Should You Post Your Martial Arts Class Schedule on Your Website?
February 5, 2009 by Ryan Wheaton
Filed under Online Marketing
Recently I received an email from a martial arts marketing association that claimed you will have a 34% drop in response by posting your martial arts school’s class schedule.
So, should you believe the hype or not?
In one of my posts Top 8 Pages Every Martial Arts School’s Website Should Have, I suggest you post your martial arts class schedule on your website and obviously think it’s a good idea. My take is that it can help prequalify prospects before they call you and is a good customer service feature.
However, not every thinks so.
There seems to be two sides on the issue:
- Show Your Schedule
Posting your schedule can be good customer service because people can pre-qualify themselves. Those that contact you will have one less thing getting in between getting them to sign up. It can also demonstrate the variety of classes you offer and how convenient your schedule is. - Don’t Show Your Schedule
By posting your martial arts class schedule, prospects might disqualify themselves even if they have the time and won’t come through the door. This approach gives prospects more reason to contact you to learn more about your program. One of our readers posted this comment:
I wouldn’t want someone to qualify a schedule on their own. I’ve had students who have adjust thier schedules to our academy because they understand how much our classes have done for them. If I put up the schedule online, they might have never come through the door. – T. Wong
I see both sides of the issue and think the best solution is to test both ideas and see for yourself it effects your response rate or not. This way, it removes the subjective and provides you with the facts for your martial arts school.
In my own experience, I see fewer responses on my website when I bury my schedule and take it out of the main navigation. My facts don’t match the 34% fewer responses claim I mentioned above. If I were to just take it as fact, it could actually hurt my business.
My advice? Test. Test. Test. As with anything, your results may vary.
What do you think? Post your schedule or not?
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I'm Ryan Wheaton. I'm a marketer, martial artist and martial arts school owner. My website 
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i see both points of view but i always as the new student what is a reasonable time they can train, if im open from 3-9 and they can come in at 1, i’ll come in at 1 to teach. some will say then they are getting private lessons for a non-private lesson rate. my master always taught me to go the extra mile for your students because you will benifit in the end. I also think you’re providing great serve and you might get more students with that referal.
I say… Show Your Schedule….
I have our schedule posted in two different sections on our website.
We have classes 6 days a week, with 8 classes for the beginning students to attend.
I believe this is a service that the consumers in the “Get it Now” world that we live in wants. “Instant Gratification.” This is not only good customer service, but a GREAT customer service.
I believe it set us apart as a profession organization by demonstrating the variety of classes we have to offer and how convenient our schedule is.
I guess if you have a limited schedule and you are providing lesson on a part time basis with only 2 classes a week then you should not post the schedule.
I believe in more is better.
51% of our students come from the internet… we must be doing something right.
Mr. Roger Boggs – Sensei
Providing Instruction/Lessons in Martial Arts, Self Defense, Judo and Karate, for Kids, Teens and Adults in the Cave Creek, Phoenix, Scottsdale and the entire north valley of Arizona since 1991.
Roger, great point about limited hours and posting your schedule however I would still recommend testing just to make sure. If you have a robust schedule it can definitely be a great selling and positioning tool for your school; especially if doing so ties into your unique selling proposition. Thanks for the comment.
I disagree respectfully. If you limt your class schedule and dictate the time of the class up front to the clients they will still join. The more scarce the class the more important they become to the student. Like football, basketball practice the coach tells you when to be there and you are there. Giving to many clasess will make you to availiable and lower your value. I know it seems weird but it is tried and tested at my school and the clasess have grown. It is ok to throw a makeup class once a week. Remember it is not about being availiable to your students all the time this lowers value and increases drop outs. There is other ways to build high value without you around at the drop of a dime.