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THE BIGGEST MISTAKE PILATES STUDIOS MAKE WITH THEIR WEBSITE

As a web designer that works extensively with Pilates studio owners, I have a solid understanding of the Pilates business. One of the most common questions I get from studio owners whose websites are not delivering the results they want is "what is the biggest mistake that Pilates studios make with their website?".

Well. The mistake we make as pilates studios is that it's not all about us. It's about the clients!

I'm also a qualified Pilates instructor! So I get it! You spent hours researching what Pilates lineage you thought was the best. You invested hundreds of hours and thousands of dollars on a training program. Then you spent even more money on purchasing equipment and opening a studio!

It sort of becomes something that defines who we are. We almost use it to validate ourselves and validate our life choices. As Pilates teachers we love to say "I am X trained" or "I studied under X", or "I teach X Pilates" and "our studio is filled with X equipment". When one Pilates teachers is talking to another, those things can matter. But do they matter to your potential client?

How many clients have actually come into your studio and asked about what lineage did you study under? What brand of equipment do you use? Do you teach classical or contemporary Pilates? Or that even know that Joseph Pilates was a real person?

WHAT IS THE BIGGEST MISTAKE THAT I SEE PILATES STUDIO OWNERS MAKING WITH THEIR WEBSITES? IT'S TALKING ALL ABOUT THEMSELVES AND NOT TALKING ABOUT HOW THEY HELP THEIR CLIENTS AND HOW THEY MAKE THEM FEEL!

Pilates studio websites should articulate how they help their clients with their fitness goals and how they make their clients feel after a class. Whether that goal is to help someone get a flat belly, stand taller, rehab from an injury, or walk out of class feeling like they achieved something they didn't think possible.

You need to let them know you can help them do that!

Here are two great examples of content taken from Pilates studio homepages:

Let's look at the content from The Pilates Studio.

The Pilates Studio
"Joe Smith, the owner, and director of The Pilates Studio encountered the world of Pilates while working as a professional dancer in New York City in the 80’s and has been doing Pilates ever since. In 1992 Joe opened Applegate’s first Pilates Studio, The Pilates Studio in Applegate. Now with two to other studios in Auburn and Fresno Heights, The Pilates Studio has been changing bodies in Applegate for more than 20 years. Our studios feature the most up-to-date equipment and the environment is non-competitive, enabling you to find a true balance of mind and body. Fresh spring water is always available to keep you hydrated and refreshed."

Now let's compare this to content from Pilates for Me.

Pilates for Me Studio
"Our comprehensive Pilates program offers a state-of-the-art Pilates studio, private sessions with talented instructors, group Reformer classes and a full schedule of targeted Pilates Mat classes. If your goal is getting toned, our fun and effective Get Toned Mat class and Get Your Tone on Reformer class are for you. Get Your Posture On class is your class if you’d like to ease that back pain from sitting all day."

It's pretty easy to see that Joe Smith from the Pilates Studio has the "let me tell you about me" attitude. As a potential client reading this I'm left wondering how you are going to change my body and help me find true balance of mind and body. There is no "call to action" that explains how and why I should get started. The biggest issue with The Pilates Studio homepage statement is that it does not tell the client how he is going to help them besides enabling them to find true balance of mind and body in some way.

Compare this to the content found on the Pilates for Me Studio website. They let me know they have state of the art equipment and talented instructors but also provide a clear "call to action" by telling me what classes to take if I want to get toned and which classes if I want to work on my posture because I have lower back pain. This type of content lets me know what to expect when I sign up for one of their classes and why I should sign up for these classes!

When I help a studio owner create content for their website, I always ask the following questions:
  1. How does your service solve a need, a pain or make your clients feel good?
  2. What about your service matters to this person?
  3. What are the customer's concerns related to your service?
  4. What will your customers get by working with you? Why should they choose you?
  5. What do you do that’s different?
  6. What do people say about how your classes made them feel about themselves?
The answers to these questions help studio owners and instructors get out of the "let me tell you about me" mode and into the "let me tell you about how I can help you" frame of mind. That is why people come to you - so you can help them! Not so you can tell them all about yourself.

