The story behind building Wellyx, The best all-in-one gym management software

Before founding Wellyx in 2015, I was managing a gym. I started this gym in 2012 in London with a vision to motivate and inspire fitness enthusiasts to start their fitness journey. To ensure a good fitness experience for my members, I ensured that my gym has world-class facilities, professional personal trainers, and a variety of workouts. So my members could enjoy each workout. 

Apart from ensuring top-notch equipment and personal trainers, I realized that having an automated system to streamline gym operations is also necessary. My team and I did market research to find the best software at that time that understood my business requirements and added value to the lives of my gym members. 

When I was doing research for the best software, my team and I came across multiple software programs that were trending at that time. I noticed how backward those software programs were. For example: 

• Gym management software ensured a POS system but lacked an access control system. 
• Another software ensured an access control system but was unable to provide class scheduling. 
• Similarly, fitness management software provided inventory management but lacked automated payments. 

After researching the best software solution, I concluded that if I wanted to ensure a good fitness experience for my members, I had to use all these software. However, using these software was not economical and also decreased the efficiency of my work. Out of frustration and complexity of using all these solutions, I decided to build my own management software that covers all the essential aspects of my gym.

Market research for an all-in-one gym management software

Don’t find customers for your products, find products for your customers- Seth Godin 

After deciding to make my own gym management software, all I needed to do was conduct a market analysis again to understand what the requirements were. So, I visited the local market and met other gym owners to understand their perspectives regarding a complete solution. My team and I conducted around 100 interviews to get an idea of what gym owners wanted in an ideal gym management software. The questions in the interview covered the requirements of the gym owners, staff, and fitness freaks. Here are some of the suggestions gym owners gave me to include in the fitness software. 

• Add a POS system for seamless transactions
• Integrate a reporting and tracking system to analyze KPIs
• Make the gym’s software interface (UI) easy to understand and convenient. 
• Integrating marketing features and lead tracking within the software. 
• Offer a built-in access control system because it’s in trend. 

After aligning all these suggestions with my vision of gym management software, I started to find a developer who could make my vision a reality. I discussed this idea with my close friends, and one of them referred me to a full-stack developer with 7 years of industry experience and expertise in developing SaaS platforms. I discussed my idea with that developer and soon got my project lead developer. We had a discussion about the initial version of the Wellyx as I realized that it would take more money and time to design all the modules. 

So, my lead developer recruited a team of 5 people initially, but by the time we finalized the initial version of Wellyx, our team of developers had reached 80 people. In 2016, we launched the first version of Wellyx, which has all the features required by gym owners. 

The first version of Wellyx highlights

When Wellyx was launched in 2016, we offered the following features to meet the requirements of gym owners. 

• Class management 
• Membership subscriptions
• Staff management 
• Point-of-sale 
• Booking services 

With all these basic features, we created software that could help gym owners streamline their operations. These features enabled gym owners to take one step ahead and ensured a more convenient and remarkable fitness experience for their customers. After releasing the first version of Wellyx, we immediately started working on the second version, which had more updated features. 

The second version of Wellyx highlights

The second version of Wellyx was released in 2017. In this version, we added additional features along with the older ones to cover the entire spectrum of gym operations. Here are the highlights of the second version of the Wellyx. 

• Members lead management 
• Staff and customer applications  
• Reports 
• Branch management 

Thus, these additional features enabled the gym owners to track the overall performance, whether they owned a single gym or had multiple gym franchises. These two versions allowed us to establish Wellyx as a renowned name in the fitness industry.

A gym management software that prioritizes gym owners and staff 

Having Wellyx on board is like having a dedicated team member who understands our needs, anticipates our challenges and empowers us to reach our goals. It’s a software that puts people first.- Henry Kavin, CEO ATX 

With all these versions that were released back in 2017, We appeared as a software solution that enabled gym owners to streamline their studio operations while reducing the time interval. Moreover, our software allowed our gym members to reduce frustration by providing them with a dashboard with a user-friendly interface on which they could make entries with ease. 

However, by introducing features like staff management, we enabled the owners to enhance the productivity of their staff by managing them efficiently. With this staff management feature, gym owners could manage staff shifts. They could also schedule their staff classes without any clashes between the two classes. Thus, all these features introduced by Wellyx became an instant hit and enabled us to attract a number of gym owners who wanted to reduce the administrative burden from their shoulders and ensure a more remarkable user experience for their members. 

