Very Helpful Customer Service!!!

Zen Planner software has enabled our company to introduce a program to our customers in a seamless fashion. Their customer service was vital in helping us with this process.

Pros

The software is very slick and versatile!

Cons

There was a lot to learn that I wasn't familiar with.

Finally Found the Right System

This software has made this much more simple and allowed us to enhance our customers experience in our facility!

Pros

-Set up was detailed step by step process and had video reviews that our staff could go back to -Customer service is the best that we have seen -Hotline always has a person you can talk to (have answered every question we have had and has taught us how to solve the problem should it ever come up again) - Hotline is available 7am-7pm -Email (you can send a detailed email and have it answered within one business day) - Our on-boarding assistant fallowed up with us after a month to make sure everything was running - Has easy quick reporting - Great schedule (imbeds into website so you do not have to leave company page) -Great point of sale (imbeds into website so you do not have to leave company page) - Mobil app is simple for customers and makes scheduling simple

Cons

online mobil site cannot work with out cookies which most smart phones automatically disable so we needed to send out an email with instructions on how to enable them

Easy Way to Sign Up for Crossfit Classes

Great way to reserve crossfit classes and see who else is attending.

Pros

Zan Planner makes it easy to sign up for crossfit classes. It is also a great way to edit payment, etc. I like the feature of being able to see who is specifically signed up for class as well. Extra motivation to attend class!

Cons

Sometimes it can be glitchy and somehow signs me out of a class I already reserved. It has happened 2-3 times in the past 6 months.

Used it for three years - feature rich but hard to use

We switched from Mindbody to Zenplanner and used it for three years. Zenplanner is chock full of features (other than membership discounts, as mentioned above), but it's so full of features that it becomes clunky and hard to use. I could do just about anything from my admin account, but my fellow coaches who spent less time in it had a harder time working with it. Customers also struggled a lot. We have now switched to Upper Hand, and while it has fewer features and the reports aren't as good, our customers are actually booking their own classes instead of making me do it.

Pros

I was the primary account administrator, and I could fix just about anything retroactively. Once you really know your way around, it's got almost everything you could think to want. There are a lot of customization options for emails you can send your customers, and it was easy to check which emails an individual had opened. The reports were great. Best reporting I've seen, and it's pretty much the only thing I'll miss. Support was good - very responsive, with multiple ways to contact them. I also appreciated the discounts they gave businesses at the start of the COVID shutdowns.

Cons

The software was very difficult for customers to use, so much that about half of our parents (and a couple of our coaches) just wanted me to do everything for them. Doing so on my end was time-consuming. Zenplanner offers some options to integrate with our existing website, but it didn't work in every circumstance. What customers could do from our primary domain was pretty limited, and it wasn't easy to switch back and forth between our site and the ZP site. Zenplanner does not offer automatically-applied membership discounts, so we had to have customers use offer codes. Membership discounts (such as on retail or private lessons) are pretty standard in fitness businesses and not having that option was a major pain. There was no way to easily see which coaches had availability at which times.

this was my favorite fitness computer software that ive used

experience was great- we just wish that the price was lower so that we didnt have to switch to another system

Pros

easy to check members in and out. had a great user interface and was very easy to read and understand

Cons

didnt merge with a lot of other softwares and the price is quite expensive. i worked in a privately owned gym so it wasn't worth the cost after a while

You can't beat their support team!

I am love the people at ZP. There isn't one person I've come in contact with that hasn't been helpful, positive, encouraging, understanding and cheerful. I went to their office because I was starting a new program and wanted help with the set up of the program and the membership. They set me up with one person to be my helper that day. Now what company will do that? I can tell you that no other software company I've used would've offered me that. Also, love the Zen Academy. I learned about so many more things the software could do for me that I wasn't either using or doing in a google spreadsheet . So now ZP is helping me save more precious time and I'm learning more about my business in the process. Thank you reports and automations!

Pros

Honestly, their customer support! However, I don't have to call often as the on boarding team set me up wonderfully to begin with. But the support articles answer almost all my questions so I don't have to call. I am a small studio and don't have a front desk staff but ZP does it all for me (well, allows my clients to do it all for me). It is super easy to use on all fronts.

Cons

I have't run into anything that I don't like. I use ZP on my laptop in a web browser and I've found it confusing to try the staff app on my phone or tablet. This old dog struggles with learning new tricks :) So we can't blame ZP for that.

