How to Plan a Profitable Open Day for Your Pilates Studio

My 5 Top Tips for Running a Studio Open Day That Actually Converts

An Open Day, when it's planned well, is one of the best things you can do to bring new people into your studio. Think about it: there aren't many better ways to introduce someone to what you do than having them actually experience it. They get to feel the space, meet your teachers, and get the sense of' ‘Do I fit here? Can I see myself in this studio?’. In my opinion, a well-run Open Day will do more for you than any viral social media post you could write.

But there's a real difference between an Open Day that just… well… happens and an Open Day that converts. I know this because I've done both. The structured, strategic version outperformed the ad hoc one in every way: more reach, better conversion, and visitors that actually became committed clients over the long term.

Running an Open Day with good intentions but without a clear plan means the day feels busy and exciting, and then a month later you're looking at your bookings wondering what actually changed.

Here's what makes the difference.

1. Think about your capacity before anything else

Before you start thinking about promotion or offers, ask yourself an honest question: how many new clients can you realistically bring in right now while still giving them the kind of personalised, considered experience your studio is known for?

It's easy to get excited about an influx of new faces, but if you can't welcome them into the studio properly: if they feel rushed, or like they're just another number, you'll lose them just as quickly as you found them. Do you have the teacher capacity? The schedule space? The ability to give each new person a proper start?

Boutique means quality over volume. Your Open Day should reflect that from the very beginning.

2. Have one clear pathway — and know every step of it

An Open Day isn't just about exposure. It's about knowing exactly what you want visitors to do next, and making that next step feel obvious and easy to understand.

Before the event, make sure you have a compelling intro offer ready to go, an email sequence planned for both before and after the day, and a clear picture of how you're going to guide someone from the moment they walk through your door to the moment they become a committed client. If you're scrambling to figure this out after the event, the momentum will already be gone.

And when it comes to any special offers, make it clear they're time-limited. A deadline isn't pressure or salesy, its an honest portrayal of your capacity. If you only have a certain number of intro spots available, say so. Authentic scarcity is very compelling

3. Track everything — and follow up properly

The Open Day itself is only half the story. What happens in the days after is where the real conversion happens.

Keep a close eye on who has registered, who actually showed up, who took up your intro offer on the day, and who didn't.

Where did your registrations come from? From social media, an email, a client referral? and which channels brought in the most engaged visitors - knowing this will help you lean into the right channels for future events. Reflecting on what worked, and what didn’t means the next time you offer an Open Day, you’ll know what actually worked rather than simply guessing (or even worse, trying to remember what worked a year earlier!)

The follow-up is just as important as the day itself. Send a warm thank you within 24 hours. Remind people of the intro offer. Make it easy for them to book. Some people need a little more time to make a decision and a thoughtful nudge at the right moment is often all it takes. You know what it’s like: that email that reminds you before the window closes is often the one that converts the most.

An Open Day that isn't followed up properly is a missed opportunity. The interest is there, your job is just to keep the door open a little longer.

4. Brief your teachers properly

Your Open Day is a team effort, and the experience your visitors have will be shaped just as much by your teachers and staff as it is by the space itself. Make sure everyone who's involved on the day is clear on what you're offering, what the intro pathway looks like, and what conversations you want them to be having with the guests.

When your team feels prepared and purposeful, it shows. They move through the day with confidence, their interactions feel natural and the whole experience feels cohesive. When they haven't been briefed properly, the opposite happens: conversations feel awkward, messaging gets inconsistent, and the studio can come across as disorganised, even when it isn't.

5. Ask your clients for a referral

This one makes a lot of studio owners hesitate. Asking for referrals can feel like you're drawing on goodwill you haven't earned the right to use yet. But here's the thing: your clients are probably already talking about you. They know what Pilates has done for them, and chances are they have someone in their life who's dealing with the same thing they were when they first walked through your door.

Giving them a natural, easy way to extend an invitation isn't imposing on them, it's an opportunity. Most people genuinely want to see the businesses they love succeed, and being asked to share something they already value feels good.

When you've consistently shown up for your clients, cared about their progress, and delivered real results, they want to give something back. An Open Day gives them a way to do exactly that. And the clients who come in through a personal referral tend to be some of the best: they arrive already trusting you, because someone they trust already does.

The Open Day Blueprint - 4 week Group Coaching Program

If you've read through these five tips and found yourself thinking ‘I want to do this properly’ that's exactly what the Open Day Blueprint is designed for.

Starting April 1st, for 4 weeks, in a group coaching program, we’ll build your entire Open Day together, from the ground up. The capacity planning, the intro offer, the promotion timeline, the team briefing, the follow-up sequence, tracking spreadsheets, workbooks and resources: all of it, structured and done, so that when the day arrives you're leading it with confidence rather than hoping it comes together.

Most studio owners have the desire to run a great Open Day. What's usually missing is the structure to make it convert. That's what this program gives you.

If you're ready to treat your Open Day like the strategic asset it can be rather than just a nice day out for your community, this is where to start.

→ Join the Open Day Blueprint here

The next intake is kept intentionally small. If you're considering it, it's worth securing your place sooner rather than later. Starts April 1st!