A school owner in our MAW Circle asked a good question last week. Back-to-school season is coming, the 2-weeks-free offer has run a few times this year, and he's wondering if 1 month free is the better hook. That's the wrong question, and the right one will fix more than your offer.
The bigger worry underneath it: should the offer tie to a membership, or run as a no-commitment trial? Because free trials attract people who were never going to join... right?
Every school owner has asked some version of this. Most of them are asking the wrong question.
The best offer for a martial arts school is the one that produces the highest conversion rate in that school's market right now, ideally by A/B testing. No single offer wins in every market at every time. Test two offers, measure conversion at each funnel step, continue to monitor. An offer that pulls well today can pull worse in three months.
The best offer is the one that pulls better.
It may sound like I'm avoiding the question, but it's the answer. Nobody can tell you 2 weeks beats 30 days in all markets at all times, because across TONS of sites and years of testing, no offer wins everywhere forever. The only way to know is to test and watch your conversion rates.
I get asked "what's the best offer?" all the time. I can give you a starting point. I can't give you a permanent answer, because there isn't one. What pulls great in August may pull worse in October. That's why we watch conversion rates constantly and adjust.
Free offers typically outperform paid offers on websites by roughly 10 to 1. On Facebook and Meta ads, results vary by market, so test both. In direct mail such as ValPak, paid offers are the stronger starting point. Media type sets the starting choice; conversion data makes the final one.
Depends on the media, and there's real data here.
That's the starting point. Test from there.
No. Across tens of thousands of martial arts enrollments, free-trial prospects show up and enroll at the same rates as paid-trial prospects – if the sale is done correctly. What's more, taking payment before the first visit does not improve show rates. When free leads show up but fail to enroll, the cause is a weak offer-to-enrollment sales process, not bad lead quality.
The myth, in this owner's own words: "Free trials get us people who are only there for free classes and never intended to join."
If that were true, free offers would produce worse show rates and lower enrollment rates. In tens of thousands of enrollments, that has not been the case. Even taking payment BEFORE the person ever shows up doesn't improve show rates. (Darn. If it did, we'd collect money at the phone call.)
If your free leads show up and don't enroll, the problem isn't the offer. Your sales process is broken has room to improve. The free ones who show up are just as solid as the paid ones. You have to enroll them the same way.
A longer trial only makes closing harder for an undertrained salesperson, who treats a 30-day offer as different from a 2-week offer and closes it incorrectly. When conversion rates are equal, choose the shorter offer because it is psychologically easier on the person selling. When conversion rates differ, take the better-pulling offer and train the salesperson.
It may seem like I'm in conflict with myself here. I'm not.
If a staff member is weak at closing, a 30-day trial FEELS different from a 2-week trial, and they may try to close it incorrectly. Given identical conversion rates (say website visitors to lead), take the lower-commitment offer, only because it's psychologically easier on the person doing the sale.
But I would always take the better conversion rate over a weak salesperson... and train the salesperson. That's the fixable part. It isn't hard.
This is also a problem when, for example, a school does a live event and gets 150 appointments. They did that part right but fail when the staff member treats these offers (which could be different from your other media) differently.
All offers are closed the same way, regardless of structure or price: paid, free, one class, three weeks, 30 days, $47, or $99. Train staff to run the same enrollment conversation on any offer, including offers the school does not run. Owners who train this way stop fearing offer changes, because the close never changes.
Repeat after me: all offers are closed the same way.
In staff training we test this on purpose and make it fun. We hand our people offers like "4 free bananas and a free t-shirt," "15 days for $108.76," "5 days free"... and they close them. Because people walk in with other schools' offers, with coupons you've never seen, with who-knows-what. The offer changes. The close doesn't.
If your team can enroll a family on the banana offer, the 2-weeks-versus-30-days debate stops being scary. Train to be desensitized to the offer.
Pick one offer and run it: 2 weeks free plus a free uniform is the recommended starting point. Train staff to convert on any offer, including fun, silly practice offers used in roleplay. Track conversion at each funnel step (lead, appointment, show, lesson, enrollment, renewal) and let the data decide whether to change the offer.
On to practical matters. The goal is to maximize new high-quality members, which means every step of the chain has to work:
Lead to Enrollment only performs when each link converts. An offer debate can't fix a broken link further down the chain.
Here's what to do:
Replace "which offer closes better for me?" with "what can I improve in how I close?" The first question makes the offer responsible for results; the second makes you coachable (and more powerful – you can now enroll anyone). Schools that track conversion rates and train closing on every offer type outgrow schools that rotate offers hunting for an easier sale.
The wrong question: "Which offer closes better for me?"
The right question: "I'm closing better with the 2-week offer than the $47 offer... what can I improve?"
The first question makes the offer responsible for your results. The second one puts you back in charge of them.
Ask the second one. Let's get these guys started on the road to Black Belt and Beyond!