The Tale of 3 Intro Offers: Why Great Pilates Classes Aren't Enough
The Tale of Three Intro Offers—Part 1 of 5.
I took intro offers at three London Pilates studios. Each gave me at least one class I'd happily pay for again. None had built the experience around maximising the likelihood attending the intro offer turns a first-timer into a member.
I've just finished my first three intro offers at three different London Pilates studios, spread across East and Central London. Although each was very different, there was a consistent problem running through each.
One made me want to hand over £300 for their annual Founder's Offer after the first class. Another overwhelmed me with the desire to walk out before the warm-up had even started. The last was like a good (but not great) chef's kitchen: it had all the ingredients, but lacked the secret sauce.
Why I'm doing this
These studios are the first three of 20 London Pilates intro offers I'll be attending over the next six months, in search of what makes one studio the obvious choice amongst its competitors, and what makes people keep coming back rather than search for a new studio.
The aim isn't to point out each studio's operational flaws, but to highlight the fixes these studios (and others) can make to increase their revenue, as I did with my last client. When I partnered with a boutique London Pilates studio sharing many of the same hurdles, I went beyond aesthetics and to the core of the business. I rebuilt the customer journey, taking their intro-to-membership conversion rate from a leaky 11.3% to a highly profitable 25%, without slashing prices. (Full results in part 5.)
Studio 1: perfect classes, unravelled at the front desk
The first studio was a 10/10 workout every class of the four-class intro offer. But the perfection of the in-class experience was quickly unravelled by the customer experience: a flustered owner, a front desk that meekly checked people in, automated emails firing on all cylinders with duplicate, untimely or irrelevant messages, and a reception too small for the class changeover.
Studio 2: the one that made me want to walk out
The second studio's first class made me want to walk out before we'd even begun. Two of us booked, the other attendee arrived 10 mins late for a 45-minute session that never really got started. The second class was almost identical. The third was brilliant, tailored to my mission of building stronger hips by an instructor who'd overheard my conversation with another attendee. But nobody discussed what came next, how that could fit around my goals and schedule, and I’m not even sure whether the instructor knew it was my last intro class.
Studio 3: the paradox
The third and last studio was a paradox. Its branding and social presence are perfect. Its classes were a slice of Pilates perfection. But although it preaches how highly it values its community, the reality of the relationship was purely transactional. The only email received was the payment receipt. Nobody in the room spoke to (or even acknowledged) each other. And when I asked which classes would help strengthen my hips, the answer was, more or less, come back and see.
The problem running through all three
In the highly saturated and competitive London Pilates market, home to a mind boggling 593 Pilates studios, good quality classes just aren't enough to secure a membership purchase anymore. The common theme running through these first three intro offers, is the assumption that quality classes alone can do the necessary legwork to keep members coming back over the long term.
Each studio was missing at least one of three things:
A welcome and follow-up that build the habit. Building the habit of attending any studio should be supported by the email automations, but led by the pre- and post-class experience.
A reason to believe it's worth the price. During the intro offer, a prospect decides whether the studio "is worth" the not insubstantial membership price, or not.
Community and a path to progress. Community is one of the key reasons clients keep coming back in boutique fitness and progress is what makes the next class exciting enough to book.
Why it matters
People are only going to be a Pilates studio’s first-time clients once. This means there’s only one opportunity to convert 45% to 60% of intro buyers after their last class, (1) in comparison to only 5% to 15% through a reactivation campaign. (2) Even if a studio currently appears to be doing well with an influx of intro offers buyers, if there’s no process to maximise conversions in place, it can cost between 5x to 25x more to acquire new customers down the line (3). That's why I'd fix this as soon as possible.
What's coming over the next four weeks
Each week, I'll take you inside one studio. Each one loses members in a different way and each one comes with a fix you can use in your own Pilates studio.
Part 2: Studio 1— Why four 10/10 classes still weren't enough
Part 3: Studio 2—What your members really mean when they say "too expensive”
Part 4: Studio 3—The one question every instructor should be able to answer
Part 5: The fix—How one studio added £1,400 a month in 30 days
Want to see how your Pilates studio’s pricing, positioning and popularity compares with the 5 studios nearest to you? Request your free comparison here.
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Sources
Hybrid intro offer sequences and 45% to 60% conversion: https://thepilatesbusiness.com/do-pilates-intro-offers-actually-convert-the-data/
Reactivation campaign conversion of 5% to 15%: https://ustechautomations.com/resources/blog/best-marketing-automation-software-fitness-studios-2026 & 12 months of previous client studio data indicated 6% conversion from reactivation campaign.
Costing 5x to 25x more to acquire more customers than keeping current customers: https://hbr.org/2014/10/the-value-of-keeping-the-right-customers