Amy and I are in Santa Monica, CA this week for the MINDBODY Bold convention. I knew I would have a bunch of downtime and did a search for classes near our hotel. Imagine my delight at discovering a SoulCycle just a few blocks away 🙂
We attended a sold out class there Sunday morning at 9:00. The Instructor's name was Heather P and it was very easy to see why people (primarily women 20-40 years old) are in love with these classes.
I also attended a second class (about 85% full) on Tuesday 10/14 with a different Instructor. Please keep in mind that what follows is my first hand experiences, based on taking two classes at the Santa Monica location.
It's all about the details.
The whole experience (registration, welcome, pre-class, the class, post class) had me understanding why they are so successful. SoulCycle is a well-oiled machine designed and scripted to deliver their product very efficiently. Their attention to detail is remarkable and IMO a large reason for their success is based on how well they appear to have refined (and execute) even very small details.
I've got a lot to tell you – I may end up breaking this into a few posts – so lets get started.
Registration
First time participants get a discount ($20 vs $34) and free ($3) shoe rental – but you can't sign up online if you want the deal– you need to call the studio directly. A very pleasant young lady answered the phone, asking me my questions (mine was; “who's class should I take?), took my information and smoothly asked for my credit card info to confirm my appointment.
So why do you force me to call? I'm on your website. You could easily provide a “first timers click here” button, but SoulCycle wants me to call them. WHY? I've been thinking about this question since last week. Probably overthinking it. They say the simplest explanation is typically the right one: SoulCycle wants to make a personal connection with their customers right from the beginning – before they ever set foot in their studio.
A nice touch – would that make sense for your studio?
After getting the recommendation to take Heather P's class, I was asked where I wanted to ride. I asked for two bikes near the front – they reserve the front row for regulars I think. This is important as these experienced riders tend to lead the class as Heather was off the bike for at least half the class.
After the call I received a series of emails; a CC receipt and a Welcome to SoulCycle email that included the image above.
Welcome to SoulCycle
Amy and I had a short walk from our hotel and I have to admit I was a little apprehensive about the experience I was about have. There were three, friendly, young people behind the counter. We introduced ourselves and one of the attendants found our names on a printed class attendance list. Next to each of our names was a purple check mark, indicating we were first time riders. Another nice touch – this list was given to the Instructor so she would know who's new and she made a point of greeting us before class started.
What else can we provide for you two? I had purposely left my bike shoes at home, preferring to try out their rental shoes. I gave her my shoe size and she quickly handed me a pair of generic road shoes with LOOK cleats. LOOK cleats? Not SPD's? That didn't make sense to me and I wasn't able to get any information about why LOOK instead of SPD. Amy's idea was that LOOK cleats maybe easier to get in & out of?
Key Studio Room Details
Arrow pointing out Instructor monitor speaker
By all appearances, the studio is exactly the right size for the 60 cycles they have. There isn't room for anything else! Each bike is set very close to the others in the row. The rearward end of the seat slider in front of me sits right below the end of my bike's handlebars. The back 4 rows are raised theater style.
Some people might not like how cramped this studio is. My initial reaction was just that; too many people squeezed into a small space. But by this time I was seeing how SoulCycle doesn't appear to do anything without a purpose. As I watched the others ride, it became obvious that the closeness (we're all part of the same tribe) was another part of the charm that is this brand + with each bike potentially bringing in $2,000 a week, I'd pack them in as well plus have a few hanging from the ceiling if I could find a way for a person to ride it!
Rubber flooring – what a relief to have something other than slippery polished stone or bamboo flooring to walk on wearing cycling shoes 🙂
Instructor monitor speaker – even though this is a small space, having a monitor speaker (so the Instructor hears & can adjust her mic/music ratio) is crucial for keeping your vocal cues intelligible along with loud music.
Those candles are electric – which was a bit disappointing. Here I kept hearing about the candles – maybe they are real at some of the other studios.
Two exits – a small thing but I've been frustrated in other studios trying to get in or out.
Ventilation – minimal and yet it never felt stuffy… nor did the mirrors fog up like I certain LifeTime club I'm aware of.
The SoulCycle Indoor Cycle
Amy wasn't crazy about the saddle and I didn't notice either way. About 70% of this class was standing so it really didn't matter.
I don't think you can buy enough for a full studio, but you can purchase the Indoor Cycles used at SoulCycle studios for use at home. These cycles are of their very own design and my understanding is that they're manufactured in the same factories that make other brands.
Conventional weighted flywheel with friction resistance. These things are very heavy bikes = solid and stable. The ride is very smooth and I found the resistance very progressive. There's no computer/console of any type and the only thing out of the ordinary are the cages that hold your weights. Every bike uses reversible LOOK/SPD pedals. There is no shoe basket option for using fitness shoes – an important detail as I'll explain in a moment.
I quickly found a setting that had me comfortable in and out of the saddle. Amy said she got close, but didn't feel completely right and she wasn't a fan of that sculpted saddle. I should note that we didn't identify ourselves as Instructors, but I was wearing Pearl bibs which obviously identifies me as someone with some level of bicycle experience. Although we were told at check-in that someone would be there to help set us up, no one did. There were three assistants in the room, so my assumption is that if we had looked clueless (or asked) someone would have been there to help.
