TL;DR: Three things to know
- Yoga Pod Tucson consolidated scheduling, marketing, payments, instructor subbing, and reporting from five tools into Walla, cutting subscription fees 20%.
- Staff training that once took hours now takes 10 to 15 minutes for most daily tasks, and new hires no longer need months to get comfortable.
- Class sales grew 43% after the switch, and pulling data for annual strategic planning became dramatically faster.
What wasn't working before Walla?
Before switching to Walla, Yoga Pod Tucson ran its studio on at least five separate systems: a marketing CRM, class scheduling, a separate instructor sub platform, payments, and reporting. None of them talked to each other.
The tipping point came when the studio's marketing CRM support went dark. Since the team was going to replace its marketing system anyway, it was time to consider a larger switch. Training new hires on five different tools took months, and simple customer tasks required management help and far too many steps.
Why Yoga Pod Tucson chose Walla
Walla brought scheduling, marketing automation, payments, sub management, and reporting into one platform built for yoga studios. After a demo and a conversation with co-founder Laura, it was clear Walla could automate the manual workarounds the team had built up. One look at the teacher dashboard and the decision was made.
The team's biggest fear, losing visibility to new clients who might discover the studio through their old platform's marketplace, never materialized. And the overwhelming feeling of switching software turned out to be smaller than the problem it solved: the team completed the move between Thanksgiving and Christmas with Walla's onboarding team doing the heavy lifting.
What changed after the switch
Class sales grew 43% after Yoga Pod Tucson moved to Walla, subscription fees dropped 20%, and ROI was immediate. Automated email campaigns and behavior-based Journeys now do the manual marketing work, gift cards sell without staff involvement, and the branded app keeps the studio's community engaged with announcements and self-service payments.
The team is data-driven, and Walla made that easier too: daily attendance and revenue checks, weekly membership and intro-offer numbers, and annual strategic planning data pulls that used to take hours of headaches now come straight out of the platform. With operations handled, the leadership team spends its time on growth, innovation, and evolution.
Walla's Impact
What was the biggest driver for Yoga Pod Tucson to make the switch to Walla?
Our biggest reason for switching to Walla was the need for a more integrated system after our Marketing CRM support went dark. Since we were going to replace our studio marketing system, we knew it was time to consider a larger switch. We explored various demos, and while some options felt like we were “settling,” Walla stood out. After seeing a demo of your software and talking with your co-founder, Laura, it became clear that Walla could automate many of the manual workarounds we had with our previous systems, making our operations more streamlined. One look at the teacher dashboard and Shae was sold!
How has the introduction of Walla changed your overall studio operations?
Previously, at Yoga Pod Tucson, we used quite a few different systems—from our marketing CRM to class scheduling and a totally separate instructor sub platform. We had at least five different things we Frankensteined together. That also meant we were spending time training different staff members on all these different systems (and the purpose behind each one). Walla has simplified staff training significantly. And that’s one of the biggest shifts at Yoga Pod!
Previously, it took months for new hires to get comfortable with our systems, and now they’re able to catch on quickly. With Walla, we have a single integrated system, making our operations smoother and more efficient. Plus, the navigation panel in Walla has everything you and your staff need in one place, freeing up our team to focus on higher-level, more growth mindset thinking.
Time-saving Efficiency
In what ways has Walla improved operational efficiency in your studio?
Walla has allowed us to manage everything under one roof. The built-in processes have replaced the roundabout solutions we were using. Our leadership team no longer gets frequent “How do I do this?” questions from staff, thanks to how intuitive Walla is. Also, we now have several Walla experts on the team instead of needing a specialist for each separate system.
What features have had the greatest impact on daily operations for you and your staff?
One key feature is that clients can’t sign up for something unless they’ve paid—this reduces billing issues and ensures smoother operations. The branded app creates a sense of community within the studio, too, thanks to features like app announcements. The branded app feels very Yoga Pod and makes it easy for clients to change their card on file, purchase memberships, and handle transactions without staff intervention. We make great use of Walla’s marketing tools, like automated email campaigns and targeted journeys based on where customers are in our sales funnel. This automation has saved us a lot of manual work and enhanced client engagement. We also use Walla’s marketing platform to communicate with our team of over 100 employees. Sending out announcements is simple, and our staff appreciates the regular communication.
