Growing Your business with AI/ML

Investing In Your Future

It’s no doubt that Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning are changing the landscape of business—and day-to-day life—at every turn. But did you know that Mindbody has been part of this technology revolution for years? 

Our platform uses AI/ML engines to automate and optimize booking and scheduling workflows, offer personalized recommendations in engaging ways, and provide leads and insights for both business owners and consumers. The use of AI and ML saves our customers countless hours of time and cuts down on business spend—which boosts their bottom lines. 

And Mindbody isn’t stopping. Our CEO, Fritz Lanman, is committed to pushing the limits of AI and ML to bring the most seamless, and most profitable, experience to our customers. 

“We’re starting to layer in a ton of features that help you grow your business even more, including machine learning and AI-powered tools that help business owners do things like convert more prospects, retain their audiences better, drive more purchases and get more bookings,” Lanman says. 

Here are some of our latest AI and ML features currently in use and debuting soon: 

Messenger[ai]

Mindbody customers are already enjoying the ease of Messenger[ai], an AI-powered front-desk assistant. It automatically responds to missed calls, fields questions, and helps clients book and buy services. 

“At its core, it’s a chatbot,” Lanman says, describing the technology. “It’s a widget that you put into your site. So, on your business webpage, when a prospect comes in, it can ask them questions like, ‘What availability do you have for an appointment?’ A client can actually go all the way through the booking process just by interacting with the chatbot.” 

Users are already appreciating the automatic texting capabilities of this new feature. Messenger[ai] responds to customers immediately after a missed call, answers questions, and follows up after a visit to rebook—all via text.  

“I don’t feel bad missing calls anymore. Whether I’m greeting a customer or already on the line, I know our AI has it covered,” says Mindbody customer Morgan Mateer of Takamichi Hair. 

Lanman and his team of engineers believe that the efficiency of Messenger[ai] not only saves businesses on staffing and overhead but responds to the current customer landscape of Millennial and GenZ consumers. 

“Younger consumers want to be able to just chat, they don’t want to have to pick up a phone to book an appointment or a class,” Lanman explains. “It also means you don’t need to have somebody at the front desk to get a booking.” 
 

Clients at Risk

Our teams have also spearheaded a new feature called Clients At Risk, which uses AI to identify members who are likely to stop coming to class. 

 “The AI shows customers the folks it thinks are losing their motivation before you’ve actually lost them,” Lanman says. “That gives you time to act. Go have an intervention with that person, give them a phone call, send them an encouraging text or give them an offer for a discounted personal training session or appointment to hook them back in.” 

This feature, currently available to select Mindbody businesses, could be a gamechanger for one of the fitness and wellness industry’s biggest hurdles: customer retention. 

“In the fitness industry, especially in wellness, retention is as big a priority as customer acquisition, because people lose their motivation for wellness and fall out of their routine,” Lanman explains. 

And so far, the early results of the Clients at Risk tool have been “spectacular”, according to Lanman. “The businesses using the feature are seeing 30% of those clients be more engaged after just exposing the feature to them,” he reveals. 

Big Spender Analysis

An exciting feature in development is designed to predict which new customers are more likely to be engaged, committed clientele. Lanman currently refers to this tool as “big spender analysis.”   

“When a prospect walks into your door, how do you know if they’re going to be one of the big spenders, one of the people who really buy into your business and stays active?” Lanman asks, noting the problem many Mindbody businesses face. 

This feature plans to identify these “big spender” customers from the outset, saving business owners time and guesswork. Similarly, our teams are working on an AI tool to help studios evaluate which instructors are likely to attract the most clients. 

Our AI/ML superpower: data

Mindbody is at the forefront of putting AI/ML advances to use for our customers, but there’s a pivotal distinction that sets us apart from other technology providers: our access to 20+ years of data—and growing every day. 

“The key is, which players have enough data to make the AI good? Mindbody has the biggest platform. Because of our scale, we have the data to do things with AI that our competition can’t,” Lanman explains. 

Data powers AI/ML-based intelligence and optimization, and our access to over two decades of data gives us a significant advantage. 

“We already grow businesses more than any other platform, we already have more features than any other. We also have AI that no one else can do because they don’t have our data scale,” says Lanman. “And then you add to that, software that’s getting faster, more reliable and more usable.” 

What's next?

We've pioneered AI/ML to become the leading wellness ops platform, and with an immense data pool, the future looks bright, seamless, and profitable for Mindbody business owners. 

What new tech can we expect on the horizon? Our engineers have hinted that we might see the software take on NLP (natural language processing) capabilities, as well as more enhanced search and recommendation functionality. Whatever comes next, we’re sure that it will be good for business.