“I'VE LEARNED THAT PEOPLE WILL FORGET WHAT YOU SAID, PEOPLE WILL FORGET WHAT YOU DID, BUT PEOPLE WILL NEVER FORGET HOW YOU MADE THEM FEEL.”
- Maya Angelou

If you feel like your Pilates studio website is "all about you" instead of what your customer will achieve and feel from signing up for your Pilates classes, then contact me to see how I can help you change that and improve your Pilates website.
Intro offer
By Lesli Lindgren 25 Feb, 2020
I quite often get asked from Pilates studio owners asking how they can compete with the big brand Pilates studios that run tons of classes each day. They commonly ask. Do I need to do more marketing? Do I need to do Facebook ads? Do I need a new website? These can all be part of a solution to get more clients, but the first thing I do is help pilates studio owners identify where the problem exists in their client acquisition strategy. Are enough people aware of your studio? Are you getting enough calls, inquiries, and new client signups? Do you make it easy for people to get started? Is your intro offer appealing to new clients? One of the most overlooked aspects is how Pilates studios typically onboard their new clients. Most Pilates studios require a new client to take at least one private session or buy an intro pack of 3 private sessions at a discount before they can join any classes at a studio. What does this on-boarding strategy communicate to a potential client? Unconsciously you've just given them the impression that Pilates is challenging and that they need specialized training before they can enjoy Pilates. You've unwittingly put up significant barriers to entry and getting started for many potential customers. This approach may make sense if your business is a boutique Pilates studio which only offers private or semi-private sessions. In this case, the client on-boarding strategy matches your value proposition, product offering, and business objectives. However, if your studio's core product offering and bread and butter revenue streams are equipment and group classes then maybe you need a different on-boarding strategy! Is requiring all new clients to take a private Pilates session(s) the best way to get them to signup? If your goal is to get more people in the door and experience what you have to offer, you might consider letting new clients sign up for classes without requiring them to take a private lesson. There is a good business reason for this approach! It allows clients to sign themselves up without having to spend a ton of money or make a significant commitment. It also removes barriers to entry and makes it easy for a client to get started. If you look at all the boutique fitness studios that are popping up, almost all of them aren't making new clients take prerequisite private sessions before they can start classes – even equipment classes. They allow new clients to jump right in and get started. I can already hear what you are saying about this idea. Clients have to take the private sessions for safety reasons, or they will disrupt the flow of the class, or the teacher has to spend more time with that one student, etc.. the list goes on. A lot these issues can be overcome though by teachers who are trained correctly to deal with them and by intelligently using your MINDBODY branded web tools. Let's consider a real-life example and the results this approach can generate. I recently had a client whose website was in the process of a makeover. We weren't ready to launch the new site, but she needed something up, so her current clients could still book classes online. We ended up creating a temporary three-page website. It included a Homepage, a Getting Started, and Class Schedule (they only offer small group equipment classes). The studio's old website required that all new clients take an intro private session to start. On the temporary site, we did have the Getting Started page where it leads new clients to sign up for an introductory one-on-one Pilates session at half price, but it turned out no one used it. Looking at Google Analytics, we saw people were going to the Getting Started page but then most just jumped to the schedule page and signed up for a class. The studio had 8 new clients that month! That was with zero marketing and a half-built website! What happened when those eight new clients showed up? They were welcomed and given a little extra help in class. Did they take a ton of time away from the other clients? Not really. Were they in any danger of hurting themselves? Not any more than if they walked into a gym and started using weight equipment. Yes, it required the teacher to give them some extra assistance and modifications, but the teacher was still able to run a fantastic class. Yes, it made the teacher work a little harder. After the class was over the teacher talked to new clients and discussed with them what options might be best suited for them. All 8 clients signed up for memberships! This approach also makes it easier to up-sell clients on private Pilates sessions. Once the client is in the studio and has experienced a group class, they tend to realize they need some additional help and instruction. The Pilates teacher can then introduce the idea of a private one-on-one Pilates session or direct them class that best suite for them. I know, you don't want new clients showing up to your advanced reformer class with no prior experience. However, you can use your MINDBODY Online widgets and class restriction settings in MINDBODY to help solve that problem. On the Getting Started page of your website, you can set the MINDBODY widget to only show classes and sessions that suited for the beginner client. I also recommend you stay away from naming classes beginner or fundamentals classes. Nothing turns people off more than thinking they are signing up for a dull beginner class. If you're worried that new clients will jump to the main schedule page and incorrectly sign up for advanced sessions, make sure to set up restrictions in MINDBODY for who can sign up for those advanced classes. Also make sure your teachers and front staff are trained to talk with new students after their first class and sell them on your intro offers and memberships. This is a critical part of your on-boarding experience! It's a lot easier to sell a Pilates membership or package when the client is in the studio after they experience how awesome the Pilates class was than it is on a website or over a phone call. Is this solution for every studio? No. But reevaluating how you can make it easy for new clients to get started and take their first Pilates class is something to consider. Are you only giving them one option? Are you setting up unnecessary barriers? Are you asking for to information to sign up? Are you intro offers appealing? One of the key goals of any studio should be to make it easy as possible for new clients to come into the studio and experience what you have to offer. What on-boarding options have worked for your studio?
By Lesli Lindgren 23 Feb, 2020
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