them; making them feel welcome; making them feel like this is a home in a community for them). The biggest question you might have about some of the features we cover today is that something extra that I have to do and isn't Punchpass all about automating things for me? (That's true). We do a lot of work to make things really automatic, really easy for you to take the workload off your shoulders, but there potentially is an opportunity here when it comes to customer retention. If you're looking to have more people stick around for longer (build up your monthly memberships and build up your regular customers who show up every week to the same classes), there might be a bit of a trade-off in terms of automated admin work and doing a little extra, giving them a little extra, and doing something special for them. There is a little bit of potential work here, but it's all in the name of keeping your customers happy and making them want to stick around and keep coming back to your classes.
You don't have to take everything here. Definitely take a look at some of the features that we're going to show off, but it's all about ways that you can use Punchpass and some ideas that we've heard from other people in order to keep those customers coming back; make them regulars; keep them around for a while.
Policies and Procedures that Help Reward Loyalty
Some of the features we're going to talk about are our policies and procedures that help reward loyalty (people who keep coming back for more; people who've been with you from the beginning; anyone who's been around and has been through your Zoom class and has been through the transition). Maybe they're doing hybrid classes with you and stuck it out. They've been there from the beginning. These are the kind of people that we want to reward. We want to do something special for them so hopefully they talk about it and get people interested and excited to do more with you.
Another thing that we can do here that's important is prioritizing the customer comfort (the things that you can do to make life easy for them, reduce hassle, and anything to make them feel comfortable about coming back, signing up, and continuing with you) and also some policies that you can add to your business and onto the way that you do things that are going to support them, things that really help them out in the long run; really prioritize their interests and making life easy for them. So let's take a look at some features, and we'll get into it.
Waitlist Feature
The first feature we're going to talk about today is the waitlist feature. The wait list feature is really great, especially when you're having some popular classes. Some people might be interested in booking into that special workshop or the particular class that you've run that's really popular. Maybe it's a certain time or maybe it's a certain instructor, but you might be having those certain classes that get a lot of people excited, and the waitlist feature gives them an opportunity to potentially get in even if they can't get into the first level. It also helps alleviate some frustration over class sizes. We know that due to the situation with a COVID-19, there are a lot of restrictions. Obviously, it depends on what state you're in, what country you're in, but you might not be able to have the big size classes that you had previously. And that might be a frustration for some of your customers, some of your regulars. The wait list is a great opportunity for them to say, “Okay, I might not get in right away, but there's an opportunity. There's a potential for me to be able to take this class.”
The waitlist feature kind of helps mitigate that potential frustration and make them feel like there's an opportunity for them to get in. It's also about equal opportunity for your clients. The way that the Punchpass waitlist works is when a spot opens up, your customers (all, everyone on the waitlist) get an email notification to let them know that the spot is available. There's a reason why we do this. We really want to prioritize you having a full class, especially if you have to limit your class sizes. We want you to have a full class.
The other thing the wait list helps eliminate is if we automatically added a customer right away to the waitlist and just emailed them, and said, “You got in.”, there's potential for them to not realize that they got into the class. Then that conversation becomes an uncomfortable conversation for you and your client. “Hey, you charged me for a no-show. I don't understand. I was on the waitlist.” “Well, you got into the class.” “Well, I didn't know I got into the class.” It's not a comfortable conversation. We don't really want to have that with our clients. By making sure that they have to be proactive in claiming this spot, we know that they've agreed, and they've seen it. They want to be in that class, and they're ready to be in that class. So that's how the wait list feature can be beneficial to both you and your clients, especially if you're offering limited class sizes.
Late Cancel Feature
Another feature that's great and works really well with the waitlist feature, is our late cancel feature. One might say they go together like peanut butter and jelly. They're a really great combination in order to make things easier for your clients and give them the opportunity to do some things, and help you with some of your policies. With the late cancel feature in Punchpass, you get to set your cancellation window of how many hours before class are you allowing people to cancel. With our late cancel feature you can allow customers to cancel after that window has elapsed because they recognize and they accept that a credit is going to be debited from their pass. The reason this is good for everybody is one it incentivizes your cancellation policy. It made sure that people think, “I really need to cancel beforehand and know if I'm going to be able to make it or not.” So, there's a benefit to canceling on time.