Customer support is outstanding

I'd give it a B- on a grading scale. The customer support is outstanding but any time you want to go beyond just keeping track of how many students you have, things become way too complicated.

Pros

Customer support really is top notch. The on boarding team is fantastic and truly went out of their way to ensure we had every available resource for success. Any little quirky issue or question we have is answered quickly and professionally by the customer support team. They are fantastic.

Cons

The basics are great but it seems to go from "ok to use" to "I have absolutely no idea what to do here" the minute any complication arises. There does not need to be a "staff user" and a "kiosk mode" on the Ipads, it confuses everyone and wastes a lot of time. Converting reports to pdf feature should be a breeze, but doesn't convert the entire report and is useless. It should have a much easier pos system as well. No real way for instructors to leave notes for students, why not? Never use the mass email or text because its just too complicated-these things can be fixed if they gave it some attention.

Keeps me organized

I'm not the most organized person and doing all admin, billing as well a coaching my clients, Zen Planner helps to keep the back end of my business organized and running smoothly. The automations are great if they're set up correctly. Their customer support is amazing!! Not much waiting time and my issues are always resolved. When I started, they're pricing was pretty competitive. Although, they've gotten much pricier over the past year.

Pros

Having automated billing, emails and scheduling. Being able to pull billing reports at a moment's notice to see where my finances are is a plus.

Cons

Having so many options for reports and automations. It can be very confusing at times and sometimes having two steps to accomplish a task isn't clear.

Poor Tech Support during COVID-19 Crisis

Up until the COVID-19 crisis, we were big fans of ZP. However, since the crisis began their Tech Support team has been dismissive and unhelpful. This comes at a particularly bad time for us because we are building a new website and our web designer needed to have a phone conversation with a "live" staff member. ZP has refused to do so, which leaves us in a very had position because our designer could easily make technical errors that will cost us a lot of money to fix in the future. When we consider that, prior to the COVID-19 crisis, we had almost always been able to get through to ZP’s Tech Support within 2 days, we can only assume that the company is now experiencing significant internal difficulties. We don't have an answer to that question because ZP has not offered any explanation as to why its Tech Support has plummeted. For this reason, we are currently considering switching to a ZP competitor. Finally, like many in the fitness industry, ZP might be going through a tough time right now. If they had simply been candid with us, we might have been willing to overlook this situation as an aberration. As it stands, however, they don't seem to care that they've left us in a bad situation and their is no ed in sight.

Pros

Zen Planner is intuitive and easy to navigate. Prior to the COVID-19 crisis, it's Tech Support staff were professional, knowledgeable, friendly and available by phone from Monday to Friday. We were generally able to get through to Tech Support within 2 days.

Cons

Before COVID-19, we probably called ZP's Tech Support once or twice a week. beginning on or about March 16, 2020 it became impossible to reach Tech Support. We're currently encountering the following Tech Support experience challenges from ZP: (1) We have a question or problem and call ZP Tech Support. We wait on hold for 10 or 15 minutes. A recorded message instructs us to leave a voice message and ZP will call us back. (2) ZP does not call us back. (3) We email ZP with our request, but ZP’s email response is never fast enough to be of use. Then, when we finally get an email answer, it is often unresponsive.

Excellent product with futures that are practical, easy to use, and visually appealing

Endless , independence and function. Being a small business owner it allows me to run and automate many things such as financial reports, workouts, attendance. Reservation, automations of emails for customer retention , sales funnel , customer support, technically forward thingkong woth use of apps for iPad and iPhone to allow me to function on the run , away from the office, in the field, and manage coaches.

Pros

I love zenplanner. They started out with few features and no apps but they promised to improve regularly and they deliver. In the short 4 years I have been using they have incorporated a staff app for the iPhone, a users app to reserve, keep track of workouts , PRs, billing and much more. an app for the front desk to use as checking in, reserving, adding new clients at ease. On each of these products they improve and incorporated new needed features faster than any software I have ever used. Their customer service is truly second to none. Helping you not only in the set up stage but anytime you need help and they work to resolve your problem immediately. The software not only is packed full of great functions for financial, workout writing and publishing, emailing automation, reports of attendance, finances , and mass email intervention but it does it with a sleek appearance that is not only visually appealing but with an easy of use that it's simple and powerful.

Cons

Software is still growing and some features , not many anymore, can be improved. This is truly the worse thing I can think off as I have tried many many others do never been so satisfied and impressed with them delivering a great product and on a regular bases truly adding features to improve it without making it more complicated for the user.

