If your price list came from the studio down the street, it came with that studio's rent, room and members, and none of them are yours. It probably came one price at a time, too, which is how a pack ends up costing a regular more than the membership, or an intro makes the real price feel like a trick.
Members read a price list as a ladder. Nobody weighs $139 on its own; she weighs the step between two rungs. So price the ladder, not the rung. Start from what a class costs you, set the steps, and check every change against the rungs beside it. Raising a price you already charge has its own arithmetic; this piece builds the ladder.
One invented studio runs through it: Alturra Studios, the house example from other notes on this site, with 240 members and Unlimited at $169 a month. Every price here is Alturra's, invented so the arithmetic is easy to follow, and none of it is a recommendation for yours.
Class pricing in one minute
- Start from the floor, not the street. Cost per class divided by the people you really expect in it is the least a visit can earn: $9.58 at Alturra.
- Price the steps. Each rung costs less per visit than the one above it, for more commitment, and the switch point shows when a pack holder is better off joining.
- Test on paper first. Size any change against what members pay now, and check the rungs on either side before anyone sees it.
| Product | Price | Per visit | Its job on the ladder |
|---|---|---|---|
| Drop-in | $32 | $32 | the anchor every other rung is a saving on |
| 5-pack · 60 days | $140 | $28 | a first step for the occasional visitor |
| 10-pack · 120 days | $260 | $26 | pays ahead; past 6.5 visits a month, she should join |
| 4 classes a month | $99 | $24.75 | about once a week |
| 8 classes a month | $139 | $17.38 | about twice a week |
| Unlimited | $169 | $14.08 at 12 | three or more a week; clears the floor up to 17 a month |
| Intro · 30 days | $99 | $12.38 at 8 | beside the ladder: a sample, priced to be tried |
What is the lowest price a class can carry?
What the class costs to run, divided by the number of people you really expect in it. That is the floor: the least a visit can earn before the class loses money.
Take the cost from the books, not the rate card: payroll plus rent for the last three closed months, divided by the classes you actually ran. Alturra's is $86,250 over 750 classes, or $115 a class; the instructor pay piece works the same sum line by line on another invented studio’s books. Then divide by your attended average, not the size of the room. Alturra averages 12 a class, so each visit must earn at least $9.58. Price for a full room and every ordinary weekday class runs under its floor, as reading fill slot by slot will show.
The floor covers the room and the people teaching in it, not marketing, software, card fees or insurance, the rest of the cost base, and it leaves no profit. Build above it; never charge it.
It also settles whether unlimited is too cheap: $169 divided by $9.58 is 17.6, so an Unlimited member clears the floor up to 17 classes a month. A few members above that are the cost of a good membership; a room full of them is a floor problem.
What to do this week:
- Take payroll and rent for the last three closed months from the books, and count the classes you ran.
- Divide: that is your cost per class.
- Divide by your attended average, not capacity: that is your floor.
- Divide your top membership price by the floor: that is how many classes a month it can carry.
How should drop-in, pack and membership prices relate?
Each rung should cost less per visit than the one above it, and ask for more commitment in return. The drop-in is barely for sale: at $32 its job is to be the price every other rung is a saving on.
The gaps matter more than the rungs. A member weighs the $40 between 4 classes a month and 8, not the $139, so changing one price moves the step on either side of it, which is where members decide. And each rung should be the cheapest way to come at its own pace: at 8 a month, Unlimited is $21.13 a visit against $17.38 on the 8-class plan, so it only pays from the ninth class.
Where is the switch point between a pack and a membership?
Divide the membership price by the pack's price per class. For Alturra, $169 ÷ $26 is 6.5: a 10-pack holder who comes seven or more times a month pays more than she would on Unlimited.
At eight a month she pays $208 on packs, $39 more than the membership, and telling her so is the most honest sales line a studio has, because it is on her side. The packs piece covers why pack holders belong in their own column, and the list this produces.
Treat the switch point as a design decision. At 12 a month almost nobody crosses and the pack becomes everyone's membership; at 3 you push occasional visitors into a commitment they will not use. Choose the pace at which a regular should be better off joining, then price the pack and the membership to cross there.
How many membership tiers should a studio have?
One for each rhythm your members actually keep, and no more. A tier is a promise about pace, and a member should see at a glance which one is hers.
Count how often your members came last month and look for the groups. Alturra's fall into three: about once a week, about twice a week, and three or more. So it sells 4 classes a month at $99, 8 at $139 and Unlimited at $169. A fourth would split a group that already fits, and matching each member to the tier that fits her pace is work enough with three.
Then price the tiers by what the next class costs, because that is how a member decides to step up. On 4 a month a fifth class is a $32 drop-in; stepping up to 8 costs $40, or $10 a class; stepping up to Unlimited costs $30 more, or $7.50 a class at 12 a month.
