Flow Yoga Collective is a boutique studio in Burleigh Heads on the Gold Coast, offering yoga, Pilates, and meditation classes across two rooms. Co-founded by Sophie Marlowe and her business partner in 2021, the studio had grown to 320 members by mid-2025. On paper, the business looked healthy. In practice, the economics were not working.
The core problem was class utilisation. Flow ran 42 classes per week across both rooms, with an average capacity of 20 per class. That was 840 available spots per week. Average attendance was just 47% -- meaning 445 spots went unfilled every week. Some classes were consistently overbooked with waitlists of 10 or more, while others ran with as few as 3 attendees. The overbooked classes turned members away and created frustration. The under-attended classes cost the studio money in instructor wages and room heating with barely any revenue to show for it.
Waitlist management was entirely manual. The front desk team maintained a paper list for popular classes and called or texted members when spots opened. Response times were slow, spots were often filled informally by whoever happened to call first, and the process consumed roughly 6 hours per week of staff time.
Marketing was the other pain point. Sophie ran email campaigns through Mailchimp and social media through a mix of Instagram and Facebook, but she had no data on which members preferred which class types. Marketing messages were generic -- the same email went to the power yoga enthusiast and the gentle restorative yoga member. Open rates had fallen below 15%, and Sophie suspected most members were ignoring the emails entirely.
Sophie had the membership base to fill her classes. The problem was not demand in aggregate -- it was a mismatch between what was being offered, when it was offered, and how members were being guided to the right classes for them.
Sophie migrated Flow Yoga Collective to VERVE Pulse in September 2025, with a primary focus on three capabilities: class analytics, dynamic scheduling, and targeted marketing.
The class analytics dashboard was the starting point. Within two weeks of Pulse collecting booking and attendance data, Sophie had a clear picture of what was actually happening. The data revealed several surprises. Hot yoga at 6:00 AM on weekdays was consistently at 100% capacity with a waitlist -- but there was no second morning hot yoga option. A 7:30 PM Tuesday Pilates class had averaged 4 attendees for the past three months, yet it had been on the schedule for two years because it was a favourite of the instructor who taught it. Saturday morning classes were running at 95% capacity, but midday Saturday classes were nearly empty despite being scheduled at the same frequency.
Sophie used this data to rebuild the timetable. She replaced the underperforming Tuesday Pilates with a second hot yoga class in the morning. She dropped two midday Saturday classes and added a second Saturday morning session for the most popular class types. She introduced a Friday evening yin yoga class -- a format that member surveys (run through Pulse) identified as the most-requested addition. In total, she restructured 12 of the 42 weekly classes based entirely on member demand data.
The automated waitlist system replaced the paper lists entirely. When a class reached capacity, additional bookings were added to a digital waitlist. If someone cancelled, the first waitlisted member received an instant notification and had 3 hours to confirm before the spot moved to the next person. The system also tracked waitlist demand data over time, giving Sophie ongoing visibility into where demand exceeded supply.
Targeted marketing replaced the generic email blasts. Pulse segmented members by class type preference, attendance frequency, preferred days and times, and engagement level. Sophie created tailored campaigns: the power yoga segment received promotions for challenging workshops and new dynamic class formats. The restorative segment got invitations to meditation retreats and gentle flow series. Members who had not booked a class in 14 days received a personalised re-engagement message highlighting the specific class types they usually attended, with available times that matched their historical patterns.
The class pack optimisation feature helped Sophie restructure her pricing. Pulse's analytics showed that members who purchased 10-class packs attended 40% more frequently than pay-per-class members and had 60% higher retention rates. Sophie introduced a new pricing structure with incentives that nudged members toward larger packs, and Pulse automated the renewal reminders when packs were running low.
Seven months after implementing Pulse, the transformation in Flow Yoga Collective's operations was dramatic.
Average class attendance rose from 47% to 95% of capacity. The schedule restructure aligned supply with demand. Classes that had been running at 3-4 attendees were replaced with formats and times that members actually wanted. The remaining classes saw increased bookings because targeted marketing guided members to the right classes rather than leaving them to browse a schedule that did not match their preferences. Sophie now runs 38 classes per week (down from 42) with far higher utilisation and revenue per class.
Class pack revenue increased by 28%. The new pricing structure, combined with automated renewal reminders and upsell suggestions (from 10-packs to 20-packs at a better per-class rate), drove higher average transaction values. Members purchasing the larger packs reported feeling more committed to their practice, which in turn drove better attendance and retention. Total class pack revenue grew from $24,000/month to $30,700/month.
Marketing conversion improved by 40%. Targeted campaigns outperformed the generic blasts across every metric. Open rates jumped from 15% to 34%. Click-through rates doubled. Most importantly, the re-engagement campaigns for inactive members recovered an average of 18 bookings per week that would have otherwise been lost. Sophie attributed at least 25 retained memberships directly to the personalised outreach that Pulse automated.
Instructor utilisation improved by 30%. With fewer but better-attended classes, instructors taught more full rooms and fewer near-empty sessions. Sophie was able to reduce casual instructor hours by 15% while paying her core instructors more per class -- improving satisfaction and reducing turnover. Instructor NPS (measured through Pulse's internal survey feature) went from 62 to 78, with multiple instructors citing the improved class scheduling as the reason.
"The data showed us we were offering the wrong classes at the wrong times. We had been guessing for four years. Once we fixed the schedule based on actual member behaviour, everything changed. Our classes are full, our instructors are happy, and our revenue is up -- all because we finally listened to the data."-- Sophie Marlowe, Co-Founder, Flow Yoga Collective
The most effective approach is data-driven scheduling: analyse when your members actually attend, which class types they prefer, and where demand exceeds capacity. Many studios offer classes at times that were set years ago based on instructor availability rather than member demand. Pulse's class analytics dashboard shows attendance patterns by day, time, class type, and instructor, making it straightforward to optimise your schedule. Flow Yoga Collective used this data to restructure their timetable and saw average class attendance jump from 47% to 95% of capacity.
Yes. Pulse includes automated waitlist management for capacity-limited classes. When a class reaches capacity, additional bookings are added to the waitlist in order. If a member cancels, the first waitlisted member is automatically notified and given a configurable window to confirm their spot. The system also tracks waitlist demand data, which helps studio owners identify classes that should be expanded or duplicated due to consistent over-demand.
A healthy average class attendance rate for a boutique yoga or Pilates studio is 70-85% of capacity. Rates below 60% suggest the schedule does not align with member demand or marketing is not effectively promoting class bookings. Rates consistently above 90% indicate strong demand and potential revenue opportunity through waitlists, dynamic pricing, or adding additional class times. Flow Yoga Collective achieved 95% after optimising their schedule with Pulse analytics.
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