mindbody

Businessmodel of MINDBODY

Customer Segments

MINDBODY has a niche market business model, with a specialized customer segment. The company targets its offerings at organizations in the health and wellness services industries.

Value Proposition

MINDBODY offers four primary value propositions: accessibility, performance, risk reduction, and brand/status.

The company creates accessibility by providing a wide variety of options. Its solutions are designed to engage both the demand and supply sides of the wellness services industry. The industry encompasses a broad range of activities, including health and fitness, salon and spa, integrated health, children’s activities, and fine arts.

The company demonstrates strong performance through tangible results. Specific positive outcomes for clients include the following:

  • Jean Paul Salon used MINDBODY’s solutions to increase its gift card sales by 27%
  • Flying Fantastic used MINBODY’s solutions to boost its revenues by 83% in one year and get 97% of its clients to book reservations online
  • Wee Sally used MINDBODY’s solutions to increase its revenues by 33%, obtain 25% more clients, and increase its retention rate to 36% within one year
  • CrossFit Inferno used MINDBODY’s solutions boost its revenues by 27%, increase its recurring revenues by 27%, and retain 63% of its members within one year

  • Powerflow Yoga used MINDBODY’s solutions to increase its revenues by 50%, boost its recurring revenues by 112%, and increase its retention by 63% within one year The company reduces risk by maintaining high safety and security standards. Specific efforts include:

  • Security Data Centers – The company utilizes secure Tier 4 data centers that are monitored on a 24x7x365 basis by experienced information technology professionals.
  • Secure Transmission and Sessions – The company utilizes Transport Layer Security (TLS), a form of data encryption, to ensure that all Internet communications remain private.
  • PCI-DSS & HIPAA Compliance – The company undergoes an annual audit to maintain PCI Level 1 certification for its network protocols, and its annual HIPAA risk assessment has been approved by the HITRUST CSF Assurance Program.
  • Network Protection – The company’s servers are protected by best-of-class router technology, layer 7 firewalls, and TLS encryption to guard against data breaches, hackers, spyware, and other threats. Its networks are monitored through a Security Incident Event Management (SIEM) system that obtains logs from all network systems and sets off alert triggers based on related events.
  • Data Backups – The company stores client data on a secure server that requires access authentication. To prevent data loss, snapshots of data are made every 15 minutes.
  • Vulnerability Analysis and Reporting – The company utilizes third-party security specialists and tools to monitor production and application infrastructure in order to quickly identify vulnerabilities.
  • Incident and Breach Notification – The company maintains “runbooks“ with more than 500 procedures detailing how to respond to system alerts and a Crisis Communications Plan providing instructions on how to notify customers in the case of a large-scale event.

  • Disaster Recovery (DR) – The company maintains a Disaster Recovery data center to ensure the availability of its systems in the case of a serious issue at its primary data center. The company has established a strong brand due to its success. It bills itself as the top provider of cloud-based business management software for the wellness services industry. It serves more than 60,000 businesses and 329,000 wellness practitioners in more than 130 countries. These groups serve millions of end users. Lastly, it has won many honors, including the following:

  • The Best In Show 2016 W3 Award in the Mobile App/Sites: Health and Wellness category and the Gold 2016 W3 Award in the Mobile App/Sites: Fitness category
  • A 2017 Global Mobile Award for Best Mobile App for the Connected Lifestyle
  • A 2017 BIG Innovation Award winner for its branded mobile app solution, Engage
  • Recognition as one of the Best Large Companies to Work for by Glassdoor
  • Ranking in Deloitte’s Technology Fast 500 ### Channels

MINDBODY’s main channel is its direct sales team. The company promotes its offerings through its website, social media pages, search engine marketing, e-mail marketing, online display advertising, print advertising, and participation in industry events such as trade shows and conferences. It hosts an annual conference called BOLD at which it invites customers to network.

Customer Relationships

MINDBODY’s customer relationship is primarily of a personal assistance nature. The company assists customers in the following ways:

Support Services – The company provides general phone, e-mail, and chat support. It also offers premium support, providing a dedicated product expert to address an individual client’s needs. The expert’s specific activities include customer service, onboarding, and staff training. There are two levels of support plans:

  • Premium Start – Company associates offer up to six hours of time to build a new site and conduct training calls

  • Premium Start Plus – Company associates offer up to 10 hours of time to build sites and conduct training calls; recommended for multi-use businesses Professional Services – The company provides consultants who offer guidance in the following areas:

  • Key Performance Indicator (KPI) assessment
  • Pricing
  • Payroll
  • The Sales Process
  • Client Retention
  • Creating Marketing Materials, Website, and Brand
  • Improving Schedule/Class/Appointment Offerings
  • Creating a Marketing Plan, Targets, and Action Plan
  • Creating Better Systems: Check-In, Online Registration, etc.
  • Hiring Staff and Training
  • Budgeting and Cash Flow Despite this orientation, there is a self-service component. The company operates MINDBODY University (MBU), a program through which it offers online training courses on a self-paced basis. The program costs $35 per month with a minimum three-month commitment. Its website features a “Business Resources“ section that includes useful tools such as white papers, case studies, infographics, webinars, and videos. The site also provides answers to frequently asked questions.

Key Activities

MINDBODY’s business model entails designing and developing its software products and delivering related services to customers.

Key Partners

MINDBODY maintains the following types of partnerships:

  • Technology Integration – The company works with organizations that build websites, mobile apps, and other digital applications that utilize the MINDBODY API
  • Solution Collaboration – The company works with organizations to collaborate on the development of wellness products and services for its customers
  • Branding Collaboration – The company works with organizations in co-branding partnerships Specific partners include FitBit, Manduka, Xero, Zenrez, Perkville, Emma, Fitmetrix, and Zumba.

Beyond these partnerships, MINDBODY also operates a referral program through which it invites clients to promote its offerings through their platforms (websites, mobile apps, etc.). Leads that result in new business earn the referring party a commission.

Key Resources

MINDBODY’s main resources are its human resources, who include the technology employees that design and develop its products and services, the sales employees that promote them, the consulting employees that provide advisory services, and the customer service employees that provide support. It places a high priority on intellectual property, with several pending U.S. and foreign patents.

Cost Structure

MINDBODY has a value-driven structure, aiming to provide a premium proposition through significant personal service and frequent service enhancements. Its biggest cost driver is sales/marketing expenses, a fixed cost.

Other major drivers are cost of revenues, a variable expense, and research/development and administration, both fixed costs.

Revenue Streams

MINDBODY has three revenue streams:

Subscription Revenues – Revenues generated from the sale of subscriptions for its cloud-based management software to customers. There are four plans:

  • Starter – Offers basic features for managing schedules, streamlining tasks, and selling services
  • Pro – Offers features for identifying growth opportunities and expanding services
  • Accelerate – Offers advanced retention and marketing tools for expanding reach and increasing engagements
  • Ultimate – Offers custom mobile apps, analytics, and enterprise-grade features Service Revenues – Revenues generated from the sale of related services such as online learning

Payment Revenues – Revenues generated from revenue-share arrangements with third-party payment processors on transactions between the company’s subscribers and their customers

Product and Other Revenues – Revenues generated from the sales of physical gift cards and point-of-sale system products to customers

Written on October 25, 2017