What does Yoga Pod Tucson do for marketing?
At Yoga Pod Tucson, we utilize a variety of marketing strategies, many of which are made more efficient through Walla’s automation tools. We send regular newsletters and promotions to our entire database through email and text campaigns, which continue to improve engagement. Additionally, we run paid online ads that link directly to plan purchases, ensuring a seamless customer experience from discovery to conversion. Walla's integrated marketing platform helps us target different segments of our customer base with personalized messaging, driving both engagement and bookings. Our number one driver of marketing continues to be word-of-mouth.
Have you noticed any reductions in operational costs or time savings since implementing Walla?
Yes, we have noticed substantial time savings and operational cost reductions since switching to Walla. With all systems under one roof, we no longer need to juggle multiple platforms, which has reduced our subscription costs by 20%. Time savings have also been significant, particularly with Walla's automation tools for guest communication and bookings. Our staff can now focus on higher-value tasks rather than manual data entry and follow-ups—which naturally enhances the guest experience. Additionally, the reduction in administrative tasks and errors has translated into fewer hours spent training staff and corrective admin work by a manager, contributing to overall cost efficiency and improving the overall guest and Yoga Pod Tucson experience.
What Walla reports do you run and refer to daily/weekly/monthly? And what reports do you think every studio owner should run to make more informed business and operational decisions?
We are a data-driven team that runs various reports on a regular basis. We balance our decision-making with real-time data and the intangibles a system cannot detect, such as culture, teacher/guest relationships, etc.—and we believe we do a good job of marrying those. Daily, we check class attendance and revenue. Weekly, we focus on membership numbers, intro-offer sales, total sales, number of new guests and bums on mats. Monthly, we dive deeper into sales metrics, including revenue by service type, a broader view of our weekly KPIs, and overall expenses. Quarterly, we review class performance to ensure our offerings align with guest demand. We love that Walla offers a view into total active plans, and we will be adding that metric to our KPI set for our new fiscal year!
The reports every studio owner should run aren’t a one-size-fits-all response. At a high level, we recommend running sales and attendance reports to monitor growth patterns and identify areas that need attention. What’s most important is not just gathering the data but deriving meaningful insights from the data. As a general rule, focus on the reports that reflect the KPIs essential to your studio’s success, establish a consistent reporting cadence, and use those insights to guide actions that help you achieve your studio goals.
A super important add: Yoga Pod Tucson is in the middle of strategic planning for our next fiscal year (October 2024-September 2025). Pulling the data was infinitely easier this year and saved us many hours and headaches!
Strategic Positioning
How has Walla helped Yoga Pod Tucson's position in the yoga community?
Because the system and software are so intuitive and the branded app gives clients the freedom to do so many things solo, Walla allows our leadership team and staff to focus more on the big picture aspect: Studio growth, innovation, and evolution. Strategy is where we really shine. It’s not everyone’s vibe, but we thrive on it! Time-consuming, repetitive tasks are no longer bogging us down. The business site is much more user-friendly, especially on mobile, which means we can make decisions and manage the studio from anywhere. With Walla, so much less time is spent on single tasks that take up valuable time—and that’s a really big thing for us as we continue to grow with more programs, classes, and studio experiences.
How do you think Walla has differentiated Yoga Pod Tucson, especially when it comes to the client experience?
We’ve always focused on the overall guest experience at Yoga Pod Tucson, and the client experience feels much smoother through the app, with easy sign-ups, cancellations, tracking of total visits, real-time announcements, etc. Due to the intuitive nature of the system, our front desk team is able to answer most questions in the moment versus deferring to a manager. With Walla, it’s very easy for anybody on the team to solve a problem or answer a question instantly—and we think that gives us an edge because a customer feels seen right away.
Revenue Streams
What new revenue streams or business opportunities are you tapping into at Yoga Pod Tucson due to Walla?
