Workout Programme Pricing Models: How to Price Your Workout Programme

Setting up a successful workout programme involves careful planning and strategic pricing. This article will explore various pricing models used in the fitness industry to help you meet your revenue goals. Understanding these models is crucial, regardless of whether you’d like to make your first sale, break even, or drive profits. We will also consider the important factors and common costs associated with creating and distributing a workout programme.

Overview of Different Workout Programme Pricing Models

Your programme pricing is one of the most impactful variables for customers considering a purchase. Fortunately, you’ve got options! Let’s go through some popular pricing models for workout programmes.

One-time Fixed Cost

A fixed-base pricing model involves charging a set price for your workout programme. This model has the advantage of being easy for customers to understand. For example, the only decision customers need to make when being sold a 12-week programme costing a flat fee of $300 is whether they want the programme or not.

This pricing model has become less popular as many established programmes, such as P90x, have moved to a recurring revenue model. However, your customers will likely find the simplicity of a fixed-price model refreshing among the many programmes requiring monthly credit card charges. The MAPS programmes from Mind Pump Media are examples of successful programmes being sold using one-time fixed pricing.

Recurring Tiered Cost

Tiered pricing offers different levels of service at varying price points. For example, you could offer a basic plan at $50/month, a standard plan at $100/month, and a premium plan at $200/month. Each tier could provide increasing support, resources, and personalized coaching, allowing clients to choose a plan that fits their needs and budget.

Tiered pricing allows you to collect revenue more closely to your value delivery and overcome price objections. With fixed pricing, some customers will inevitably be willing to pay less or more than your fixed price. The customers willing to pay less won’t purchase, and those willing to pay more will likely take those extra dollars elsewhere.

An example of a successful program using the recurring tiered pricing model is Peleton. They offer different monthly subscriptions that provide varying levels of classes and access to data from your sessions.

Client-Dependent (Custom)

Custom pricing based on individual client goals and timeframes allows for personalized plans. This model caters to clients seeking tailored solutions, such as weight loss programmes or muscle gain regimens. This type of pricing has the advantage of being properly compensated for delivering the best possible service to the client.

Client-dependent programs can be more difficult to sell because the pricing is less structured, but they can be worth the extra effort if done well. You can find examples of personal trainers offering client-dependant pricing at most gyms in your area.

Driving Additional Sales With Offer Strategy

Once you have your base pricing strategy down, you can continue to experiment with methods to increase your revenue. This section covers several different strategies for boosting revenue.

Creating Urgency Through Limited Offers and Sales

Sometimes, all your potential clients need is a nudge in the purchasing direction. A common objection to purchasing is, “I can always buy it later.” Limited-time offers or discounts can create a sense of urgency, encouraging potential clients to sign up more quickly. For instance, a 20% discount for the first month or a special rate for the first ten clients can boost initial enrolments and create buzz around your programme.

Recapturing Revenue With Loyalty Offers

Existing customers have already purchased something from you, which makes them highly qualified leads for additional purchases. Loyalty offers reward previous customers with discounts or exclusive benefits. Offers could include a reduced rate after six months of continuous membership or access to special workout sessions. 

Loyalty programmes help retain clients and encourage long-term commitment. They also usually contribute more to your bottom line than new sales since acquiring new customers is generally more expensive than retaining existing ones.

Increasing Purchase Size by Cross-Selling/Upselling

Some of your customers would be interested in other products or services you offer. However, customers can’t purchase additional products or services they don’t know about. Cross-selling and upselling essentially tell your customers about these additional products and services, leading to further sales. 

For example, you might sell nutritional supplements, branded merchandise, or advanced coaching sessions. By providing value-added services, you can increase your revenue per client. Barbell Medicine does a great job of cross-selling by offering additional products such as apparel and supplements.

Important Factors to Consider

It’s easy to limit our thinking to the design and pricing of workout programmes. However, once you start selling your programme, you’ll have created a business around it. How to price your programme is only one piece of the business puzzle. Many other factors affect business health and how much revenue you get to keep.