Another big reason is that it really helps the customer out because things they might not want to do or get on the phone with you and say, “Hey something came up and now I really have to cancel and I'm so sorry.”, and that conversation isn't fun for anybody. I don't think a lot of people like picking up the call for that. So, what might happen is they just no show because they want to avoid that confrontation. A better situation is to give them the option to cancel recognizing that they know they're going to lose a credit, but it's better than a no show. It gives the opportunity for someone on the waitlist to join. The reason these work together really well is that your customers will be familiar with being on the waitlist. They know that even if they have to cancel, it opens up a spot for somebody else, and it's being accountable. They know that that has probably helped them or will help them down the road. So, it's something that they can do without having to call you or talk to you about it, and that way, it's going to really help out with interaction with your clients. We now have a video to kind of show you how to set that up and how that works from both the admin side as well as the customer side.
If I go up to manage settings, and I'm going to go ahead and go into our online reservation feature, here I'm going to turn on our late cancel feature. We have pretty strict cancellation policies. There's a lot of time in here for someone to be able to book if late cancellation opens up a spot, especially if someone's on the waitlist. We go ahead and save that, and then just to show you where the wait list gets setup, that's under manage classes. Under each class, you're able to determine whether you allow customers to sign up for waitlist. You'll see here my waitlist is enabled. If I go to edit, I can show you how you set that up, and that's under your class reservation settings. Here we set the limit, and then we also allow customers to sign up for the wait list. If I go to my schedule and we take a look at one of our classes, what you're going to see in our class today is that we have a full class, but there's someone on the waitlist.
So, this is a nice opportunity to show off these features all together. If I go into a customer account who has a reservation for this class, and say we've passed the reservation or the cancellation window, we're going to see the option to cancel the reservation. What's going to happen is we're going to let you know about the cancellation policy and the fact that this is a late cancel, and a class is going to be deducted. So this allows the customer to do that, and accept that that's going to be the case, and then we'll see that if we go ahead and refresh here that a customer has already late cancelled. So that's going to debit the pass. And we will see that we've already sent an email to our waitlisted person here. What that looks like from their email is that they're alerted to a spot being opened up, which is great and then they can quickly click to accept the spot.
This is how we can accept and get on the list for the spot that's been opened up. What that means is that you're making access more available to your customers. It's going to incentivize canceling early so that they don't get penalized for a late cancel, but it's also going to allow you to access more revenue for your classes. So, that was the wait list and late cancellation feature and how those two work together, and how that works for your customers.
Bulk Standing Reservation Feature
Next I'll talk to you about our bulk and standing reservation feature. One of the features that we offer in Punchpass is an option to allow you to (as the admin) give customers an ongoing reservation, a standing reservation action for a specific class date and time. If you have a regular customer who always comes to the 5:30 class on Fridays, you could be very kind and set them up to always have a reservation for that class. Now some Punchpass users do offer this to everybody, and they say, “ Hey, anyone who wants to set up a standing reservation can do that with me. Just reach out to me, and we'll set that up, but we also have a lot of users who make that a special membership feature.
If you're an unlimited member with your studio, you might give them the option to set up a standing reservation as a sort of VIP exclusive feature for their membership. So that's something that you might want to do on a limited basis or maybe open it up to more customers. Basically, what you're doing is you're rewarding their loyalty with class access, especially for these restricted classes with limited people. If you have people that have been with you from the beginning or who you know have really stuck it out with you and you want to reward them for continuing to work with you, and they're doing the work, it's a little extra work on your part to set up this reservation for them, but it gives them that feeling of, “ I don't have to sign up. I'm already signed up.” We're all good as there is no hassle and no stress on their part. So a little bit of work, but it's a nice feature that you're offering to them, and you're doing something special for them as a reward for what they've done for you.
