How to Fill Empty Class Spaces Without Discounting

Every class-based business has the same problem: some sessions fill up almost immediately while others struggle to attract bookings. If you're wondering how to fill empty classes without constantly discounting them, the answer isn't always a lower price.

Discounting can reduce your margins, make your normal price feel less valuable and encourage customers to wait for the next offer. Often, the real issue is simpler: the right people haven't noticed the session, don't understand why it's worth attending, or don't realise that the particular day and time suits them.

Let's use a realistic example throughout.

Clayworks Studio is a small pottery studio running wheel-throwing and hand-building classes from a converted warehouse. Here's its weekly timetable:

The problem isn't that Clayworks needs more bookings everywhere.

It needs to fill specific sessions that consistently have spare capacity.

Here's what they can try before cutting the price.

1. Find the Classes That Actually Need Help

Don't react to one quiet session.

A class being half-full once doesn't necessarily mean there's a problem. It could have been a bank holiday, bad weather or an unusual week.

Instead, look at your booking data over several weeks and ask:

• Which sessions consistently have empty places?
• Are they always on the same day?
• Are they mostly morning or afternoon sessions?
• Are evening sessions performing better?
• Are particular class types consistently stronger?
• How early do popular sessions sell compared with quieter ones?

For Clayworks, the pattern becomes clear after looking at several weeks.

The Tuesday evening wheel class is full, Saturday morning is almost full, and Monday evening is close behind. The daytime hand-building sessions are the clear underperformers.

That changes the question from:

"How do we get more customers?"

to:

"Who would actually want to attend a Wednesday morning or Thursday afternoon class, and are we reaching them?"

That's a much more useful question.

Baluu provides booking and customer data that can help you understand your bookings and audience, while its newer CRM also lets you filter customers by things such as previous listings booked, tags and newsletter preferences.

2. Promote the Empty Session — Not Just the Business

One of the easiest mistakes is promoting the studio instead of the specific class you need to fill.

A post saying:

"Come and try pottery at Clayworks!"

doesn't tell someone which session they should book.

Instead, Clayworks could promote the exact session:

3 spaces left — Wednesday 10am Hand-Building Basics

Prefer daytime classes or work shifts that don't fit evening sessions? Join our relaxed Wednesday morning pottery class. No previous experience needed and all materials are provided.

This works because it gives people a reason to consider a session they might otherwise overlook.

It also speaks directly to people who may have assumed the studio only offers evening classes.

Think about who has time when your class is empty

A Wednesday 10am class might suit:

• freelancers
• parents after the school run
• shift workers
• retirees
• students
• people working flexible hours
• people who simply prefer quieter daytime sessions

You don't necessarily need a new audience.

You may just need to position the existing session differently.

3. Give Customers a Reason to Choose That Time

Sometimes the empty session has an advantage you're simply not communicating.

Clayworks' evening classes are busy and energetic. Its Wednesday morning class is quieter.

That's not necessarily a disadvantage.

The studio could position it as:

A quieter morning pottery session with more time to ask questions and work at your own pace.

Now the same product has a different appeal.

The evening class might be:

Friday night activity with friends

while the daytime class becomes:

Relaxed weekday creative time

Neither is cheaper.

They're simply being presented to different customers.

This is particularly useful when your quieter sessions have a genuinely different atmosphere, pace or customer experience.

4. Re-Engage People Who Already Know You

Before spending money trying to find completely new customers, look at people who have already booked from you.

Clayworks has hundreds of previous customers who have already:

• visited the studio
• paid for a class
• experienced the teaching
• seen the venue
• trusted the business enough to book

Those people are often a better starting point than a completely cold audience.

For example:

Subject: Looking for a quieter pottery session?

Hi Priya,

You joined us for Beginner Wheel Throwing a few months ago, so we thought you might like our Wednesday morning Hand-Building Basics class.

It's a smaller daytime session and a great option if you prefer a quieter studio or evenings don't work for you.