Good Overall Studio Management Software

The migration process was rocky. About 30% of the database has inaccuracies. They need to improve and automate this process. Tech support is excellent. Customer support was slow to resolve a billing issue I had. They refused to speak to me on the phone and did not return emails. But everything finally got straightened out with persistence on my part, and an effort to make up for the issue on their part. Overall, customer support is generally very good. The software works well, is not buggy. Overall, I really like the software except for the way purchasing works.

Pros

Reporting is excellent, the best I've seen. I like the fact you can create your own reports. After learning how to use the system we have been able to create any reports we need. That is definitely not the case for Mindbody or Wellness Living. The Kiosk application is nice to have and our clients like it, but needs some improvement. The Front Desk and Kiosk Applications are easy to learn which is helpful as we have 10 teachers at the center.

Cons

The POS system does not work like all other online systems (choose what you want, put in user info, payment info then press complete or check out and credit card is charged), and works differently in their different interfaces. The Front Desk software does not allow for discounts (that is being addresses in a future release). The Dashboard processes the sale, then you have to process the payment separately in a different step. In the beginning we lost sales because our staff was confused. Many of my teachers are still unsure whether a sale goes through or not. When the Front Desk application can accept accept discounts and credit card swipes it will greatly improve the POS process. The client kiosk does not include a form for entering info for new clients and signing a waiver. For some strange reason that is on the staff side of the application. We keep it on the staff application but it means after a client signs the waiver they could get to a screen that offers a free class, which we do not actually offer. I have a hard time understanding why that is baked into their software, it is not considered a best practice. We have found work arounds for these issues but would like to see an updated and more robust kiosk application. The automated emails are very good and it integrates with Mail Chimp. You can also implement a retention process with tasks assigned to different people.

easy to use to run my business for apointment settings

this has done wonders for my business I dont need someone to confirm appointments

Pros

when setting apointments customers can do it online and it sends out confirmations and reminds of appointments so they have no excuse to not miss an appointment

Cons

could be cheaper per month. sometimes is slow but does the job

Cheaper, better, friendlier

I love their service and how much they've helped me. I would like the ACH only option for memberships though!

Pros

The customer service and ease of use, especially that everything you would essentially need is included with ZenPlanner, unlike MindBody or Triib. It's also cheaper because of PaySimple's merchant integration and I don't think most fitness businesses need the add ons that MindBody has and that you would pay for. I think being a good business owner, setting clearly defined roles and tasks for employees, and making sure they do them will lead to more sales than a email/text bot from MindBody.

Cons

I think the client facing side of signing up for memberships could be a little easier, for instance: you can't have a ACH only membership option, you do need an iPad or computer of which to then use ZenPlanner's Front Desk for, but I do know ZenPlanner is teaming up with PaySimple to possibly release a device to use instead of an iPad or computer.

Best Customer Service On The Planet

Sanity.

Pros

Zen Planner seamlessly integrates everything we need as a gym. Although there are still key features we would like, what is there works well and allows us to keep all customer data and interactions in one place, which makes our life easier. Perhaps most importantly, best customer service on the planet. No matter how small an issue, they respond immediately. And when we recently had an ENORMOUS problem, that was totally our fault, our rep worked on it over the weekend for us. He saved our sanity, and thousands of dollars. I can't imagine that kind of service anywhere else.

Cons

My only real gripes are things that don't exist and need to. I would like my members to be able to purchase retail items and check-in using their app. Both of these features exist in the staff app, but not the member app. Also, I would like an option to NOT have a gender field at registration. I find the gender binary pointless and it's offensive to our trans and nonconforming clients.

Happy to be back!

The reintroduction to Zen planner has been great. I'm learning new things and I'm excited about the dashboard that will show me exactly what's going on every day at first glance. It's exciting that I can customize it as well! I can't say enough good things about my onboarding coach. She was and continues to be amazing support with Zen Planner. I appreciate all of her patience and genuine interest in helping me utilize the software to its​ maximum potential for my business. I'm looking forward to growing with Zen Planner

Pros

I left for about four years because I felt like the software was missing some integral parts for my business. Now I was needing something different and looked at Zen Planner again. The​ changes they have made over the past four years has been amazing. This is not a company that sits idle and is content with the status quo

Cons

The system is a little complex but I believe it's more to do with the novelty of it and all of its features.

Great Fitness Specific Software

Love it. Never going to leave them.

