In This Article We Are Going To Talk About How To Price Your Gyms Membership So You Make More Money And Grow Your Revenue Without Pricing Yourself Out The Market And Remaining Them Highest Value Gym In Town
So you’ve made the decision to open a gym and start charging people for access to group classes, the equipment you’ve made an investment in, and professional coaching. That’s a great step, but there are a few things you need to think about when it comes to pricing your membership packages.
How much should you charge in order to make a profit?
What will the demand be like at different price points?
And how do you remain perceived as a high-value option in town while still making good money?
These are all valid questions and ones that we can help you answer below.
Why You Need To Price Your Gym’s Membership Options Right
When it comes to pricing your gym’s membership, there are a few things you need to keep in mind.
First, you need to consider your costs. This includes things like your rent, utilities, staff salaries, and other operational expenses. You also need to think about how much money you want to make each month. Once you have a good understanding of your costs and desired profit, you can start to consider what price point will work for your gym.
It’s important to remember that not everyone is willing to pay the same price for a gym membership. Some people are more price-sensitive than others, this is why price positioning, understanding your model, and ultimately pricing based on logic (not feelings or hunches) is so important.
How To Generate Revenue For A Local Gym or Fitness Center
Ultimately, there are only 4 ways every business grows its revenue (there is no magical 5th way). They are:
- Get more paying customers
- Get them to pay more by increasing your prices, upsell, and ascension.
- Get them to pay more often
- Get them to increase the number of things they are paying for regularly
And separately, keeping them longer allows you to stack more revenue with each client as you do more of the above. Pricing is a critical part of this equation and needs to be calculate carefully because at scale a mistake here is the difference between being profitable as costs scale too and not making a profit.
Avoiding Horizontal Scaling
Gym owners that price incorrectly ultimately fall into the trap of scaling horizontally.
This means the revenue grows, but because there is not enough margin built in from inception the cost of growth begins to mount and you end up growing and doing a lot of work without actually making any more money. It’s most businesses’ worst nightmare.
Where many independently-owned group fitness gyms go wrong is by positioning themselves in the market as another player providing the same service and pricing their membership based on market and competitors.
They typically don’t know how to differentiate themselves in their marketing and get into a price war with existing players in the market. This is something here at Big Little Gym’s we work with our clients on to completely avoid by differentiating you and allowing you to sell from strength in your local market.
The Gym Membership Pricing Calculator
With this calculator, you’ll be able to input your desired capacity, total cost (overheads), profit, and owner salary into the equation so you can see exactly how much you need to charge per month in order to make your business work.
Not only that, but you’ll be able to see how demand changes at different price points and get a good idea of what the market is willing to pay for a gym membership.
This is all important information that will help you make an informed decision about pricing your memberships.
So if you’re ready to learn more about how to price your gym’s memberships so you make more money and grow your revenue without pricing yourself out of the market, click here for our gym membership pricing calculator.
If you have any questions about how to use the calculator or what the results mean, feel free to reach out to us and we’ll be happy to help. And remember, when it comes to pricing your gym’s memberships, the most important thing is to find a balance between what the market will bear and what you need to make a profit. With our calculator, you can find that sweet spot and start making more money while still providing a high-value service. So don’t wait, get started today!
How To Choose Gym Membership Prices For Your Fitness Business
Fitness membership costs can be customized according to a number of factors. Ultimately, the cost and value are very different. Factors Influencing the Cost of Membership. Even after having an impressive concept, which has been challenged with a complex challenge – to make it relevant to the current market – pricing your product can be difficult.
With a range of price plans from budget fitness facilities up to luxury boutique fitness, there are numerous possibilities you can choose from. The consumer wants more convenience for every aspect of life, so the pricing must meet this need.
6 Gym Membership Price Examples From Well-Known Brands
There’s no specific answer on the best fitness model prices. It basically depends on the niche and business model. Although some models can be ideal for a gym, some businesses might need different pricing structures to accommodate member demands. This list provides some good examples of membership rates that large chains have adopted.
CrossFit Affiliate Locations
The average monthly membership fee hovers around $150 per month nationally. Typically CrossFit locations do not adopt contracts but instead honor month-to-month agreements that are typically cancellable with 30-days advanced notice.
The average CrossFit Affiliate has around 80 members and makes around $40,000 per year with the top 10% being able to pay themselves $100,000 per year. If you manage your CrossFit gym well, you can turn a profit within your first year of operation.
If you can grow to 150 active members you are looking at a potential income of $40,000 to $100,000 per year for the ownership. Even though reaching these numbers and maintaining them takes determination and hard work, it is very doable.
