Introducing Apple Watch Registrations

There are a couple big promises we've made to our customers. Namely that we would always strive to put them and their needs ahead of ours, and that as technology advanced we would keep up in a way that benefited them.

Exactly a year ago today we announced custom iPhone applications for our customers. We wanted studios to have an option to have their own app in the App Store, so their students could have a direct connection to them. We believe today, like we believed then, that companies like mindbody who are working hard to become marketplaces, are working to turn your beautiful studio into a commodity.

We want to give our customers, and their students, something different.


When you consider what happens from the time you think about going to a yoga class, to the time you go to class, there are still actually a number of steps. You check your availability, look up the studio schedule, and possibly register. This is of course easily done with our iPhone apps, but how could it be easier?

How could we make something that might result in people doing more yoga?  How might people get the idea to go to yoga more often, and commit to going, more quickly? And not yoga just anywhere, but specifically at your studio.

After wearing the Apple Watch, I immediately felt it's screen was the most valuable screen-real-estate of any device I owned. One of the reasons we made the white-label app is we wanted to make something so good and so useful, that people would feel compelled to put it on their home screens.

What could we make such that people would want to put it on their watches?

The answer was clear almost immediately. The very first thing I wanted to be able to see on the Apple Watch, that I could not, was the ability to view the schedule at Tula Yoga Studio. How great I thought, if I could always see the next class time. What if every time I glanced at my watch, I was also gently reminded of the next class at the studio I go to? 

As time based events, a yoga class is the perfect information to display on a watch face. 

I am beyond thrilled to announce today that all of our customers with a custom iPhone app, will all be receiving an Apple Watch app as well. Moving forward, the Mudra plan will come with not just a custom iPhone app for your students, but also a custom watch app. 

This app allows your students to not only view your schedule, but also register for class with a tap of the screen. It's beautifully frictionless for your students, and it is our finest interpretation of how software should empower your studio and put you and your brand front and center.

We're still making a few small design updates and getting a few final things ready for the rollout, but we knew now was the time to share this with you. We hope you love it as much as we do.

There is no additional cost, and submissions will begin rolling out over the next two weeks. Check out the video below to see it in action.

Your own icon on the watch! Check out the Tula Swirls!

Your own icon on the watch! Check out the Tula Swirls!



On-ramps and entry points

For everything we do, there is a first time that we do it.

What's particularly interesting to me though is what happens from the moment of initial idea, to the first moment of execution. This period of time does not exist in a vacuum, and it is what happens during this time, that determines whether our inspiration will lead to action, or whether it will perish

Before we start something but after our initial idea - whether this is going to a yoga class, building a website or starting a business - we begin to process a variety of inputs and make our decisions regarding action. 

I think it's an interesting exercise to think about someone who has thought about doing yoga, but hasn't yet taken their first class. What are they thinking about? What's holding them back? What's drawing them to it? Why did they start thinking about it in the first place? Instagram photos, lululemon ads, viral videos, yoga studio websites, blog posts and more are all being processed by this person. How many of these things are designed to be entry points, welcoming them and encouraging them?

These same questions apply to our business for someone who has though about using software, but as of yet does not. What are we doing to give people confidence that they can trust us with their student information? What are we doing to show that we can empathize with them better than most? How easy are we making it for people to begin using us? Do our features allow them to run their business they way they want to?

When you're driving down the highway and there's an exit ramp every few miles, even if you're not using that exit ramp, you're still getting usefulness out if it because it's giving you a reminder that you can indeed get off that highway when you want. I believe the same is true with entry points. It's nice to know you can join something when you're ready, and that when you're ready, you'll be accepted. 

For those of us who make things, or have services that we want to introduce more people to, by consciously building more 'on-ramps and entry points' we can increase the likelihood that people will take action. 

There's an analytics tool called Tend that we mentioned the other day and it's what has me thinking about this more lately. What's innovative about what they've made is that it shows very clearly that purchasing decisions are not made instantly.

Before people eventually become a customer of ours, they might visit our website a few times, our blog 2 or 3 times, read our reviews, check out our Facebook page, and then become a customer. But just because someone came from Facebook right before they became a customer does not mean the blog posts were not valuable.

I think this is one of those big ideas that can show up in software which can be applied to any type of business. 

You might not have gotten as many likes as you wanted on a blog post, but it may have been read by the one person that's going to schedule a private lesson 2 months from now. Mentioning the retreat you're putting on at the end of a class probably isn't going to get people to sign up for it right away, but it is providing an entry point. A studio sharing their schedule on their website may not directly lead to someone coming to that class today, but it might help them show up for their first class a week from today.

And maybe they only knew about your website because of the flyer you left at the coffee shop!

Whatever we may be trying to introduce people to, I've come to believe it's important to obsess about these entry points. Not just because it can be good for your business, but because it allows people to join precisely when they're ready, without pressures before, and without obstacles after.

 

Yoga Studio Websites We Love

{Updated January, 2019}

We write a lot about the various features we offer, how they're designed to help you with your business, and in particular the web and mobile experience you can create. And when I talk with our customers and potential customers, one of the things we most often discuss is the layout and structure of their websites. So I was thinking it would be nice to show some examples of websites we love.

