How Retreats Can Mean Retention

Providing unique experiences to your customers is essential to retain them and grow your reputation within your local community. Differentiating your business through experiences like retreats allows customers to create a deep and lasting connection to your brand—a key to retaining clients long-term. On the fence about offering a retreat? Here are four reasons why hosting one can be a boost for your business—and a short list of ideas on how to get started.

Diversify your income

Retreats can generate substantial revenue for studios and give clients an experience they’ll remember for years to come. Plus, they'll always associate with your studio’s brand—a big win-win. Retreats can be lucrative; we’ve seen studios generate more than $10,000 in revenue with just one retreat.

Strengthen your connection

Clients attending the retreat develop a personal connection with your staff and with other retreat attendees, creating a community that extends beyond the studio. Retreats are an opportunity to immerse clients in an intimate setting that can be genuinely transformative.

Extend your reach

Most people don't go to retreats alone—your customers will bring friends and family on retreats, growing your audience and turning customers into brand evangelists. What’s more, retreat attendees go on to purchase more memberships, packages, private sessions, and workshop experiences from host studios. They return from retreats ready to continue their journey and make even more progress—with you.

Stand out from the crowd

Retreats are also a fantastic opportunity to generate buzz around your brand and to associate your studio with the fun and exoticism of travel. Who wouldn't be excited about a yoga class in the jungle or a beachside boot camp? Providing a unique offering like a retreat sets you apart from other local studios.

Ready to get started? Here’s how to steer toward success

• Before launching a retreat, find out what your clients are looking for. Consider price, destination, dates, and programming desires
• Use the retreat to reward your best instructors—a working vacation on the beach is a great bonus incentive
• Generate content surrounding the retreat including stunning photos, customer testimonials, and retreat recaps to create a fantastic newsletter and social media folder
• Host an info session paired with a free class to drum up interest for potential retreat goers to meet each other and ask questions
• Consider working with a travel business to handle the arrangements to be sure that everything runs smoothly and reduce the labor of creating and running a retreat