Why Your Intro Offer Isn’t Converting.
By Christine Schmidt on
If we’re being honest about it, the whole point of having an intro offer is to attract new leads. The next goal after attracting those new leads is to expose them to your classes and services, make them happy, and have them want to stick around as a long-term member. So, at the end of the day, the real goal of any intro offer is to convert new leads into clients.
Needless to say, when your intro offer doesn’t convert, we have problems. So, let’s dive into our top 5 reasons why your intro offer isn’t converting into long-term memberships and how to fix them.
1) Intro Offer Experiences Do Not Meet Expectations.
Yikes! What happens when experiences don’t meet expectations? Well, you don’t go back to that business. Same thing happens in fitness.
A few common examples of this might be:
- The use of the word ‘Unlimited’ in your offer when in fact there are limitations to how that offer is redeemed such as certain classes being off limits.
- Perhaps your marketing materials are not regularly updated or analyzed to be clearer in explaining your offer.
- And outside of wording or marketing materials, maybe there have been updates clients have requested to your physical space and/or there are things you may want to consider as industry standards evolve.
How do we suggest overcoming those items? One of the biggest ways to combat those things would be to ask existing clients for feedback. Be willing to hear what they have to say and be willing to analyze those responses so you could implement items that could benefit your business.
2) Your Intro Offer is Too Long or Too Short
If you’re reading that headline and feeling a little bit of what we call the Goldilocks effect, you’re not alone. In short, timing is everything.
When an Intro Offer is too long, then you’ve potentially offered a membership at a heavily discounted price so there are a few things that can negatively impact long-term conversion.
- From a client’s perspective, they could be asking themselves why they should pay more for the same thing they just went through. Especially if this long intro offer matches the length of a membership offer.
- Is the intro offer long enough that a client reached certain goals and now feels no need to continue?
- Are you nurturing and educating your clients through a long intro offer or are they left to their own devices with motivation potentially dwindling?
When an Intro Offer is too short, the client may not have had enough time or exposure to your studio to feel they can make a decision to stick around long-term. Common examples of short intro offers within the fitness industry are:
- First Class FREE
- 1 Week FREE
- 7 Days FREE or for an extremely low price
Regarding short introductory offers, put yourself in the client’s shoes. How many times have you made a financial commitment in 7 days or less? Probably little to none.
So, when it comes to avoiding creating an intro offer that is too long or too short, try to follow a few key strategies.
- Avoid the discounted intro offer looking too similar to an existing membership or package
- Try to think about how much time a client should be exposed to your studio so they are feeling excited and comfortable. Whatever range you feel is right, that is probably the best time for the offer to end and a membership offer to come into play.
- Some “sweet spots” for timing we’ve seen over the years are intro offers lasting anywhere from 10 days to 14 days to 21 days.
3) Your Intro Offer is Too Cheap
Money is sensitive for most humans but the way you price your services sends a subconscious message about your value. To put it simply, if your offer is too cheap, it’s unlikely to send the message of “quality,” and it’s less likely to convert into membership because the pricing gap you’ve created is too great.
By pricing your offer too low, you have simultaneously found new leads that are not quality leads as they are likely less willing to pay higher prices beyond this heavily discounted offer.
If you’re looking for a magic equation, industry standards have shown when intro offers are priced at 60-75% of the long-term membership you want to sell, the pricing gap is less painful for the client to jump.
4) You Don’t Nurture or Educate Clients Towards Their Goals
When a client comes to your studio, they are doing so because they have goals, because they have problems to solve and you are the expert to get them there. During an Intro Offer, you, your team, and your services are up for evaluation. Are you supporting your clients? Are you creating communications that go out with the intent not only to sell but also to educate and nurture them towards their goals?
To combat this, for every week that your intro offer is long, it is our best practiced suggestion that you are in contact with those clients at least 2-3 times per week. If you’d like more information on some of our favorite automation flows, we have another article to help with that here.
5) You Have No Clear Sales Process.
When you have no sales flow or process, then you’re trying to get to an end destination with no map. The common phrase, “If you fail to plan, you’re planning to fail,” is what comes to mind for us here.
An intro offer is designed to show off your expertise and business as you guide new clients towards their goals with you as their leader. Not knowing what the next sales step is and/or not having a sales process to get them there will heavily impact your ability to convert and could make the client feel less valued after the intro offer is over.
Our best solution to this is to have a pricing menu flow for you and your team to reference during the sales conversation. Second step, base your sales conversations on client utilization so your business is being conducted in service to the client. So, if Susie only comes to the studio 6 times in a 21 Day Unlimited Intro Offer, she may be better suited for a package at the 6-10 times per month level versus the VIP Unlimited Monthly Membership.
What’s the take-home message?
Intro Offers are meant to help you convert new leads into long-term clients. Without sounding too corny, they are ultimately meant to help you find and build your studio’s community with those that match your offers and services. Due to the nature of offering discounts, it’s also very easy to see how introductory offers could get a little out of hand. So, with a little reflection and course-correction as needed for your business, you’ll be back on track in no time.