JaiRhythm Yoga

I've never meet the people over at JaiRhythm, but I already feel like I know them through their website. They have awesome HD surf videos highlighting their Soul Surfer class, loads of pictures of their students and their community, and clear pricing accompanied by good copy describing the classes. One of Tula’s earliest customer’s

Yess Yoga Studio

I love the clean layout, crystal clear navigation, beautiful studio photos and the way in which they leverage all of Tula’s widgets. Their calendar page is perfect and they communicate the warmth and openness of the studio with great writing and friendly photos. Their pricing page clearly outlines a handful of options and they don’t overwhelm students with choices. If you’re looking for website inspiration, definitely check them out.

Tula Yoga Studio

Okay we’re a little biased here as this is Maile’s studio! With clear navigation, loads of special events, and clear pricing it’s designed with intention and leverages all the current power of Tula Software. With separate pages private appointment bookings, an explainer page for virtual audio attendances, a dedicated account management page and more the site is a “full” site with a lot of pages, but designed with a drill-down menu that makes it easy and clean to navigate.

Island Yoga

The home yoga studio of Rachel Brathen, aka yoga_girl on instagram, the site works to instantly bring the visitor into their Aruba location. With big images of their studio, cafe, and studio beach location, you’re quickly drawn to explore more. With a deep menu linking to a number of retreats, events, teacher trainings and more the site does a good job of showcasing both the individual studio as well as the larger offerings provided by Rachel and the other companies and organizations she runs.

Flower City Yoga

With a great landing page that makes it clear their studio is for everyone, they make it easy to jump to view their schedule and intro pack for new visitors. What I love most is their focus on the students. Images of students, testimonials by students, and a site designed and built with the understanding that it’ll be visited by students. I point this out specifically because often the focus of a site can turn to the teachers, which is great, but it’s refreshing to see so much emphasis on the students. And as with all the others, they have a clear menu with an easy path to their calendars, purchase forms and account pages.


If you're looking for ideas and inspiration, check out the sites above. And if you know of any others that you love share them in the comments!

How to line up memberships and recurring revenue before you open your yoga studio

I've had a number of conversations with people opening new yoga studios lately, and one of the things I talk about often is the power and importance of recurring revenue. But I also talk about how there's an easy way to generate recurring revenue before you even open your studio. 

One of the most powerful features we offer with Tula is our payment forms, and there's an important and valuable by-product of this feature that allows you to line up members for your new yoga studio, without charging your customers until opening day.

We always recommend that you start marketing your new studio as soon as possible.

If you've signed a lease, you should be handing out flyers at local restaurants, going to farmers markets (if that's an option) and generally spreading the word in every way you can. The trouble is, if you're not open yet, you don't really have anything to sell yet either.

What you can do however, is provide people with the option of purchasing early-bird discount memberships. Purchase a membership before the doors open, you can let them know, and pay the discounted price for as long as your a member. This is a great way to both build loyalty for your studio, *and* reward your very earliest supporters for as long as they're a member. It's a win-win for everyone.

If a full price membership is $129/mo, maybe offer an early-bird membership for $99. If full price is $99, maybe offer a discount membership for $85.

The idea is that in exchange for a small discount, you're getting people to commit to your new studio before the doors are even open. Importantly though, most people don't want to get charged until you have actually opened your doors. This is where our payment forms come in.

Because a student's credit card is not actually charged until you do the payment matching, what you can do with Tula is your new students fill out the payment form, but you simply don't match the payment until opening day. Doing this stores the information about the purchase, including the credit card, but it doesn't actually conduct the charge until later when you match the payment.

The result is your students can make a commitment to you early on, they don't get charged until your doors open, and on opening day you log some very real revenue and an kick things off with an initial set of committed customers.

A random assortment of tools to help you with your yoga business

I like to occasionally share information about Tools that we find useful and helpful. Of course, we think Tula is great for your yoga studio, but there are a slew of other tools out there that can help studios, instructors and others as they work towards building their businesses. In no particular order, here are some tools we love.

Canva.com - By far the easiest to use design tool I've ever had the pleasure to come across. If you need to make images, banners and other things, you need to check out Canva.

Tend.io - Beautifully easy way to see how people are finding your website.

LessAccouting.comEvery business needs to keep their books in order. Less Accounting makes is easy and simple. 

TicketLeap.comIf you're hosting a one-off event with ticket sales such as a yoga conference, they seem like a great option.

Regonline.com - Same as above. I love their public facing widgets, but their sign up flow leaves a lot do be desired in my opinion.

Square.comEver since they started handling appointments I'm unclear if they'll become a competitor at some point. But they still make it super easy for anyone to take credit cards. You should have a square account. 

Paypal.me - New service from paypal that makes it pretty easy to get paid by anyone.

Stripe.comGet a stripe account and you'll be able to connect it to all sorts of web services that make it easy to take payments. 

Hover.com -  Register a domain name without giving your money to GoDaddy.

Squarespace.comEasy and simple way to make a beautiful website.

Wix.com - Another easy way to make a beautiful website.

CampaignMonitor.comEasy way to send beautiful marketing emails.

Simplecast.fm - Ever wanted to start a podcast? Simplecast makes it easy.

Formstack.com - Super easy online form builder

I'm sure I'm forgetting a few things, but hopefully you find this of products useful; we use many of these ourselves every day. See something missing? Let us know in the comments!