Switching
Moving studios without dropping a class
It takes about two hours of setup and a two-week overlap where both systems are running. Anyone who tells you a migration is instant has not done one. Here is the actual order of operations.
The plan
Six steps, in this order
The order matters more than the speed. Memberships last is the rule that keeps anyone from being charged twice.
- 1Day one, about an hour
Set the studio up alongside what you have
Sign up, add your classes and your membership tiers, connect Stripe. Nothing is public yet and your current system keeps running untouched. Most of this hour is typing in your class schedule.
- 2Day one, about an hour
Bring the members across
Import a CSV of members with names, emails, phones and join dates. If you are on Shopify or Square there is a direct import that pulls customers and products. If you are on a spreadsheet, it is already a CSV.
- 3Day two
Point one class at BookClay
Pick a single upcoming class and take its bookings here. One class is enough to find out whether the booking flow, the confirmation email and the payment all behave the way you expect, and it is small enough to reverse.
- 4Week one
Move the rest of the schedule
Swap the booking link on your website, or drop in the embed so the page you already have keeps working. Existing bookings in the old system stay there and run out naturally. You are not migrating history, you are migrating forward.
- 5Week two to four
Move the memberships last
This is the only genuinely fiddly part, and it is fiddly everywhere. New members sign up in BookClay from day one. Existing ones move as their renewal date comes around, so nobody gets double-charged and nobody has to re-enter a card in a panic.
- 6When you are ready
Turn the old thing off
Export everything from the old system first, even the parts you think you will not want. Then cancel. Do it in that order, once, and never think about it again.
Coming from
What moves, and what genuinely does not
Data that lives with your payment processor stays with your payment processor. That is a rule of the card networks, not a limitation we chose, and it is true of every migration in every direction.
A spreadsheet, a Google Form or email
StraightforwardComes across
- Members, as a CSV
- Your class schedule, typed in once
Does not
- Nothing, really. There is no system to leave.
The easiest switch there is, and usually the biggest change in daily life. Most of the work is deciding what your cancellation policy actually is, because until now it has lived in your head.
Kilnfire
Some manual workComes across
- Members and contact details, by CSV export
- Class and membership structure, recreated
Does not
- Historical bookings
- Stored payment methods, which belong to the payment processor
The closest thing to a like-for-like move, since the concepts line up: classes, members, firing. Expect to re-enter the schedule rather than import it.
Mindbody, Momence or Pike13
Some manual workComes across
- Members and contact details
- Class types and pricing, recreated
Does not
- Class packs and credits, which need reconciling by hand
- Contracts mid-term
Check your contract before you start. Annual terms and notice periods are common here, and the exit date decides the timeline more than the data does.
Square, Acuity or Calendly
StraightforwardComes across
- Customers, by CSV or direct connection
- Your Stripe or Square payment relationship
Does not
- Appointment history
These handle bookings well and memberships badly, which is usually why studios leave. The booking side moves in an afternoon.
Shopify, WooCommerce or Wix
StraightforwardComes across
- Customers and class products, by direct import
- Your existing website, which you keep
Does not
- Product reviews and SEO on the class pages, if you delete them
You do not have to move your website. Drop the embed widget onto the pages you already rank for and let BookClay handle the booking behind them.
Doing it for you
Send me the export and I will set it up
While BookClay is this small, migrations are done by hand by the person who wrote the importer. There is no charge for it, and there is no upsell attached.
What to send
- A member export from whatever you use now, in any format.
- Your class schedule, even as a screenshot of a calendar.
- Your membership tiers and what each one includes.
- Your cancellation policy, in whatever words you use with students.
It comes back as a configured studio you can look at before anything goes live. If you do not like it, you have lost an email.
Set it up next to what you have
The trial takes no card, so there is no cost to running both for a fortnight and deciding at the end of it.