MINDBODY

Vorteile

Mindbody is easily the most powerful and comprehensive software available to help run your health and fitness company. What a lot of people may not know is that this company is leading the charge to improve health and fitness in this country and throughout the world where Mindbody is found. Having spent time at their campus in San Luis Obispo, I've seen it first hand. I go to the Mindbody University events to learn and to be inspired. It is a comprehensive program so it can be complicated. With time, you can master this program then use complementary software depending how sophisticated you want to be with your company.
It is confusing to see so many complementary software programs, but to the best of my knowledge, I believe Mindbody keeps from duplicating every idea/program to not degrade the work that they do with the foundation of the work that they do well.
This company is innovative and trailblazing ways and features that will enhance the clients experience at your gym/studio and easily the best feature is the ability to use a mobile device to run the software and create and pleasant experience for the user.

Nachteile

I believe if anyone considers using other software, it is because you are forced to use a specific credit card company with Mindbody. The sophistication to take different types of payment is lacking in such a monumentally successful software program. They tried to roll out a mobile dedicated payment device called POYNT which has been disappointing. It is clunky and unreliable, but I was pleasantly surprised to be able to return for a credit on my account. There are reports that the payment system is being revamped and it would be a revelation and would make the system truly complete.

Vorteile

I consider MindBody on the computer, and a mobile device two different software experiences. What I enjoy the most about MindBody on the computer, is the ability to resize the window, which allows you to control the amount of information on the screen. What I like most about the MindBody software on a mobile device is the ease of use, and straight to the point UI.

Nachteile

What I like least about the MindBody software on the computer is the outdated feel and UI. Some menus feel cluttered, while other menus are mostly blank and could contain more information or a drop-down menu and some tabs feel hidden too. A lot of our staff members state that they can not understand the software at first glance and have a difficult time navigating the UI. Simply put, the software should be as easy as, I want to do A, B and C, and should be able to not have to dig through tabs and menus to do it.

Another thing I like least about the software is location management. Our business has two locations using Mindbody, and there is not an easy eay to switch between both accounts, without having to completely log out of the account and log back into the other one.

What I like least about the MindBody software on a mobile device, is the business app, it can sometimes look outdated as well. The schedule tab in day view looks cluttered at first glance. The client tab is mostly blank when it could have a "most recently added" tab, or "clients that checked in today" or "Clients that checked in this week" tab.

Vorteile

-visually, it is simple and appealing
-The customer service team is responsive and intelligent and we appreciate the remote controlling of the screen to learn while issues are resolved
-Mostly it has accommodated the needs of our business

Nachteile

-It is clearly most functional for a class-based business, we would love to see improvements and functionality for appointment based (one that stands out, is being able to schedule through our Google Business listing)
-The fact that you raise your rates and do not grandfather in your current subscribers to stay at the same rate is really sneaky and I do not respect that at all. Just because you add features that we did not ask for or need, does not mean that your happy clients should be forced into higher cost for services they do not want. Some customer loyalty would be nice.
-There are features that we "cannot change" at all that would make our business run more smoothly (how the check out options are arranged, the way that clients are able to book certain times using your software through our website, and using a GC to pay for a service when booking online...to name a few)
-When mind body is down, our business is DOWN, and we have seen first hand how horrible of an impact this can have for us

Vorteile

Very easy to use once you get set up and figure it out how to make it work for your business. Before MindBody changed their software capabilities... again... there was so much flexibility in how to use the software and it has so many very applicable functions for multiple business types. Customer service has ALWAYS been amazing and the interface is very customer friendly. It also has a great app for online booking.

Nachteile

How much the program changes in terms of the way the interface is used; every "update" has made the system very complicated for our businesses use, and we would constantly be retraining our employees how to use get around the new changes to use the software as we originally purchased it for. As of a month ago, they just implemented a new payment tier system that has limited our previous uses and is forcing us to pay an additional (went from to get most of the functions back and a bunch we don't want or will ever use for our business. Which leads us to our final issue... MindBody is constantly upping their prices. We have been with them for 5 years (???) and every year they are charging us more. In summary, too many changes with little warning, new functions are being implied that we don't want nor will use but are expected to pay for, and capabilities we had before we are now expected to pay more for after years of access. We wished we could have stayed with them, but they seemed to have outgrown our business and overshoot our needs.

Vorteile

MBO is far more than a software provider. They are my strategic business partner. They keep me current on all the technological advancements available in the market through ongoing development in the software. As well as provide the research/data analysis which helps me make sound business decisions regarding my future growth and profitability.
My favorite feature is the ease of setting up the reoccurring revenue via auto pay monthly membership contracts. The other two powerful resources I use are the automated emails, retention/re-engage email marketing, and all the reporting capabilities. The day to day use of class check-in, retail sales, client account management are all features I like.
Finally, the primary reason, and the one which has earned MBO the strategic partner status within my organization is summed up in on simple word support. Their world class team of dedicated technical support staff are available 24/7/365 to answer my questions, provide information and will take all the time necessary to help me resolve anything I need.
The support doesn't end with the technical. Through the MINDBODY University program I've learned best practices, how to use the reports to build my sales and marketing strategies and to set my business goals. The MBU video tutorial liberty provides additional information on a variety of topics right from my desktop.

MINDBODY is far more than a software provider, they are my teammates! My success is their success. Period.

Nachteile

Like any partnership, there are always imperfections and areas of improvement. If I could wave a magic wand and all my wishes were granted, then this is what I would wish:
a more robust set of auto email options
more content for the retention and re-engage emails
more functionality related to inventory
the ability of change contract start dates after the contract has been activated

That's about it. There are other, small quirks which can be annoying at times, but then again, nothing is perfect and there is always room for improvement in any relationship.