How to Choose the Right Business Software for Your Pole Dance Studio, Part 2

In part 1 we talked about how to think about what you need for your pole dance studio software needs. In part 2, we’ll compare the top 5 options.

Comparing the top pole dance studio software

1. OfferingTree

OfferingTree is an all-in-one studio management platform that includes most of the features a growing pole dance studio would need. It allows studio owners to book classes, accept online payments, and manage a client list all from one convenient platform.

Who is it for

OfferingTree is designed to help pole dance studios of different sizes and development stages, from solo owners up to mid-sized studios.

Features

• Website creation & hosting
• Online booking
• Payment processing
• Digital content
• Marketing automation
• CMS
• Lead generation
• and more

Price 

• Essentials @ $26/mo
• Pro @ $83/mo
• Pro Plus @ 49/mo
• Studio Starter @ $100/mo
• Studio Grow @ $150/mo
• Studio Max @ $225/mo

Pros

OfferingTree’s all-in-one feature set is one of its best traits. Every feature interacts with another in a holistic way, making it easy to jump from task to task. You can sign a new client into the system, process their payment, and enroll them into a special marketing email sequence without ever having to leave the platform.

OfferingTree also has a very open-minded approach to product development. They frequently acknowledge and adopt user suggestions (although they can’t act on everything), which helps make their product more user-friendly.

Cons

If there’s one area where OfferingTree is lacking, it is that it has somewhat limited visual reports. Large pole dance or wellness studios that need a lot of data to make business decisions might not get the info they need from OfferingTree.

OfferingTree is also not a perfect fit for specific modalities like door access control and workout tracking.

Reviews

Many of OfferingTree’s customers seem to appreciate how well the different pieces of the software integrate with each other in a seamless way. The UI is intuitive and easy to learn, but OfferingTree also offers free 1:1 onboarding for studio owners who aren’t as tech savvy. Users also seem happy with how quickly OfferingTree’s customer service team responds and the quality of their support. 

OfferingTree has worked with industry experts to create their reporting features and can currently report on business finances, staffing, sales, membership, retention, and more—and each of these reports can be filtered and segmented. There are also scorecards that show overall KPIs that provide insight on the health of the business membership metrics, and intro offer scorecards. And while there are some users who experience some gaps in reporting, the OfferingTree team is always adding more.

Discount

OfferingTree offers IPIA members 15% off any annual plan or 50% off the first three months.

2. Mindbody

Mindbody is relatively well known among fitness and wellness businesses, covering modalities such as salons, spas, and fitness studios. Because of its wide target audience, it has a very comprehensive set of features and capabilities.

On the other hand, serving so many broad use cases means its features tend to be on the more generic side compared to other platforms that focus on pole dance studios and similar ventures.

Who is it for

Mindbody mostly targets multi-location studio franchises that have large budgets and resources. This is confirmed by the high prices that customers have reportedly paid to use the platform.

Features

• Scheduling & reservations
• Online member portal
• Marketing tools
• Payroll
• Workout planning
• Automated collections & invoicing
• And more

Price

Mindbody has a relatively opaque pricing structure. Although the website says price starts at $99/mo per location, they don’t give any more details for any of the 4 available pricing tiers.

Pros

We like Mindbody’s impressive collection of features. It has everything you could possibly want as a business owner, and possibly more. Their team will even let you pay for a customization if there’s a unique use case that you need the platform to solve for you.

Reviews

Upon examining the reviews, we saw that many customers appreciate Mindbody’s deep feature suite. Users also valued their extensive knowledgebase and paid onboarding services, as it helped accelerate the learning process.

However, quite a few customers complained about Mindbody’s high prices so it’s probably not appropriate for smaller studios with lower budgets. There were also a few technical issues like lag or downtime that were reported, although we can’t tell how often that actually happens.

3. WellnessLiving

WellnessLiving markets itself as a business management software solution for pole dance, yoga, and fitness studios. The platform offers business tools, customizable mobile apps, class scheduling, client management, and the like. It also gives business owners marketing tools that can help them attract more clients.

Who is it for

WellnessLiving can be used by small to mid-sized studios thanks to its lower fees and decent feature set.

