As all fitness studio owners know, getting new clients in the door is only half the battle. Keeping them engaged is the real challenge- especially once you've optimized your client flow. Year-over-year average retention is less than 75 percent in the boutique fitness industry, making membership churn one of the most pressing concerns businesses face. 

There are countless resources available discussing how you can increase retention and protect your studio against member attrition (including this one that consistently ranks in Google's top ten). There isn't one right way. Instead, membership retention is fortified each day by:

• Strengthening your studio's culture

• Reducing staff turnover

• Supporting client-to-client relationships

• Keeping your classes exciting and fresh

Boutique fitness is expected to grow by 2,000 more studios in the next five years. How do you keep your clients happily paying at your gym without shopping around? Start by ensuring member engagement is at the top of your priority list.

One of my favorite ways to increase gym member engagement is with challenges. If you've done a studio gym challenge before, you may assume they're all the same, but there are tons of variations depending on your objective. Let's break down how to design studio challenges to maximize your member engagement.

1. Choose Your Goal

No, the goal is not "run a boutique fitness challenge." Do you want to:

• Increase attendance

• Help members cement a fitness or lifestyle change

• Focus on a specific theme, such as strength, nutrition, or flexibility

• Encourage clients to try a new modality

• Foster community

• Build teamwork

• Bring in new clients
  

By starting with your objective, you can choose a challenge intentionally rather than throwing something out haphazardly.

2. Select Your Dates

Deliberately choosing the date based on your gym's calendar and your challenge goal will significantly impact the overall success. 
For example:

• If your goal is to boost attendance and your studio is comprised of parents, a challenge that runs from Thanksgiving to Christmas will probably not be well attended- that's peak parent season.  

• If your challenge goal is to foster community, a competitive one-winner attendance challenge probably won't serve your studio like a team challenge. 

• If you just came off a long peak-season 40-in-60 January attendance challenge to help members create a new habit, you'll need to build enough downtime into your schedule to rebuild your runway before your next challenge. 
  

When planning your challenges, look at your year as a whole and schedule them intentionally (you're using your annual calendar, right?) I like to host one challenge per quarter.

3. Fine-Tune the Details

What are you going to charge? Challenge buy-in fees range from $10 to $500, depending on the style and duration. A 20 in 30 attendance challenge will likely be $10-$15, while a six-week lifestyle challenge with a meal plan will be around $500. When setting your prices, remember to aim for more than break even for any studio event. Build in your profit margins and the cost of challenge prizes.

Speaking of prizes, what do the winners get? Does everyone who finishes "win"? Is there a special prize for whoever finishes first? Common challenge prizes include:

• Waterproof stickers like these are a crowd favorite and cost less than a dollar each.

• Screen printed tank tops or tee shirts. 

• Branded apparel like hats, towels, or water bottles.

• Studio credit or free classes.

At my studio, everyone participating in the challenge is invited to a "barre-ty"- a private class with a little mixer afterward. Barre-ties can be as small as a potluck and as large as a catered special event, depending on your budget and culture. To build enthusiasm, you can also start your challenge with a kick-off coffee bar(re) that morning.

Create the challenge board. I make the boards in AI or Canva and print them at any office store as an architectural print. If you're in a hurry, here's one from amazon. I’ve also linked a blank 20 in 30 board below. Make a copy, add your title and have it printed as an architectural print from your local office store.

Stickers! How are your clients going to mark their progress? There's something satisfying about a literal gold star like these or even these stickers. But you can also use a marker or a stamp. You'll find that clients will continue to walk to the sticker area after the challenge is over. They're addicting.

4. Build Your Runway

If your fitness studio is new to challenges, you'll want to give yourself more time to build excitement around the "why." A general rule of thumb is to allow four weeks for an internal audience and six weeks+ for external. That doesn't mean you need to shout about your upcoming challenge for a month, but you will want to strategically build it into your marketing for weeks leading up to the start date. 

Here's a sample marketing guide: 

Instagram Stories: Share the benefits of your challenge every Tuesday and explain/remind everyone of the details on Thursdays. Snap a story pic every time someone signs up to elicit a healthy dose of FOMO amongst challenge holdouts.

