As a healthcare or fitness business owner, staying relevant and attracting new clients in a highly competitive marketplace can be a struggle at any time of year. You’ve already taken an important step by implementing clinic, class and client management software to make your business stand out to client and to give them easy access to booking your services – anywhere, anytime. But how do you get those clients to commit to your services?

It’s no shock that client loyalty is the backbone of almost every service-based business. Regardless of your service offering, you need to bring new clients to your appointments and classes and keep them coming back for more. You’ll want to offer new clients an attractive, easy-to-implement introductory offer. By combining a ‘hook’ such as an enticing offer with enhanced brand visibility and an exceptional client experience, you’ll have an effective way to land new clients at your healthcare or fitness business and retain them.

The last year has been a bit of a turbulent journey for healthcare and fitness businesses around the world, so we know that the prospect of reducing your service costs to attract new clients probably isn’t the most appealing thought. With this in mind, we have put together a quick example of a couple of intro offers that you could utilise to attract new clients without significantly damaging your revenue.

1. A multi-appointment package at a discounted rate

Keep in mind that a successful intro offer is designed to introduce clients to your business at a discounted price with the intent of creating an engaging experience that will help them see the value of returning at full price.

Offer more than one appointment: For most clients, establishing a relationship with a practitioner or instructor and developing a sense of connection to a business requires more than one visit. To keep your new clients coming back, create a package that offers multiple sessions at a slightly reduced rate. For example, if your intro package includes four physiotherapy appointments, you’ll have four opportunities to build a strong relationship with that client and, ultimately, win them over.

Include a frequency recommendation: Your offer should include a clear suggestion for how often clients should visit for optimal results. For example, if you determine that a client will require weekly visits, they’ll have a better idea of the value of a four-session Physiotherapy package. You could break the cost down to a weekly price to highlight the value on a weekly basis.

Have a clear expiration date: The sooner you’re able to book an appointment with a new client, the better. And the more frequently you’re able to see them, the better chance you’ll have of retaining them. This demonstrates the abilities of your staff to nurture relationships and allows clients to see the results and the value of your services. So, if you’re recommending a physiotherapy session or Pilates class every week, have a four-booking package that expires 5 weeks from the date of purchase.

2. The “price is right” package

The key to a successful intro offer is to remove the pricing barrier that may have previously kept new clients from visiting your business. But since the goal is to retain new clients who are interested and willing to come back at full price, you’ll also want to ensure the entry price isn’t too low.

While the location of your clinic or studio, its nearby competitors, business reputation, and other factors all play a role in determining the price of your intro offer, here are a few guidelines to consider:

Offer a discount that feels significant for clients but still allows you to turn a profit: Removing the pricing barrier for new clients means offering an enticing deal. A multi-appointment package, for example, should show value by featuring services at a price that’s lower than the cost of the same service priced independently—but not so much lower that the customer won’t be willing to return at full price. Ideally, you’ll want to reduce the price of services included in an intro offer by no more than 25%.

Don’t price too cheaply or offer the entire visit for free: Since your end goal is to bring in new clients who are also interested in your full-priced services—not just your intro offer—avoid pricing too low or giving services away for free. While cheap and free may entice more customers into your clinic or studio, chances are most of them will be unqualified leads, resulting in low conversion and damaging your retention rates. Additionally, if you are giving it away free there is no onus on the client to turn up, resulting in higher DNAs.

Avoid having too many options: While TM3 can easily facilitate the creation and management of multiple packages, subscriptions and promotions, make sure you don’t have too many intro offers in place at once. This can create confusion and indecisiveness for customers, which ultimately results in lost sales. Instead, create just one intro offer per service category offered by your clinic or studio.

3. Add value to a service and transition clients to other services

Do your clients come for one service and remain clients of that service or do they transition across all your service offering?

By funnelling clients through different services, you’ll increase your client retention figures and improve the lifetime value of a client. Why not gift your new client who came in for a Physiotherapy appointment with an additional service such as a free pass to one of your classes? By giving them a free try at another service, you’ll increase satisfaction and turn those clients to advocates – they might even invite their friends along to your classes in future!

Create packages that consist of various services to enable a full-body approach to health and wellness such as three Physiotherapy appointments, four Pilates classes and a Nutritional consultation.

Bringing packages, offers and subscriptions to life with TM3 Connect

TM3 Connect is designed with your clients in mind. Enabling clients to find, book and pay for your services via a branded bookings site, client portal and bookings app.

With Connect, you’ll be able to create packages, bundles and subscription options that can be purchased and tracked, all with fully-customisable contents. Packages can be capped, time limited and give you and your clients flexibility and convenience while improving cashflow and client predictability.

To learn more about packages, subscriptions and offers on TM3. Click here to arrange a demo and discover the benefits to your business, or click here for a bespoke quote.