How Choirhub Built a Simple, Intuitive Platform to Serve Non-Tech-Savvy Choirs

As Tech Manager for my choir, I was researching alternatives to the current platform that really wasn't that well designed for choirs. While there were other choir apps out there, each one of them had strengths and weaknesses, but none of them had everything that I knew we needed. Some were missing modules completely, which would mean using other software platforms. Some were just too complex and bloated with things we didn't need. Pricing was an issue as well. It was at that stage that I decided to investigate building something that meant everything we did would live in one place. Not only for member information, but equally as important was for the Committee to have a coordinated place where everything could be found easily without using several different platforms. I quickly had in mind what it was that not only my current choir but others too needed - a comprehensive solution.

We are still very early in development, so formal growth tactics are really only just beginning to become a focus. Up to this point, most of my energy has gone into building the product properly and making sure it is genuinely ready for real use. That said, one thing that has already worked is SEO and AI visibility. Choirs are finding Choirhub online even before any serious marketing push, which tells me that groundwork done there is already paying off. What has not worked, if anything, is expecting that simply having a strong product is enough on its own. You quickly realize that even something very good still needs deliberate visibility, explanation, and trust-building before people are ready to try it out. One tactic I took was to build a separate app called ScorePilot by Choirhub. This is a score reader that can be annotated, which means that you can get rid of paper scores entirely. There are already a couple of very good apps out there that do that, but for most singers, what they offer is overkill and they become too hard to use. ScorePilot is simple and designed specifically for singers. I made this available for free on both the App Store and Google Play. This is a "reverse" style of marketing. My logic was that if people download and try it out, it might raise questions like "What is the Choirhub anyway?". I now have Choirhub available as well for free for iOS and Android, and this uses the same strategy. Download it and start to wonder why my choir isn't using it.

During testing, there are always little glitches, layout issues, button links that do not quite behave as expected, small things that only real users tend to uncover. That feedback has been extremely valuable in getting the product genuinely ready for everyday use. Because Choirhub is a completely new product, some questions naturally arise simply because people have not seen something quite like it before. That hesitation usually fades quite quickly once they begin using it and discover features that simply do not exist elsewhere. One of the biggest challenges is helping people who feel nervous about moving away from systems they already know, even if those systems are fragmented or inefficient. Early adopters tend to embrace it immediately, while others need reassurance, patience, and a little encouragement to persist through the unfamiliar first stage. Once confidence builds, most concerns disappear very quickly. Having a strong Help and Training section inside the platform has also made a real difference.

One thing many people get wrong about this market is assuming that choir communities, especially older members, are resistant to technology. I have found that this really is not true. What people resist is technology that feels unnecessarily complicated or badly thought through. If something is clear, intuitive, and genuinely helpful, most people adapt far more quickly than expected. Many choirs are currently juggling emails, messaging apps, spreadsheets, paper notes, and various disconnected systems, which often creates more confusion than learning one well-designed platform. That is exactly why Choirhub was built to feel simple from the outset. Simplicity was never an afterthought, it had to be central to the whole design. The aim has always been to make it approachable for people who would not call themselves technical, while still giving administrators and committees the tools they need. In reality, this market often responds very positively when technology fits naturally into the way they already work.

Growth is the main focus now, and getting the word out that there is finally a real “tech home” for choirs, one place that makes running a choir easier, more elegant, and far less fragmented. Over the next 12 months, I want more choirs actively using the platform, learning from real-world feedback, and continuing to refine what matters most without losing the simplicity that makes it approachable. There are 200,000 choirs, choral ensembles, and school performance students in the US alone. But this product is by nature international, so my goal is to reach across the borders with this solution.

I have signed up 5 choirs without any marketing yet!

I knew my target market well, but the build side of it was completely new to me. What I did have was a very clear understanding of the daily realities of choir life, because I had lived in that world for years and could see exactly where the frustrations were. The technical side has been a steep learning curve, with long hours, setbacks, and plenty of moments where I had to push through problems I had never encountered before. But I have stayed with it because I believed strongly in what the platform could become. Every stage of development has taught me something, and that persistence has now resulted in a product that I genuinely believe is second to none for this market.

The biggest mistake was underestimating just how complex permissions would become once I wanted the platform to properly reflect real choir life. On paper, it sounded simple enough, different people should see different things depending on their role. In practice, it became one of the hardest parts of the entire build and took more than four weeks to fully sort out. There were times when solving one problem seemed to create another somewhere else, which was incredibly frustrating. What it taught me is that the underlying structure of a product matters far more than you realize at the beginning, because if that part is not right, everything else becomes harder later. It was exhausting, but I kept at it until it finally worked exactly the way I wanted, and that effort has strengthened the whole platform.