Usage of members at CrossFit Affiliate locations is very high, with 70% percent of members attending 2 or more classes per week. The high usage makes scalability difficult compared to lower-usage models, which is why pricing has to be carefully considered as space becomes an issue once you figure out how to bring in and sign new members consistently.
With a monthly revenue of around $30,000, you will be able to offset your overheads and expenses, pay yourself a good salary, and still have profit left over to reinvest into your business.
Orange Theory Fitness
Orange Theory Fitness is a subscription-based model, where you sign up for a certain number of classes per month. If you miss a class, there is no make-up option; you just lose that session.
According to the company’s franchise disclosure document, the typical gross income of a successful franchise studio in operation for more than a year is over $1 million, and studios have an average of 751 active members paying anything from $59 to $159 each month. Orangetheory also places a great deal of importance on a solid presale of members and each location operates out of 3500 to 6000 square foot retail-style locations.
F45 Fitness
F45 Fitness locations have both a subscription and a pay-as-you-go model. You can either sign up for a recurring membership where members can expect to pay around $50 per week or $200 per month based on location or purchase packs of 10, 20, or 30 sessions, and each session can be used at any time.
An average F45 franchise needs a starting investment of approximately $315,000, which is far less than other franchise models. Franchisees produce an average location revenue of approximately $600,000 in Year 3; EBITDA margins greater than 30%; and outstanding cash-on-cash returns. A studio takes on average six months and 75 members to break even.
Equinox
They have three types of membership, with the monthly prices being $165, $185, and $215. The initiation fee is also different for all three memberships, costing $300, $500, and $700 respectively.
This is the boutique “globo-gym” experience, the investments made in their space and member experience are significant with Equinox gyms only existing in the nicest neighborhoods, with the highest earners, of “tier one” cities. They target upscale, urban executives who enjoy status.
Usage is moderate so they can sell some volume, having a membership at Equinox is positioned as “elite” and many will continue to pay despite moderate or low usage since being a member maintains a status most executives do not what to go without.
24 Hour Fitness
Their monthly membership starts at $29.99 per month, while their yearly membership starts at $26.99 per month. There’s also a $49.99 initiation fee for new members.
This is the everyman’s model of globo-gym, classic low prices, moderate experiences, some frills, but overall predicated on low usage since there is not an impetus placed on accountability or showing up.
Planet Fitness
Their monthly membership starts at $15, while their yearly membership starts at $12.99 per month. They don’t have an initiation fee for new members.
This is the “high-volume, low cost, low usage” model. You could call this the “Walmart model” of gym pricing and it is a business model predicated on incredibly low usage by the paying client and them paying out long term contracts as rates so low that the member assumes it’s not worth considering canceling because “one day I may use it again”.
The average planet fitness location can have 1,000’s of members with maybe 10,000 square feet of usable space. This model can only work if they purposefully drive down member usage. Quite the inverse of the average high-usage, progress-focused CrossFit gym for example.
Factors to Consider when Pricing your Gym Membership
Now that you’ve seen some examples of gym membership prices, it’s time to start thinking about what will work best for your fitness business. There are a few factors you should consider when setting your prices.
-The type of gym: Are you a budget gym, a luxury gym, or something in between? This will affect how much you can charge for memberships.
-The location of your gym: If you’re in a densely populated area, you’ll be able to charge more than if you’re in a rural area.
-The amenities your gym offers: If you have a lot of amenities, you’ll be able to charge more than if you have fewer amenities.
-The type of clientele you’re targeting: If you’re targeting high-end clients, you’ll be able to charge more than if you’re targeting budget-conscious clients.
Final Thoughts and Conclusions on Pricing Your Gym’s Membership Options
Once you’ve considered all of these factors, you can start to develop a pricing structure for your gym. If you need help, our gym membership pricing calculator can give you a good starting point. Just enter in some information about your gym and desired profit margins, and it’ll give you a price range to consider.
When you’re ready to start setting prices, it’s important to keep in mind that you don’t want to price yourself out of the market. It’s also important to make sure you’re not underpricing your memberships. If you charge too little, you won’t be able to make a profit. If you charge too much, you’ll price yourself out of the market and miss out on potential customers.
If you follow these guidelines, you’ll be able to find the perfect price for your gym’s memberships. With the right price in place, you can start growing your revenue and making more money for your business.
Try The Gym Membership Pricing Calculator
If you’re not sure where to start, our gym membership pricing calculator can help. Just enter in some information about your gym and desired profit margins, and it’ll give you a price range to consider.
Experiment with different prices until you find the perfect balance of affordability and profitability for your fitness business. With the right price in place, you can start growing your revenue and making more money for your business.