What's great about the standing reservation is that we also email them and let them know if a class is coming up so that they have the opportunity to cancel. For instance, if they're there in this ongoing class, but something comes up, they’re able to be reminded about it and then make the cancellation they need to and that'll open up the spot, but again, it's a nice feature that you're able to offer your customers.
We're about to go into how to set up the standing reservations and also to show you how to set up a bulk reservation. If you have instead of an ongoing and a long-term reservation, it's just maybe for a certain number of classes or a certain number of months, let's walk through setting up a standing reservation from your reports page. We have a standing reservations report, and this is where you'll see you can access your list of current standing reservations, but you can also create this new standing reservation here. So we can search for the customer name. We can also do the same thing for the class if we know exactly which class this is going to be, and then we can set the start date for the standing reservation. Perhaps it's today. Maybe we're going to set it for the first of the month and then we can also set up an end date for standing reservation. If we're not going to be ending this, we want it to be ongoing. We just go ahead and leave this blank or you can set it for a specific time, perhaps the end of their membership, but we'll go ahead and click create standing reservation. That's going to add them to our standing reservations report right here, but we can also click into the customer to see that on their page under reservations and upcoming classes here we have this standing reservation. If we click into the class what we'll see is an icon to identify that this is a standing reservation for that customer.
Another thing that you might want to do is set up a bulk reservation for a customer. Maybe this isn't an ongoing event, but maybe it's something that you want to give them (maybe a couple weeks) and set that up for them (they're going to be available). They want to be in that class. When we go to click and add a reservation for a customer (you can do that from their page) and this way we can really grab a lot of classes and do this in bulk.
You can certainly scroll through your list, but what you might also want to do is use the search bar to pull up this particular type of class. You can do that by adding things like the time. You can use multiple features to do that, but here we could select all or we could simply select a number of classes we know they're going to be attending. Perhaps we know they're going to be in all the classes for October is the enough. We'll add that and we won't confirm that we're adding these reservations to their account. And then we'll see that in their upcoming reservations.
So that is how to set up a standing reservation or bulk reservation for your customers. And again, it's a little bit of admin work on your end, but it's giving them a lot of less hassle. You're doing something special for them. It's definitely a nice feature for your customers that you want to keep around; that you want to make them feel really special and you're doing something for them to make them feel really tied to you and what you're offering. That's a really nice option.
Trusted Access Level
Another feature that we offer that is a great way to make people feel like VIPs is giving them the trusted access level for their reservations. The way that trusted access works is you are able to set up a level of reservation access for people that you really trust. We call this your inner circle (the friends, the customers who feel like family, who you trust and you know that they're good for it). They're not constantly flaking out by not paying and not showing up. They’re people that you can rely on. This is what we want to offer them because what it does is it allows them to book without some of your reservation restrictions. It won't prevent them from booking if they don't have an active pass. They can book beyond how much time limits you set on people being able to book and allow them to book for as many waitlist spots as they want. It gives them a lot of access for reservations. Again, you want to make sure you're giving this to the right people. When you're giving it to the right people, it's going to be a big impact for them because it eliminates a lot of reservation hassles for the people who are with you and have done this for a long time. It means that they can basically click on their classes and book and not get any of those messages, “Hey, you don't have enough credits.”, or if that were to come up, that would be something that they weren't going to see.
Now a couple people might say we want to make sure people pay in order to book, and absolutely, you can set that and make that a rule. (No problem). But when you have a membership where you know they're always paying and it's unlimited, in order to eliminate some of those reservation hassles, it might be nice to give that to those people when you take attendance in Punchpass. Every time, we are always checking for a pass. We are always making sure that everyone has paid. If you have people you trust and you care about, you want to give them access (don't worry) Punchpass is still going to check and make sure that they paid. So, when you're taking attendance, you'll always see that. And again, it's a little bit of work on your end because you're seeing that they have to pay, and it's not forcing them to do that without you, but it's something that you might want to give to your special customers and also expand wait list access.
