Time Bounds and Offer Frequency: Plan Your Promotional Offers So They Don’t Commoditize Themselves

Once you’ve decided the best promotional offers to run for your studio, it’s time to think about how often you’re going to run them. Timing can be a tricky thing to figure out—if you offer too many people may get used to it, but if you offer too little you risk losing potential customers. Below are a few ways you can work around time bounds to find the perfect offer frequency for your studio.

Spread out the timing 

If you run a promotion every day, they won’t seem unique. In fact, running promotions too frequently can lead to customers expecting them. This means that if a customer knows a promotion is coming they will wait to sign up until you offer a discount. This can hurt your retention rates and your revenue. Make sure you aren’t offering promotions too close to each other or similar promotions too frequently. Make a calendar and schedule out your promotions for the year. That way you can have a visual way of spreading out your offers and finding the right balance. Another way to make sure your promotions don’t get taken advantage of is to attach them to a package of considerable length, 8 weeks at a minimum. This ensures a quality transaction size for your business and keeps the prospect committed.

Offer incentive-based promotional offers

Target your efforts so that you know exactly what incentives come with your promotions. Instead of making all your promotions risk free for your customers, offer an incentive. That way people will have to do something to work for their discount, and both you and the customer benefit. Think about what your studio really needs and could benefit from, and then target your promotions towards that specific incentive. A popular incentive-based promotion is referring new customers. Consider running a bring a friend deal that gives existing customers a free class or discount in exchange for introducing someone to your studio.

Give promotions that keep members on track and motivated

To avoid sending out too many promotions to your members at once and running the risk of losing profit, try scheduling in a way that allows your clients to continue coming on a consistent basis. Because it’s no secret that boutique fitness is hard on the wallet, help keep your members motivated by offering discounts, rewards, and challenges to members and non-members on a regular basis. These rewards in the form of promotions can aid your members in developing healthy habits and encourage customers to keep their membership long-term. Some promotional offers that keep members on track will include a free class after a member has taken 15 classes, or creating a challenge where the reward for completion is a free week pass.

Base discounts on time to purchase

The time to purchase is how long it takes for a visitor to your studio to convert to a paying customer. If you’re not currently tracking every visitor that walks in through your door, start keeping track of the next 20-30, which will give you a good idea of your time to purchase rate. When keeping track of these visitors, take a look at the time between their first visit and their first purchase. This means checking when they become a lead in your system until the first time they pay for a class or membership. Shorten the time to purchase period by sending a promotion to the lead at the halfway point. This way you can incentivize members and prospects who were already going to sign up. You get them to do so more quickly and grab the ones who weren’t so sure.

The power of the countdown on promotional offers

Have you ever opened an email with a crazy good discount, just to see it’s active for 24 hours only? Have you put something in your cart only to see that it will be removed after 15 minutes? These time-sensitive offers drive customer purchase because they create a sense of urgency. This is a tactic you can use as a fitness studio. Start by promoting an offer through email. Download an easy plugin that you can embed at the top of the email. Now your members are getting a sweet deal, and have to act if they want to take advantage. Additionally, adding a countdown clock for members that are only 1 month away from expiring memberships reminds them to renew.Take time to plan your promotional offers. Considering timing and offer frequency can help ensure that your offers don’t commoditize themselves, and leave you hurting. By spreading out your promotions and experimenting with incentive-based and time-sensitive purchase offers, you can help give your studio an edge. Remember, running promotions for your fitness studio is about drawing in the right customer for your studio and retaining them.