Instagram Posts: Include testimonials from past challengers-both by quote and video or post a previous challenge board one day a week. 

Instagram Reels: If you're a reels enthusiast after new-to-the-studio clients, grab some trending audio and put it over a video of your challenge board. You can also create a how-to reel if your studio is new to challenges.

Facebook/Instagram ads: You probably know I don't love social media ads due to their high budget and low click rate. But, if you're planning to advertise, send your clients to a landing page with testimonials and a contact form so that you can nurture those clients into a purchase- especially if it's a high-ticket challenge.

Google: Add challenge posts to your updates once a week, and include your landing page in the products section.

 Newsletter: Pop the sign-up or purchase button into your newsletter each week. If you usually only send one a month, add an off-cycle newsletter to announce the upcoming challenge. You can recycle some social media material to save time.

In studio: Your best marketing tool is your teachers. Add a reminder to their post-class announcements and hang the challenge board with a "Coming Soon!" sign in the lobby. Include an instructions PDF with details.

At the desk: This might be the most important tool. If you have a front desk staff or teacher at the desk, have them ask, "Can I sign you up for the challenge?" when clients check in for class. Chances are, clients haven't signed up because they have questions or they need reassurance that, yes, you should participate. Remember to ask your intro clients to play "just to try it out." They'll get used to the stickers and the validation after each class and want to keep going. Your membership sale just got that much easier. 

5. Keep Up the Momentum

You've signed up your clients, the challenge is running, and then… monotony. The in-between is just as important as the runway for a successful challenge. Keep enthusiasm high by drawing attention back to the challenge board each week. Post pictures or reels of clients putting a star on the board or finishing the challenge, highlight the front runners, remind clients how many days are left, talk about it in class, and make a big deal. It should feel fun.

6. Participate

Along those lines, challenges usually flop because the gym owner and staff feel indifferent. Ask your team to play, and make sure you sign up, too. If your teachers know they can't make it that many classes, sign them up as a team or make it a competition between staff vs. teachers. The more your clients see you buy into the fun, the more they'll feel compelled to join.

You have the details. Now choose your gym's challenge based on your goal. Here are a few to start you off. 

To boost attendance:

A tried and true crowd pleaser for fitness studios- choose a duration that fits your predetermined schedule.

• 20 classes in 30 days

• 40 in 60

• 60 in 90 (we call this the "Strongest Summer" challenge and run it all summer)

To encourage new modalities:

Help your clients get out of their comfort zone by running a "Five" challenge (or similar). At my studio, clients will take five tone classes, five cardio, five flexibility, and five wildcards, where the client gets to choose. It is a 20 in 30 challenge, but it requires clients to try something new.

To build teamwork:

If you're a community-centered studio and haven't tried a team challenge yet, you're missing out. We do a "Rising Temperatures" challenge where we split clients into teams based on their usual class time. Each is then assigned a teacher as their team captain. Clients must work together to check off the extra tasks and take the required amount of classes to rise to the next level. We usually run this in the spring when our attendance is at its lowest. 

To foster community:

One of my favorite challenges is our annual kindness challenge which we call "share the love." Clients get a bingo board and spend the month doing little acts of kindness for their fellow members. The winner receives a kind- themed tumbler.

To cement a lifestyle change:

A six-week challenge focusing on nutrition, body composition, or wellness usually carries a bigger price tag and has a smaller pool of participants. My studio clients have worked with meal delivery services, nutritionists, wellness coaches, and other professionals to create a full-service lifestyle change program and produce incredible results. It needs a longer runway for marketing due to the $300-$500 price tag. 

To bring in new clients:

A bingo challenge with spots for “bring a friend” and “share a studio post on your social media” are both clever ways to get in front of a new audience. Learn from my mistakes: Keep the bingo boards at the studio. Otherwise, clients will lose them in their bag or car, and the challenge will fall apart. I like to tape them to the walls, lockers, or windows.

All that's left is to complete the steps, and you're on your way to a studio-boosting activity that your clients will love. As always, if you need help, I'm just a strategy call away.