If you do limit your reservations by the number of active credits that they have that includes waitlist spots (if you have some people who are your regulars, you might be feeling a little frustrated by the amount of spots available) it might be nice to give them the option to be able to book on as many wait lists as they like. This is really great if you're dealing with any family accounts or couple accounts where you have two people who are using the same account. They use the same pass all the time. It makes it a lot easier. They don't have to constantly be worried. Maybe they have a five pack and they're booking for two people, and it doesn't add up. It ends up being kind of like, “Oh, I know I have to buy one credit.” It's something where you can make life a little bit easier for these customers. And again, it's not for everybody. We don't want you to put everybody on this, but for your special people (for your inner circle) this is a really nice feature to make them feel special.
The way to do that in Punchpass is to go to the customer account and into their info tab. We have a drop down which gives you the option to say enable trusted access. Once you do that, you'll see there's a nice little star and a flag next to their name, which is awesome. So they're highlighted and easy for you to see. Then there's also under your customers tab different lists that you can look at, and it creates a list that's called trusted access customers. If you just want to see who I have on this, you can easily click on that and see everyone who's a trusted access customer and if for whatever reason maybe you're only doing this for people with memberships or maybe you're only doing this for certain people and then someone starts to be a little flaky then you can always turn off this feature. You go back to the info tab under more and you have the option to remove the trusted reservation access.
One of the things that's important to note is again during attendance, Punchpass is always checking for a pass. (That's really important to us). We know you want to get paid. We know you want to make sure that everyone's paying for the classes that they take, but sometimes you might have some people who are staff members or just family or someone really like the inner circle, then you might also want to look at maybe not forcing them to have a pass. So if people are able to take classes without a pass, we're still checking for payment. You'll still see that needs a pass flag on their account, but what you could do, and another feature you could offer is a totally unlimited zero price, a never expire pass. Of course, we would not set this up to sell online and give access to everybody, but it's something you could create and assign it to those special customers in your account. So that's something that you can always do. We see that a lot for people who offer free classes for all their staff. That's something that you can also consider to make people feel again like a VIP. And again, these are for very special people in your business, but we wanted to make sure you knew that.
Another feature that is a way to be a little bit more personal, a way to reach out and connect with customers, is checking in about renewing passes and memberships. When you set up a pass in Punchpass, you have the option to send an automatic reminder when a pass is running low. What that means is, every time that a pass has either one week left on it or two credits left on it and automated emails are going to go out to them, let them know that the pass is ending. (And that's awesome. So that's automated. That's great. No worries. Nothing you need to do about that).
What you could do is also be a little proactive. If you want be a little bit more proactive with certain customers, maybe because you're looking at people who purchase certain passes, like people who purchase your first month trial pass or customers who are constantly buying punch cards and maybe could be looking at going more up to the unlimited membership level. It's a way to just be a little bit more personal, a little bit more proactive in terms of getting them to purchase a new pass or make a change in terms of what kind of passes they're purchasing. And that's where promoting your memberships is a great option. So, passes are running low. They are expiring soon. This is a great way to say, “ Did you know we offer an auto renewal membership?” One of the benefits of auto renewals is that you get that stress-free booking. Your audit, you are expected to pay. It’s automatic, and it goes through. You can do unlimited.
We also have the option to do punch card memberships, but it's really nice for customers to not have to worry about it and not to be constantly being like, “How many classes do I have left? What am I doing? I certainly do this at a studio where I attend. I really liked not having to worry about it. It's stress-free when I go to book.” Another thing about memberships is that this is where you can really promote some of those additional features that you offer. So, if you're doing standing reservations for memberships; if you're doing trusted reservation access for unlimited members; if you're offering perhaps full access to your recorded videos in your content library for memberships, that's something that you can promote by reaching out and using some of our reports to contact your customers at certain key times. It's an opportunity not just to keep up with them and make sure they feel like they're being communicated with and they know what to do. It's also an opportunity to promote something that you are offering to make their lives a little bit easier as well. Let's take a look at how we can use a reports to filter our customers, find certain customers and send them the emails in a different way.
