Is giving a class away a good marketing tactic for your yoga business?
- Jade Beckett
- Nov 18
- 8 min read
Whenever I’m lecturing Marketing & Business on Yoga Teacher Trainings this has to be THE most heated topic of discussion (after the joke of Self Assessment, maybe.)
In this blog, I’m going to take you through my thoughts and experience with giving classes away as a marketing tactic, take a look at the marketing theory behind how this works in practice as well as recommending some alternative marketing tactics you might want to consider.
Is giving a class away a good marketing tactic for a wellness business?
No.
Giving classes away to attract paying customers isn’t something I would ever recommend as a marketing professional for 18+ years and from my experience running my own yoga business and working with dozens and dozens of other businesses across yoga, pilates, fitness and wellness.
The reasons are rooted in the psychology of marketing and understanding how people buy.
It is absolutely a case of you only know what you know, and don’t know what you don’t know - and a lot of this goes back to the fact that Teacher Trainings do not equip you with any business skills whatsoever (that’s another blog, for another day).
So, of course on the surface; giving a class away to entice people to come sounds like a fantastic idea. But, that’s not how people behave. Let’s dive in to the two main reasons why this isn’t a good idea and I can teach you some marketing psychology whilst we are at it.
Why is giving a class away for free a bad marketing tactic?
As I said in the previous section, there are two main reasons why giving classes away for free doesn’t work like you think it would; one is to do with marketing psychology and positioning and the second is to do with buyer behaviour.
it affects your value proposition: it’s the one thing you can charge for
As a yoga, pilates, PT or any other wellness service provider - your service is the one thing that brings money in to your business. Literally everything else you do is a cost - whether that’s financial, energetic, time or stress. So, you need to be charging for your classes to make a living, feed yourself, keep a roof over your head and pay your costs - it’s that simple. Every product/service has something called a value proposition. A Rolls Royce Ghost and a Nissan Micra are both cars, but they have very different proposed values. A Nissan Micra is a runaround that is simple, small car that is cheap to run. Meanwhile a Rolls Royce Ghost is a large, expensive car with the focus on comfort in the back - you don’t drive it yourself… your driver drives you. They both get you from A to B; but the proposition and experience is very different.
Now, take this to your class. If you say “it’s free” what kind of message does that send? Is it a good service? Is it quality? Are you expert in what you do? Free = probably not (even if that’s not true, and it is a good service with an expert). It affects the perceived value of what is on offer - and often, it actually turns people away and off joining.
They think it won’t be good, because it is free.
As a secondary point, what happens when you then ask people to pay? I hear about this a lot in my consultancy and coaching sessions- full free classes then the teacher starts charging and the number drops to as few as 2 or 3 participants. Psychologically, you’ve told those participants this service has no value by giving it away for free already. So why would people then pay for it afterwards?
Harsh, but very true.
It attracts deal hunters: not committed clients who muck you about & spoil the vibe… plus make you feel like a bin
The more sinister side of this marketing tactic is the fact that it often attracts the “Groupon Crowd” - the type of people who are only in it for a deal, who don’t care about you, what you do. They only care about what is in it for them.
I once taught at a Hot Yoga Studio who trialled marketing via Groupon - it was a silly cheap deal that essentially worked out at paying for 1 class and getting 3 free - and ALL of their complaints for months were from the Groupon Students. AND all of the complaints from members were about the conduct of Groupon Students. I also have had this myself - once! Even the tactics I’m suggesting aren’t immune to this, there’s always one. I had a client sign up for a New Student Offer (A month of classes for £30) and she was consistently disruptive, significantly late, rude, and argued about things like not using all her classes within the valid period of her pass.
My point is, these aren’t the kind of people you are going to love teaching and holding space for.
They are just there to cause you stress and headaches and you might end up seeing their name on your register and dreading what they’re going to do in that class. That’s not conducive to a good class experience for everyone else who actually wants to be there.
So, if you can avoid them as much as possible by marketing yourself strategically - then it’s well worth it.
The damage to the profession and drive of commodification
A more nuanced point is the damage giving classes away does to the profession, and it’s perception through a holistic, wider lens. Imagine you’re teaching part-time, have a corporate job that supports you and you’re teaching a class or two a week for your enjoyment. Imagine there are teachers in your town or city who teach yoga as their full-time job. They rely on their classes for their salary. You rock up, start giving classes away for free. Some of their students start coming to you because it’s free, then mega cheap. What damage does that do to that full-time teacher? Understanding this impact is yoga in action.
