Turn leads into customers with these must-have email pipelines
Have you counted on referrals to bring you leads and new students? Has connecting with students when they’re in your studio been your #1 retention strategy?
While 2020 has brought challenges of every kind, one of the biggest for yoga studio owners has been not seeing students regularly! Sure, you’ve done a great job with virtual classes and events. You may even have a slammin’ online library of classes. But none of us has a studio filled with students talking about the amazing things practicing yoga has done for their lives.
This doesn’t mean you can’t generate leads or keep your students in their memberships. It does mean you need to do what you should have done a long time ago – get some email pipelines written and implemented!
Truth→ This is not a COVID thing!
Truth→ This is a should-be-doing-this-365 thing!
Email pipelines allow you to communicate the right message to the right lead or client at the right time! BOOM.
There are four different email pipelines every yoga studio needs to have. Get them in place! With a few tweaks here and there, you can use them for a long time!
Email Pipeline #1: Lead Campaign
Lead campaigns get your prospects to buy your intro offer or sign up for your membership.
This is where you need to have a “freebie” or something of value to offer. It needs to be valuable enough for them to give you something of value back – their email address!
What kind of “freebies” work? Offer a pre-recorded class or 10-minute yoga series to do at home. Offering 4 poses to ease lower back pain or a 15-minute meditation to relieve stress gives prospects immediate value.
Email Pipeline #2: Intro Campaign
Once your lead buys your intro or signs up for a membership, they’re no longer a lead. They’re a new client. And new clients get special attention.
Goals for the intro campaign vary. Yours may be for new clients to buy your membership. If they already purchased a one-month membership, get them to stay on for another month.
Remember – always use video! Nothing else tells your story better or gives students a better sense of who you are and what your studio is about. Have a current student talk about the positive changes they experienced after their first month of practicing at your studio.
And again… provide value. Offer solutions to common problems, explore the variety of classes you offer, provide further education.
Email Pipeline #3: Retention Campaign
Focus on your members doesn’t end once they sign up! Retention campaigns go the extra mile to keep them on board as long as possible. They get a life-changing yoga practice, you get steady revenue and brand evangelists.
Focus on continuing to add value. Offer solutions to problems long-time students may face. They may be feeling stuck or lacking motivation. Maybe they feel as if they’re not improving. Show your dedication by addressing these problems and offering solutions. Give your members concrete reasons to continue to practice with you.
Talk about a new style of yoga students may not have tried – or a new class you’re offering. Suggest a private lesson or the challenge of trying a double.
Your retention campaign is also the perfect place to do a deep dive into how the yoga lifestyle can benefit students’ lives outside the studio.
Email Pipeline #4: Call-Back Campaign
What about students who left? Get them back with your call-back campaign! These emails are targeted at members who haven’t been to a class in 6 months or more. Try offering a come-back special.
Address objections head-on in these emails. There’s a reason someone stopped practicing. It may be as simple as not having enough time in their schedule. Or it might be a little deeper – maybe they felt discouraged by not making as much progress as they thought they would.
Again, it’s crucial that you provide value in these emails. Entice past members to come back by making them feel comfortable and welcome. Educating them about 10 simple things they can do NOW to re-incorporate yoga practice into their lives could be just the thing to get them back with you.
How long should my email campaigns last?
Not sure how long you should keep a prospect in a lead campaign or a client in a retention campaign, or a former student in a call-back campaign? The answer is simple.
Go for no.
Keep contacting them until they buy or say no. If a lead buys, they move into your intro campaign. Otherwise, you’re going to keep talking to them until they buy – or until they unsubscribe. That’s your no. Same with a call-back campaign – keep talking to them until they come back (goal met) or unsubscribe.
For more super relevant information and tools you need to run your studio, combined with the knowledge of our expert coaches and dedicated yogis check out the Yogapreneur Collective! Run an insanely profitable studio so you can change more lives (and earn a real paycheck)!
