Membership type: Content library, Online course, Community
Built with: Squarespace + MemberSpace
Established: 2016
Jenni Rawlings provides yoga training via science-based classes and continuing teacher education.
Meet Jenni Rawlings, a yoga instructor using MemberSpace to share her knowledge with others. Through her membership, she grants access to an extensive content library of virtual yoga classes as well as various online courses, all carefully curated with her proven movement techniques.
Curious to know the secrets behind her thriving membership business? We put together an exclusive interview with Jenni, diving into her journey and the keys to her success!
Meet the owner
Jenni Rawlings is a yoga teacher with a focus on anatomy, biomechanics, and movement science.
Before launching her online resources, Jenni was teaching in-person classes at local yoga studios. Now, she offers a vast library of on-demand classes as well as courses for ongoing learning.
One key to my success has been giving my yoga teaching a specialized identity.
Membership Q & A
What is the pain point you solve for your customers?
I provide movement science-based yoga classes as well as continuing education for yoga teachers about anatomy, biomechanics, strength science, pain science, and more.
What were you doing before your membership business?
I taught yoga in person at local yoga studios.
What challenges did you have in the early stages of your business? How did you solve those challenges?
I started creating online yoga classes back in 2016. In the beginning, I was selling each class individually, but I quickly realized that this approach required quite a bit of work and energy because I’d have to announce and promote every class as it was ready on a one-by-one basis. In order to address this challenge, I waited until I’d created about 20 total classes, and then I packaged them all together into a monthly membership library. This meant that I could simply promote my yoga class collection as a whole, which was much easier!
Were there any keys to success, or big "a-ha!" moments that really elevated the growth of your business?
One key to my success has been giving my yoga teaching a specialized identity. The yoga world is huge, and there is a sea of online yoga classes from which to choose! I knew that if my yoga teaching style had a specific focus or specialization, this would help me stand out from the crowd. Movement science underlies the whole way I approach yoga, the body, and movement, so that’s the “brand identity” I decided to emphasize.
💡 Membership Tip
Establishing a unique brand identity is essential to stand out in your niche. Identify a distinctive aspect of your business and shine a spotlight on it!
Did you have a social media following or large email list before you started your membership? Which platform(s) was your audience on, and how did you initially grow your audience there?
Yes. When I first started my yoga membership, the main platforms I developed were my blog and my business Facebook Page (Jenni Rawlings Yoga). I initially grew my audience in these places by writing and posting about unique and surprising topics that appealed to yoga practitioners who specifically had an interest in the human body and movement. (Since that time, I’ve grown my audience on several other platforms, but the blog and Facebook page were the first main platforms I found success on.)
How do you market your membership and find new members?
My approach is to offer a lot of free and educational yoga content that is useful for people through social media, my blog, and my email list. Throughout this content, I pepper in mentions of my yoga class library and my Continuing Education membership for yoga teachers. My hope is for this “slow and steady” approach to build my membership over time.
💡 Membership Tip
Providing free valuable content builds trust with your audience and casually introduces them to your paid offerings.
Do you spend any money on paid advertisements?
Have you done anything to focus on retention and reduce canceled members?
A few years ago, I added a 7-day free trial to the beginning of my memberships. My hope is that this free trial period gives people a chance to feel out my membership offering and make sure it’s a good fit for them before they commit. This hopefully reduces the amount of cancelations I’d otherwise receive. I also enabled MemberSpace’s built-in cancelation options to offer an extended trial option and a discount coupon option for people who are about to cancel, and I’ve definitely had members take me up on these options!
💡 Membership Tip
Presenting cancelation alternatives like extended trials or discount codes encourages customer retention, often saving those who plan to cancel.
What are some of your favorite online tools for running your business?
Google Sheets, Canva, Typeform, Tidio
Do you have a team helping with your membership business?
Nope, just me!
What's your source of inspiration?
I don’t have a single source of inspiration. I mostly do my best to learn and optimize my business through experience and trial and error.
💡 Membership Tip
Feel free to explore new ideas and experiment with additional digital products; trial and error offers valuable feedback for growth. Remember, failure is actually an opportunity to improve your business!
If you could give your younger self any advice, what would it be?
Come up with creative ways to build my email list more quickly than I did in the very beginning. (For example, turn a blog post I’d already written into a PDF that I could use to tease a social media post and send to people for free through a simple email sign-up form. I do this quite a bit today and it’s been a great strategy. I just wish I had started doing it sooner!)
I don't have a single source of inspiration. I mostly do my best to learn and optimize my business through experience and trial and error.
What's next for your business?
I’ve done a lot of work on building my social media audience, but to maximize my reach and potential, I’d also like to put more attention on improving the SEO of my actual website. My hope is for Google to help with bringing leads to my offerings in addition to social media.
Membership Business Takeaways
- Discover a distinctive element within your business to set yourself apart from others in your niche. Establishing a unique brand identity can help influence customers to choose you over competitors.
- Providing valuable content to your audience at no cost helps to build trust in your brand and serves as a subtle introduction to your paid membership offerings.
- To help discourage customers from canceling, try providing cancelation alternatives like an extended trial or discount code. When a customer goes to cancel, they’ll be presented with an alternate solution.
- It’s okay to fail. In fact, it’s a natural part of growth. Experiment with new digital products or implement fresh ideas. Even if things don’t go as planned, you gain valuable lessons to shape your future business decisions.
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