We Asked Our Customers: MindBody and Multiple Locations Don’t Mix!
In our quest to get to know more about our clients, we’ve run across a lot of small studio owners and directors who have had problems with MindBody’s software. Maura, the director of 105F (Hot Yoga) is one of those people. In 2005, Maura began taking yoga at 105F, formerly known as Bikram Yoga Chicago. Just one year later, she left her corporate sales job behind so that she could begin sharing her love of yoga with others by teaching classes. Within five years, Maura helped 105F open its third location. The introduction of multiple locations meant that 105F needed new ways to deal with their expanding business.
“We’ve started to incorporate events,” Maura says. “We offer teacher training now, we offer retreats, in addition to a variety of types of classes we offer not just hot yoga, but vinyasa yoga, hot pilates, and meditation. We’ve grown not just in terms of locations, but also in terms of delivery. We try to reach a lot of different people who have a lot of different types of interests.”
Maura and the rest of her staff at 105F found that they needed a software system that was easy to use both on the studios’ and on the client’s end. They soon discovered that MindBody’s software was not going to allow them to do all that they needed to do to effectively manage their multiple locations and clients. As they continued to try to find workarounds in the MindBody system, they found a number of issues that made it impossible for them to continue using MindBody’s software.
MindBody’s System is Slow and Hard to Use
Maura and everyone else at 105F found that MindBody’s system was slow and clunky. Even tasks that should have been fairly simple, like making a purchase, were complicated to perform within the software.
“The system has been slow,” Maura says. “A lot of different clicks to get a simple water. You have to click here, click there. That was a pain point.”
This caused an immense amount of frustration for the staff and clients at 105F. The software’s lack of intuitiveness made it difficult not only for anyone on staff to figure out how to use MindBody, but also for their customers to even figure out how to make a purchase.
MindBody Contact Couldn’t Integrate Software With Online Store
In addition to the slow system and lack of intuitiveness, Maura became frustrated by MindBody’s poor integration with the studio’s online store, beyond even making it difficult to make a purchase. As a former corporate sales person, Maura knew that having an easy-to-use booking and sales system was imperative to being successful in the digital world. She also knew how essential it was to be able to access and break down sales reports by store location. MindBody didn’t allow her or her staff to do any of that.
“Anybody that purchased something online went to a separate location, so instead of having three locations, we had four locations,” Maura explains. “It was hard reporting-wise to attribute the money made in the online store. Where do they attend classes? It’s hard to account for that. With you guys, it’s cool that everybody’s assigned a home studio, so if somebody purchases something online, it still goes to the studio.”
Program Is Built On Outdated Languages
Another irritating aspect of using MindBody for the people at 105F was the outdated programming languages and software used within components of the system. Many of these outdated tools were buggy and could easily slow down or bring the workday to a halt, wasting valuable time and money. One specific area that came to mind when we asked Maura what frustrated her was the receipt tool within MindBody.
“The receipt seems like a minor thing, but it caused a lot of waiting and lag time,” Maura told us. “The receipt printer was tied to java and every time java came out with an update, it would mess up our flow with trying to get the receipt, or the system would crash.”
These kinds of holdups were not only irritating and stressful, but they also ended up wasting time. Maura and her staff could have been processing and training clients, instead of having them queue up in line while they worked to fix the problem.
Difficult to Reach MindBody Contact For Support
Like many other former MindBody users, Maura reports that it was incredibly difficult to get a hold of a MindBody contact for help. Hold times were long and it was hard to find someone who could actually help her with her issue.
“When I got someone on the phone, I did feel like they cared, but it was hard to get them on the phone,” she says. “I think that they were understaffed.” And when she did manage to get someone on the line, they were rarely able to truly help. “Small things like us asking, ‘How do you do this?’ would get complicated,” Maura told us. “They would just say that there’s no way to do it – not offer a solution or even a workaround.”
The WellnessLiving Difference
All of these issues led 105F to make the switch from MindBody to WellnessLiving. “You guys probably treat all of your customers this way, but I like that we don’t feel like just a number,” Maura let us know. She appreciated the excellent customer support that was available to her and the rest of the staff members at 105F. In addition to the customer support, Maura found that the WellnessLiving yoga software was a lot easier to use and that 105F was able to easily integrate their workflow into the software.
“I think that WellnessLiving is more intuitive,” Maura explains. “I think that it’s a lot quicker. Even in terms of user experience, it makes more sense in the workflow.”
Thank you, Maura! We’re always glad to hear back from satisfied customers about how WellnessLiving has been able to benefit their business.
If you would like to talk to a WellnessLiving representative about how we can help your studio grow to success, contact us today at 1 (888) 668-7728, or, book a free demo of the platform.
* Mindbody is a trademark of Mindbody, Inc., and is not affiliated with WellnessLiving.