Key Bike Details
As you can guess, you move around on the bike a lot in these classes vs. more cycling specific formats. The rock solid stability of the SoulCycle bike instills a lot of confidence in the rider that it isn't going anywhere. After the class I tried lifting one end and those things must be made out of cast iron they're so heavy. Every bike was spotless and appear to be very well maintained despite 60+ classes offered there each week.
If you're going to move around safely, it's important that your feet stay connected to the pedals. The LOOK cleats on my bike and SPD's on Amy's bike were adjusted quite tightly, requiring more rotational force than typical to release. You don't want your release settings too high on a road bike, but to me, tight = safe indoors.
Before taking this class, I had looked at shoe rentals as a convenience you offer to riders. Now I recognise that having a policy where everyone is securely clipped in would be a real safety enhancement. Shoe baskets (AKA Toe clips) may be more accommodating for new people, but they're truly a pain and could actually have potential safety issues when compared to cleated shoes:
Cleated shoes offer a very secure, positive engagement vs. shoe baskets that may or may not be fastened securely – or stay fastened if the strap isn't routed correctly through the capture mechanism.
Cleated shoes have better foot alignment – how your foot is positioned on the pedals can have a big effect on your knees. Don't believe me? Next time on the bike rotate your heals in and watch where your knees end up. Knee over pedal needs to be in two planes; fore/aft and side to side.
Cleated shoes control the position of the ball of your foot over the pedal spindle – this can vary wildly with different size feet in shoe baskets.
Cleated shoes have solid bottoms = much more comfortable when standing regardless of how much out of the saddle riding you do.
If your studio offers unconventional classes similar to SoulCycle, I see a policy of only allowing cleated shoes as a Best Practice to ensure your riders safety + at $3.00 a rental (your first class rental is free) it could be a nice source of additional revenue.
Display tracking of each rider's performance during an Indoor Cycling class is proving to be very motivating for the riders and profitable for the studio owners because those participants keep coming back.
Customer retention is hugely important to keeping your classes full. I hear over and over; “once you've shown me my performance, up on a screen and then on that email I get after class, I'm hooked. Why would I ever go back to that Big Box club, who doesn't show me anything?”
Jennifer Ashbrook is the owner of Inner Drive Cycling | Fitness Studio in Newtown Square, PA. Jennifer's studio features FreeMotion S11.9 indoor cycles that provide the performance data that drives the Spivi Display Training system she purchased to differentiate her studio, from other competing fitness clubs in her area.
Jennifer created this short video to help her prospective customers understand Spivi and how it adds to the “WOW” factor of her classes.
You can learn more about Jennifer and her studio by listening to our interview.
I forgot to talk about … It's common for guests to contact me, post interview, with a point or two that they felt should have been included, but weren't. Jennifer emailed me to add:
Hi John,
I just wanted to thank you for the chance to talk with you about Spivi this morning — I really enjoyed it! A couple of things I think maybe I should clarify about Spivi that I forgot to mention — when I explained how Spivi “normalizes” or handicaps riders, I indicated that they are normalized based on power output — and that’s a major part of the equation for bikes with power — but the system also takes into account cadence; it factors all of that together and “ranks” riders based on “Spivi Points” — which (as I understand it) factors in riders age, weight, gender, FTP (if know and power data is available), and cadence — perhaps other factors… The system can also pick up heart rate from ANT+ heart rate straps.
ICI/PRO is sponsoring a series of informational webinars, featuring industry experts from the leading companies in our industry. These live events will be invaluable for Studio Owners, managers and anyone planning a Indoor Cycling Studio.
Our first is entitled: Clients, new and old: How to keep them all engaged is scheduled for September 16th at 3:00 Pacific / 6:00 Eastern.
Clients, new and old: How to keep them all engaged
When it comes to attracting new clients, effective marketing is often the difference between surviving and thriving. Join us to learn how to develop a marketing plan that will bring new clients in all year long–and turn them into dedicated clients, too.
We’ll cover:
Strategies for every stage of client interaction, from the first visit to the first year and beyond
The numbers that matter when it comes to increasing your client base
Loyalty programs: how to create your own, and what to encourage your clients to do
Pre-registration is required and you can register here and we'll send you reminders so you don't miss the event.
We'll be recording this webinar and it will be available exclusively to everyone who's registered – so please register even if you can't make the live webinar.
Presented by Michael Goldsmith, Senior Regional Sales Manager at MINDBODY Online
Michael Goldsmith is one of two MINDBODY Senior Regional Sales Managers, leading a team of over 40. As a”recovering” attorney with thirty years of business experience, Michael relishes coming to work every day to help MINDBODY's fitness clients run their businesses more smoothly.
There's a lot of pressure on clubs and studios to upgrade to the latest technology… those basic, conventional bikes just don't cut it when there's a new competitor down the street.
