Trainerize Founder and Managing Director Sharad Mohan is one of Peloton’s 4.4 million members.

Peloton has taken the fitness industry by storm, and during the pandemic they’ve seen the expected bump in sales. Even more impressive, their retention rate has continued to hover in the mid-to-high 90s. They say that customers work out nine or ten times a month on average. How did they get these impressive results? What can you learn from Peloton that can be applied to your own fitness business?

The good news is there is a lot that is transferable between Peloton’s success and any other fitness program. Here is the Peloton story and what you can learn from it.

The Start of Peloton

Peloton was founded in 2012, but it didn’t take off until it introduced its first connected bike in 2014. The founder knew there was power in instructor-led workouts, but wanted to find a way to transfer that experience into users’ homes. To this day, Peloton execs credit their devices as the key to their business—despite the gear not being a requirement to their monthly membership.

They began with a Kickstarter, which built awareness and generated income on top of their Series A funding. Connected bikes landed in users’ homes beginning in 2014, and growth has been consistent ever since… with an obvious jump in 2020.

The company went public in September of 2019, raising $1.2 billion in its IPO. At that time, it had over 500,000 paying subscribers. As of December 2020, they boast 4.4 million customers.

What makes Peloton so successful and popular? The company creates very high client engagement (something we know a thing or two about!) by building relationships through fitness (also something that’s fairly familiar to us!). The ease-of-use is also a significant factor, and the high price of a Peloton bike (over $2,000, not including accessories) doesn’t seem to be stopping the appeal.

Member Engagement Through Trainer Personalities

The trainers at Peloton are far from a “generic cheerleader” getting you through a workout. They have distinct personalities, coaching styles, and even music preferences.

The company promotes the trainers as much as the product itself, holding meet-and-greets, and establishing social media profiles for the instructors where users can engage and build relationships.

In many cases, members are very, very loyal to their favorite instructor, and try to do every live class they offer.

Peloton Takeaway for Your Fitness Business

How can you use this to your advantage? Make sure you have personality as a personal trainer. No, you won’t be a fit for everyone, but you’ll be able to be fully yourself and you’ll attract powerful, loyal fans.

Competition Keeps Users Moving

Peloton allows you to follow other members so that you can keep up on their results, much like Fitbit and other apps. As a result, you can compete against friends, family, or even strangers. Knowing that other people are participating and doing what you’re doing is a powerful motivator.

Setting goals for yourself is one thing, but the group aspect is encouraging and motivating. Many people will work much harder than they thought they could just because other people are doing it too!

Peloton Takeaway for Your Fitness Business

How can you take advantage of competition in your fitness studio? If you teach group classes, you’re probably already utilizing the team mentality! However, even with individual programs, either in person or online, you can encourage your clients to share their progress! Choose a hashtag, start a Facebook group, or implement a progress board for group training programs, where clients can check off goals or share their accomplishments. As a result, they’ll not only feel more motivated, but they can also encourage each other directly.

Fitness tech brings training home

The biggest draw of a Peloton is that it allows you to receive live training in the comfort of your own home. Not having to drive, park, walk in, and then do it all in reverse is a major perk, especially in big cities. It’s not just about transit time, either—it’s about scheduling. With traditional training and class schedules, things have to be planned out in advance. But with Peloton, users can get a sweat in at a moment’s notice.

People love the idea that they can hop on a bike and go. If users aren’t in time for a live class, they can choose from hundreds of on-demand options. They always have access to their favorite instructors. Peloton’s use of fitness technology to simultaneously provide privacy and connection is setting the standard for the industry. With the unknowns of life, an at-home workout is priceless.

Peloton Takeaway for Your Fitness Business

If you want to be successful in the fitness industry, you can’t overlook using fitness technology to allow you to train people remotely in their own homes.

By using Trainerize, you can catch up to the curve. You can provide training, offer nutrition advice, collect payment, and communicate with clients, all within a single platform that’s branded to match your business. You don’t have to be a giant technology company to take advantage of fitness tech!

People are complex. They want to be comfortable and private at home, but they also want to feel like part of a group with a live instructor when they work out. Peloton has become massively successful because it has met both needs at once.

If you’re ready to have these kinds of results, let us help. Start a free trial today!