7 Ways to Retain Clients as a Yoga Instructor

One of the keys to the success of any yoga business is client retention. There is often a lot of emphasis on finding and attracting clients, but there should be just as much effort put in to retain the clients that you have.

As a yoga teacher, in addition to being honest, transparent, and organized, there are several other things that you can do to keep your clients coming back. Try these seven tips to improve your client retention and build a successful business!

7 Tips to Help You Retain Yoga Clients

Being an honest, transparent, and organized yoga business owner is truly the foundation of attracting and maintaining clients. Once you have mastered that, the following seven ideas can help maintain your client base and keep them engaged.

1. Connect With Your Yoga Students

One of the most important things you can do to retain clients as a yoga instructor is to connect with your yoga students. Although it’s essential to maintain professional boundaries, you can get to know their names, fitness goals, and their limitations.

Be authentic and interested in each yoga student and use your emotional intelligence to guide your interactions. It may be helpful to consistently make yourself available before and after yoga class to get to know your students or address any issues or concerns they have.

2. Know How to Modify All Yoga Postures

As a yoga teacher, you will encounter clients of all different shapes, sizes, skills, and abilities. It’s important that you have the knowledge to help clients of all fitness levels modify their yoga practice. This includes modifications that make the yoga posture easier and, for more advanced students, ways to challenge themselves further.

Knowing your students well is one of the key components to doing this well. If you understand their injuries and skill levels, you can make sure to mention the appropriate modifications as you move through your yoga class.

3. Know Your New Yoga Students

Attending any type of fitness class for the first time can be nerve-racking. It’s important that you identify who and where your new yoga students are in every class so you can help them feel more welcome and comfortable.

The following list includes a few things to consider that can help your new yoga students feel more at ease:

• Visual aids: If you are able to, demonstrate the postures as you’re instructing. If you aren’t demonstrating the postures in the front of the class, it may be helpful to position new students behind a client with more practice. This provides a visual aid for new yoga students and can help them understand how to successfully get into each posture.

• Cueing: If you notice a new student needs to alter their yoga posture, you can provide appropriate cues to help new students modify their posture without calling them out individually.

• Appropriate touch: If you are moving around the room to help clients with their postures, make sure you ask permission before you put your hands on any of the students. Not every student will be comfortable with it, especially if they are new.

• Encourage students not to compare themselves to others: Although new students may watch others in an attempt to learn, it’s important they understand the goal of yoga is not to look like anyone else, do each posture perfectly, or even achieve a certain level of flexibility. Success is in the individual acceptance, body alignment, internal focus, breath, meditation, flow, and courage to show up and move through the class.

4. Have a Contest

Most people love a little challenge! You can engage your clients by setting up a monthly competition (against themselves). Set parameters that help them grow and encourage them to get out of their comfort zone. As you design the competition, consider your clientele and customize the competition to fit them.

There are many ways to create an effective contest. Here is one idea to get you started:

Create a list of tasks and offer a reward or discount to the students if they complete all of them by the end of the month. The following are a few examples:

• Attend yoga 20 out of the 30 days of the month

• Position yourself in the back of the room for your yoga practice

• Position yourself in the front of the room for your yoga practice

• Practice yoga at a different time of the day than you normally do

• Bring a friend to class

• Read one page from a yoga resource in the lobby

• Try a new type of yoga (if you have others available within the yoga studio)

5. Offer Other Services or Classes That Complement Yoga Practice

It’s common for yoga students to want to learn more or be interested in investing in other classes or services that support their fitness goals. If you can offer other options, it provides students a more valuable experience and can encourage them to stick around as a customer. Complimentary services to yoga are things like massage, nutrition, acupuncture, etc. You could also consider offering:

• Private yoga lessons where you help clients one-on-one.

• Group learning sessions where you break down each posture, allow time for questions throughout the class, and help students understand the benefits of each posture.

• Other types of yoga classes (Bikram, vinyasa, ashtanga, ariel, online, etc.).

6. Get Really Good at What You Do

Invest in yourself as a yoga teacher. Get the proper yoga teacher training, yoga certification, and education you need to do well. And, be committed to life-long learning. Many yoga students can sense whether or not you “know your stuff”. When you’re the expert, and you’re consistently providing reliable information, students will want to keep learning from you. The more value you can provide them, the more likely they are to stick with you!

7. Offer Loyalty Rewards, Promotions, or Discounts

Don’t forget about the loyal clients that are consistent in their practice and continue to support your yoga business. Consider providing some kind of gift or offer to thank current students for their loyalty. The following are a few examples:

• Discounted rates: Sell your yoga packages at a discounted rate for those that make long-term commitments to practicing at your yoga studio (larger yoga package = larger discount).

• Referrals rewards: Offer rewards or discounts for yoga students that refer a friend to your studio.

• Highlight transformations (with client approval): Highlight success stories from consistent yoga students on your website, social media, or the walls of the yoga studio.

The most important components of retention are your connection with your students and the value you provide them. And, if you get creative, have fun, and continue investing in yourself and your students, they are bound to stick with you long term.

Have you been thinking about becoming a yoga instructor? ISSA offers an incredible Certified Yoga Instructor course! You’ll learn proper yoga postures, how to lead a yoga class, and how to develop yoga programs for all ability levels. Check out the online course and get started with your new career as a yoga instructor!