Zen Planner Software

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

ZenPlanner

Zp helped me create and manage clients and billing them monthly. I've been using it since about 2008, so 10 years or so. It has gotten better over time and I've only had trouble with once or twice. It's a solid system

Pros

When it first came out it was ahead of everyone else. It still has a lot of features but it needs a facelift

Cons

The scheduling system needs to be reworked and overall it needs a facelift. There are many excellent alternatives to ZP out there that can do everything ZP can and then some with a much more user-friendly interface

Customer Service is stellar which goes a long way!

Better knowledge of client retention and value versus using the age-old Excel Spreadsheets

Pros

The many ways to move from one area to another. There are SO many ways to customize reports to your liking and integrate with other software. And I love the icons chosen for each area of the program. It's helpful when first learning. We still have much to learn, but that's to be expected as it's an all-in-one. It'll take awhile.

Cons

Membership sign up can have a few more steps than we prefer and can be tricky learning to input so reports are accurate later on down the line. This is where their customer service makes up for that. They are always SUPER friendly and very helpful! I never dread calling and always get off the phone a happy client.

Love ZenPlanner

We've used them for years and has seen the functionality of the software expand based on the market demand. Easy to use. Cost effective and top notch customer service.

Pros

Easy to use but has a ton of functionality.

Cons

When there is something in trying to figure out how to do sometimes I find that the online support is outdated. When that happens I just write them a note and I get a response within a hour though.

Absolutely fantastic!

I completely run my entire gym and business with this software.

Pros

For business and client management, nothing is better! Zen Planner's customer service is second to none. Hands down the best in the business!

Cons

I would love to see improvements in the workout tracking. I need to be able to differentiate different levels of performance, i,e; RX, Scaled 1, Scaled 2, Scaled 3, etc..

Had high hopes, customer service was much to be desired.

When we started to expand our Taekwon-Do school I had to divide and conquer with my current 2 black belts. They would teach nights I had to be at another location. After reviewing many different membership tracking softwares and website I was torn between MindBody and Zen Planner. I found MindBody lacking in some areas and liked the look of Zen Planner (plus it was compatible with iOS and Android, since we 3 black belts had both. Once I made my 1st initial payment and took the 1st 2-3 set-up classes it took over a month for customer service to help me upload my students into the database. At first I tried myself but was just taking way too long. When I asked customer service they told me to send it in a specific format (which I did convert from Excel). When I did send the file, I didn't hear anything for days. Emailed back after 2-3 days and customer service told me it was the wrong format. So I reformatted and sent again. After that fiasco I didn't feel like paying $70 a month for subpar customer service and cancelled my subscription.

Pros

Lots of options to make online accounting, marketing and attendance easier.

Cons

Maybe too much to choose from.
Interface is very confusing at times.
Customer service is the worst for the amount you pay per month.

Overall great experience.

Pros

Customer service is always top notch. If representative can't answer your question, they'll research and provide a solution usually by the end of the day.

Cons

When communicating with prospects, it's very helpful to create email automations. The thing I like least about the app as is its current inability to allow files to be attached to emails.