Crank Queens Case Study

Flipping the Customer Journey to Fix a Membership

The Challenge: When your membership becomes a revolving door of ghosts

Erica runs Crank Queens, a mountain bike coaching business all about fostering empowerment and community for women who love to mountain bike. She offers introductory programs for newbies, advanced programs for shredders, and a membership that builds community.

But here's the problem: Erica wanted to fill more programs and deliver more value to her audience, but her membership had turned into a weird ghost town. People were signing up for her free monthly membership rides but then either not showing up or showing up without the foundation skills they needed, creating safety issues and slowing down the whole group.

The brutal reality: Erica was attracting riders who weren't ready for what she was offering, which meant everyone was having a subpar experience.

The Breakthrough: We were trying to fix the wrong flow

During our deep dive call, I asked Erica to walk me through the path most of her customers take through her offerings.

My assumption: Most people took an intro class → joined membership → took advanced classes later.

The actual reality: Most people joined the membership, never showed up, and never took a class from her. Meanwhile, the people she wanted in the membership were the ones who had taken her intro class because they'd have the foundation skills she could trust on the trails.

What we uncovered:

  • The membership was attracting the wrong people at the wrong time
  • People were skipping the foundational step and jumping straight to group rides
  • This created safety issues and frustration for everyone
  • The intro class graduates were the ideal membership candidates, but they weren't being guided there

The lightbulb moment: We weren't dealing with a membership problem, we were dealing with a customer journey problem. Instead of trying to make the current broken flow work better, we needed to completely flip the funnel.

The "stop trying to fix the wrong thing" revelation: The membership wasn't broken, it was just positioned at the wrong point in the customer journey.

The Solution: Build the bridge before you invite people to cross it

We completely restructured Erica's customer flow to prioritize foundation-building before community-joining.

The strategic restructure:

  • Pushed the membership out of the spotlight and showcased the "New to the Bike Level 1" program on the homepage
  • Created a clear "start here" call to action for new visitors
  • Beefed up the New to the Bike Level 1 program page to make the value crystal clear
  • Set up smart email tagging so Erica could directly market Level 2 and advanced programs to Level 1 graduates
  • Repositioned the membership as an "alumni community" for people who'd earned their place there

The new customer journey: New riders → Level 1 class → Advanced classes → Alumni membership → Ongoing community

The Results: A clear path people can follow

Customer Journey Transformation:

  • Clear, logical progression from beginner to advanced rider
  • New visitors know exactly where to start
  • Advanced riders can jump in at their appropriate level
  • Alumni membership feels earned and exclusive

Program Filling Success:

  • Intro classes now feed directly into advanced programs
  • Email marketing targets people based on their actual skill level
  • Programs fill with the right people at the right time
  • Audience feels like offerings are designed specifically for their journey stage

Simplified Business Operations:

  • Everyone comes to group rides with the same foundational skills
  • No more injuries from skill mismatches
  • Groups can tackle more challenging and exciting routes
  • Riders feel confident and supported at every level

Testimonial

"I feel much more confident knowing that there's a clear flow for people to move through with my programs. I no longer have to worry about every attendee when they sign up. I think I'm set up well for Crank Queens to grow."

- Erica, founder of Crank Queens

Why This Matters: Sometimes the problem isn't what you're selling—it's when you're selling it

Most businesses assume they know their customer journey, but assumptions can be dangerous (literally, in Erica's case).

When you take the time to map out what's actually happening versus what you think is happening, you often discover the solution isn't to fix what's broken—it's to rearrange what's working in the wrong order.

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