3 Ways to Improve Retention at Your Cycling Studio

Whether you’ve recently opened your doors or have owned a cycling studio for years, a crucial aspect of your studio’s success is client retention.

However, keeping clients coming back can be quite a challenge and a very stressful situation when you’ve invested in a physical location. After all, you depend heavily on your loyal members to help you not only pay your personal bills, but also for your : 

• Employee salaries 

• Studio bills 

• Insurance policy

• Equipment repairs/purchases/etc.

So how can you keep your current members engaged while also encouraging new clients to check your studio out?

1. Create an enticing intro offer

An introductory offer is a great marketing tool to bring new clients to your cycling business. An intro offer is a promotion given to prospective clients the first time they purchase a class and is often regarded as one of the best retention tactics—but only if your strategy is on-point. 

Now, you may be tempted to give away a client’s first class for free (because who wouldn’t check out a class if they get it for free?), but the reality is most won’t return or even show up to the free class at all. 

On top of that, no-shows for a free class can end up costing your studio money. How? Because it could have prevented a customer who was willing to pay for that spot from reserving a space in that class. 

The first-timer is less likely to value the class (hence the likelihood of a no-show) and you’ve cheapened your offerings. 

Instead, create an intro offer that gives new clients a screaming deal while also offering security (and a little extra moola) for your business. Here are some examples: 

• Two weeks of unlimited classes for $20

• One month of unlimited classes for $30

• No enrollment fee for new customers

Check out our blog post outlining the best and worst intro offers for fitness studios.

2. Your studio’s vibe attracts your tribe 

There really is nothing that encourages a client to come back more than an awesome customer experience—and that starts with a friendly vibe. 

The check-in process is crucial. Train your staff to greet every client, introduce themselves, learn their names, and educate each new guest on what they can expect out of class. Remind clients that they’re in charge of their workout and should take breaks and modify as needed. 

Of course, the class experience is just as important as the check-in process. Make sure instructors:

• Introduce themselves to every new client and offer assistance with bike set-up

• Play upbeat music that aligns with movements to motivate from start to finish. (Even science suggests that fun music and a good workout can be the ultimate dynamic duo at your cycling studio.) 

• Give clients shout-outs to let them know they’re doing a good job. This is why it’s so important to learn every client’s name. Who doesn’t love being recognized for their hard work? On top of that, by knowing them by name, you are making them feel like they are a part of something. 

For more tips on how to convert these clients into full-time members, check out this blog post.

3. Never underestimate the power of technology

‘Gamifying’ your workout (incorporating technology into fitness activity to resemble a game) may be the perfect way cycling studios can grow by improving client retention and member engagement.

Introducing technology that allows clients to see their workout results on a shared screen in an exercise class increases motivation. Seeing their own fitness activity, along with others in the class, also encourages friendly competition and pushes them to work even harder. 

Along with allowing clients to reserve their favorite bike when they sign up for class,  incorporating FitMetrix in to your studio helps your results-driven members know exactly how many:

• Watts of power they’re generating

• RPMs they’ve achieved

• Heart rate zones they’re in

• Calories they’ve burned

You can also create and maintain an electronic leaderboard is another great way of using technology to encourage competition and repeat customers. Keeping track of which member has performed the best at a particular exercise can help motivate them to keep going to the gym and beat their own score or get competitive and beat someone else’s.

From intro offers to an unbeatable customer experience to utilizing state-of-the-art technology in your studio, there are many ways to bring in customers and make sure they keep coming back.