BFT Upper Hutt - StudioPilot, the Automation Layer on Top of Glofox

Client Overview

BFT Upper Hutt is a Body Fit Training studio running group strength and conditioning classes. Like every BFT studio, it runs its bookings, memberships and payments through Glofox. Glofox handles the booking side well, but it does not text members, notice when someone has stopped turning up, or give coaches a quick view of who is in front of them.

The Challenge

Most of the work that keeps members coming back was manual. New enquiries waited until someone had time to reply. Members who were drifting away were usually noticed only once they had cancelled. Hold requests, late cancellations and inactivity lists were handled by hand, and birthday or milestone messages were a nice idea that rarely happened.

Coaches were also checking attendance in the Glofox app on a phone mid-class, and the owner had little easy visibility of which classes were full, which were quiet, and who was at risk of leaving. Moving off Glofox was not an option, so whatever we built had to sit alongside it without changing how members book.

How It Runs Day to Day

Most of the system runs on its own. Webhooks trigger texts and alerts as members sign up, book and cancel. Overnight, a sync pulls members, bookings and classes from the Glofox API to catch anything a webhook missed, then recalculates engagement and churn risk. Birthday and milestone checks run each day, and the capacity report, monthly report and AI digest arrive by email on a schedule.

The owner stays in control. The inactivity list is approved before any "we miss you" text goes out, every journey can be switched on or off, message copy is edited in the admin portal rather than in code, members can opt out of texts, and booking nudges stop automatically once someone has booked. There is also a single switch to pause all texts for the studio.

Results and Impact

New leads now get a reply from the studio straight away, instead of waiting for someone to get to it. Every member gets a birthday text and a milestone message when they reach a class milestone, without anyone having to remember. Members who are slipping show up in the save queue with the reasons listed, so the team can reach out while there is still time.

Coaches walk into class knowing who is new, who is on a trial and who has a note on file, and can check people in from the coach dashboard or the studio kiosk. Hold requests arrive as a structured form with the studio's rules already applied, rather than as a loose text message. Website enquiries and free class bookings from the studio's own site also go straight into Glofox.

From One Studio to a Product

StudioPilot started as a build for BFT Upper Hutt alone. We have since rebuilt it as a multi-tenant platform, so more studios can run on the same system with their data, texts and settings kept separate. Each studio gets its own portal address, and a second BFT studio is already set up on it. BFT Upper Hutt remains the first studio on the platform.