Effective Pricing Strategies for Pilates Studios

Making sure that your Pilates studio pricing exceeds your operating expenses while staying affordable for clients in your area can be a complex balancing act, but it is a key step in ensuring the success of your studio. Here are some of the most important things to consider when determining whether your current Pilates studio pricing strategy is meeting your needs, as well as helpful tips for adjusting your class pricing to optimize your profit. 

Signs Your Pilates Studio Pricing Is Off 

Understanding whether or not your Pilates pricing meets your studio’s needs is critical to planning and executing necessary adjustments, especially before current issues turn into larger problems. Here are some of the most common indicators that you should adjust your Pilates studio pricing to better meet your needs.

Not Making Profit 

Your Pilates studio pricing needs to be reviewed if you are not bringing in enough profit to pay your instructors, cover your rent, and manage other essential operating expenses. While it may take a bit of experimenting to determine how much you will need to raise your prices without becoming unaffordable for your clients, carefully evaluating your expenses can help you determine how much more money you need to bring in each month and what your best options for doing so might look like. 

Using the Market as Your Pricing Indicator 

Your Pilates studio and the options it offers are unique, so if you’re relying solely on the surrounding market for pricing, you may not be accurately charging for the value of your services. It’s certainly a good idea to see what other Pilates studios in your area are charging for classes and other services that are comparable to yours, but relying too heavily on market pricing will likely mean that you are charging too much or too little for the value of your services. 

Tips for Pricing Pilates Classes 

Finding just the right balance between keeping prices high enough to make ends meet and low enough to reasonably meet your clients' expectations is key when it comes to making sure that your studio performs as well as possible. Here are some helpful tips for creating a Pilates pricing strategy that makes sense for both clients in your area and your studio.  

Offer Different Membership Options 

Some of your students might want to take a few classes a month to explore a new hobby. Others might maximize their fitness goals by being in your studio nearly every day, which means that offering various membership packages can help you make sure each client is able to find just what they are looking for.

Encourage Customers to Bundle Classes 

Offering discounted rates to clients who are interested in taking several classes each week can be an ideal option for building brand loyalty while keeping profits reasonable. Many fitness enthusiasts find that costs add up quickly, which makes taking an ideal number of classes to hit their goals prohibitive. Offering options for bundling similar classes or multiple sessions of the same class empowers them to be budget-conscious and excited to come back for more.

Price Smaller Classes Higher 

Smaller classes enable more one-on-one instruction as opposed to unlimited classes that bring in dozens of participants. Smaller classes often provide more value to students, and should be priced accordingly, allowing you to bring enough profit per class to pay your instructors and stay on top of operating costs.

Charge a Fee for Priority Booking 

Customers that need a specific class time that fits perfectly into their schedule, or who are passionate about a specialty class that tends to fill up, are more willing to pay extra to register before general participants. This option gives students  a guarantee that they will be able to get the classes they want. 

Provide Experience Classes and Retreats for an Additional Fee

Offering unique experiences that go above and beyond run-of-the-mill classes is another great solution for boosting your income and giving clients the option to get the most out of their Pilates experience. For example, adding lighting, incense, or specialized music can elevate your classes, while weekend retreats gives clients a chance to get away from the hustle and bustle of everyday life and focus on learning new skills instead.