Ok so, I am wildly enthusiastic about Barry’s Bootcamp in this Medium post. Like maybe a bit too wildly enthusiastic… I guess this is what happens when you happen to come across an amazing product and receive the best product experience ever.
Also, disclaimer: I’m only a Barry’s die-hard fan. Nothing more. And I’m also writing this from Germany. I haven’t been to a single Barry’s class since I left the States. So most likely, a lot of things might have changed (class structures, class types, class offerings) — but I’m pretty sure that the experience is the same.
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A few months ago, I was chatting with a colleague on what makes a product unique. The normal (and typical) characteristics came up — targets the correct audience, tackles something meaningful, solves an actual problem, etc. I started to think though, what exactly makes a product stick? What is that glue that binds the user to the product? What creates that glue for me to want to stick around and keep using it? What’s been the best product that has created this glue for me?
When it came down to my favorite product, I looked at my colleague and blurted out,
“Barry’s Bootcamp changed my life and I will stay loyal to it forever!”
Barry’s is my holy-grail fitness thing out there. It’s created an ingenious end-to-end group fitness experience that has you feeling like you can conquer anything, both physically and mentally. It leaves you wanting to come back for more.
Speaking of, let’s talk retention: for Barry’s to thrive and grow, it’s more than just having customers sign up for a class; it’s for them to keep coming. So, retention is a huge deal for Barry’s, which is why they’ve focused on making the whole experience a big deal for the customer.
From purchasing and booking your spot, to going into the Red Room, to stepping out of the studio with your Fuel Bar smoothie in one hand and your heart in the other, the whole experience is set up for you in a way that makes you feel appreciated as a customer and as a human who just went through a really good fitness class.
Actively create a great product — and naturally create user loyalty.
In other words, Barry’s has figured out and cracked the code in winning the customer and retaining the customer.
Reward system — buying & booking your spot
With any popular group fitness classes, they encourage you to book your classes in advance since they naturally fill up super quickly. You don’t want to risk going in as a walk-in and possibly (most likely) being turned away from a fully booked class.
All is true above, but for Barry’s, it’s more than just a fully booked class. As a Barry’s customer, you’re prone to personalizing your classes to your favorite spot, specific instructor, that time slot. So once that 12pm slot hits, you know you’re in for the gold. There have been numerous times at 12:03 pm, all spots in Jeff’s 9am Sunday class in FiDi all filled up and I was put on the waitlist. IT IS A GUT-WRENCHING FEELING but it makes me competitive. ;)
It sounds cumbersome, but think about it — there’s a reward factor for this system and it works. Everyone knows that at 12pm on the DOT, all spots for their favorite class (1 week in advance) will open up and it’s fair game. It forms an active, competitive habit for customers to sign up with their specific preferences. And oh, how rewarding it feels that you got that specific time slot and instructor and prime spot where the fan blasts or you’re on the treadmill near the door so you can gtfo once class is over. Amazing.
Barry’s retention strategy: create active habits, or a ritual, even. It generates customer excitement and anticipation for their next class, and the next one, and the next one, making them feel like they’ve won tickets to a concert or such.
All the work is done for you
Depending on which spot you booked online, you know exactly what to do the moment you walk into the Red Room — either you’re going to be running or lifting in your first set and the other in the second. There aren’t multiple stations where people are doing different things, monitors you have to constantly watch and keep track of, all the while listening to your instructor and having to know what to do for your next set.
The only work you have to do is remember the number of your treadmill (or floor spot) and listen to what the instructor is telling you (or barking at you [out of complete love]) to do. That is it.
Listen and just do what they instruct you to do. They’re fitness professionals. They’ve studied this. They know what they’re doing and teaching. Each move following another is intentionally coordinated to make you train your body in the most effective ways possible.
Basically, once you’re in the Red Room, you can stop worrying about solving problems yourself and making decisions all the time — this is you-time, you deserve this, so just listen to what they tell you to do for your next set or interval and let them handle the work. And best of all — you get to see results for yourself.
We’re all in this together, dying
It’s true. That’s what I felt when I attended my first class. I kept jumping off that treadmill, trying to catch my breath and almost puking on the person next to me. I thought I was going to die — and I did die, but somehow I found myself coming back to die more.
