The working world is still in flux.
Many ‘thought workers’ whose only need is a laptop and internet connection worked remotely for the last two years… and they don’t want to go back to the office.
At the same time, companies and enterprises see empty offices and either shrink their footprint or move altogether, reducing the overhead of commercial real estate.
But working from home isn’t the same as working remotely. Hence coworking spaces offer a third option, a smarter way to balance remote work life, so workers don’t have to choose between a commute and their kitchen table.
Once again, however, there is flexibility needed. Not every remote worker wants to go to a coworking space every working day, every single week. And digital nomads can and do work from wherever they want, and don’t need a monthly membership to a space.
Offer coworking day passes to deliver even more flexibility
From a financial and operational perspective, day passes are a bit of a hardship for coworking spaces. You can’t anticipate the monthly recurring revenue. Your occupancy analytics won’t reflect reliable space needs. And there is no guarantee day pass users are cultural fits for your community if your sales manager or community manager doesn’t have a chance to vett them.
Those are the cons, or challenges presented by offering day passes. And they’re very real. But consider the advantages:
- Day passes are easy entry points for prospective members. Sure, they might start out coming in once every few weeks, but that’s how habits start. Local day pass users should be in your nurture pipeline, falling in love with the space and the community and upgrading to full memberships.
- Day passes expand your reach and services to out of town visitors.
- It’s a model people expect because of gyms. Gyms and fitness centers are the other ‘membership’ model that most people are familiar with, where they pay a monthly fee with mixed expectations of how often they will use the space. Gyms often offer free daypasses or even weekly passes so people can try it out before committing.
- The organic search volume will benefit your whole site. Look at the search volume right now of “coworking near me” and “day passes for coworking near me” and you’ll see that people doing this kind of search have very high intent. In fact, statistics show that someone who searches for a business ‘near me’ will visit that business within the week.
Use software to make coworking day passes easy to purchase and manage
The coworking space management software you use should make this process easier and streamlined.
Coworks software allows you to:
- Embed a form on your site or day pass users to self check out. That prospect then goes into the lightweight CRM.
- Offer self-check in at your front desk to ensure you capture the time and confirm the user arrived, and even when they checked out.
- Automate email communication about access, amenities, and expectations.
- Get a monthly view of day pass use in your reporting dashboard
Along with your software, be sure to add a dedicated page on your web site to day passes, so people who are searching for the option in your area can find you when they are ready!
Workers today want even more flexibility, and that means day passes
In a LinkedIn Post, marketing director Chris Lock wrote an open letter to coworking spaces, asking for the option he needed most.
“I don’t need a permanent desk. I’ve got one at home. I don’t need an office. That is my home.
I do need somewhere I can go to work for a change of scene and some company from other entrepreneurs. I’m up for the community side of things. I’ll spend money in your coffee shop. I may even use your recording studio or meeting rooms if you have them.
But I don’t need a costly monthly subscription. I just need the option to drop in whenever it suits me.”
It’s not just a change of scenery. Day passes offer real solutions for people, from freelancers to entrepreneurs, service providers, and solution designers.
With a day pass, one person will be able to:
- Host a big client meeting in a clean, comfortable conference room. No more squishing into Starbucks or hoping the local diner has a big enough table.
- Use high speed internet for video conferencing or file transfers.
- Create a temporary headquarters when traveling with family.
- Try out a local coworking space with the possibility of becoming a long term member.
To learn more about Day Passes with Coworks, watch a short demo of the platform here and we’ll take you through all the features.
Photo by Ilias Haddad on Unsplash