How one Black Friday offer brought Riya 4.4x more new members.
In November 2025, Riya tried a simple Black Friday offer for Pilates by Riya: 25% off the first payment. She promoted it with just one Instagram carousel, then kept sharing it on her stories. That month, she brought in 4.4x as many new members as in the months either side. 77% joined using her Black Friday code.
And it wasn’t just existing followers waiting for a discount. Around 80% of those who used the code had never paid her before, and 64% chose an annual plan without being steered towards it.
Give people a reason to start before January.
A Black Friday offer isn’t just about the discount. For Riya, it was about giving people a reason to start now, rather than waiting for a New Year’s resolution.
December is often when routines fall away. By joining at the end of November, her members already had something in place to keep them accountable through the festive season and into January.
" Coming into the season of Christmas and New Year's, that whole month is super busy with Christmas parties, family gatherings, late nights, lots of going out and eating, as we should. So I wanted to do something that will keep people accountable coming into the new year, knowing that they've signed up at the end of November, and that when they come into January there'll already be something for them."
- Riya Patel, Founder, Pilates by Riya
Pick a discount that works for both sides.
Riya chose 25% off the first payment because it felt meaningful enough to give people a reason to join, while still making financial sense for her business.
There’s no one right discount. The important thing is finding an offer that feels worthwhile to your audience without cutting so deeply that it stops working for you.
"25% just felt like it was big enough, but small enough where I'll still make enough profit. But at the same time, people think it's a really big discount that they'll be getting, which it is."
- Riya Patel, Founder, Pilates by Riya
Create one clear post, then keep talking about it.
Riya didn’t build a big Black Friday campaign. She created one Instagram carousel that clearly explained the offer, what people would save and what they’d get, then kept resharing it and talking about it on her stories.
As questions came in, she used them as another opportunity to explain the offer. The result was repetition without constantly having to create new content.
"I posted just one carousel. I didn't do a reel or anything. I did one carousel on my biggest offer ever yet, and then I did it into what you'd be saving and what you'd be getting. I did that once, on the actual week of Black Friday, and then I kept resharing it on stories and going on stories and talking about this offer. I think it landed when I kept seeing the subscriptions come in, to be honest, and lots of people asking questions."
- Riya Patel, Founder, Pilates by Riya
Choose the plans that make sense for your members.
After her first Black Friday, Riya decided to drop the monthly option and focus on quarterly and annual plans instead. A discounted monthly plan would run out just as December begins, which is exactly when she feels her members need the accountability most.
What worked for Riya might be different for your audience. Look at which plans your members choose and how long they stay, then build your offer around what makes sense for them.
"This year I'm only going to push for annual and quarterly, and not monthly, because if people sign up monthly with the November discount, they're only going to have it till December, and December's one of the hardest times. So I'm only going to do three months and annually this time."
- Riya Patel, Founder, Pilates by Riya
Give people a way in.
For Riya, offering a discount wasn’t about lowering the value of her membership. It was a once-a-year opportunity to make joining more accessible to people who might otherwise hesitate because of the cost.
And once they joined, they could see for themselves how much was actually included in the app.
"I wasn't worried about it because it was a once a year big offer. I just didn't expect that many people to sign up. I wouldn't hold back as a creator. People's financial situations are very different, so when they see a discount, they'll probably go for it more, and then they'll realise, oh my God, I didn't realise how much this creator is actually providing. The services they're getting will always outweigh how much they're paying, especially if you've got so much on the app. Trial and error is always a good thing."
- Riya Patel, Founder, Pilates by Riya
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