How to turn regular clients into members

Why regulars are worth a lower price

A client who books every week fills your calendar without advertising, knows the room and the rules, and needs less of your time. Money paid in advance also evens out your cash flow. Those savings are what you can share with them. The aim isn't to discount everyone, but to make committing a better deal than booking one session at a time.

1. Hour packs or monthly plans

The two common forms suit different clients:

• Hour pack: a number of hours paid once, used whenever the client wants until it expires. Good for clients who come often but irregularly (a band before a tour, a producer with projects in bursts). Simple to sell and nothing renews by itself.
• Monthly plan: a fixed monthly price with a set number of hours each period. Good for clients with a steady rhythm (a weekly podcast, a team's standing meeting). Predictable income for you, but it needs a way to subscribe, pay every month and cancel.
• You can offer both: a pack as the first step, a plan for those who come every week.

2. Price them against your hourly rate

Start from the hourly price and decide the discount you can afford. It has to stay well inside your margin, since members will mostly book the hours that would otherwise sell best. As a hypothetical example: at €40 an hour, a 10-hour pack for €340 is €34 an hour, 15 % off. A monthly plan of 8 hours for €280 is €35 an hour, a little less discount in exchange for no upfront lump sum.

Keep the steps clear: the bigger the commitment, the lower the hourly price, but never so low that a member's hour earns less than it costs you. Extras such as an engineer are usually charged on top of included hours, because they cost you the same either way.

3. Expiry and unused hours

Prepaid hours without an end date stay on your books for years and can all be called in at once. Give them a clear validity: a pack for a few months, plan hours for the billing period. Say it plainly before purchase and show clients how many hours they have left.

Hours that expire unused are money you have earned, but a member who regularly loses hours will leave. If you see that, suggest a smaller plan. Also decide how cancellations treat prepaid hours (the same as card payments is the simplest rule), and check local consumer rules on prepaid services and recurring payments before you sell them.

4. Benefits beyond price

A lower price isn't the only thing regulars value:

• Members-only rooms or times, for example a booth that only plan members can book, so it is free when they need it
• Booking further ahead than casual clients, or a standing weekly slot booked as a series
• Their own account with bookings, hours left and invoices in one place
• Being asked first about new rooms or equipment

5. Gift cards and codes to bring new people in

Your members' friends are the most likely new members. A gift card lets a client give studio time as a present, and it brings a new person through the door with money already paid. A discount code for a first booking or a first pack works for partners such as music schools or coworking spaces. Limit codes by number of uses and dates so they don't become your normal price.

6. Reviews and measuring it

Ask for a review after a session, once and briefly. Reviews from regulars tell newcomers what to expect, and your replies show that someone is listening.

Then check whether membership works, for example every quarter:

• How many members do you have, and how many of them are still active after a few months?
• Do members book more hours than before they joined, or the same hours for less money?
• How many included hours go unused?
• Who books most and isn't a member yet? They are your next offer.

Doing this in Ruumio

On Pro you can sell hour packs: a number of hours at a price, valid for the days you set from purchase and usable in the rooms you choose. On Standard and Pro you can sell monthly plans with hours per room for each billing period; members subscribe and pay through your own Stripe account, end or resume the plan themselves, and you can also assign a plan by hand. When a member books, plan hours are used first, then pack hours, and only the rest is charged; members see what's left in their account. A cancellation returns the policy's share of the hours, and a room can be bookable only by members whose plan includes it.

Gift cards (Pro) are bought on your website, the code is e-mailed and it can pay all or part of a booking for twelve months. Discount codes (Standard and Pro) take a percentage or an amount off bookings, plans or packs, with a limit on uses and dates. Reviews (Standard and Pro), once you turn them on, are requested by e-mail after a booking ends, published with your replies on your website. Reports (Standard and Pro) show plan hours used and the members who book most.

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