Comprehensive Member & Business Software for Gyms + Studios
4.35/5 (203 reviews)
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.
Thanks Paul! We appreciate your feedback and kind words.
Rating breakdown
Likelihood to recommend: 10/10
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.
Rating breakdown
Likelihood to recommend: 10/10
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.
Rating breakdown
Likelihood to recommend: 9/10
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.
Thank you so much for the review Brian, we really appreciate it!
Rating breakdown
Likelihood to recommend: 10/10
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.
I¿m sorry to hear your experience with Zen Planner has been less than ideal. We'd like to offer help to ensure your database is set up efficiently and give you a direct point of contact for the issues you have brought to our attention. Please reach out to our retention expert, Nick Deprez at nick.deprez@zenplanner.com, to get set up as your review is anonymous and we are unable to reach you directly. In response to your note about down time: we diligently track the down time of our software and are currently at 99.87% availability. This would not be possible if we were down at the rate you described. I¿ve passed your feedback about our feature compatibility and sales to our Sales Team to review and ensure we maintain transparency and honesty in our sales process.
Rating breakdown
Likelihood to recommend: 1/10
15-day free trial, no credit card required.
Up to 50 members: $117/month-to-month
Up to 100 members: $157/month-to-month
Up to 250 members: $197/month-to-month
More than 250 members: $227/month-to-month
Roughly 30,000 gyms serve more than 50 million people in the U.S. alone, and that statistic doesn’t even count the hundreds of thousands of people who belong to more niche fitness facilities, like martial arts studios, bootcamps, and affiliate gyms. Zen Planner is a web-based application designed to serve this industry, providing fitness businesses with all the tools necessary for member management, automated billing, class and staff scheduling, attendance tracking, and workout tracking.
Designed as an all-in-one solution and built to help fitness professionals turn their passions into successful businesses, Zen Planner is most frequently used by small gyms, studios and martial arts schools. The average fitness business using Zen Planner has between 50 and 300 members. The all-in-one platform offers robust reporting features and powerful customization options, along with an engaging Member Mobile App and self-service Kiosk iPad App that empowers gym members to check themselves into classes, purchase memberships, and buy retail items.
Zen Planner is an all-in-one member management solution for fitness businesses. The web-based platform provides businesses like gyms, affiliate gyms, martial arts schools, and gyms with tools for handling member management, billing, scheduling, and website embedding. The company’s self-service Kiosk iPad App fits into the membership management process by enabling gyms to enhance their members’ experience, improve business metrics, and reduce administrative time. Zen Planner’s mobile app for Android and Apple devices enables members to reserve their spot for class, see which of their friends have signed up for class, and track their workout results, all from their mobile device.
Fitness studios that use Zen Planner benefit through better employee time management, increased business analytics and insights, and improved member retention and growth. Zen Planner provides tools for capturing, tracking, and even guiding prospects based on their current status within the sales process. It also offers fitness studios a unique combination of essential features for client management. All of Zen Planner’s features are designed to be flexible for users as their businesses grow.
Being an all-in-one solution means that Zen Planner offers all the tools that fitness businesses need to manage members or client accounts. From attendance tracking and workout tracking to billing and successful payments, Zen Planner makes it easy to keep track of important details for each and every member at your fitness business.
Cut down on the paperwork that’s required of your staffers during the new member registration process by utilizing Zen Planner’s Kiosk iPad App. New members can sign up for memberships, sign waivers and contracts, and enter payment information, all within the app.
Make it easy for individuals to be members your fitness business through self-service features. Using Member Connect, members can easily manage their own accounts. Zen Planner’s Member Mobile devices allows members to reserve their spot in class and track their workout results from their phone.
Zen Planner includes an integrated payment system, which businesses can use to manage basic financial tasks like collecting member payments, tracking expenses, and calculating taxes.
When you start using Zen Planner’s automated billing feature, your members will be able to view and pay their bills online through a self-serve portal. Those payments are automatically deposited into your bank account. Zen Planner keeps customer payment information private using leading security methods. The company is PCI-DSS Compliant.
