Stop Selling Everything
The Paradox of Choice
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Jeffrey Pinkerton
My wife and I recently went to the Cheesecake Factory. I hadn't been in 20+ years, but she had a gift card... Neither of us wanted to cook on a Tuesday night, so we headed to the Mall of Georgia for some almost-free food. I had heard their menu was massive, but I wasn't ready for how massive. We actually sent the waiter away three times to give us more time to flip through endless pages of dinner options: pastas, pizzas, salads, sandwiches, seafood, steaks. With 100+ options, we were overwhelmed... a perfect example of the paradox of choice. And, if your group fitness menu boasts 100+ different classes, you're guilty of the same.
Fewer Choices, Higher Quality: One of my favorite restaurants is a small bistro in the college town of Lexington, Virginia. We ate there while visiting our kids, often to celebrate a birthday or the end of a successful semester. They offer four appetizers, four salads and seven main courses. A total of 15 items on the menu, all great. The Cheesecake Factory, for comparison, offers 26 different appetizers alone, along with 50+ other items in the sandwich, burger and salad categories. Can the Cheesecake Factory cooks really excel at crafting hundreds of meals to cover Italian, Asian, American, Mexican and more? Honestly, no. I ordered carne asada steak that was nothing to write about. And, alas, here we are.
The Paradox of Choice: We tend to think that more options will attract more people. Or, in the case of group fitness, that more variety will attract more members, but psychology tells us otherwise. Too many choices can cause analysis paralysis and not only make the choice more difficult but can lead consumers to the worst choice of all: no choice. When presented with too many options for group fitness, like ten different formats for strength training, an overwhelmed member is more likely to choose none of them.
Psychologists Sheena Iyengar and Mark Lepper's 2000 study on the topic is simple (and sweet) proof that less is more. In one version of the experiment, at a local food market, they set up a table with six different types of jams. On a different day, they set up a table with 24 different types of jams. While the table with 24 options received more traffic, the people looking at fewer options were ten times more likely to make a purchase!
Market a Smaller Menu: Like the Cheesecake Factory, you may have fallen into the trap of trying to be everything to everyone. If you are guilty of marketing everything available at your facility, I encourage you to do your own experiment.
Instead of marketing all of the various equipment and all of the possible options for exercising at your facility, including "100+ classes per week!," instead, focus on marketing and onboarding to the small handful of experiences at your facility that provide the best experience, the best return (dollar value, lifetime value, retention), and if you have the data, have the highest close rate. These should be the experiences that you are known for and be the highlights of your marketing and your member onboarding. And, if your strength training program in group fitness, with the proven benefits of community, connection and moving to music, isn't near the top of that list, we need to talk.
The Final Course: I'll take my own advice. When I work out, I want Group Power, Group Ride and Group Centergy. And, when I dine out, I want a place with a smaller, more digestible (and delicious) menu. So, next time we have a Cheesecake Factory gift card - my wife is a school teacher and some parents are very generous, especially this time of year - we'll turn to what they are known for: a slice of cheesecake. (Right!?)
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Do you have a signature strength training workout at your facility – something amazing that suits most people's tastes? You don't need a big menu of services, but you need a digestible number of high-quality offerings, scheduled often and in a way that serves most members most of the time. At MOSSA, we can provide you with the workouts, the trainings, the marketing, and we'll even help you build your menu. Learn more here: mossa.net/mossa/about