We currently have 3 spaces available.

Book Wednesday's class →

Baluu's current CRM connects bookings and customer profiles, and allows businesses to filter customers based on previous listings, tags and other customer information.

Its AI assistant can also help identify customer segments and draft newsletters based on your booking data.

That makes this strategy particularly useful: instead of sending the same message to everyone, you can target people who already have a reason to be interested.

5. Use Newsletters to Fill Specific Sessions

A newsletter doesn't have to be a monthly company update.

If you have five places left in a particular class, you can use email to promote that specific opportunity.

For example:

Subject:

3 spaces left — Wednesday morning pottery

Email:

Looking for something creative to do during the week?

We have three places left in this Wednesday's Hand-Building Basics class.

No previous pottery experience is required, and you'll spend the morning learning simple hand-building techniques while creating your own piece.

Wednesday · 10am–12pm

3 places remaining

[Book the class]

Keep the email focused on one action.

Don't send someone to a page containing 20 different classes and expect them to find the one you're trying to fill.

Baluu launched its own newsletter tool in 2026, allowing businesses to send campaigns to customers and filter audiences using information such as tags, memberships and past behaviour.

6. Improve the Listing Before You Reduce the Price

Sometimes people aren't booking because the class page isn't doing enough selling.

Look at the quiet class from the perspective of someone who has never visited your business.

Does the page clearly explain:

• What will I actually do?
• What will I make?
• Is it suitable for beginners?
• What's included?
• How long does it last?
• Where does it take place?
• What should I bring?
• What will I leave with?

Compare:

Hand-Building Basics — beginner pottery class.

with:

Make your own ceramic bowl or vase in this relaxed two-hour hand-building class. Learn three beginner-friendly techniques, work with your own clay and create a piece to be glazed and fired after the session. No previous pottery experience required.

The second version gives someone a much clearer reason to book.

Your images matter too

Don't rely entirely on generic photographs.

Show:

• the actual studio
• the teacher
• previous students working
• finished pieces
• the materials
• what the class looks like in practice

If the daytime class is deliberately smaller and calmer, show that.

You're not hiding the fact that it's quieter.

You're selling the benefit of it being quieter.

7. Add Value Instead of Automatically Cutting the Price

There are situations where an offer makes sense.

But don't assume the only offer you can make is:

£40 → £30

You can add value without changing your headline price.

For example, Clayworks could offer:

• an additional glazing option
• a small materials upgrade
• a bonus finishing session
• a bring-a-friend extra
• early access to a future workshop
• an additional small activity during the class

The important part is to keep the offer targeted at the sessions you actually need to fill.

Baluu also supports bundles, allowing businesses to combine several sessions and give the bundle its own price.

For example, rather than discounting every pottery class, Clayworks could create a daytime bundle that encourages customers who have flexibility to book several quieter sessions together.

However, don't create a bundle simply because you can.

If customers are better served by choosing their exact dates upfront, Baluu's newer basket and multi-date booking functionality may be a better fit for that particular use case. Baluu itself recommends considering the basket/multi-date flow where customers simply want to select several dates and pay once.

The principle is simple:

Use offers to change customer behaviour, not just to make your normal price cheaper.

8. Use Reviews to Strengthen the Quiet Classes

Imagine two class pages.

One has:

4.9 stars from 86 reviews

The other has no customer feedback at all.

Even if both classes are equally good, the second one has less social proof.

For a quieter session, encourage customers who have genuinely enjoyed it to leave a review.

You can also collect photographs of finished work, with permission, and use them in future marketing.

For example:

"I loved the Wednesday morning class. It was relaxed, small and I never felt rushed."

That quote answers an objection before the next customer even asks it.

Baluu supports review collection and post-event emails, which can be used to gather feedback after customers attend.

And if you already have reviews elsewhere, Baluu's website tools also support importing reviews onto your booking experience.

9. Make the Path From Interest to Booking as Short as Possible

A full class can survive some booking friction.

A quiet class can't.