Long-standing clients of Wellyx

These initial features enabled us to attract several clients, and we entertained them since 2017. All these clients helped us to grow and made us what we are today. Some of the honorable mentions of the long-standing clients of Wellyx are: 

• Fitness in Motion 
• Whydrate 
• Freedom Lifestyle and Fitness
• 10 Fitness 

All these clients took the early version of the Wellyx and enabled us to update with their timely feedback. While focusing on timely feedback, we built a close relationship with our clients. For me, they are not clients. They are my confidants and friends. To ensure a more convenient user experience for our clients, we started to provide them with customer support over email and phone calls. Whenever they face any issue with the Wellyx, they simply call or email us to report the issue. This exceptional customer support system enabled us to gain our client’s loyalty and trust. 

Wellyx’s customer support service has been a game-changer for our gym. Their dedication to assisting homeowners like myself is unparalleled. They truly understand the needs of the fitness industry and go above and beyond to ensure our success. –Tiffany Javernick, CEO FIT101 

We made sure that we created an environment for our clients to start their fitness journey with Wellyx by providing them with free demos. Apart from free demos, we also ensured the third-party integration of Stripe with our software to avoid vendor lock-in with member payment information. 

Case study of client

If you wait until there is another case study in your industry, you will be too late!- Seth Godin 

During our journey to become the best all-in-one gym management software, we analyzed several case studies of gym owners and enabled them to rectify their problems. We learned lessons from their problems, and my team made sure to answer the questions that had not arisen yet. Thus, it enables us to enroll features that answer the questions of our clients and ensure a good fitness experience for their members. 

Fitness in Motion 

I am writing the case study of Fitness in Motion, a renowned client that started working in the fitness industry in early 2021, during the post-pandemic era. It was launched with the vision of motivating fitness freaks to begin their fitness journey after the pandemic so that they could find new hope. Fitness in Motion joined us in 2022. Before joining us, Fitness in Motion faced many challenges, such as ensuring a secure environment where customers could start their fitness journey. 

The challenges 

Despite its strong mission and customer-focused approach, Fitness in Motion had to face many challenges in establishing its identity among its potential leads. Apart from having world-class trainers and equipment, the gym owner was still facing issues in streamlining class schedules, payments, online bookings, and ensuring the security of gym premises. These challenges diverted the attention of the gym owner and led to decreased member retention rates. The following were the challenges that the Fitness in Motion gym owner faced: 

• Access control 
• Online booking 
• Members management 
• Lead management 

The solution

In order to rectify all the challenges, Fitness in Motion required the all-in-one gym management software. With Wellyx’s upgraded version and up-to-date features like class scheduling, integrated payments to dashboards, members and staff management, etc, it achieved the desired results and fostered a long-lasting relationship with member. 

1. Access control: With a gym access control system, the gym owner not only ensured the security of its fitness center but also opens doors for members who want to workout late at night. Thus, Wellyx enabled the gym owner to provide services to members 24/7, allowing the studio to attract new customers. 
2. Lead management: The intelligent lead management module enabled the gym owner to understand insights into lead behavior. Thus, it enabled the gym owner to increase conversion, improving Fitness in Motion sales. 
3. Personalized fitness experience: By using Wellyx, Fitness in Motion was able to offer its members a number of features for seamless fitness experiences, such as specific recommendations, hassle-free payments, online bookings, and 24/7 fitness services. 

Results

After implementing Wellyx in their fitness center, Fitness in Motion achieved drastic results that not only enabled them to attract new members but also boosted their member retention rate. The gym was able to manage its members and staff effectively, keeping both of them engaged and happy. Within one year of implementing Wellyx, Fitness in Motion witnessed the following: 

• 80% increase in member retention rates 
• 50% increase in class attendance 
• 90% decrease in gym operations workload 
• 50% increase in new members. 

So, after implementing Wellyx in the gym, the gym owner not only achieved its mission but also enabled him to create a stress-free environment where both its members and staff practice fitness workouts while adapting to the growing demands of the industry. 