But I also felt like I was dying together with the community. Getting through this together. Every instructor always begins the class with “Are you READY? Ok, GREAT! FIST BUMP YOUR NEIGHBOR AND LET’S GET THIS [redacted] STARTED!” And you can’t tell me that doesn’t pump you up.
There must be some sort of psychology behind the redness of the room and the club-like atmosphere in that room that emphasizes that we’re here to have fun together. And the mirrors everywhere. It’s like, when we begin to reach the climax of a song, you stare at yourself in the mirror and there’s something that happens when you see yourself about to sprint or go crazy in your next strength set. You tell yourself that you can do this — after all, the people to your left and to your right are all dying but they’re still doing this. We are all in this together!
They change your relationship with fitness and with your body
As any fitness class should, Barry’s teaches you how to work out your body, but it teaches you that you need to challenge it if you want to change it.
Barry’s emphasizes that as much as it’s a group fitness class and activity, it’s also honestly all about how you want to take that and use it to your advantage. You came into class to challenge yourself, because everyone in the world knows that Barry’s Bootcamp is not easy.
Fitness isn’t fun sometimes but it can be fun — and it’s not just about running or lifting or just doing. It’s a matter of mindset, and it begins with you.
I think the best quotes from the instructors that got me fired up during class are:
“Get out of your head — get OUT of your head!”
“Try to fail. Goddamn it, don’t fail to try!”
“This is you vs. you, nobody else. I’m only here as a bystander, cheering you on.”
Each class makes you remember that this is YOUR time — you deserve to focus on you, and you get to have that for yourself, not thinking about anything that happens outside of that room.
The tough workouts and the tough teaching are all meant to challenge you — but for you to realize that at the end of the day, it’s you vs. you. It’s nothing that someone else says — it’s you, and you have the power to control that. (Can you count the number of times I’ve said “you”?)
And the amenities — let’s be real, who doesn’t love being treated like a truly appreciated customer of a service? Clean bathrooms, super nice and responsive reception service, delicious smoothies that they give out in small glasses for free after class, an active social network, personable yet tough people…
The above sounds superficial, but good service like these makes you feel appreciated, seen, and heard as a customer. It actually feels like you’re getting the full benefits of what you’re paying for without getting cheated out. It makes investment of your time and money for your body (and your physical and mental health) worth it.
A bigger mission than just “the world’s best workout”
I think when I excitedly explain my love for Barry’s to anyone and everyone, I sometimes catch myself thinking,
“Why am I so obsessed? I’m being too extra. It’s literally just a workout.”
But honestly, the fact that I think and say all these things — of things that go beyond just the fitness class experience itself, things that touch on something personal, things that teach me that I get to prioritize myself, take care of myself, and that I have the power to control that… the fact that a simple class can make me feel all of this, shows that it’s a product that strives for a much bigger mission than just being what it says it is.
And that gets me thinking: Besides the product experience, is it crucial that a product strives for a much bigger, abstract concept that touches on something super personal for the user? Does this create user loyalty? Is this what makes a product stick?
Yes, I think so, especially for products that are meant to redefine some form of a relationship between the user and whatever the product is targeting. Barry’s isn’t just another group fitness class or studio. It works for a greater, more personal vision — that you deserve to see the best version of yourself, and you can get there, but you must challenge yourself.
You see — that’s the success point right there. It doesn’t just boast itself as the best workout you will ever pay for (although it just might be) — it puts YOU, the user/customer, back into the equation and makes it all about YOU. The service and product is there for you to use, and if you use it, you will get your results, but you must also work on yourself too. You see the pull there? But it’s YOUR choice.
It redefines your relationship with fitness and with yourself — and this broad enough of a mission gives enough guidance to the user in their fitness and personal journey, while still giving them full autonomy to do something about it.
And I think Barry’s has cracked this code in making users use their service and product, and retain them.
Or at least, that’s how I view it. I’m sure other fitness programs are amazing as well. But I speak for my experience with Barry’s — and it’s just awesome. So awesome to the point that I won’t even really consider other fitness programs. That’s saying a lot.