If someone sees your Instagram post and becomes interested, don't make them:

Instagram → homepage → timetable → classes → pottery → Wednesday → booking

Give them the most direct route possible.

Ideally:

Instagram → Wednesday class → Book

The same applies to email campaigns.

If your newsletter is promoting one specific session, the button should take the customer directly towards booking that session.

Baluu provides hosted booking pages and website booking widgets, so businesses can put their booking experience on their own website or use a Baluu-hosted page.

The less searching the customer has to do, the better.

10. Test the Message Before You Change the Timetable

If a class remains quiet, don't immediately delete it.

First test a few different messages.

For Clayworks, the same Wednesday class could be promoted as:

Version A — convenience

Daytime pottery for people who don't do evenings.

Version B — experience

A relaxed, quieter morning of pottery and creativity.

Version C — outcome

Make your own ceramic bowl in two hours.

Version D — audience

A beginner-friendly pottery class for freelancers, parents and anyone with a free Wednesday morning.

Track which message generates the most interest and bookings.

This tells you much more than simply dropping the price.

11. Know When the Time Slot Really Is the Problem

There is also a point where you have to accept the data.

If a particular session has been consistently underfilled for months despite:

• better positioning
• stronger images
• targeted promotion
• customer re-engagement
• newsletters
• direct booking links
• different messaging

then the problem might genuinely be the timetable.

Maybe Thursday at 1pm is simply inconvenient for most of your audience.

In that case, don't keep throwing marketing at it forever.

Try moving the session.

For example:

Thursday 1pm → Wednesday 6pm

Then compare the results.

The goal isn't to make every time slot work.

It's to build a timetable around the times your customers actually want.

12. Measure the Result

After making changes, give them enough time to produce useful data.

For example:

Now you know something.

The Wednesday session responded to better positioning and promotion.

The Thursday session is still weak.

That means Clayworks shouldn't introduce a discount across the entire business. It should investigate why Thursday behaves differently.

Baluu's analytics and reporting tools are designed to help businesses understand bookings, revenue and customer behaviour rather than relying purely on guesswork.

A Simple Strategy for Your Next Empty Class

Before changing your price, work through this checklist:

1. Identify it

Has the session been consistently underfilled?

2. Define the customer

Who actually has time at that day and hour?

3. Reposition it

What makes this particular session worth attending?

4. Improve the listing

Does the description clearly sell the experience?

5. Add better proof

Use genuine reviews and customer photos.

6. Contact previous customers

Find people who may already be interested.

7. Promote the exact session

Don't just advertise your business generally.

8. Make booking direct

Send people straight to the relevant booking option.

9. Test an added-value offer

Only if necessary — and only for the sessions you need to fill.

10. Review the numbers

If nothing changes, reconsider the time slot itself.

The Takeaway

Empty class spaces don't automatically mean your prices are too high.

Sometimes people simply don't know the session exists. Sometimes they don't understand what makes it worth attending. Sometimes the class is being marketed to the wrong audience. And sometimes the time itself genuinely doesn't work.

Before putting everything on sale, try fixing the actual problem:

Find the underperforming session → understand who it suits → promote it specifically → improve its presentation → re-engage previous customers → make booking easy → measure the result.

For Clayworks, that could mean turning a Wednesday class with three bookings into a reliable six- or seven-person session without changing the standard price of the class.

And if one particular time slot still refuses to fill after you've tested the obvious fixes, you have useful data telling you that the timetable — rather than the price — may need changing.

Ready to Fill More Classes?

Baluu brings your bookings, customer information, marketing and booking experience together, giving you more ways to understand your customers and promote the sessions that need attention. Its current platform includes customer segmentation, newsletters, booking pages, analytics and AI tools designed to help with tasks such as finding customer segments and drafting campaigns.

Start for free with Baluu and start turning your quieter sessions into bookings without immediately reaching for the discount button. Baluu's current free plan is free forever, includes the full platform and requires no credit card to get started.