5 Simple Ways to Improve Yoga Student Retention

Did you know it costs up to ten times more to win a new student than it does to keep a current one? Letting student attrition get out of hand is financially bad for your studio, regardless of how many new students you add. While student retention takes work, there are some pretty simple things you can do to build an engaging culture and keep your existing students happy. Here are the five easiest ways you can start improving retention this month.

Strategy 1: Know Your Numbers

It’s simple; you can’t manage what you can’t measure. Metric analysis identifies trends, highlights trouble, and lets you intelligently address issues as they arise. To set you up to effectively use metrics for retention management, we’ll first cover some definitions:

• Students End (SE): The number of students at the end of a period.
• Students Initial (SI): The number of students at the initial or beginning of any period.
• Gross New Students (GNS): The total of all new students for a specific period, regardless of losses over the same period.
• Gross Students Lost (GSL): The total of all student losses for a specific period, regardless of gains over the same period.
• Net New Students (NNS): The difference between students gained and students lost for a specific period.
  • NNS = GNS – GSL

A positive NNS indicates your business is growing, and you can expect increasing revenue.

Churn or Attrition Rate (CR)

Represents the rate of student turnover. To calculate your student churn rate, select a specific period and divide your Gross Students Lost during the period by the number of students at the beginning of the period. Then multiply by 100 to get the percentage that represents your student churn.

• CR = (GSL / SI) x 100

Annualized Churn (AC)

If you want to look at churn year over year, use this formula to find your annualized churn.

• AC = {(GSL / [(SI + SE) / 2]) x 12} x 100

Student Retention Rate (R)

The percent of your students who continued their monthly membership.

• R = ((SE – GNS) / SI) x 100

Unlike Churn Rate, you want a high Student Retention Rate. High retention indicates your studio is performing well, and your students are happy with your services.

Cost of Acquisition (CAC)

The cost to gain one new student. To calculate your cost of acquisition, select a specific period and divide the total marketing/advertising costs by the total new students gained over the same period.

• CAC = total marketing costs / GNS

Strategy 2: Make Sure They Get a Good Start

As with so many things in life, a good start at your studio matters. If first impressions are bad, or a student is too intimidated to jump into your program, chances are good that you’ll lose them. Student retention starts with someone’s first visit, not when a student shows the warning signs of leaving. Making a great first impression is critical because it sets the stage for everything that follows.

Think About First Impressions

Entering a yoga studio for the first time can be an intimidating experience. If you and your team are sensitive to new student nervousness, you can help them overcome fear and become happy long-term clients.

Prioritize an Easy Onramp Program

A series of beginner classes is helpful for new students to transition comfortably. Make sure you and your teachers have a plan in place to provide extra attention to new students and customize their experience. This will ensure they get the most out of your classes and continue coming back.

Help Form the Habit of Practicing

Often, you can help a new student form the positive habit of practicing regularly by giving them a little extra attention. When a new student leaves your class, ask them when they’ll be back, or encourage them to schedule their next class. They will be far more likely to show up for the next class if they give you verbal affirmation.

Strategy 3: Provide Great Service and Make Students Feel Appreciated

You are in the service industry. Your students judge your value based on how you make them feel. Studies show that we buy because of emotion, not logic. Do a great job of making your students happy and you’ll have a higher rate of retention.

Show Your Students They Matter

The easiest way to make a student feel special is to slow down and listen when they talk to you. We are drawn to people who are interested in us and make us feel important. Consider leaving a basket of stamped, branded note cards at your front desk. Ask your teachers to send them to students whenever they can find a fun reason (birthdays, anniversaries at your studio, new babies, mastering a difficult pose, record attendance, etc.). Students who get handwritten notes in the mail from your studio will know they are cared about. Plus, going out of your way like this will keep your head and shoulders above your competitors.

Train and Motivate Your Team to Give Exceptional Service

Make sure you spend a few minutes of each team meeting talking about your current retention metrics and clients who might be in danger of leaving. Your teachers normally know there are concerns long before you do, simply because they work closely with your students on a frequent basis.

The link between retention and customer service is backed by data. Dr. Paul Bedford, a well-known fitness business retention expert, found that each time you or a team member interacts positively with a client, the client is 20% more likely to visit your studio the following month.

Strategy 4: Make It Easy to Be a Student

Students don’t want to track you down to pay their membership fees or deal with confusing processes when they are in the studio.

Audit Your Student Experience

Take time to do occasional audits by visiting your website and walking through your in-studio student experience. Ask yourself questions like:

• Is it easy to view your schedule and reserve a spot in class?
• Was the check-in process quick and painless?
• How long does it take to purchase retail items?

Automate Billing and Payments

Most importantly, make sure paying you is effortless. Automating your billing saves time and energy for your students (and you). Automated payments help with retention because they take the monthly payment decision point away from your students.

Strategy 5: Keep Students Engaged and Motivated

When exercise is routine, boring, and purposeless, people lose interest. Once that happens, you’ve lost them as a student. But if it is fun and students are making progress towards a goal, they’ll stay engaged and will want to keep renewing their membership.

Make It Fresh and Interesting

One important element of motivation is variety, so find ways to mix things up and make it fun to be a student. Ideas include:

• Plan fitness and health challenges
• Bring in outside teachers who specialize in different practices like inversions or chakras
• Hold outdoor classes when the weather is nice
• Challenge your teachers to provide impactful, unique themes for each class
• Encourage your teachers to create fun playlists and share them with your students afterward

Offer Workshops

Sometimes it’s difficult to master tricky poses even if you’re attending class several days a week. Offer workshops to help students improve their practice. Not only will this transform students into better yogis, but it also increases loyalty to your studio and serves as an additional revenue driver. Be sure to offer workshops for various skill levels so all students benefit from this value-add.

Practice in Action

Encourage your students to implement the strength gained through their practice by organizing active events outside the studio. Consider organizing SUP yoga classes, adventure races, or group hikes. This will help forge friendships, leading to an overall stronger community and improved retention.

How Zen Planner Can Help

Zen Planner makes yoga studios wildly successful, transforming the hearts, minds, and bodies of their communities. The complete Zen Planner Suite empowers yoga studio owners to increase their annual revenue by 20%. With student management software, integrated websites, enhanced retention, class and event scheduling, and student self-service capabilities, you have everything necessary to spend less time behind your desk and more time changing lives.