Every B2B SaaS company can develop better products by following Mindbody's Community Playbook Mighty Pro

Mindbody is a global B2B SaaS company with 1300 employees as well as a range of software tools for health and wellness-related businesses such as spas, gyms and entrepreneurs in fitness. They have their own on-line community called Mindbody One on Mighty Pro.

Mindbody One is an online fitness and health-related community designed for Mindbody and Booker business owners and managers. Inside, health and wellness entrepreneurs share what's working in their salons, gyms and classes. It's a the perfect space for smaller entrepreneurs to pool information, participate in training events and help each other up.

Additionally, members receive exclusive content of Mindbody and a variety of live and virtual events and the ability to connect with industry experts and a growing community of peers.

We recently spoke with Kate Nelson, Global Community Lead for Mindbody One, to learn more about why building community was crucial for the company's success.

In this article will show you what Mindbody uses their ambassador program to boost the brand's loyalty, boost growth and retention, and affect the views of their executive team.

Create an 11-star experience for your most passionate members

Building lasting relationships between your brand and your clients is a goal that companies all want. Mindbody has come up with a method to create these kinds of connections with their customers through their online community called Mindbody One. What is their method of doing it? By allowing their most dedicated members to be the "Champions ."

This is done through Mindbody One's unique strategy for their ambassador program called The Champions Program.

Online communities can aid to give your managers the chance to watch real customers interacting--but Mindbody kicks it up higher with their Champs Program. The 16,000 members of their online community Mindbody One can apply to become Champions, a group of VIP members.

In their Mindbody One community, a group of 45 of their super users have taken on the role of "Champion" that grants extra benefits to them, such as invitations to exclusive events, meetings with Mindbody executive members, and much more. However, it also allows these users to be more active agents of change in the Mindbody One community, frequently contributing content that is promoted and backed by Mindbody One.

Kate Nelson told us about the way she views the program,"We draw on our most committed members' passion and put heavily in their development," says Kate." We currently have 45 Champions who act as a part of our group of community members and are actually helping drive forward everything Mindbody One for the company as well as our overall strategy and roadmapping."

What Kate has found is that giving her members who are the most engaged with the opportunity to develop and take on responsibility in the Mindbody One community has led to an environment that is more active and culture at Mindbody One.

Ambassador programs can reduce your work load

What sets apart the Mindbody One Champion Program from your typical ambassador program is the degree of autonomy their Champions have.

In contrast to many ambassador programs which largely operate by offering members discounts or other benefit to attract new members into the group, Mindbody One puts their Champions front and center.

These Champions run live events within the community, answer community concerns, and help to build a positive community spirit. It's not just about content generation and member engagement however, it can also help with support for customers.

In the future, instead being Kate as well as her staff carrying all the responsibility for creating content and engagement within the community The Champions are able to shoulder some part of the burden. This is incredibly effective because nobody knows better the needs of Mindbody One customers want than individuals who are the customers?
The accomplishments of the Champions Program has created a positive culture of contributing to the community and Kate has seen an incredible degree of participation as well as retention.

"We boast an 89% returning member rate, which is something I'm really happy about. This indicates that we're promoting the right themes within the community and we have a philosophy that truly connects with our clients. ."

The quickest way to creating an active community isn't to create an endless well of information and activities It's about creating a cooperative atmosphere where people feel valued. The Champion program illustrates this concept and has created opportunities that Mindbody as an organisation to explore.

Abstraction is the enemy. Champs can help.

Every executive at a large company faces the same challenges. They have to create top-level plans as well as make bold product decisions. However, they are often in an abstract world. When you're buried in meetings, it's hard to truly meet and spend time with customers and get the depth and color that you want to feel as if you are able to trust and comprehend the needs of your clients.

The Champions bring energy to conversations as well as validation of concerns and bring fresh thoughts to the table, all by shaping the Mindbody technology through their perspective as industry experts. And they directly shape Mindbody's technology and motivate the internal team by sharing their experience as avid Mindbody users.

This amazing result is made possible by a variety of activities:

1. Champs meet with Mindbody leadership with the three-day Mindbody event that is filled with fun activities, community brainstorms, and product development roundtables.
2. The Champs take part in the quarterly CEO conference that delve into Mindbody's products and ways they can serve customers better.
3. The Champs attend monthly product update call with top leaders from Customer and Product Support to get the first glimpse of the latest developments in the product pipeline.

In essence, they are similar to an advisory board which provides greater insight to Mindbody management and the executives.

Kate shared a little about why this is so successful, "For our executives, it's amazing to get direct feedback from the Champions. We invite them to our campuses and then pamper the members and treat them as Mindbodians. And it's made the value of being part of our community so clear as this group of participants gives us remarkable insights on what our customers want as well as how we can improve our products and show our customers that we're partners with them as they build their businesses ."

The Champs also access an exclusive group inside Mindbody One. In the case of press releases or content marketing, Champs are often prioritized by the marketing and PR departments.

Build a fantastic community and the revenue will follow

The ethos behind creating this community Mindbody One community was never an attempt to increase revenue, and that's why it's grown so quickly and efficiently as it has. Based on the Champions Program, Mindbody was determined to get to know their B2B customers better, and establishing a method to provide a direct channel of communication with their clients.

While their SaaS-based products were helping tens of thousands of small-scale wellness companies all over the world, Co-Founder, Blake Beltram felt an important piece of the puzzle wasn't being met: the need for a community to connect these diverse businesses together.

Beltram believed in the near future that Mindbody would heavily involve investing in building communities that connect their customers and be able to better comprehend their requirements.

"Mindbody chose to risk investing in community, because the co-founder, Blake Beltram, felt that our customers were craving an opportunity to interact with others similar to their own. So our main intention was to connect our customers to each other." says Kate.

By establishing a community that was focused on forging connections between their online team and customers, they've managed to earn money without even trying.

From January to April 2022 Mindbody One made $45,000 passively by offering a few seminars and gated content within the community. The goal was not to earn money for Mindbody One, but this small victory signals a shift to a new approach for Mindbody One's B2B brand.

Kate shared with us that "It led us to realize that we could leverage this in a little more. We could see customers engaging with this app in a manner which was generating revenue was very inspiring. ."

Through setting a solid foundation inside their community thanks to the enthralling effects of the Champion program, Mindbody One is now in a perfect position to invest more heavily in creating special content that is monetized and designed to their community online that they know their members will be interested in.