Pros

Cost for sure, ease of use, the user experience for client is also very simple.

Cons

I can't say there are any other "cons" - If i'm being nit picky they could give a bit more time towards automatic PDF invoices. Some of their invoicing procedures don't have a simple suer experience.

Great Software, Even Better Customer Support!

If I ever have an issue with the software, or a question on how to do something (like create a custom report) the customer support is always outstanding.

Pros

I have been using Zen for 10 years. The program is so easy to use & I am always finding new things to do with it.

Cons

When creating reports for attendance or payment history for a client, I would love to have our business name show at the header.

Awesome and they continue to work to add new and wanted fuctionality

One stop shop for managing my business. Automation. And the ability to do a lot with little or no staff.

Pros

Easy to use, easy to manage. It has a great modern look and they don't try to bundle everything in one app. They have different apps for sing in, staff use, and member. I love the reports, and the face check in. Easy to find athletes by their face. Great for when you have new staff. It truly is a great bundle for workout tracking, integration with current website, and integration with marketing emails. All things other companies charge extra for. I would and have recommended this software to other gym and martial art owners.

Cons

The apps are great for managing but missing some fuctionality such as being able to schedule privates on the app. They where missing staff clicks in, retail sales but they have recently added those. Hard to find much I dislike and what I do they don't seem to be standing still, adding new function all the time.

Workhorse

zenplanner does exactly what you need a CRM tool to do most, it manages your current customers. Sure it integrates well for other uses such as lead capture, retail purchases, payroll, etc. Bit what I love is that it never fails at what we really need it to do, allow our service to be used by our customers, collect payments and evaluate customer data, allowing us to retain more members.

Pros

Reporting capabilities are immense allowing us to evaluate our business’ performance metrics and understand exactly what to focus on improving. Customer service is the best out of any service our business uses.

Cons

It is very hard to learn how to use on your own. But, if you take the initiative to ask for help and training, the staff will teach you and save you hundreds of frustrating hours.

Solid Product for Crossfit Gyms

I do not use it for my business, but have used it as an avid fitness enthusiast for over 2 years. It is nice when gyms all over the country use this software. I can have multiple gym memberships under 1 zenplanner account and switch between them.

Pros

I have used this program at 3 crossfit facilities and have enjoyed it for viewing WODs, signing up for classes, and storing workout information and PRs. I enjoy the leaderboard feature and the support you can give your gym mates.

Cons

I wish you could add features like workout videos for various exercises that are scheduled. I find some gyms do not utilize all of the features correctly, and that can make the app rather pointless. If you are not using this app to sign up for classes, log workouts, not using the leader board feature, you really aren't getting your money's worth.

Constantly surprises and improves

Pros

The more I learn about this software (partly due to their fantastic customer help team) the more I love it and the more it gives me back time! I still think I have barely scratched the service In its capabalities and I'm excited to learn more.

Cons

There is a bit of a learning curve but thats the same for all software. The basics at first is all you will need.

Tried the others, using Zen Planner

Extremely positive.

Pros

Extremely user friendly. I could figure out how it worked quite easily and i am not a tech Wiz which I found to be quite pleasing.

Cons

the common problems that happens with all of the software like it. when the whole system goes down. It is not unique to ZP it has happened with others as well.

Game changer

Just amazing! I truly have been very excited with this software and I enjoy interacting with it in a daily basis.

Pros

What I liked most about this software was the amount of things that it can do to not only help manage the numbers but keep the clients engaged and happy. I am also always amazed by the competence of the customer support team who I have called several times with questions I thought would be complicated but were not to them! I really appreciate this software and I really think my customers do again. I would recommend to anybody in the martial arts industry!

Cons

I couldn't think of anything in particular that I didn't like but if I had to say something it would be that I wish it would be more engaging with my actual website. The thing is that it probably can, I just don't know how to yet.

Best Customer Service I ever experienced

I run all my programs, classes and appointments. I also use it to bill my customers and record all my expenses. It is a perfect solution for a gym of sport facility, we are a fencing club with over 100 active members.

Pros

It covers all my needs, but the best part of it is the Customer Service. They helped me for every step over the implementation and they have always been available over the 3 years I have used the SW to solve all my questions. It is not only about issues but also about functionality questions. They are super friendly and useful.

Cons

The SW is very good, sometimes I would have preferred a few things to be organized differently but it is not a good deal.

