How to Build a Customer Loyalty Program That Grows Your Yoga Studio Community

By Dennis Bluthardt, Namaste Studios®

Having a loyalty program at your yoga studio will give your students a reason to practice more and reduce the chance that they’ll leave. Customer retention is a significant driver of success (and therefore sustainability) within a studio; it costs more to get new students than to keep your current ones. But more than the apparent effects on revenue, the non-obvious part that you need to sell is ‘community’.

In modern marketing for businesses with a yoga population, you need a strong community. 

Remember that in yoga, a community isn’t just touched on or even valued, it’s stressed. Your brand, image, and perceived value should be represented by the voice of your students, who say, ‘This studio has the best community.’ Make it happen.

And if you build that community, infuse it with love and compassion. All of the other elements of any loyal (pun intended) community, the result for your business will be a handful of marketing effects, namely, word-of-mouth. Not many people are going to hear about your studio and think you have an effective customer retention program. They’re going to hear good things.

Why Loyalty Matters More Than Ever

The yoga studio landscape is more developed than ever, with an abundance of brick-and-mortar locations, complemented by digital platforms available from your device. Students have their pick of the litter and can practice yoga anywhere, anytime. That said, an overabundance of options can lead to decision fatigue: choosing whether to practice in person with an instructor or on-demand in your living room could pose a potential conundrum.

The economy is in constant flux, and as the cost of living (inflation) increases, consumers with decreased buying power (more limited disposable income) may be forced to decide if engaging in the activity warrants their investment. After this point, customers may further segment into two subgroups: (1) whether, from this perspective, the Class is “worth it” anywhere; or (2) if the Class is “worth it” if it takes place elsewhere (e.g., a studio that has better parking options or a similarly inclined demographic may be “the” place to go).

Loyalists breed connection. The zen that is brought by the practice of yoga is often an individual’s effort toward “bettering oneself,” but that is not to say that connection with other like-minded individuals is not in the foreground of the mind of the practitioners as well. Yoga is an accepted cultural phenomenon, as the shared experience is so prevalent in the community that those participating, even if it is infrequently, would strongly identify as a “yogi” despite their infrequency.

The numbers, via raw cost analysis (by financial marketing goals; by customer demographic type as it relates to variable 1, 2021), show that keeping a current customer costs much less than trying to win over a new one. The average cost of acquiring a “new customer” could range from five to seven times the cost of keeping a current customer. That cost is reflected in all the main steps of the process: prospecting, nurturing, and cultivating. Facilities that have a well-polished strategy in place, as a business with a mature model (whether they have or have not reached their perceived “peak” yet), will have all but ironed this aspect of their enterprise out, for the most part. A well-engaged marketing campaign and “warm and friendly” sales staff or gym managers will have these individuals knocked, down, tracked, or isolated (in a sense) soon enough, an in-person “hard” direct message in the Class; a “last-minute” “add to cart” email with the click-to-close function (ankle-weighted) or “buy-at-the-register” options (gum, water, light snacks, etc.) will round out the remainder of “X” (or this problem group).

Elements of a Great Yoga Loyalty Program

A yoga rewards program can add that extra layer of motivation for students to show up. Maybe it’s a point system where students can rack up for attending Class, completing a workshop, or showing up at your “Yoga in the Park “community event; this “gamification” of yoga ramps up the fun factor for sure.

Celebrate your students’ yoga journey! You can create “achievement unlocked” moments by creating special certificates that commemorate different milestones that they’ve reached. Was Sheila finally able to do a headstand in last Tuesday’s Class? Did John recently complete his 100th Class with your studio? Please give them a shoutout! You can present these fun awards in person, then take a photo of these “moments of victory” to post on Instagram or Facebook. 

Maybe they get to take home a little something, a small gift, perhaps a pin or a sticker with your studio’s logo, that will remind them of this special moment in their lifelong yoga journey.

Your long-term, hard-core members should also benefit. Maybe they get “first dibs” or priority slots for your special classes or workshops. They may get a free shirt or a special members-only jacket when they reach their one-year mark. These little treatment upgrades make sense for these folks. They’ve stuck around with you for all these months. They’ve not only formed a bond with you but with the rest of your “OG crew” as well. Don’t neglect to build this all-important community!

Lastly, you should incentivize your student-referral system. What would Sheila get if she confided-but-not-so-subtly, pre-COVID-style-coughs out to her friend that your classes are just the best thing ever and that she would never achieve the same results if she watched a YouTube workout or tried out some other yoga studios? Does she get a little recognition, maybe “student of the week”? Or perhaps an upgrade to her freebie, whether in terms of quantity or quality? You get the drift. Hook ’em in with these fun alternatives!

Yes, these “tangible incentives” are precisely that. Getting to work towards that something specific raises the bar of focus, joy, or excitement. It could be just human nature to work towards the next shiny object. The “object” doesn’t have to be super wild and out there. Or beyond accessible. Just simple upgrades on attire or accessories, or tweaks of “natural class/workshop scheduling progression,” ought to be fine.

How to Design a Loyalty Program That Feels Authentic

Creating a genuine experience for your yoga clients, your students, is how you retain customers in this business. By “genuine,” I mean you create an environment of “you get me!” Students in this niche are looking for community and core values like “belonging” and “sociability.” They want a place where people understand them. A nonjudgmental place. They desire to go to a place where they don’t have to explain their identity to others.

The second way is the core benefits. Assuming you’ve done your homework, you take the most important 1–3 common benefits and place them in either the core offering or a feature/benefit.

Savings seekers gravitate to rewards programs. For instance, buy “9”, get the “10th” free. This has a lot to do with the customer, as well. The age-old “Are we going to train tonight?” 

Because yoga-centric people love to escape, you can provide a rewards benefit, or many, to a nice beach destination.

Promotion & Implementation

An effective studio launch requires a comprehensive approach that demonstrates your team’s commitment and enthusiasm, ultimately getting your community excited. One high-impact approach is to use in-studio signage. Posters and banners can adorn the studio entrance and workout space to capture students’ attention as they arrive. Another effective strategy is to have the coaches and greeters at the front desk mention the program and invite your clients to ask questions.

You can also send updates to your entire program membership, or you can limit information about specific deals or events only to members of different lists. Email blasts and SMS messages pair perfectly with the other communication tools you already use. Emails, newsletters, and drip campaigns can reinforce the program’s value and enhance a multi-channel approach.

Spotlights on your most successful program members can be shared in various online and offline settings, including printouts, personalized television screens, in-person events, newsletters, and social media channels. Seeing people your clients recognize and can relate to teaches them not what your staff members are like, but what the kind of high-impact clients for whom your loyalty program is perfect looks like. A story that clients believe they can become helps convince them to purchase, just like percent-off discount deals.