Wellyx gives us the wings to fly high in the sky and achieve the results that we always dreamed of – Maxim Minin, CEO of Fitness in Motion 

Client’s testimonials 

The ease of use and reliability of Wellyx have been key factors in our business success. It allowed us to focus on providing top-notch services to our members while Wellyx takes care of the rest. –Brett Snellgrove, Managing Director of Whydrate Group

Wellyx’s marketing and promotion tools have helped us to attract new members and retain existing ones. It’s been a catalyst for our business growth and expansion.- Nicole Carlile, CEO of Freedom Lifestyle & Fitness 

Wellyx’s reporting and analytics tools have provided valuable insights into our business performance. With this data-driven approach, we’ve been able to make informed decisions and drive business growth.- Michael Steve, MD of Motivation Gym 

Thanks to Wellyx, our business has seen exponential growth. The robust features have streamlined our operations and allowed us to focus more on delivering exceptional service to our members. – Sarah Michael, CEO of VFIT 

Constantly adapting nature of Wellyx 

Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower- Steve Jobs, Co-founder of Apple

We believe that constant learning and adapting to market trends not only enabled us to survive hardships but also enabled us to give the best results to our clients. For this, we constantly asked for their feedback and included features they required or were looking for. So, our clients find solutions to all their problems under the roof of Wellyx. Our journey and growth, as per market trends, are categorized into three phases. 

• Pre-pandemic
• Pandemic 
• Post-pandemic 

With each phase, we bought the features that helped the gym owners at the time to ensure a seamless and exceptional fitness experience for their customers. 

Pre-pandemic era 

From 2016 till the start of 2020, we worked on different features and issued several updates that enabled our clients to implement new features to keep up with the market trends and streamline their studio operations. Major feature highlights of this era were: 

• Access control 
• Inventory tracking 
• Mobile apps 
• Membership subscription 
• Point-of-sale 

All these features in Wellyx’s cart enabled our clients to ensure an environment where their members could settle payments and have access to the gym premises 24/7. Moreover, from the gym owner’s point of view, these features allowed them to maintain a clear record of inventory and handle the subscription.  

Between 2018 and 2019, the majority of people worldwide started to use mobile phones to surf the internet. As per Statista’s research, in 2019, around 0.95 billion people used mobile phones to settle online payments, while this number changed to 1 billion in 2020. So, we launched mobile apps to ensure we move with the market trends and enabled our clients to settle accounts via mobile phones. 

Pandemic era 

At the start of 2020, the world was enjoying life at its fullest till COVID-19 appeared in February 2020, leading to the lockdown. This lockdown prevented people from entering markets and led to the closure of businesses. The majority of businesses had to face huge losses as people were not able to buy their products or services. The same situation happened with our clients, who had to shut down their gyms. As per RunRepeat’s research, around 38,000 gyms had to be closed down because of the virus. However, in this dark era, My team came up with the idea of virtual fitness classes, and soon we launched a video-on-demand feature. 

This video-on-demand feature enabled gym owners to conduct virtual classes during the hard days of COVID and separate their path from the 38,000 gyms that were closed due to COVID-19. Moreover, during the pandemic, we also launched the feature of online bookings and appointments to ensure that gym owners could easily manage and book classes and streamline their fitness studio operations. 

Post-pandemic era 

When lockdown was called off on 9th May 2021, our clients’ gyms had established a strong network of virtual classes that enabled them to survive the hardships of the pandemic. However, even after the coronavirus lockdown was called off, people still hesitated to visit the gym and do physical workouts. Our clients suggested that we launch the feature to attract customers to their gym. Then we launched features like

• Promo Codes 
• Loyalty Program 
• Gift Cards 

All these features enabled our clients to attract members to their gyms. Moreover, apart from implementing loyalty program features, our clients also demanded that a feature be included that enabled them to market their gyms without any extra effort. In order to assist our clients, we launched a marketing feature that enables our clients to market their brands and target their audience. 

Believe in yourself, you will be unstoppable- Unknown 

Thus, all these innovative features enabled our clients to improve member retention rates and ensure a more seamless fitness experience.

Where are we now? 

During the past 8 years since Wellyx’s first version was launched, we have upgraded our software as per the market trends from time to time. But we are still in the learning phase. This phase enables us to take regular feedback from our clients, which not only enables us to improve our services but also helps us to include new features as per the market trends. We have a vision that enables our clients to ensure a remarkable fitness experience for their members, and we continuously work hard to achieve our vision.