Using Zen Planner’s self-service Kiosk iPad App, gym members can check themselves in to classes and appointments by name or barcode.
Place your iPad in a conspicuous location, like at your front desk or by the entrance of your studio, school or gym, and open up the Kiosk iPad App. As members arrive they will self-check in to classes by typing in their names or scanning their barcodes. Integrated alerts let gym members know if they need to resolve any issues before participating in classes. This feature also makes it easier for you to track class attendance.
Within Zen Planner’s Member Mobile App, gym members can view class schedules, reserve their spot in class, view instructor bios and see who else will be coming to that specific class.
Embed Zen Planner’s online calendar widget onto your existing business website or Facebook page to show current members and prospective members you class offerings. Zen Planner also gives you the option to speed up the check-in process by using the Kiosk iPad App or your existing scanners. By using Zen Planner for class scheduling, you’ll be able to keep track of enrollment numbers, ensure your classes aren’t over capacity, and avoid scheduling conflicts.
Zen Planner makes it easy to collect signatures for waivers and contracts from your members. The company’s Kiosk iPad App gives gyms the ability to gather digital signatures when new members sign up or when existing members do not have these documents on file. This feature comes equipped with automated alerts that pop up for members when documents needs to be signed.
Zen Planner’s Kiosk iPad App also handles credit card payments for single sessions, along with class drop-in fees. It also brings ease to the process of retail sales at your fitness business. The Kiosk iPad App enables members to select and pay for retail items at your fitness business on there own. Members have the option of swiping their credit card or choosing from a card they already have on file. This feature will help eliminate the honor board at your gym, studio or school.
Businesses in every industry are increasingly relying on digital channels for growth, and the fitness industry is no exception. Using Zen Planner, gyms and fitness studios can boost the functionality of their existing websites. Zen Planner enables businesses to sell merchandise online, customize event registration forms, and establish better lines of communication with members.
Embed whichever widgets and forms you wish to use directly into your business website or Facebook page. If your goal is to add prospects directly into Zen Planner, you can embed a lead capture form to make that process even more seamless. Then, follow-up with prospects and turn them into members with email marketing and automations. You also have the option to integrate an online storefront into your website. Zen Planner’s storefront features include automated alerts that let you know as soon as orders have arrived, along with notifications that are sent out immediately whenever your inventory is down.
Zen Planner offers Advanced Workout Tracking to help fitness business owners simplify programming add value to their members, and increase accountability by actively tracking performance over time. This feature eliminates spreadsheets by allowing you to program workouts directly into Zen Planner. It also offers helpful features for coaches, such as built in percent calculators and the ability to easily prescribe and record complete rep schemes.
Coaches, teachers and trainers who use Zen Planner Advanced Workout Tracking can enter the daily workouts into the system for their members to see in advance. After completing the workouts, member can record their results for the day and see how their performance compared to their friends by viewing the daily leaderboard. Members can also comment and Like their friends’ results to help build a strong, more supportive community at your gym, studio or box. Members can view their results over time to see how they’ve progressed, analyze trends and keep track of PRs.
Students can then access this information at will to see how far they’ve progressed over time or review activity instructions made by their instructors or coaches. Advanced Workout Tracking features enable trainers and gym managers to assign workouts to specific classes and analyze the results of individual gym members.
Zen Planner integrates with MailChimp for email marketing, along with a number of payment processors. Payment partners include PaySimple (U.S.), Beanstream (Canada), Payment Express and Ezidebit (Australia & New Zealand), and Payment Express and PaySafe (Western Europe). Zen Planner has also partnered with Infusionsoft, the leading sales and marketing software for small businesses. The integration with Infusionsoft provides customers with the tools to seamlessly manage their customers across both systems and ensure they receive the right communication at the right time.
Monthly pricing plans start at $75, with no contracts or start-up fees.
A tiered pricing structure is available based on the number of active members a fitness business has enrolled. For the sake of pricing, “active members” are considered contacts within a business’ database that have active memberships. Zen Planner does not charge businesses based on the total number of database contacts.
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