Target Audiences

Your target audience is the demographic you’re trying to sell to. Understanding your target audience is essential. For instance, pricing strategies for students should differ from those for working professionals. Students might benefit from lower rates or flexible payment plans, while professionals might prefer premium packages with more features. 

You can design your programme and marketing with your target audience in mind. A close match between your offer and potential customers will allow you to convert more customers with a lower marketing spend.

Profit Margins

A profit margin is the percentage of your revenue you keep after costs (which we cover in the next section). Accurately calculating your profit margin is important because it indicates your business’s health. For example, a negative profit margin means your business is losing money and is likely unsustainable. Meanwhile, a positive profit margin indicates that your business is sustainable since more money is flowing in than out. 

Revenue Goals

Just like in workout programmes, you should set clear, measurable goals for your business’s revenue. Whether aiming to cover initial costs or generate a specific profit margin, your pricing model should align with these objectives. Once you set goals, you can create a plan to meet them.

Competitors

Fitness affects every person worldwide, whether they know it or not. We’re not the only ones who realize this; you’ll have competitors who are also trying to serve your target audience. By understanding the competitive landscape and where you fit within it, you can tailor your programme to differentiate or include elements that work for competitors. Competitive factors to analyze include pricing strategies, marketing, and programme structure. 

Typical Costs When Selling Your Programme

Costs are an unfortunate reality in any business, and selling workout programmes is no exception. Let’s explore some typical costs that you can consider when determining your profit margin.

Your Time

Business owners often forget to value and account for their own time. Especially in the early stages, you’ll likely be spending significant amounts of time getting things done that you don’t yet have the cash flow to hire out. 

Your time is worth something; if you weren’t building your business, you could be doing something else to earn money directly from your time. Consider tracking your time at a valuation of whatever your best alternative is. For example, you might be able to get a job as a personal trainer instead at $25 per hour (or whatever wage your local market supports).

Payment Processing

People from all over the world could buy your programme, which means you won’t be able to take physical payments from them. Your best alternative is usually credit card payments since they allow people to pay with their local currency in a way they’re familiar with. Many payment processors will facilitate your payments for a fee, usually between 2.9% and 3.5%. We like Stripe so much that we decided to integrate Memberstack with it.

Technology

Technology is a great tool that improves your customer experience and business efficiency. Software is able to create automated, consistent experiences for your clients and scales better than manual delivery as your business grows. More recently, low-code tools such as Webflow give you access to the power of software without having to write a line of code.

There are simply too many different technologies to provide an exhaustive list here. Let’s cover our recommended technology that you can use to get started today instead.

The Memberstack Workout Programme Template as a Low-Cost Option

We created a template specifically to help you sell your workout programme. It’s built on top of Webflow and Memberstack, which we created to facilitate user signups and management on Webflow sites. The template helps you make decisions about all the technologies related to selling your programme.

Webflow CMS Plan

Webflow’s CMS plan is the minimum plan level required to run the template. The CMS plan includes features related to managing and publishing the content included in your workout programme. The CMS plan costs $29 per month, billed monthly or $23 per month, billed yearly.

Memberstack Membership

A Memberstack membership is required to manage your customer base’s accounts and also takes care of payments for you. Memberstack memberships start at $29 per month, billed monthly or $25 per month, billed yearly. Initial costs for the membership are easily covered by savings in the template price, which drops from $134 to $68 with a membership.

Vidzflow

Vidzflow is our recommended video hosting service that will allow you to serve high quality videos to your customers. You can get started on the free tier.

Mailchimp

Mailchimp is an email and newsletter delivery service that you’ll use to keep in touch with leads and customers. It has a generous free tier that covers up to 1000 monthly email sends.

What's Next?

For more insights on growing your workout programme, check out our blog on growing your workout programme. If you’re just starting out and need some more direction, we published a guide on how to build your workout programme.