Protection of Your Punchpass Account. We have two different reports to help you stay proactive about reaching out to customers who have passes that are low or running out soon. The first report we're going to take a look at is our three punches or less report. This will be ideal for your passes that are punch cards and will give you an idea of how many they have left. This is where we can really easily select all to e-mail or we can select certain people who are who are running low, and then email. This is where we can get really nice and creative. One of the things that we recommend is including a link. This is where you could maybe direct them right to their passes. Or if you're offering something special or want to promote something like a membership program, this is another place where you can add some of that information and really get them going and excited about purchasing a new pass. It's a personal touch. It's something that is a little bit different from the automated email by directly adding some more information that we think could help get your customers to purchase or maybe move them to a different pricing level.
What we also have in our reports is the passes expiring soon. If you have expiration dates on your passes, this will give you an idea of any passes expiring in the next 30 days. So we have two that are expiring within the next month. We might want to select all or toggle and select each one. And then again, we can email select customers. You might want to paste the same information, but you might want to say something more like expiring soon instead of running low. So there's different ways that you can approach this. We recommend being as personal as you can, making sure they feel welcomed and warm and comfortable but in a way that entices them to purchase a new pass or move up again in that pricing level. We do have automated emails, but what's really cool about a report is that you can sort for people; you can search for people; and select and really make a more targeted approach to your emails to certain people like their passes are ending soon or if they have certain types of passes.
Getting Involved in Social Media
The next thing I want to talk about is getting involved in social media and what you can do to use social media to really promote your customers; promote what you're offering; and get them involved and build those relationships in a meaningful way. One thing that is really great to make social connections is posting pictures and videos and including things about your clients. The biggest thing we’ll point out right in the beginning is you want to make sure that you get permission. If you are going to be posting pictures or videos or talking to people and using social media, make sure that they're comfortable with you doing that. It's always good to check in with them and make sure that's okay. There's a lot of opportunities that you can use this for and highlight them to make them feel special and show off what a community you've provided. One thing you could do is highlight a member-of-the month and that's a really fun thing to get excited and show off your customers, and how you relate to them. You could do something like a special post and say, “This is Janelle.” She's our member-of-the-month for October, and if you ever gone to our Saturday morning Zumba class, Janelle's got the high kicks or give them something personal, something exciting to talk about. Tag them and highlight them and make them feel special. You could definitely do this pretty easily. It doesn't have to be monthly, could just be something that you do on a semi-regular basis, but something to say this is a person who's in our community, and we really value them. It's a way to make them almost an ambassador for what you have to offer because then they post it and share it on their page. It's definitely a nice feature, a way to make people feel special and welcome.
Another thing you can really go crazy with is using social media for contests. I'm bringing in a personal example because this is something that I participated in with a studio I attend, but we had a slo-mo contest. Most phones have a slo-mo feature, and I know Instagram has a slow-mo feature for their videos, but it was really fun to do a slo-mo contest. Everyone shows us funny slo-mo videos of you doing something. It could be fitness-related or whatever, but it was something where they were offering a five pack pass for whoever got the most likes for that particular post when they shared it and tagged the studio. (It was really funny). It made you feel included. It was something where you got to show off something and be involved by highlighting something about your fitness journey. It was really fun and cool.
There's a lot of different ways you could do a contest. We’re going to show you a feature in a moment in Punchpass where you could do a numbers game like whoever attends the most during fall gets a free pass or gets free t-shirt or it's for however many people or how many times they attend. You can do something like a donation to a charity, like a local food bank. There's so many different opportunities to get involved in contests and allow that to highlight your customers, and get involved with them on social media. It's fun and it's easy, and it doesn't necessarily have to cost you a lot of money, but it could be a great way to raise awareness and highlight your customers, and it was fun so I wanted to share that experience.
