If you’re a gym or studio owner, you might have heard of Classpass as a tool to generate additional revenue for your gym.
But the question is, “How much can you make on Classpass as a gym owner?”
First things first, if you haven’t done so already, read our Classpass review, where I’ve already touched on this subject a bit.
Essentially, here’s how it works.
I’m a member of Classpass, I pay $99 for 60 credits per month. I can then use those credits to book classes around the world. Note that pricing and packages do vary per region, so you might see some slight variations in pricing.
On average, classes on Classpass average anywhere between 3-7 credits per class.
And if you’re wondering…
No, as a gym owner you cannot set how many credits your class costs.
My girlfriend, Mel Austria, a personal trainer in Maui has inquired about this with her small group classes.
Starting out – her classes cost a measly 1 credit per class.
And it isn’t quite clear how much a gym owner receives per credit, but from what we’ve seen (and from what other gym owners are reporting)… each credit nets a gym owner about $4.
Thus a class that costs 4 credits, where I see the majority of classes priced, the gym owner would receive $16.
In other words, a gym owner with a popular class could expect to make $16-20 per person that registers on ClassPass.
But let’s circle back to my girlfriend and her class. It started at a measly 1 credit. Though she’s inquired to ClassPass customer support about this change, they say it’s priced based on other similar classes, demand, timing, etc.
But we did find a way to up our pricing…
How to Set Your Prices as a Gym Owner on ClassPass
You can’t technically set how many credits you want to charge, but you can control for demand. The first thing she did was reduce the amount of openings available to ClassPass members from 10, down to 4.
This immediately had an impact, and we saw her class change from 1 credit, up to 2-3 per class.
The next thing she did was generate reviews, it took a bit of time as a new class, but eventually she got her first 10 reviews and that seemed to put her in the 3-4 credit per class range.
Depending on how popular ClassPass is in your area, getting a few new people in shouldn’t take too long.
Eventually, you’ll get to the point where you can bring people into your gym for right around the normal drop-in price. Certainly better than someone trying your free class / free trial… at least you get paid. You don’t pay a dime for marketing, and you could potentially convert them to a gym membership.
Long term, I do hope ClassPass does give gyms a little more flexibility on how much they want to charge, etc.
It seems like a lot of negative reviews from gym owners on ClassPass complain about that, and I would agree. As a ClassPass user, I do see where gyms are coming from. Some don’t like ClassPass because it cuts into membership, instead attracting people that drop-in to a few gyms around town. And then people in the class start talking about ClassPass, and that can present an situation where members might be swayed that way.
Think about it. $99 for 60 credits. With 60 credits you can book about 4 CrossFit classes a week at 5 credits a pop (though it would like average at about 4 depending on where).
That’s $99, where most CrossFit memberships are at least $150.
Plus you have the opportunity to book other things, such as Yoga, Cryo, heck even a massage.
Overall, it’s probably good for your average Yoga, or Spin Cycle studio – probably not so much if you run a gym where you regular membership is over $100/mo.