A step price can sit under the floor, and that is fine: the floor is an average across her month, and one more person in a class that runs anyway costs close to nothing. What matters is that each step makes the next class cheaper and the crossings come in order. If two land on the same number, one tier is the best deal for nobody.
Should class packs expire?
Yes, and the window should describe a pace, not set a trap. Ten classes in 120 days is built for two or three visits a month; ten in 60 days is for five, close to the point where she should be a member.
Set the window so its pace sits below your switch point. Alturra's 5-pack runs 60 days and its 10-pack 120, both built for 2.5 classes a month. A pack holder who speeds up to seven a month finishes in about six weeks and meets the membership conversation on the way, not at a deadline.
A shorter window is a penalty: a three-a-month customer on a 60-day 10-pack loses four classes, and is in no mood to buy the next pack. Check your pack terms and local rules on prepaid classes before you shorten one.
Where does the intro offer sit?
Beside the ladder, not on it. An intro is a sample of membership, priced to be tried, and its price has one job: to make the first real price feel like the next step rather than a different product.
Alturra's is $99 for 30 days unlimited. On day 31 she picks a rung: 4 classes a month for the same $99, 8 for $139, or Unlimited for $169.
Say both prices in one sentence. "$99 for your first month, then $169" is a conversation; "$29, then $169" teaches her a price she will never pay again. What the intro gives away, $8.25 a visit at 12 classes and under the floor, is part of what a member costs to win, and what one member is worth says how much that can be.
And never close an intro with a discount on the membership: on the price list it becomes a rung nobody designed, as the next section shows. Counting intro conversion honestly covers what to measure after day 31, and the four moments inside an intro what decides it before then.
How do you test a new price before members see it?
On paper, against what members actually pay today. Size the change, count how many members it can lose, and check the rungs on either side before anyone hears about it.
Start with what the ladder really is. Here is the Membership pricing panel on the Data board, on demo data set up with Alturra's three plans: plans ranked by the dues they bring in, what new members pay now beside the median member, and what a raise would add.
Here Unlimited brings in 73% of the dues, so that is where a change moves the most money. But read the second row: the 8-class plan lists at $139, its median member pays $139, and new members pay $129. Nobody decided that on paper. It is what a discount given at the desk to close intros looks like, already the price for 22 of the plan's 60 members: $220 a month, and growing. Fix what the ladder is before you change what it should be.
Then size the change. The +5% and +10% columns assume nobody leaves, and a printed price is rounder: on this demo, Unlimited at $179 adds $1,600 a month across 160 members. The break-even is members times the increase, divided by the new price: 160 × $10 ÷ $179 is 8.9, so eight can leave over it and it still comes out ahead. Some will step down a rung instead, which costs $40 a month rather than $179. The price increase piece covers the break-even in full, with the notice and the letter.
Last, re-run the ladder, because every change moves two steps:
| The check | Unlimited at $169 | At $179 |
|---|---|---|
| Switch point against the 10-pack | 6.5 visits a month | 6.9 visits a month |
| Step up from 8 a month | $30 | $40 |
| Classes 9 to 12, at 12 a month | $7.50 each | $10 each |
| A visit at 12 a month | $14.08 | $14.92 |
| Against the $9.58 floor | clears it | clears it |
The rise clears the floor and barely moves the switch point, but the classes after the eighth now cost $10 each, the same as the step below, so the ladder goes flat at the top. That may be the right call. Make it on paper, not by surprise.
What to do this week:
- Write your ladder down, with each rung's price per visit at the pace it is built for.
- Check the order: per-visit prices fall as commitment rises, the crossings come in order, and nothing sits under the floor.
- Compare what new members pay with the median on each plan, and where they differ, find out who decided it.
- For any change, put the added dues, the break-even and the steps it moves on one page before a member sees it.
Where this lives
The prices stay yours, in your booking platform; Xyzios keeps the numbers under them current. It works with Mindbody and is an approved Mariana Tek integration, and the platform stays your system of record. The Membership pricing panel on the Data board ranks your plans by the dues they bring in, shows what new members pay now against the median, and has +5% and +10% columns for the added dues. It never changes a price.
With QuickBooks Online connected, the Programming board shows an estimated cost per class, payroll plus rent over the classes run in the last three closed months, and one estimated break-even headcount per location, which each slot's attended average is compared against. The floor, switch points and steps here are your own arithmetic on top.
For the intro, the Sales Desk call sheet lists intro holders by urgency for someone on your team to call. If the studio switches on intro follow-ups, a note is also drafted for each intro offer ending this week. How intro follow-up works covers both. Nothing reaches a member until you tap approve, and approved messages send from your studio's own email.
Whatever you use, do the floor sum first. The two-minute studio check shows whether price is the lever to pull first, and the revenue leak calculator sizes what is slipping away before any price changes.