Yoga studio software is the answer to handling customer details, class schedules, reminders, staff payments and the tons of information that yoga studios deal with every day. By eliminating the need to maintain paper records, the software makes it easy for owners to stay updated about each class, instructor and client.

With this guide, you can understand how yoga studio software benefits businesses and can help them grow. Here's what we'll cover:

What Is Yoga Studio Software?
Common Features of Yoga Studio Software
What Type of Buyer Are You?
Benefits and Potential Issues
Pricing and Purchasing Options

What Is Yoga Studio Software?

Yoga studio software streamlines the administrative tasks common to running a studio, so that classes are run efficiently without a hitch. The software helps eliminate the heavy books that some studios use to maintain their clients, staff, contacts etc.

It also provides self-service tools for clients, which will improve your productivity and increase their satisfaction. Yoga studio software lets clients book slots, sign up for new classes, renew their membership etc.

Some vendors also provide point of sale (POS) functionality, which can help studios easily sell items such as water bottles, yoga mats, clothing and accessories and more.

Yoga studio software allows business owners to be in much better control of their studio. Some software options also offer smartphone and tablet apps, meaning that business owners can easily manage tasks remotely or while they're on the go.

Common Features of Yoga Studio Software

Here some common features of yoga studio software:

Client management	Organizes different segments of clients, such as whether they're new or old, or recurring or irregular clients. The members are categorized according to their classes and levels (beginner, expert or recreational) for easy management. This way, you can assign them to relevant classes and teachers.
Online booking	Offers your clients the ability to book slots online by themselves, giving them control of their schedules and availabilities. In addition to booking slots for regular classes, you can let them register and pay for new workshops or classes as well.
Class scheduling	Automates the process of scheduling classes. Changes can be sent to studio staff and clients in real time.
Staff management	Manage your instructors, their classes, wages and communication from one dashboard. Set up the primary and backup instructor for each class, so that classes don't have to be cancelled. Also, ensure that your staff are paid on time based on each class, week or month based on their preference.
Communication and marketing	Includes automated reminders about class schedules, upcoming workshops, promos, payments due etc. You can promote your business using social media, emails, push notifications, etc., so that clients and potential students know about offers and new classes.
Point-of-sale functionality	Allows yoga studios to accept payments from existing clients when they renew and from new members. Point-of-sale hardware allows staff to swipe credit cards; some vendors bundle it with their software.
Reports and analysis	This feature provides important insights into how the business is performing and answers to difficult questions, such as whether the class scheduling is efficient, how much revenue you are generating versus expenses, opportunities to cut costs and more.

What Type of Buyer Are You?

The target audience for yoga studio software are health and wellness businesses and yoga instructors who want a more streamlined business. The size of each studio and business is different, so their expectations from the software differ as well. However, buyers in this category can be broadly classified into the following three types:

Personal yoga trainer: If you fall into this category, there are also standalone personal training software that you can check out. The most important features for these types of buyers are client management and appointment scheduling. Some solutions allow you to create a detailed client profile listing their training level, contact details, membership details, renewal due date and payments made to easily manage them.

The appointment scheduling feature can help you set up classes after factoring in travel time, client requests and other bookings. You can plan your weeks well in advance, and in case of any cancellations, take up last-minute bookings or visit potential clients.

Single studio owner: These businesses need a lot more features than personal yoga trainers do, as they have to manage a lot more. A single space requires efficient scheduling of classes and staff management.

Additional features that such buyers require includes a streamlined payments acceptance process for better management of finances. They should also have point of sale hardware such as barcode scanners or credit swipe machines to quickly process purchases and manage inventory.

Multiple studio owner: Such types of buyers would require detailed dashboards and reports to analyze how each studio is performing. The focus would be on ensuring that finances are accurate, marketing campaigns are run efficiently, classes are run smoothly, new instructors are trained faster, etc. They need to be able to manage the complete network of yoga studios from their desktop, mobile or tablet.

Benefits and Potential Issues

There are many benefits to be derived from using software to manage your yoga studio, and not any issues. The main issue you address with yoga studio software is to streamline your business. Let's look at some of the benefits in detail:

Save scheduling time: This is the biggest benefit of using yoga studio software. You can update the schedule in real time and instantly text or email your instructors. This takes care of communication and ensures the least bit of disruption to the classes. With instructors on standby, you can continue classes without cancellations. Also, if a customer is late, you can adjust them to a later class where slots are available.

Scheduling feature for yoga studios in StudioBookings (Source: StudioBookings)

Communicate easily with clients: You can send push notifications via your app or text/email clients with just a click. Many solutions allow you to automate messages so as to contact multiple people at once. In case a customer has been missing classes, you can email them that they're being missed and add a discount to a product or a free class to get them back.

MINDBODY's automated email feature (Source: MINDBODY)

Engage your clients with direct marketing: Advertise new workshops, classes, products, seminars or affiliate businesses using the marketing feature, which is included in many solutions. You can choose the kind of campaign to run (text, email, push notification or mixed channels), whether to make it recurring and the time to send them.

Email marketing campaigns on Zenoti

Organize your business: Reporting and analysis can help you understand how each function is performing. Is any instructor irregular with classes, what's the attendance percentage of each class, how many prospective customers have become regulars, etc. A graphical view of the studio's performance is helpful in figuring out which area needs immediate improvements.

Admin dashboard view of your business on Zen Planner

Earn more money with streamlined processes: With a streamlined business, you can focus on increasing revenue by attracting more clients through marketing. The mobile feature will let you know manage the business from anywhere, which leaves you free to spread the word about your studio at health and wellness retreats, conferences, etc.

Streamlined bookings list view on Glofox

Pricing and Purchasing Options

Most vendors try to offer simplified pricing options to cater to small studios as well as the large chains. They have tiered options based on the features offered: the more complex your requirements, the more features you'll need and hence, the more you'll have to pay. But, the basic versions are usually sufficient for small studios.

Some vendors offer mobile apps or integrations with your website or Facebook page. This allows you to receive payments from these channels, which gives customers the flexibility to use the channel they're comfortable with.

A few vendors allow you to have unlimited students or instructors per studio, but offer only the very basic features such as staff management, data storage and website integration. This option suits those businesses which already have a CRM solution for their clients or appointment scheduling apps, but lack some specific features to manage their yoga studio. They can simply integrate the yoga studio software with their existing systems.

When you're choosing a vendor and pricing package, you can opt to pay per month, called subscription pricing. However, you can also sign a contract for a year or quarter, which allows you to negotiate with the vendor for revised pricing. You could also customize your packages so that you don't have to pay for features you don't need.

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