Should you offer a free first class?
It is the single most effective thing a new studio can switch on, and one of the easiest to get wrong once the studio is working.
A first reformer class is a hard thing to sell. Somebody who has never been on one does not know what a footbar is, does not know whether they will be the least fit person in the room, and is being asked for €20 or more to find out. A free first class removes all of that in one move.
The test
Look at the classes you would put the free spot in, and ask one question: were those spots going to be sold anyway?
- If they were empty, a free first class costs you almost nothing. The reformer was going to sit still. You are trading an unsold spot for a person in the room and a chance at a pack.
- If they were full, you are giving away revenue and, worse, giving away a spot a paying regular wanted. That is how a good offer turns into a resented one.
Which is why the answer flips as a studio grows, and why it should be reviewed rather than left running forever. Most new studios should switch it on. Most studios with waitlists on their best classes should switch it off, or restrict it to the hours that are still quiet.
Setting it up so it does not leak
- 01First-time visitors only, enforced by the system. Not a promise on a page. If somebody can claim it twice with a second email address, some people will.
- 02Put it in your quiet hours if you have any. An off-peak-only free class does the acquisition job without touching the classes that sell.
- 03Make the next step visible before they leave. The end of the free class is the moment of maximum intent in the whole relationship. If the only way to buy a pack is to remember to do it at home that evening, most will not.
- 04Track what happens next. The number that matters is not how many free classes you gave away, it is what share of them bought something within a month. Under about a fifth and the offer is attracting the wrong people or the class is not converting.
What it is really buying you
Not the client, necessarily. In the first months it is buying the two things a new studio has none of: a full-looking room, which makes the next class easier to sell, and people who will tell somebody else. Reformer is an overwhelmingly word-of-mouth purchase. A free class that produces one recommendation has already paid for a spot that was empty.
In Reformer Pilates Booking a free first class is a switch on your studio, restricted to first-time visitors automatically, and you can see how many of them went on to buy. Turn it off the month your fill rate says you no longer need it.
Switch on a free first class and let it fill your first few weeks.
Start for freeCommon questions
- Does a free first class attract the wrong clients?
- It attracts a wider group than a paid intro, which for a new studio is the point. The way to tell whether it is working is the share who buy something within a month; under roughly a fifth suggests the offer is reaching the wrong people or the class itself is not converting.
- Free first class or cheap intro offer?
- Free brings more people, a lower proportion of whom are ready to commit. A €5 to €10 intro brings fewer, higher-intent people. New studios that need bodies in the room and word of mouth usually do better with free; established studios protecting a busy schedule usually do better with cheap, or with restricting the offer to off-peak hours.
- When should I stop offering a free first class?
- When the spots you are giving away would otherwise have sold. Once your best classes carry waitlists, a free spot is revenue you had and a seat a regular wanted, so either switch it off or restrict it to the hours that are still quiet.