Pros
I can not state more clearly that Mindbody is the leader in what they do. They have their faults because of the way it was designed originally but they are working on those every day but no system on the market is better. I have a feeling that a couple years from now, they be much larger than what they even are now.
Cons
the old design structure of the base platform could use some updates, which they are aware of
Rating breakdown
Likelihood to recommend: 10/10
Studio automation is always a plus - if you haven't used Auto-Pay, you should really try it. Automated emails are really the best part. For us, it's slow, kind of clunky, and doesn't fit our needs as well as we had hoped. Them withholding our money was definitely the main impetus for our disillusionment.
Pros
Integrated billing/scheduling/contractor & staff payroll. Automated email messaging. Automated customer billing. A large variety of services thought to improve retention and conversion. Tech support is very knowledgeable, professional and helpful.
Cons
We've been using MB for over 7 years. It was affordable when we started, but has continued to increase in cost. It is now very expensive, by comparison to other offerings. The billing system is extremely complicated to set up and is difficult to train. It's really built for yoga studios, etc., and is not a good solution for music schools. The vast majority of the add-on products they promote are not useful to those that only book recurring appointments, like music schools do. They seem to be designed for pushing individual appointment booking, which is the opposite of what we need. There are constant "improvements" which always add more page loads - when we first started, you could go to any page on the site within 2 clicks. The daily tasks you need are now, all, at least 3 page loads away, if not more. In other words, their improvements always slow us down and don't add any value that we can perceive. The reason we're going to move to something else was cemented this week: On Apr. 1 our Auto-Pays ran like normal. On Apr. 2 they sent us an email informing us that 20% of what they owed us was being held to protect our clients due to changes from the COVID-19 pandemic. We were left scrambling for cash to cover checks we had already written. There was no warning that they were going to short us. They claimed that the "entire processing industry" was doing this, but I can find no evidence that that is true. It looks like they were holding back our money to protect themselves.
Rating breakdown
Likelihood to recommend: 0/10
Own a hair salon? This might be important to you too: I've been using MindBody for nearly 2 years at my salon for its online booking. I have nothing bad to say about how the online booking functions on MY end... meaning that when I log in and manage my appointments, it's pretty easy for me. It's actually REALLY easy for me and I love the way MindBody allows me to manage my appointments. So I do recommend it for this very important reason. HOWEVER, what I don't love about this service is that, according to my website designers SetMySite (these guys are incredible btw), there's no "customizable embed code"... in business owner terms that means, when the client wants to book their appointment through the website, they click on a link on the website that takes them OUT of your website and ON TO MindBody's website. There are other salon booking applications that allow you to create a custom look and feel to the appointment booking application and "embed" it onto your website, so that your clients can actually book ON your website. MindBody offers no such feature. So why does this ruin the experience so much? 1) It looks unprofessional! We consider ourselves a very high-end salon. Sending our client to another website that doesn't match the same look and feel of our website looks amateur and unpolished. Especially since our website uses dark colors, and MindBody's is all white - it's a very ugly contrast. 2) It's not very user friendly for the client. Originally I wanted a "book now" button under each service offering on my website and I wanted to have that button automatically take the client down the path to book that specific service once they clicked on it (obviously). But I guess that wasn't so obvious for the MindBody peeps as when someone clicks on the "book now" button on my website, it just takes them to a general page where the client has to fish around for the service they JUST TRIED to book on my site and re-add it so they can book! SMH. 3) When the client is taken to the MindBody booking page, they aren't greeted with a list of services to choose from. They are greeted the the need to "sign in" to an account. How could a first time client already have an account? MindBody should know that many many clients that book online are actually first time clients! Why not make it as easy as possible for them to book online? I feel like MindBody makes it as HARD as possible for them to book the service they want through the website itself.
Pros
Excellent admin management. Wonderful for managing appointments and worth the money based on this alone. You pay more as your business grows. I have found the support to be excellent. I'm not sure why so many people here are complaining about the support. Everyone I've talked to has been really knowledgeable and helpful.
Cons
No way to book appointments directly on your own website. This is a pretty big one for me obviously. The booking page for the customer is stark, confusing, and unnecessarily cumbersome. There needs to be a way to make the integration more seamless and pretty. I guess it's just very disappointing because the software and company are otherwise very good. This seems like such a no-brainer and I feel like I'm losing business because of it. This needs to be addressed.
Rating breakdown
Likelihood to recommend: 5/10
I think until recently we were thinking of switching to something else that is more reasonably priced. I stayed on and am now using the new marketing software. We will see if it helps automate our business more.
Pros
I like that it has an app and that our clients can easily sign up. Also, the billing makes it easy for a small business like ours.
Cons
We have been using MINDBODY for the last 3 years. I just think it is okay and think there are so many other products out there that have come out that might be better. My biggest gripe is the cost. I wish it scaled more with how big our fitness business is. We have a small business and don't do a lot of volume but in order to get the marketing features we have to pay a huge premium. I also was bothered that that they just increase costs by a lot after we used it for a year and never gave any training about the new features that we HAD to pay for. I don't like that their actual internal network and app don't help get new clients. DON'T ever pay for that feature as it takes a percentage from the sale. You are much better off doing your own sales and marketing.
Rating breakdown
Likelihood to recommend: 7/10
I tried to leave Mindbody once to go to Booker (now a MBO owned company) and that was a huge fail. They didn't offer the preferences that worked for my boutique, small studio. MBO has stellar customer service. Also, BOLD is beyond a doubt, the most exciting part of MBO and helping owners stay motivated, inspired and educated.
Pros
Mindbody offers exemplary customer service. I have been with them for more than 10 years of the 15 years that I have been in business. It's user friendly, innovative and helps business owners to automate their work.
Cons
The price for MBO keeps getting more expensive. Also, the partner companies can add up too.
Rating breakdown
Likelihood to recommend: 9/10
Essential $129: Manage your schedule, sell services, and streamline everyday tasks.
Accelerate $239: Keep your clients coming back with email campaigns and text confirmations.
Ultimate $349: Grow your business with advanced marketing tools, automations & analytics.
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