ABOUT ZENPLANNER

THEY HAVE THE BEST CUSTOMER SERVICE THAT CAN SOLVE BASICALLY ANY PROBLEM WITHIN THE LIMITS OF THE SOFTWARE. THEY ARE ALWAYS AVAILABLE WHEN YOU NEED THEM AND SO HELPFUL.

Pros

THAT IT MAKES MY JOB EASIER BY AUTOMATING PROCESSES

Cons

DOESN'T HAVE ALL THE FEATURES I NEED. ALSO TOO HARD TO LEARN ALL THE FEATURES SO I'M NOT MAXIMIZING IT'S FEATURES. THERE ARE LIMITED ON BOARDING SESSIONS SO WHEN THEY STOPPED, SO DID MY LEARNING

Solid software, great support.

Zen Planner takes care of our membership tracking, payments, scheduling. It can be a powerful tool if you know how to use it.

Pros

We've used Zen Planner in our gym for six years, and it's been pretty uneventful overall - which is what you want with such software. It does its job with a minimum of drama. Any issues we've had have been dealt with in a timely fashion. We do not use the workout programming feature (we went with SugarWOD for that), so I can't comment on that particular feature.

Cons

Zen Planner is good about making constant improvements, but there have been some things over the years that are a bit clunky and not necessarily intuitive to use. It's likely a function of building incremental improvements into existing software rather than starting with a clean slate.

martial arts use

The customer service has been great in helping us resolve issues and work around systems that aren't quite what we need.

Pros

We like that we can track student count/growth, attendance, belt ranking, finances, and appointments all in one place.

Cons

The calendar is not easy to use and often leads to errors if you don't follow certain steps.

Next Generation

Choosing Zen Planner to partner with us in growing our business, was one of the best decision we have made to date. Their website design has contributed to 90% of our current clientele. They are a team of professionals representing their brand extremely well.

Pros

1) Ease of use; 2) Customizability; 3) Professional; 4) Excellent customer support.

Cons

1) Features to engage individual athletes.

Modern Interface with lots of flexibility

The onboarding process was thorough. I did have to be persistent in explaining some needs that were different from what they expected.

Pros

This product can be customized in many ways to meet the specific operation of your business. The interface is slick looking and makes good use of screen real estate. The interface is fast and responsive. The universal search button lets you get to what you need quickly.

Cons

The mobile app features are quite lacking. Although it is customizable in most ways, there are some ways it is not, and when you mention these to support, they can't fathom why you'd want that. There is a feedback option to submit feature requests, and they always reply to them, but it seems the dev cycle is VERY long.

The best customer service crew on the planet!

Every (and I mean EVERY) time I contact customer support, I am astounded at not only the response speed, but in the quality and thoroughness of the help I get. Their support techs are incredibly helpful and friendly. I am always blown away at the level of service and support I get from them.

Pros

I like that it is very easy to set up and use. From the daily dashboard to the automated messages and prospect funnel, the system is set up to save time (and $$). The website integration is also very easy and I have yet to discover the limits of their robust reporting system.

Cons

That there is so much available that I probably only use a small percentage of its functionality.

Best Customer Service

While there have been a few limitations to booking appointments as well as classes, Zen Planner still makes it possible to juggle and offer both seemlessly. Clients can manage their schedules and payments online which allows me to focus on other important matters.

Pros

This software is easy to learn, implement and user friendly. Super easy integration and the customer service is outstanding! They are regularly updating and upgrading features and respond positively to feature requests and feedback. Easily have the best software on the market in my industry and I'm not sure why more people do not choose Zen Planner.

Cons

Some minor limitations such as color typology features on the mobile app have been limited and app functions such as calendar syncing and calendar default settings restricted.

Great System

ZenPlanner has been very reliable and does what we want it to except for the odd issue. Sometimes I get so frustrated I want to switch providers but then realize that the other providers still aren't as good as ZP so I just have to stick it out. If they increased their speed at which they fixed bugs and/or simple features then I would be a very happy customer.

Pros

It's a great CRM for a small fitness facility. From reviews from competitors, it appears to be the best however I haven't personally tried the others. The Chat feature is great to be able to quickly message with employees when I have questions or concerns.

Cons

They are very slow to fix bugs and/or simple features. It's almost like they don't even have tech employees to fix these things.

Outstanding customer service as always.

It helps me automate and streamline my systems and processes. I only wish it had the capacity for me to plop in all my expenses. Then, It would be golden! I would be able to replace my accounting software and have everything all in one place.

