A client of mine's been using MindBody for scheduling appointments for their massage practice since 2012 and they've been satisfied with the product. MindBody has many functionalities built in and it also has its own app where users can schedule appointments at businesses that choose to use MindBody for scheduling. I used the app once to schedule a yoga class and to me it looked a bit confusing and clunky.
In early 2020 MindBody announced they would be increasing the already high pricing which pushed my client to look for an alternative. To find the right tool for first we set up a series of meetings where we identified the business needs, must haves, and nice to haves. We identified a handful of scheduling tools with promising features. We then created a customized comparison chart to help us eliminate some of those and create a short list.
In our shortlist we had FullSlate by Intuit, Schedulicity, SOAP Vault, Square, and Acuity (which is now owned by SquareSpace). Each of these tools offer amazing features and they were head to head all the way. For instance Square had the payment processing built in which made it the most cost saving option.
We chose Acuity Scheduling for several reasons.
1. Ease of use.I mentioned earlier that MindBody had several UX barriers to overcome for a user to understand how it all worked before they could schedule their session, and there was an added requirement of creating an account which is good and bad. Many customers prefer not to create a new account these days, so Acuity offers that flexibility.
2. Pricing, while Acuity not the most cost effective option, it did came at a much lower cost than MindBody.
3. Gift Cards and Package Purchase sale options were not included with some of the tools mentioned above which comes included with Acuity.
4. A modern interface and user experience.
5. Easy and seamless integration with SquareSpace website. My client's website was due for an update and we learned that SquareSpace recently acquired Acuity Scheduling which made our decision even easier to make. We rebuilt their website with scheduling included in SquareSpae. One of the benefits is that my client can now login to a single platform and manage their business from there.
6. Customizable email templates like reminders, offers, order confirmations, cancellations etc.
If your business needs help with choosing the right tool for its operations, or if you are looking to get help with moving out of MindBody to another platform let me know, I can help.