What yoga and Pilates studios should be tracking (and what you can ignore)
If you run a yoga or Pilates studio, you’ve probably heard you “should be tracking your numbers.”
That advice can easily feel overwhelming. Suddenly you’re thinking spreadsheets, KPIs, dashboards — all the things that take you away from teaching, curating space and holding community.
In my experience, as a studio owner for 9 years….You don’t need to track everything.
But you do need a small set of meaningful numbers that actually help you make better decisions — not add stress.
This guide walks you through some ideas of things you might find it worthwhile to track in a yoga or Pilates studio, and what you can safely stop worrying about.
First, a mindset shift
Tracking is not about judgment or pressure.
It is simply about information that helps you understand what’s happening rather than guessing.
A number doesn’t make you a good studio owner.
A number doesn’t make you a bad one.
It just shows you what’s going on so you can respond with clarity.
The core question your metrics should answer
Every metric you track should help you answer at least one of these:
Is the studio financially sustainable?
Are our classes working?
Are people staying?
Is our marketing doing its job?
Is the business getting easier or harder to run?
If a number doesn’t answer one of those, it probably doesn’t need your energy.
1. Financial sustainability
You don’t need complicated accounting to understand whether your studio is healthy.
Useful numbers
Monthly revenue (but remember this is going to fluctuate…. this is normal)
Revenue by stream (classes, privates, workshops, memberships, retreats etc)
Average revenue per class
Profit after costs
Your own take-home pay
Why this matters:
A studio that’s full but not paying its costs isn’t healthy. Turnover isn’t the whole story — profit is.
2. Class attendance and capacity
This is about understanding how well your timetable serves your community.
Useful numbers
Average class attendance
Percentage of class capacity filled
Waitlists
Under-filled classes over time
Why this matters:
This helps you refine your schedule rather than guessing. A class doesn’t have to be full to be successful — but it needs to make sense financially and energetically.
3. Client retention
Retention is one of the most important studio numbers and often the most overlooked.
Useful numbers
Month-to-month retention
Membership renewal rate
Average customer lifespan
Drop-off after intro offers
Why this matters:
It’s almost always cheaper to keep an existing student than to attract a new one. High retention often reflects quality teaching, community connection and clear communication.
4. New client flow
You still need fresh people coming in so the community feels alive and the pipeline stays healthy.
Useful numbers
New clients per month
Conversion from intro offers to regular attendance
Referral bookings
Enquiries turned into bookings
Why this matters:
If many people try the studio but don’t return, that’s not a marketing problem alone — it’s feedback about experience, clarity and fit. If revenue slumps, one of the first places I look is where in your funnel do you have a leak. If people are enquiring but not going on to book, we can review what you are sending, if we aren’t getting the enquiries in the first place we look at SEO, Social, GBP, Flyers etc - top of funnel activities.
5. Marketing and visibility
This is where many studios either track nothing or focus on the wrong numbers, it’s less about likes and more about folk taking an active interest. If I do a post about class changes, I’m not expecting 100 likes, it’s a pretty boring functional post, but I might expect to see 20 profile visits and clicks through to our website, even if the post gets 3 likes.
Useful numbers
Website visits
Booking enquiries
Google search visibility for local terms
Google Business Profile interactions (calls, website clicks, direction requests)
Email list growth and engagement
Why this matters:
Marketing should lead to bookings, not just attention or likes. Local visibility that converts is far more useful than vanity metrics with no booking impact.
6. Client experience signals
Not everything important sits in a spreadsheet.
Useful signals
Reviews and ratings
Repeat bookings
Feedback (formal or informal)
Cancellation and no-show trends
How often clients recommend you
Why this matters:
Studios with strong client experience and community often outperform those chasing numbers without connection.
7. Team and sustainability
This matters if you work with guest teachers or contract instructors.
Useful numbers and signals
Teacher retention
Cover requests
Consistency in teaching schedule
How stressed or stretched you and your team feel
Why this matters:
A studio that looks good on paper but runs on burnout is fragile. Sustainable growth includes caring for people as much as profits.
What you can stop obsessing over
Many studio owners put energy into numbers that don’t actually help them make decisions.
You can usually worry less about:
Social media “likes” without context
Comparing your numbers to big studios or franchises
Daily data instead of monthly/yearly patterns
Growth percentages without context
Tracking everything because you think you should
More data does not automatically mean more clarity.
What “good” looks like
Now here’s where you can put some numbers in perspective.
While specific benchmarks for individual yoga and Pilates studios are not widely published, industry data shows the broader UK fitness sector grew its revenue by nearly nine percent year-on-year in 2024, and boutique fitness markets are forecast to continue expanding at mid-to-high single-digit rates. That suggests a year-on-year revenue increase of around five to ten percent is a healthy and realistic target for an established studio.”
This doesn’t mean every studio will or should chase double-digit growth every year. But it shows your 5–10 percent range is realistic and grounded in broader market trends, not wishful thinking.
Remember: flat revenue can still be a success if you’ve intentionally reduced hours, improved profitability, or made the business easier to run.
A simple way to start
If this all feels like a lot, keep it simple.
Pick:
One financial metric
One attendance metric
One retention metric
One marketing metric
Review them monthly.
Use them to make one small decision.
That is more powerful than tracking every number under the sun.
Final thought
Tracking the right numbers should make your studio feel more calm and confident to run — not more stressful.
When you know what is actually happening, you stop second-guessing and start leading your business with clarity and purpose.
If you would like help choosing the right numbers for your studio, setting up simple tracking, or understanding what your data is really telling you, that is exactly the kind of support I offer at Santosha Marketing.