Our team has always focused on scaling operations and offering diverse revenue streams, but Walla's efficiency and marketing automations have supercharged these efforts. Comparing our first eight months on Walla (we went live in December 2023) with the same prior year period, we’ve seen remarkable growth. This is a testament not only to the features of Walla but also to how we’ve been able to optimize our operations to focus on growth and innovation.
Can you equate the correlation between Walla’s marketing tools and automations and how they have impacted class bookings, plan purchases, and overall revenue?
Walla’s marketing automations have allowed us to create multi-layered customer journeys, keeping clients engaged and encouraging them to make additional purchases. For example, gift cards can now easily be bought without staff involvement, which wasn’t possible before. We’ve also seen a rise in purchases made through the Walla widget compared to our previous system.
We are really excited about the lead management system and have been working with the Walla team to fine-tune the process for our sales stages.
Can you share any specific examples/features of how Walla has directly impacted your revenue growth?
Implementing Walla has really freed us up to focus on innovation and growth. We went live with Walla in December 2023, and comparing the first eight months of 2024 versus the first eight months of 2023 shows considerable growth (even though we had projects already in motion that also contributed to our growth). We can absolutely attribute some of Yoga Pod Tucson’s growth to implementing Walla, though:
Also, we're in the middle of strategic planning, and just pulling the data this year has been infinitely easier, thanks to Walla! Saving us hours and so many headaches.
Staff Training and Migration
How has the transition to Walla impacted your staff in terms of training and productivity?
Training has been much faster and easier. Most daily tasks can be taught in 10-15 minutes, compared to the hours it used to take to train staff on our previous system. Walla’s intuitive workflows have not only made training easier but also boosted staff productivity. Our team can now spend more time focusing on guest engagement, which directly enhances the guest experience.
Did you have any concerns about moving Yoga Pod Tucson to Walla? If so, how did the team address those?
Funny story: I remember when Lisa came to one of our leadership meetings and proposed switching to Walla. It seemed so overwhelming, the idea of switching software, and at that point, we’d only been in business for a little over three years. It felt overwhelming at the time because who we were with previously was such a big player in this game. We all needed to have an open mind and learn about all the systems that Walla could potentially replace.
Our primary concern was that by leaving our previous platform, we would lose visibility to new clients who might discover us through that platform. That has not been the case at all.
Return on Investment
What has been Walla's return on investment in terms of revenue growth and cost savings?
We saw immediate cost savings by consolidating our systems under Walla. Walla’s integrated features and ease of use have allowed us to focus on innovation and growth initiatives.
How long did it take to see a positive ROI after implementing Walla?
Our ROI was immediate! We went from 5 separate systems to one, and our subscription fees decreased by 20%. Our merchant processing fees increased by 0.33%; however, Walla's benefits far outweigh this nominal increase.
Customer Acquisition and Retention
Has Walla helped acquire new clients and/or retain existing ones?
Absolutely! Walla’s automated journeys have been instrumental in retaining clients. These tailored communications keep clients engaged, whether they’re frequent attendees or haven’t booked in a while. The ease of use and self-management through the app has also helped us retain existing clients and convert new ones.
Are there any specific features of Walla that you believe have been exciting and engaging to your clients?
We are just super excited in general! Journeys have really helped us create automated unique messages and offerings to different behavior-based target markets. We are really looking forward to utilizing the lead management system and the possibilities of that built-in feature, too.
Challenges and Lessons Learned
What were the biggest challenges you faced prior to the transition to Walla?
Biggest pre-Walla challenges: Too many different systems that didn’t talk to each other effectively. Too many unnecessary steps to help a customer required management, and the process was much more complicated than it needed to be. Instead of getting from A to B, you had to go five other steps just to get where you wanted to be.
What lessons have you learned from this experience and moving to Walla that you would share with other studio owners considering similar changes?
Don’t let the overwhelming feeling of moving systems hold you back (we did it between Thanksgiving and Christmas). While the steps required to change systems will require work, they’ll also help you clean up your data, realign with best practices, and make for a smoother path forward! Do yourself a favor and hire the Walla team to do the heavy lifting of the implementation—they are absolutely fantastic!
