Introducing Studio Branded iPhone Apps and Student Access on iOS

We believe our biggest advantage as a company is that we can better empathize with people who own yoga studios, and that because of this, we are able to provide them with superior technology that can help their businesses succeed.

Since we launched almost three years ago, with the first students checked into Maile's studio using our software, we have gone out of our way to provide the kind of experience we think is right not just for our customers with our software, but also the kind of experience that students of yoga studios want to have with the studios that they go to.

We do not think marketplace apps that help people find studios around them based on their location are the kinds of things yoga studios need to help their businesses succeed. We believe these serve no other purpose than to help turn yoga into a commodity and mis-understand the unique place that yoga studios play in the lives of their students.

Instead, we believe yoga studios would benefit more by having their own place on the home screens of the phones of their students, so that the communities they build can feel more connected directly to them. 

Today we are thrilled to announce that with Tula, you and your studio can have a presence in the world's most important online store, Apple's App Store. Complete with your logo, your studio colors and your custom loading page, your studio can have an application in the app store by being on the $99/mo plan, and paying a one time setup fee of $500. It's eventually going to be $750 but we're having an introductory price of $500 for a couple weeks.

It's that easy. No hourly rate, no design fee, no extra service fee.

Along with this announcement, we're also announcing the release of Student Access on iOS, which is available via an updated Tula Software iPhone app which is available for download right now in the app store.

It comes at no additional charge for all Tula subscribers and the students they serve.

This means you have two choices for allowing your students to view your schedule, register for class, store their credit cards and make purchases via a native iPhone app.

Option 1: A free application, that has the Tula Software logo and branding, or Option 2: a more premium option that provides all the functionality of the Tula application, but branded for your studio.

We're so excited about this announcement, and thrilled that as Apple gets ready to announce their next generation of devices and services, our customers can count on us to help navigate them into the technological future, wherever that may take us.

If you're an existing customer of Tula, you can sign up for this service by simply logging in and going to 'Studio Settings' -> 'iOS Apps'. If you're not a Tula customer but this sounds like the kind of thing you think your business deserves, you can send us an email at 'hello@tulasoftware.com'. 

Below are some screenshots of the Tula iPhone app with the student experience, along with the branded version of Tula Yoga Studio next to it, to help give you a feel for the different options.

Very lastly, if you're a developer interested in access to the data inside Tula, information about an API will be coming out in the future as a result of these efforts. We plan to embrace anyone that wants to build products and services for the growing base of Tula's customers.

 

Check out just a handful of screenshots below to see how the custom app might look with your studio's brand!

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Lower credit card processing rates

I'm really happy to announce that starting today (well, last night actually) all credit card transactions through Tula Software will now be 2.5% + $0.30/transaction. This lowers the processing fees down from the 2.9% + transaction fees that it was at previously.

With this change, most transactions for your business will be lower than even most 'card present' solutions.

We've written before about the role community plays with successful studios, and how the way in which you conduct your business drives the type of customers you get. We're really happy that we're now able to give you a price point even for stored credit cards that can complete with in person swipe rates such as Square.

Compare with Square:

$99 Monthly Membership: Square @2.75% = $2.73 - Tula @ 2.5% +$/30/txn = $2.78
$140 Ten Pack: Square @2.75% = $3.85 - Tula @ 2.5% +$/30/txn = $3.80

If you have credit cards on file already, you know how easy and effortless it is to make a new purchase for someone. It's literally a click on a dropdown and the press of a button.

We're really happy that we were able to lower the processing rate for everyone, and even more excited about the opportunities it gives you as a business owner.

 

 

Strengthen Your Studio: I can’t afford yoga is a different statement than I have decided to spend my money on beer instead of yoga

On the second episode of the Strengthen Your Studio podcast I was joined by my wife Maile, the first person to use Tula Software, and the inspiration for our product from the very beginning.

We talked about Tula Yoga Studio, how she opened the business, our opinions about discounts and the importance of treating your instructors well.

It feels a little weird 'interviewing' your spouse but we had a lot of fun and I think that comes through. Maile's done a great job with Tula, so it's definitely worth giving her opinions some consideration.

Of course, I'm a little biased.

Subscribe to the podcast in iTunes, or listen below.


Strengthen Your Studio: 'Can you be a yogi and own a yoga studio?'

I'm really happy to announce that today we're launching a new podcast today called 'Strengthen Your Studio' that will be all about the business of yoga, much of it concentrating specifically on the business of running a yoga studio. We're hoping to have guests of all kinds, and as with all creative endeavors we'll have to see how things go and adjust accordingly.

Our plan right now is to release a new episode every Thursday. We'll post the shows here on the Tula blog, and it will of course be available in the iTunes store as well.

For our first episode I was joined by one of our earliest customers, Kate Smith of Gaea Yoga in Mt. Pleasant South Carolina. Kate was kind enough to share a lot of what she's learned about running a yoga studio, having experience opening, closing and reopening again.

I'm really grateful Kate took the time to talk with me, and I think there's good information in here new studio owners and veterans alike.

Check out the show below, subscribe in iTunes, or download the mp3 directly.