Features

• Online booking
• Events & workshops
• Payment processing
• Email Marketing
• SMS Marketing
• Companion app
• And more

Price

• Starter tier @ $69/mo
• Business tier @ 199/mo
• Business Pro tier @ 349/mo
• Enterprise tier – request quote

Pros

WellnessLiving is an excellent choice for pole dance studio owners who are on a budget thanks to their lower base rates and discount promotions. Some customers have even been able to negotiate their rates.

Another plus is that WellnessLiving’s companion app is completely free. It’s very user friendly and is updated on a regular basis.

Reviews

Clients give WellnessLiving a high rating for their smooth onboarding process and the usability of their app. More still praise the company for their flexible and reasonable pricing.

Despite that, however, users have reported a common issue with slow support response times. Several customers have also shared significant problems migrating data over from previous platforms.

Discount

WellnessLiving offers IPIA members 50% off Your First 3 Months When You Subscribe to their Business Plan.

4. Momence

Momence is a one-stop solution for most pole dance studio needs. With it, you can schedule classes and workshops, organize appointments, market to potential clients, and track business performance.

Momence follows the same philosophy as Mindbody, which is trying to appeal to as many service-based businesses as possible. This potentially dilutes their capabilities and may not be a perfect fit for pole dance studios.

Best for

This platform is best suited for mid-sized studios and larger.

Features

• Class and appointment scheduling
• Unified messaging inbox (SMS, In-app, email, and social)
• Automation sequences
• Smart notifications
• Staff management
• Gift cards & discount codes
• And more

Price

Momence doesn’t publicly list any pricing information, but they do charge transaction processing fees.

Pros

Momence has one of the best collections of marketing tools among all the platforms we’ve reviewed. In addition to the standard newsletters, email, and text outreach, they also let you create community posts and groups for your clients. This gives them an opportunity to engage with each other and establish roots as part of your community.

Reviews

Momence’s marketing tools are a big source of positive reviews online. This includes the extensive library of ready-to-use marketing templates and the ability to build customer marketing campaigns. Customers also appreciate the elegance and simplicity of their app’s UI.

Nothing is perfect, however, and Momence is no different. Some users have reported slow customer service responses, untrained agents, and a frequent habit of kicking calls to the development team—who never get back to them.

5. Arketa

Arketa is one of the few business software solutions designed specifically with pole dance studios, yoga, and fitness centers in mind. They cover all the basics—scheduling, memberships, events, and client management—but also include marketing automation and branded websites.

Best for

Arketa is popular among solo business owners and ambitious independent instructors with aspirations of starting their own studio.

Features

• Courses and programs
• On-demand library
• Classes & appointments
• Loyalty development
• Client CRM
• AI-powered chat
• And more

Price

Arketa has two sets of price tiers, one for individuals, and another for studios. Individual price tier is as follows:

• Individual Basic @ $49/mo
• Individual Growth @ $83/mo
• Individual Suite @124/mo

All Studio tiers need to be quoted by sales.

Pros

Arketa is refreshingly transparent with their different price tiers, with few hidden rates or conditions. They have a strong market suite that includes automations, SMS marketing, and even an AI copy generator. Arketa doesn’t supply any branded app or website for you, but they do offer website and app creation to any who sign up.

Reviews

Arketa’s low rates have definitely attracted a lot of budget-conscious companies, but that isn’t the only reason they sign on. They say Arketa is also very easy to learn, and if they have questions Arketa provides learning resources to help people get into the swing of things.

Some customers don’t like the way Arketa does customer service, though. In Arketa, the live support is simply a scheduled Zoom webinar. Instead of taking questions one-on-one, it’s a group call where they try to get to as many questions at the time.

Client experience matters most

As you review software options, you should always ask yourself, ‘how will this impact my clients?”

Look beyond the client-facing parts of the software like the app or the booking site. If your software has a half-baked payment processing feature, clients will have a harder time paying you money. If you have a good CMS, that means better client relationships.

Let the client experience be your guiding star, and you’ll find the business software that’s right for you.

 

*this post written by IPIA partner OfferingTree