When you own a yoga studio, picking the right class scheduling software is just another item on your seemingly endless list of things to do.  But if you choose wisely, you will thank yourself later.

We’re here to help! Here are some important tips to consider when you’re picking software for your yoga studio.

Your Software Should Take Care of These Critical Tasks

Every successful yoga business has to develop an effective way to do these essential tasks:

1. Collecting your clients’ contact information and effectively using it to market your services
2. Scheduling your classes & communicating your schedule to the public
3. Allowing quick and easy customer check-in at the start of class
4. Selling & tracking customer passes and memberships
5. Collecting signed waivers from your customers.

The best way to accomplish these business-critical items is with cost-effective, easy-to-use studio management software.

You Should Consider Online Sales & Bookings Too

There are a couple of additional tasks that may (or may not!) be optional for you, depending on your situation.

You might want to accept reservations online.  Pre-registration is great if your classes are super popular, you’re working with limited space or you just want to know how many customers to expect.

It’s great to be able to sell passes and memberships online as well. When folks pay upfront, they’re more likely to buy one of your package deals (rather than a single-time drop-in pass).  It also frees up your time at the beginning of class when folks have paid in advance.

“He who fails to plan is planning to fail” — Winston Churchill

Your Software Should Make You Look Like a Pro

Whether you’ve been in business a while or you’re new to studio ownership, it’s critical for you to present your business as professionally and competitively as possible.

If you’re just getting started, you might be tempted to go on the cheap with paper punch cards.  But you have to plan for growth.  Do you want to find yourself drowning in a sea of punch cards and paper lists in 2 months?

Don’t make work for yourself.  Take advantage of modern technology and find software to help.

Most of your potential new customers are searching for your classes online. Make it easy and effortless for them to find you and purchase your services.

Start a Yoga Business That Will STAY in Business

Ideally, your software will be simple and flexible.  You need to present your business in a custom way without creating unnecessary complications for you or your customers.

Here are some things to consider:

You want a great online presence without any extra hassle.

• It’s nice to have ONE place where you keep your schedule online.  That one place should be your yoga studio software.  Then you can use your software to display your schedule to clients online.
• If you have a website, it should be easy to integrate the software with your site.
• If you don’t have a website, you should find software that helps you show your schedule from Facebook or an email link.
• If you want to sell passes online or accept reservations, your software should help with those things too.
• You should be able to collect and store digital signatures for your customer waivers
• Your software should provide a great student experience for both new clients and your regulars.  For example, you might decide to let new clients book and pay online without first logging in with a password.  But your regulars might prefer to log in so they can see how many visits on their current pass and to see their upcoming reservations. Your software should allow both.

You want things to work smoothly when you’re in the studio.

• Customer sign-in should be easy and fast.  You should be able to tell right away if a customer needs a pass.  If so, you should be able to take care of that immediately, without toggling back and forth between multiple screens.
• It’s nice to have a customer self check-in feature – it lets your regulars mark their own attendance without your involvement.  Then you can spend those pre-class moments welcoming new clients and building relationships.
• It’s great to have a way to email your customers right from the software.  This will help you provide great customer service really easily right when you’re looking at a client’s situation in the software.
• Encourage loyalty and boost sales with automatic email reminders that tell your customers when it’s time for a new pass.

You want mobile access.

• Your software should let you take class attendance on your iPad or smartphone.
• Your customers should be able to reach your schedule when they’re on the go via smartphone.
• One-touch access on your phone’s home screen can provide you and your customer’s quick access to your software anytime.

Your software should work for you…not the other way around

You want your software to be easy to set up and easy to use.  When it’s too complicated, it can waste hours of your time with no increased benefit.  Can you dive in and learn as you go?  Or is training required for you and your instructors to know how to use the software?  Ideally, you want something with a minimal learning curve so it makes sense to you quickly.  You want your customers and instructors to find it simple to use too.

You should also consider what level of customer support you’re likely to receive.  Are you just a number to your software provider?  Or are you interested in working with a smaller service that can relate to your small business?  Getting started is challenging enough – you want to choose a provider that’s committed to your success.

How Much Does It Cost? Make Sure You Know!

Software is a worthwhile investment, but it should also be affordable.

Consider whether you are going to pay for features you aren’t using.  Don’t end up paying hundreds of dollars a month extra for features you don’t use or need.  Extra bells and whistles cost you precious time too — it’s easy to get bogged down as you sift through them.

Also, consider whether you’ll be “nickeled and dimed” for add-ons that you really do need. If you add another instructor (or two), will you have to pay more as your business grows? Will you have to pay to embed your schedule? Get your data out? etc.

Flexibility is also key when you’re starting out – you won’t want to sign a contract that locks you in.  A month-to-month service is a good choice since your needs may change as your business grows.

Punchpass Can Help Run Your Yoga Studio

Yoga studios go with Punchpass software like peanut butter goes with jelly.  Salt and pepper.  Bacon and eggs.  It’s a natural fit that is painless and perfect.

There’s a free 2-week trial so you can see for yourself why yoga studios love it.  No credit card is required.  There’s no commitment, and you can cancel anytime.   Click to learn more about our plans and pricing. 

Good luck as you evaluate which class scheduling software is right for you and your yoga studio.  We wish you every success on your journey!