Pros

It's ease of use. It is laid out in a simplistic format that is easy to navigate. The customer service team is outstanding. They always go above and beyond to ensure my satisfaction with the platform.

Cons

The lack of text feature but that has now been rectified for Cdn customers. The only other less than desirable thing about the platform is the tiered billing. Personally, I truly don't see a need to have different billing if I have 50 students or 75. It should be one flat rate straight across.

Go elsewhere

Pros

At first the software fit most criteria's that our business needed. They had great integration to our existing merchant. Great membership customization, billing, customizable charts, and belt promotion system.

Cons

Software had a bland, early 2000's look to it UI. Very outdated. Our member's portal lacked tons a features and many of our members disliked having to go into their app to setup or alter anything. Signing up a new student or trial lesson through the tablet was a mess. It lacks customization and the overall UI would not work well with our tablets. We reverted back to having our student's sign up on paper and later be added manually to the system through an administrator. Completely eliminating our paperless needs. I can keep going on about their very weak waiver system, email templates, customer support and lack of any regular updates, however, the overall reason we had to let go of the software as a whole was that they no longer supported our existing merchant. At the start of it all they were fine with us keeping our existing merchant. They charged a small $20/monthly fee for "maintenance" which I guess we were fine with paying. However, after a year or so of using we received a noticed that they were completely removing the option of us keeping our existing merchant unless we wanted to pay more than double our existing overall monthly bill. Not only were we not satisfied with the software, we were being charged more than double to keep it. Overall we would not recommend this software. It seems as if the team behind it has lost heart for the program and isn't keeping up with the competition.

Good for very simple gym businesses, bad for everything else.

Pros

ZP lets us schedule and bill clients in one place. It spits out reasonably useful accounting summaries and can handle some email automations.

Cons

This software is the worst part of my job. Do not be fooled by their slick sales staff: this cannot perform most of the functions advertised. It can, but only in a perfect world where you gym runs exactly as ZP imagines it. In this imaginary perfect world, you'd need a team of administrators working full-time to keep your database up-to-date and functioning. Our gym runs about 250 sessions per week. That's either classes or PT. They're all different. ZP's workout builder does not work for this. We were spending ~3 hours per day inputting workouts. It could not scale. So now we do not track workouts in the software. We see 100 leads per week and run free trials to get them into the gym. ZP's various 'prospect' systems cannot handle this. They are not manipulatable enough to handle the different types of trials we'd like to offer. Doing so, again, would take a team of administrators. We now use a separate sales software for everyone on trial. ZP goes down most days for 1-2 hours. 5-6 days per week. Just no software to run the gym. No attendance tracked, no bills processed, no member questions answered. ZP's calendar never works on the first try. Literally. When I click on a staff member's calender I wait 15sec for the software to reload the full gym calendar with no changes. Then I click the staff member a second time, wait another 15sec, and only then am I rewarded with his/her calendar. With 28 staff this is not working.

Very poor software with appalling customer service

We are a martial arts school who used the software for 3 years, on the basis that while the software didn't do everything we were looking for they were putting in product feature requests to make improvements, and to fix the many bugs in the software. After 3 years they finally came back with: "I do not have a timeline for release on features that you have suggested. Any changes or additions we make to Zen Planner need to be commonly requested, and fit into the Product Team's vision for our software. As a result, some features you have requested may never be implemented." However I have seen many other martial arts schools request similar changes. So after initially promising everything to get you signed up, they then back track if you keep following up with them trying to get a straight answer. Continuing to try and hold them to account results in: "Zen Planner is not for everyone, and it's important that you find a system that works for you. This message is providing you with notice that your Zen Planner account will be closed" and I have also heard from several other users that this has happened to them as well. So they misrepresent their software, then promise to get it working, take your money - and you invest a significant amount of time setting it up, and then more time every week doing manual workarounds waiting for a fix they never intended to make. Then they just cancel your membership without giving you enough time to transition everything, particularly changing over your billing for members. Some of the issues are: parents signing up their kids for martial arts classes is very difficult and confusing for members. They can't use the same email for their children - who can be too young to even have their own email - and then automated emails don't send as there is no email for the member. When they try it often results in an error and they try signing up multiple times, bloating the database with duplicate registrations and memberships, which are tedious and difficult to combine, that cause errors while completing. I ended up doing more admin to fix this than signing them up manually. Then booking classes for kids is so difficult I ended up doing it manually for parents. Also a main feature they promote is be belt progress skill tracking - this is designed for entering a single workout for a cross fit box, and so trying to enter results and comments for a grading against all the skills is totally unusable.