So what does a struggling fitness studio do to come up with the cash (two grand or more per cycle) for a room full of the latest from Schwinn, Star Trac, Keiser or FreeMotion?
How about running an online fundraising campaign to raise the money? Could that ever work?
We will know next month when Ypsi Studio closes their indiegogo campaign on September 21st. They're running what they call SchWinning at Ypsi Studio. Owner Julia Collins is hoping to raise enough money to upgrade to new Schwinn AC Performance Indoor Cycles for her Ypsilanti, Michigan studio.
With clients looking to stay on track with the most up to date exercise equipment, Ypsi Studio owner Julia Collins has launched a Indiegogo campaign to help raise the money needed to upgrade the indoor-cycling bikes the studio is currently using.
“I’m a small-business person and I’ve been in this business for 10 years. Gradually over those 10 years I’ve expanded from a tiny one room place to a place with two floors and different classes and several employees,” Collins said. “Every time I was making profits, I was putting it right back into the business.”
However, those profits are not enough to upgrade the equipment for her customers.
Collins is hoping to raise $25,000 so the studio can purchase 13 new indoor-cycling bikes. Currently the studio has several bikes they’re using that are in good condition, but they’re nearly 10 years old.
According to the campaign website the bikes the studio is looking to purchase are comparable to bikes offered in other fitness studios in the area. They will not only allow the user to exercise, but also monitor RPM, calories burned, heart rate and how long you've been riding.
Didn't the author leave out the most important part? Power!
Good luck with this Julia! I've made a note to follow up with the results of her campaign. You can learn more and pledge your support here.
Two articles, about two different Indoor Cycling Studios, came across my desk today! The fun part for me was how they both featured ICI/PRO members who've hung out their shingle and pursued their dreams of a fitness business!
And Rev Up also takes advantage of technology to help people keep up with their workouts and fitness goals. Each bike has a mechanical device that calculates the amount of work a person does while exercising.
“One of the challenges has been, typically in spinning, is that people get on there for 45 minutes to an hour, and they get all hot and sweaty, and they guess how many calories they might have burned; they don’t really know,” Beane says. “With our system, they have a very accurate (record), as well as a way to track how many calories did you burn, how many watts did you produce. … Since that data all goes into your account, you can track over time, ‘How well am I doing? How am I progressing?’”
A screen shot of Jeff's online reservation page, from his great looking LiveEdit, website is above. By registering for a specific bike, the Performance IQ system knows who's – who in the class and then displays and records the rider's performance data in their user's account.
Jeff's studio is still very new. He'll probably appreciate learning how a bike reservation system has solved some problems at CBCycle Barn, from owner Karen Casler…
How CB CycleBarn Indoor Cycling Studio Used a Bike Reservation System to Cure ‘It's MY Bike Syndrome'
What are your customers saying about your site and the Stations app? (Live Edit's name for their reservation system)
Customers love booking their bikes! It has a trickle down effect of both customer and studio benefits. The Stations app allows me to give the customer what I feel is the most powerful customer service tool there is. The Stations app lets the customer know exactly what to expect!
Aside from knowing what to expect, another bonus is that by booking a bike online, customers are immediately escalated to VIP status. I like to use the analogy of flying American Airlines vs. Southwest Airlines. People are territorial about their space in any GroupX class. Before the Stations app, any territiorial Bike Vultures arrived early and hovered anxiously, waiting to stake claim to “their” bike.
Territory anxiety is now a thing of the past–but that’s something I expected when we added the Stations app. What I didn’t expect was that the Stations app would relax everyone! Some of the greatest feedback I’ve received is from the riders who had simply put up with the Bike Vultures because it’s been that way since the beginning of GroupX time. It never occurred to anyone (myself included) to complain about the “It’s MY Bike Syndrome” riders.
The very day the Stations app launched, the tension that we didn’t even previously acknowledge was instantly gone. Customers shared with me that they had felt so uncomfortable waiting for a class to start because of riders inflicted with IMBS. They had stories of being pushed, accidently hit with gym bags, and shoved aside in the stampede to stake claim to a bike. But that’s not all. Riders from the class before the IMBS stampede had also been made to feel uncomfortable. Their amazing hour of cardiotherapy zen was abruptly disrupted by hovering Bike Vultures before the first rider could wipe down the bike and gather their belongings.
VIP status … Check.
Bike Vulture Extinct … Check.
Performance IQ Compatibility … Check.
Knowing Exactly What To Expect … Check.
As a studio owner, how can it possibly get any better ?
How bout … Parking Lot Congestion Relieved … Check.
One of the most common issues for any dedicated indoor cycling studio is the parking lot crossover between classes. Because it is no longer necessary to arrive early to secure bike real estate (and trust me some people arrive as much as 30+ minutes early,) riders now show up 5 minutes or less before class starts. This allows the first class to make their exit and gives a lil’ breathing room for those coming in for the next class.
Priceless.
And there is one more box to check…
Competitive Advantage … Check.
At the moment, none of the big box gyms around our studio offer a Stations app reservation system. Using the Stations app makes reserving your class and showing up for class easy.
and hovered anxiously, waiting to stake claim to “their” bike.