Tips for Online Fitness Coaches Using Email Marketing

The COVID-19 pandemic hit us hard, and millions of people are still spending a lot of time at home. They’re unable to safely go back to the gyms or attend workout classes.

But that opens up a big opportunity for online fitness coaches and personal trainers. Health is of the utmost importance for those stuck on their couch, and you, as a fitness professional, want to help!

You have the know-how, you have the equipment, you’re logged into Zoom and ready to go—but how do you get clients to join you?

Well, email marketing is the online fitness coach’s best friend when it comes to class attendance and enrolling new members.

Here’s what you need to know.

Fitness Email Marketing: The Low-Down

Let’s say you’ve established the workout routines—you made them fun, engaging, and effective—and now it’s time to start looking for clients. Where do you start?

Ping your friends, family, and previous clients. Send them a quick message, let them know what you’re doing and if they’ll post something or tell their friends about it. That’s the basic approach, and it’s straightforward as hell.

But to really fill up your Zoom with paying clients who are enthusiastic about staying fit, you need to employ email marketing.

There are two steps to getting clients for your online fitness program:

1.       Add a newsletter function to your website and nurture potential leads

2.       And keep those leads happy and eager to return to your class

Nurturing Leads with Your Email Campaigns

Alright, you’re getting traffic to your website because you post banger content. Good workouts, recipes, health tips—the stuff people care about.

And after they read your amazingly perfect blog post/homepage, they sign up for your email newsletter expecting more exceptional content.

That’s where the real work starts. Email copywriting is a delicate affair: you have to strike the perfect balance of valuable info and a meaningful next step.

Establish a goal, whether that’s signing up for one of your free workout classes or a trial period of your product.

Push those people toward that goal, but make it seem like it’s their own idea. Tricky, right?

But once people start attending your free workout session, you can get a feel for how committed they are and follow up accordingly.

Follow-Up Emails

The follow-up email is the most important part of the whole process. Remind your prospects why they should pick you. Showcase your experience with helpful exercise tips, recipes, etc. All the stuff you have on your site.

And offer a discount. That’s your secret weapon.

Say you normally charge $59 a month for a few group workouts and a one-on-one coaching session. And that’s a generous price, all things considered. Your time is valuable.

Change your price. Like, now. Start charging something like $99 instead of $59 for the same package.

And then, when you go to discount it, you can still make profit. When people see a big intimidating number with a red slash through it and a ticking clock for a deal countdown, their brains say “Oh damn, that’s a steal” and bing bang boom, they’re registered.

The discount pricing email should only be sent once you’ve nurtured your leads enough that you’re fairly certain they’ll hop aboard. Hit them with the discount too soon, and they won’t be invested enough in your content to buy.

Keep the Relationship After the Buy

You don’t want to stop sending emails to your clients after they buy, that just makes them feel like they’ve been used. Don’t make them feel like just a number.

Dial back on how often you send them emails. A good way to do this is to segment your email lists. For a simple segmentation, break it down into clients and prospects. You can even use the same newsletter for both, but the client newsletter’s language should be tailored like the recipient is already enrolled in your classes, which they are. No need to sell them on a service they already pay for.

A monthly or biweekly newsletter is probably a good start for paying clients.

Oh, and reminder emails. You can set up automated emails to send to your class participants 24hrs, 12hrs, or 1hr before the class starts, reminding them to join. This helps with turnout and keeps your clients accountable.

Email Marketing is the Online Fitness Coach’s Best Friend.

I know what you’re thinking: “Dude, I don’t know how any of this email stuff works, it’ll take weeks to set this up.”

Don’t worry. There are people who dedicate their whole career to this stuff so you don’t have to. Hiring expert email copywriting services ensures that your emails are phrased just right, sent at the optimal times, and bring in leads like no tomorrow.

If you’re in the fitness industry and email marketing sounds like your jam, hit me up! I’d love to talk specifics with you!