Pros

For existing members, once you have gone through the lengthy set up process, it processes payments automatically for you, but making changes is very difficult. It is easier to just use the payment gateway provider directly and use a manual system to track it. They did have financial reporting - but I found them to be more trouble than they were worth, but I am a Chartered Accountant and might just have standards that are above minimalistic offering available on Zen Planner.

Cons

It is extreemley difficult for parents to book classes for their kids, especially for more than one child, for more than one day - as the calendar defaults to the parent -with no classes as they don't have a membership. They need to change to the first child then click on one class then reserve a place, then go back to the start for the next class & child. Also for automations to work the child needs an email entered, and you can't use the same email as the parent, or link them to the parent. Apparently this change is too difficult as many members asked, but they won't fix it. When the automations don't work, parents think there is an error and start another registration, which creates many duplicate records in the database. Manually combining them, updating profiles, and manually sending the "automated" emails takes more time than just doing it manually. The skill tracking system is also very badly designed, it is almost unusable, and takes a huge amount of time to enter if you want to record results against all the skills a martial arts student needs to know in a single session, such as a grading or pre-grading. Members can't even see what skills they need to pass if no results are previously entered, or a summary of their skills.

Great Experience!

I absolutely love Zen Planner Help Desk. They are the most patient and helpful people EVER. Never have I called and hung up without a solution to my issue. I wish I could have them for my daily life!

Pros

It's simplicity. It's not overly complicated and buttons are easy to find.

Cons

Reports and the filters within it can be confusing; sometimes I'm not sure what terminology or keyword I need to use to produce a report I need - or if I'm supposed to use a whole number in a text box or spell it out...

Easy to use, Easy to learn - Better than MindBody

When I opened my studio I initially used MindBody. I was already accustomed to it when I taught at other studios, I only used it to check in students and process payments. When I purchased it for my studio I found it lacking in reporting and processing fees for credit cards payments were higher than others.

Pros

Simple to learn and easy to use. It has everything you need to manage a yoga studio. Multiple reporting options. Easy access for my students.

Cons

The only thing I would like is a lower price.

Getting started

We are now in the process of building our website and it’s content. Zen Planner has made this difficult process so much smoother. I have heard horror stories from other gym owners that didn’t go with Zen Planner. I’m thankful everyday that I made the decision to go with them. Best choice ever!

Pros

We are opening a brand new Jiu Jitsu academy and this has been a whole new experience for us. I’m not very computer savvy, but EVERYONE at Zen Planner has been so helpful and made this so easy for someone like me. I’m very happy with this company.

Cons

I have had nothing but good experiences with Zen Planner!

Very disappointing

Pros

Have been with Zen Planner since 2015, it is very user friendly. Costumer service was not bad up until something started to go wrong.

Cons

Unfortunately they have some flaws that for some reason sometimes they multiple charge my students or don't charge at all. It will happen once in a while and when that happen, their customer service become very slow and dismissive, they will send you to the processor and the processor will send you back to them. For instance, now, I have been asking to talk to a supervisor for days and they simply don't call and when I call to reach someone no one is ever available. It is very unfortunate because as I said the system is very user friendly, but they are not trust worth. Following up: Zen Planner gave me notice of cancellation after I refused to remove this review. Based on the problems I have had with them, I already had in mind and was searching for a more reliable system. Unfortunately I was forced to do it rushed, I have been trusting all my billing transactions and contacts to Zen Planner, and this transfer process does take a long time. one of the supervisors dealt with this situation very unprofessionally, focusing on make me remove my review rather then fix the real issue, treatned a few times and finally just gave me notice. I have never seen this before... I can't stress enough that you can't trust such important information for your business in such hands.

Customer Support

Customer support is why I'm writing this review. Everyone I have talked with has been so respectful, patient, professional and knowledgeable. Plus, quick to resolve any issue I was having.

Pros

The customer support that comes with the software is so essential. While there are many features, the customer support team helps to navigate through it all. One can tell this team is efficiently trained because they do not skip a beat when it comes to walking you through the system.

Cons

So many features can be overwhelming. The webinar offerings are a good idea to tackle that obstacle.

Way less complaints than other owners

It’s been positive. It’s better than previous software, I’d like more, but from other conversations I’ve had and things I hear about other apps I am not sure that there is much better.

