Turning your scheduling data into growth insights: 8 metrics most studios miss

Imagine two studios aiming to increase traffic and revenue.

Business A runs its operations purely on intuition. It has a great location, loyal clients, and steady classes, but decisions are often made based on guesswork or unanalyzed data. The outcome? Revenue leaks, unpredictable performance, and slow growth. That’s expected when a studio operates in the dark.

Business B takes a different path. It operates the same kind of studio but tracks every detail, from how clients book and cancel to which classes fill up the fastest. With that data, Business B refines its schedule, pricing, and instructor performance. The result is measurable growth and stronger brand performance.

Every studio falls into one of these two categories. So, you’re either Business A, letting valuable scheduling data go unused, or Business B, turning it into your competitive advantage.

If you’re the former, you’re leaving growth to chance. Every untracked class, ignored trend, or missed client pattern means lost opportunities and unrealized revenue. But the good news is that it’s fixable.

Source: Pexels

In this article, we'll walk through seven important scheduling metrics to track and how to turn them into an everyday growth engine.

1. Class or session fill rate

Class or session fill refers to how full your classes are compared to their total achievable capacity. For instance, let’s say your gym studio has a space for 20 students, but only 15 attend on average. That's a 75% fill rate, which is fine.

A high fill rate shows strong demand and effective scheduling. However, if your fill rate consistently drops or is below 75%, it often means something is amiss. Perhaps the timing doesn’t work, the class isn’t well-marketed, or it overlaps with another popular session.

This insight can inform your session placements and even the cost of each session if that’s the barrier.

2. Revenue per time slot or per hour of studio use

Traditionally, revenue per day, or sometimes revenue per month, is used to assess profitability. However, these two figures don’t reveal which hour your cash flow peaks and how to optimize it. And that’s why you need the revenue per time slot or per hour of use metric.

For instance, imagine tracking hourly revenue across your fitness studio. If you notice that a 7 a.m. yoga class consistently attracts twice as many attendees as a 2 p.m. session, it signals a clear customer preference and a stronger earning potential in the morning. You can then shift more high-value classes or promotional sessions into that profitable window.

As such, revenue per time helps you know the profitable hours of your business and allows you to:

• Spot underperforming time slots and redesign them
• Discover your actual prime time for bookings
• Adjust pricing or class types to match exact demand
• Introduce peak-hour pricing or off-hour discounts
• Allocate instructors, rooms, or courts more effectively

Fitness software like Rezerv can help you track check-ins and thus determine how much income is generated by the hour, each day.

3. Client retention and rebooking frequency

Rebooking frequency refers to the frequency and speed at which clients schedule subsequent sessions after their previous ones. A high rebooking frequency pattern equals more predictable revenue and stronger client retention.

So, let’s say your yoga studio finds that clients rebook every 10 days on average. That’s a healthy frequency showing strong engagement. But if most clients rebook only once every two months, it signals low consistency or weak motivation to return”.

Tracking rebooking frequency helps you:

• Detect drop-offs early and why
• Predict revenue cycles and plan capacity

In turn, you can proactively address and re-engage clients before they churn, while introducing strategies to boost rebooking frequency for existing clients. Clear rebooking patterns also make invoicing more predictable, helping you anticipate upcoming billable activity with far less guesswork.

4. Instructor utilization rate

Instructor utilization rate measures how effectively each of your instructors’ available time is being used for paid sessions or classes.

For instance, suppose your dance instructor has 30 available hours per week and teaches 24 of them. Their utilization rate is 80%. A high rate indicates strong demand and optimal scheduling, while a low one can signal underuse, poor class timing, inadequate demand, or a lack of visibility.

Tracking instructor utilization helps you:

• Balance workloads between staff and avoid burnout
• Identify top-performing instructors who attract consistent bookings
• Adjust schedules or marketing to fill underbooked sessions

According to Supervisible, the ideal utilization rate ranges between 75% to 90%.

5. Member or student lifetime value (LTV)

Lifetime value is the total amount of revenue a client generates throughout their entire relationship with your studio. 

Imagine that one of your clients spends $15,000 per month on fitness classes. If the client stays for two years, their LTV will equal $360,000. In contrast, a client who attends once and never returns might bring in only $10,000.

Tracking LTV helps you:

• Identify your most valuable client segments and develop strategies to keep them locked in
• Decide how much to invest in retention and marketing
• Evaluate which class types or packages attract high-value members

With advanced analytics, the LTV metric can also serve as a pointer in identifying factors that affect customer retention and rebooking frequency. 

6. Peak vs off-peak utilization

Peak vs off-peak utilization measures how often your classes or courts are booked during high-demand hours compared to quieter periods. For example, if your art studio is fully booked from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. but only 30% utilized between 10 a.m. and 1 p.m., that gap indicates underused capacity that you can convert into an opportunity.

Tracking peak vs off-peak utilization metric helps to:

• Adjust pricing by introducing peak and off-peak rates
• Offer targeted discounts or loyalty points for low-demand hours
• Schedule staff more efficiently around real usage periods

Appropriate use of this data can help you ensure consistent profitability through the day.

7. New vs returning bookings ratio

The new vs returning booking ratio compares the number of bookings made by new clients against those made by returning ones. This illustrates the balance between acquisition and retention in your studio's growth.

For instance, let’s say 70% of your bookings come from new clients but only 30% from repeat ones. The outcome indicates strong marketing but weak client loyalty. On the other hand, if 80% of your clients are returning, your retention strategy is working, but you may need more outreach to attract new ones.

Data from this metric helps you:

• Evaluate the effectiveness of your marketing campaigns
• Spot retention gaps and refine loyalty programs
• Develop loyalty strategies, such as offering customizable apparel, branded towels, or exclusive class passes as gifts to top clients

You can also use it to forecast revenue consistency based on repeat engagement.

8. Waitlist conversion rate

Waitlist conversion rate measures how often clients on your waitlist actually secure a spot and attend a class once space becomes available.

For instance, if 50 clients join a waitlist in a month and 25 eventually attend, your conversion rate is 50%. High conversion means your classes are in high demand and your scheduling system effectively fills cancellations. 

In contrast, low conversion could indicate poor conversion strategies, overbooking or undercapacity, a poor notification system when there’s an open spot, or a delayed conversion cycle.

Tracking waitlist conversion rate ensures you can effectively:

• Gauge class popularity and decide where to expand capacity
• Refine automated waitlist notifications for faster responses
• Understand actual demand beyond confirmed bookings

Wrapping up

Running a studio is already a lot of work, but it can be even more challenging when you lack the right metrics and data. Growth is based on guesswork, and there’s no predictable revenue pattern. To avoid this, you need to leverage studio platforms, like Rezerv, that provide advanced analytics support.

With the right tool in hand, track your studio’s session fill rate, revenue per time slot or hour used, and instructor utilization rate. Follow up on client rebooking frequency to gauge retention, dig into client LTV to maximize revenue, and figure out your peak and off-peak utilization hours.

Additionally, include the ratio of new vs. returning bookings in the journal of measurable metrics and track your waitlist conversion rate. Most importantly, analyze each metric for insights that support your studio’s growth.

Read next: 10 weekly metrics every studio owner should track