Should Your Studio Offer Annual Memberships?

This counts toward the Retain pillar of your Fitune Health Score. A membership that renews once a year, instead of every month, locks in a client's commitment for longer and gives your studio more predictable revenue upfront. It's not the right fit for every client, but having the option available widens who you can convert into a long-term member.

Setting one up in Fitune

An annual plan is created the same way as any other membership, just priced and structured for a full year instead of a month.

1. Go to Memberships, then the Memberships tab.
2. Click +New Membership.
3. Choose Auto-renewing subscription if you want it to bill automatically once a year, or One-time payment if the client pays the full year upfront with no automatic renewal.
4. Set the price to reflect the full annual value.
5. Choose whether it applies to All classes or only Selected classes, the same as with any other plan.

See the full field-by-field walkthrough for creating a membership here.

Weighing it up

An annual plan isn't simply "a monthly plan, but bigger." It changes the shape of the decision for both sides.

What you gain:

• A client who commits for a year isn't re-deciding whether to stay every single month, so month-to-month churn risk drops for that client.
• More predictable cash flow, since a year of revenue lands closer to upfront instead of trickling in.
• Often a lower cost of acquisition per month of revenue, since you sell once instead of twelve times.
• It tends to attract your most committed clients, the ones least likely to leave anyway.

What it costs you:

• A bigger price point upfront is a bigger decision for the client, which can slow down or scare off someone who isn't sure yet that your studio is the right long-term fit.
• If the client pays upfront and asks to cancel early, you may face a refund conversation a monthly plan never creates.
• Once a client is locked into an annual rate, it's harder to upsell them mid-year, unless the plan is combined with credits or add-ons they can purchase separately.

Who tends to say yes to this

Not a brand-new lead, usually. A client who's already completed a few months on a monthly plan, or who asks directly about a longer-term discount, is a much easier sell for an annual plan than someone who's still deciding whether they like your studio at all. Save the annual pitch for the moment trust is already there.

Making the offer land

The clearest way to make an annual plan appealing is to frame the savings in terms the client already understands, rather than a plain percentage discount:

• "Pay for 10 months, get 12" or "save the equivalent of 2 months" — easy to compare against what they're already paying.
• Bundle in something tangible: a free assessment, a merchandise item, a set number of guest passes.
• If you're using promo codes to run this kind of offer, you can restrict a code so it only applies to a specific plan or a specific window of time — useful for a limited-time push instead of a permanent discount.

And when to run it

Timing matters more here than for a monthly plan, since you're asking for a bigger decision. In many markets, the start of the calendar year and the run-up to summer are the two windows when people are most open to a longer fitness commitment, and end-of-year promotional periods (Black Friday, where that's observed locally) are also common pushes. This varies a lot by region and by your own client base, though — treat it as a starting point to test, not a fixed rule.