When the value of something is driven down to a point where there is little or no perceived value like this it is called commodification. It is a real threat and trend in the yoga industry post hot-yoga boom (I can see Reformer Pilates going the exact same way in 2-3 years - that’s also another topic for another day.)
If you look at studio teaching fees you can see this in action. The fee has been around £25 for an hour class for in excess of a decade, yet the cost of living has ramped up exponentially. Yes, some of that is driven by business rates, landlords etc making it expensive to own a space - but the trend across the industry is there.
Basically, the more we undertake actions that undercut and devalue like deep discounting - no matter how well meaning we are - or sometimes, through desperation and coming from a place of scarcity, the larger the damage to the value of yoga teaching as a craft and art on a wider level.
Is there ever a time when giving a class for free would be a good idea?
There are two exceptions where I think it is okay to teach a class for free.
That is if you are looking to get real, in-class shots for marketing purposes, like to build a website that truly shows the diverse classes and environment you teach in. Then that is okay and actually, a fantastic idea particularly if your audience can be a little bit nervous about trying new things, have injuries or conditions they may be managing.
However, you must explain what that session is for, where the images will be used and how, get advanced consent as well as consent on the day.
The second exception is if it is a class funded by a charity or group that is free at point of access. In that case, I would have a note similar to “Spaces in this class are funded by XYZ organisation and this covers teacher’s wage, and costs”. This clarifies it isn’t free, the spaces are being paid for by a third party.
What you could do instead of giving your classes away:
A discounted class pass
You could offer access to a block of classes with a reduced cost. This could be as a discount off a class pass for a set period or a discount off a first month of membership, either works and I have had clients have success with both options.
When I used to have my yoga business I did a reduction off a membership when they used a specific code at the checkout - this allowed me to track who was new easily. I then automatically added them into my “new student” workflow giving them handy info up front; like a what3words reference, car park notes, what to bring and also follow up with them during that first month encouraging feedback and reviews.
A beginners/new-to-me course
This is another option you could run with that could have some additional resources, such as: short at home videos, a workbook, a journal or a novel format like part class and part fundamentals workshop designed at an attractive price point. Then, you can turn that slot into a regular class.
Why these options work for marketing a yoga business:
Diving into a bit more buyer behaviour and psychology, there’s really good reasons why these type of marketing tactics have higher conversion than just giving free access:
Skin in the game & commitment
Offering a pass discount or a beginners course creates an opportunity for follow through. There is a commitment (both financially and time wise). There might also be logistical considerations for the person coming to the class, like when they’re eating, what time they’re leaving work, who has the kids/dog etc. Their decision and action is purposeful and considered. All of that means they’ve made a decision, and followed through so they are ultimately invested in the outcome and their participation. Therefore, they’re going to be receptive to what you’re saying, participate fully and want to be in the space i.e. the type of client you really want to teach.
repetition, familiarity & getting over the “new” thing scaries
A repeating space and time for this commitment is also key for forming habits and routines.
A lot of these clients might even be totally new to movement or yoga; so there is a learning curve. Many adults struggle with being beginners and not immediately being amazing at something, often because we get out of the habit of learning, exploration and find not knowing what we are doing embarrassing. (Often, this feeling can be the thing that actually stops people starting something they want to do - so, the more approachable and friendly our marketing feels - the better.)
Anecdotally, yoga attracts a lot of high achievers and type A personalities who’ve maybe never been bad at anything or struggle with the fact that the practice just is, it’s not good or bad.
So, the repetition of a space for a period of time going over the basics and having space to build familiarity is critical to them getting over the OMG it’s new = terrifying! feelings and thoughts.
It allows you to actually teach and support those people through that process and them see that expertise and be fully supported as they dip their toes in and start to see some benefits.
One-off discounts tend to result in people bouncing in once, not having a clue what is going on - then deciding they don’t like it because it’s new, and naffing off again; which doesn’t really help them.
So there you have it - no, I don’t think giving classes away for free is the most successful incentive you could offer to attract more new clients in to your yoga or wellness business.
If you’d like some support mapping out your services and building flow throughout your business then consider booking a business consultancy session with me.
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Jade is all about sharing her award-winning nearly 20 years of experience in Marketing & PR to help you do the best job of marketing and running your wellness business without losing your marbles.
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