Should you offer free classes?
Eugen Esanu, Founder of TimiTomi3 min read
The short answer
If you run a small studio, do not give free classes. Free classes bring the wrong customers: people who come for free things. The step from free to your real prices is too big for them, and they leave. Free classes only work for big studios that play a numbers game.
Free classes feel good at the start
Some studios try to get as many customers as they can with free classes, sometimes unlimited ones. At the start, it feels great. New sign-ups arrive every day, and the schedule looks full.
The problem starts when the free classes end.
The step from free is your whole price
After a free week, the customer sees your regular prices for the first time. Your first pack is 6 classes for $100, about $17 a class. Last week, the same class cost them nothing.
The customer does not compare your price with other studios. They compare it with what they paid last week. Next to free, any price looks expensive.
The bigger this gap, the harder the next step. With free classes, the gap is as big as it can be.
Free classes bring the wrong customers
At our studio, we never gave free classes or free weeks, for one reason. Free things always bring the wrong customers.
Be careful who you give free things to. If you keep giving free things, you bring more people who love free things. They come for the offer, not for your classes, and they leave when the offer ends.
Studio hoppers look for exactly these offers. They try a new studio every few weeks and never stay anywhere. A free week is the easiest place for them to start.
A free week still costs you money
Imagine 20 people take a free unlimited week, and each one comes 3 times. That is 60 spots in one week that earn nothing. With 8 spots in a class, that is more than 7 full classes. You still pay the rent for that week, and you still pay the instructor for every class.
Customers who pay your prices pay for your rent and your instructors, and they leave you some profit. It is better to have fewer customers who pay your prices than a full room of people who came for free.
Offer a small paid intro instead
Give new customers a reason to try your studio, but ask them to pay something. If one class costs $20, offer 3 classes at $15 each. The customer still saves money, and the step to your first pack is small.
At our studio, the intro is paid: 3 classes for €59. About half of our intro customers buy a pack or a membership after it.
When this is not right for you
Your classes are big, and you play a numbers game. A cycling studio near us gives a free first class to people who live in the city. They have 50 spots in a class, and a lot of people take the offer. If 1 or 2 of every 20 people buy something, that works for them.
A small studio cannot play this game. With 6 to 8 spots in a class, every free spot is a spot that a paying customer cannot book.
Your intro offer in TimiTomi
In TimiTomi, an intro offer is a class pack with limits. You can sell it only to new customers, or only once per customer, so nobody buys the intro price twice.