Then the other big thing about social media is just being social and interacting with your clients if you're friends with them and they follow you. Make sure that that's an ongoing relationship if they post something, cool, like it and comment, like where was that, that looks awesome; you look amazing in that outfit today; whatever you want to post ( just nice things, positive things); you have the cutest cat in the world. Whatever they're posting feel free to comment, post about it. Ask them if you can share it and just highlight a member of your community if they're doing something cool and posting about it on social media. I think they would really love to have that out in the community, and it's something that you can do and interact with your customers. Definitely think about social media if you haven't been doing it. Instagrams are a great way to get photos and videos out there and highlight those customers who probably have a personal account already. That's something that we think is a way that you can really communicate and connect with your customers.
I did want to show off that one feature about if you were to do a contest and get the information about how many customers attend over a certain amount of time because that's a really great report on Punchpass, Let's do that now. If you're looking to run a contest for customers who are attending the most during a certain amount of time, it's really easy to calculate that in our customer attendances report. In this report, you can set a date range. For instance, if we were doing a competition to see who attended the most between June over the summer like June through the end of August we,ll apply that date range and run the report. That's going to pull everyone who has attended at least once during that time, and you can click the columns to sort. It's great to order the total number so we can see who is the person who attended the most during that time frame.
That was our presentation on some different features and Punchpass that can give you opportunities to promote your customers and talk to your customers. Give them some special features; make them feel the love; and a lot of different ways, and of course, you can always pick and choose some of these features. You don't have to go with all of them. You don't have to do everything right away, but we hope we've given you some ideas about what you might want to do and what you might be interested in.
Questions
We are taking questions. So feel free to go ahead and click on the chat and reach out. Marcy already reached out and just said, “This is great.” So thank you Marcy. We appreciate it. If you have any questions about any of the features that we've covered or anything else that's come to mind, we love to hear it. If you have any feedback for us, feel free to use the chat and let us know. I'll give you a minute or two to kind of get into the chat and reach out about any questions you might have. It's also okay if you don't have a question. Actually I had a chat with Sharon at Punchpass before we started the meeting, and we did have a conversation about the contest feature in talking about social media. We're hoping to focus on that maybe in a future blog post. So, keep an eye out for that. If you're looking for more tips, punchpass.com blog is where you can find it, and it's a great place for a lot of information similar to this. Someone reached out with a great question. Is there a way for customers to determine how many punches they have left on their own without contacting me? It's a great question.
On some of our Punchpass plans, our Balsam and our Banyan plan, we have the support for customer accounts. The way that customer accounts work is customers are able to create a login and when they log in, they will actually see from their homepage their current passes and how many credits they have left. If you're using Punchpass, and you're not playing around with customer accounts yet, maybe we can chat offline. We can talk about some of the ways to set that up. Customer accounts is a great feature that basically gives them the option to log in and see what's going on. They can check their whole class history. They can see all those passes, all their upcoming reservations, which is a great feature. If you don't have that feature turned on or if you don't think your customers are using it very much, definitely we can talk about that for your account, but that's definitely something that we use a lot, and we recommend it, and it makes life a lot easier, especially when customers are constantly, may be asking how many credits do I have left? It’s definitely easier to let them check that out on their own.
Conclusion of Sep 2020 Webinar
I want to thank everyone for joining us today, and thanks to everyone who's watching this and as a recording. We know our timing isn't always lining up perfectly around the world with all of our Punchpass users, but if you have any questions for us, please reach out. I’m going to close out of here, and then everyone is going to be a given that survey question. If you have any topic ideas, anything you'd like to hear us cover on our webinar series, please fill that out. Any feedback is welcome, and thank you so much for joining us. I hope we have given you some great ideas for how to help and treat your customers like VIPs, and make sure that you're keeping them on for the long haul and not just for a couple classes. So reach out and let us know if you have any questions. Thanks so much everyone. Stay safe. Stay healthy, and we'll see you next month.