Pros

It’s makes a lot of sense to use. Some things aren’t obvious necessarily at first, but once you get there it all makes sense.

Cons

It feels pretty limited in reporting. Not because it actually is, but more because the options for them are too specific. Workout tracking is kind of a joke. It hasn’t been updated since it premiered and it’s not “fun” for members to use at all. We’ve since switched workout tracking to sugar WoD.

Brilliant, from the first meeting, to 4 years later, just outstanding every day.

Too many to mention. We couldn't run out business without it. No other software can compare with Zen planners functionality.

Pros

the customer service. You ask anything and they will ALWAYS get back to you. They ALWAYS sort out your concern. There is so much you can do with the software, from accounting, to wod planning, to staffing, appointments everything. The back end functionality is brilliant. The automations available that free up so much time for other things are outstanding. Its just so versatile and can be customised to exactly what you need it to be.

Quick and Efficient

Zen Planner is allowing our gym facility to keep track of attendance, memberships, member retention, etc. In addition, it also provides a great way to track member workouts and with the integrating SugarWOD, it will make this process even better.

Pros

The software has so many components to it that it can be intimidating at first, but each component has an explanation of how to use it. This makes for an easy learning experience.

Cons

The mass email component is difficult to navigate.

Incredible!

Pros

Best Support Team!!! they seriously rock and has helped me trouble shoot all issues I've had over the phone or over quick emails. Anything i didn't know how to do they were super helpful and worked so hard to help me implement their software and making things very easy. Allows me to filter my classes, students and programs very easily. Beautiful Website integration (similar to mindbody but easier to use for customer) Keeps track of how much a client owes me and allows me to create a parole for my employees. I own a Holistic wellness center that does everything from Yoga and martial arts to acupuncture and energy work and zen planner allows us to manage everything smoothly while keeping track of all of our clients with ease. If your looking for a scheduling software i highly recommend this software. Has really taken a weight off my shoulders as a business owner and let me focus on more important thing.

Cons

The initial set up of the program is a little difficult, it was hard to navigate through at first but again, awesome support team that explained it very well. Only other con is that the website integration is a little difficult and not as pretty on mobile.

Needs a better app

Pros

Support team is great, and really helps in the on boarding process. They are very fast in response time and give many options for helping solve situations.

Cons

Scheduling ahead of the current week is a little confusing. The calendar keeps jumping back to the current week whenever a new appointment is added ahead. Also cannot add appointments within the day. A little confusing and not the most efficient. The app is terrible. No ability to schedule clients (at least as far as I have been able to do) and is pretty overall useless to me.

Focus on what you do....and let Zenn Planner allow you to do so

Great

Pros

Like minded integration that makes prospecting, enrolling and managing client understandable and user friendly for staff and end users.

Cons

I have nothing negative to report on this product

Great service

I have been using Zen Planner for a couple of years. It has many awesome features. As my business is growing I am finding more features in Zen Planner that help with that process. I feel they always listen to your suggestions and really try to work on giving the customer the features they are asking for. The service is 2nd to none. They always help until your questions or issues are resolved. They are awesome.

Pros

All the tracking and reports you can pull.

Cons

It acts erratically sometimes.

Zen Planner...SMH

As someone who isnt great in the deep magical world of computers...Zen planner was supposed to make things easier. My first appointment... the person was late for the on boarding (teaching me how to use software). They were also late for the second on but notified me this time. There were small billing issues and the support I recieved to correct situations was beyond useless. The relationship ended by them canceling my account out with only an email and refusal to get on the phone with me to explain themselves. This sounds disgruntled ... I know. There are a few people I know who have had the same experience. The company has a great base but didnt personally deal with me very well. My gym will close now because I have no way to bill my customers that dont come in daily

Pros

The concept is good

Cons

It difficutl to use cause the training on using it is very laxed

Library and a Benchmark

Our gym uses this App to track our work outs. A friend and I were using the custom result fields to track our daily 1 minute Bike Sprint. We found, though, that when we went to the library we couldn't track our results. I contacted Zen Planner and was helped quickly; initially, it appeared to be a simple issue but turned out that there were some "corrupted" files. After getting our gym owner involved, ZenPlanner was able to resolve the issue.

Pros

Ease of use; simple to find information

Cons

I wish the same type of exercises would always come up together in the library. Occasionally when I go to the library to look up a specific exercise multiple of the same come up and I have to click in and out of them to see the results.