The health and wellness industry is growing rapidly as more people are interested in self-care products and services, leading to increased competition for brands. This makes it challenging for new brands to stand out and older ones to stay relevant. As a retention marketing agency that works with 70+ eCommerce stores, we have seen the power of email marketing for health and wellness brands to acquire and retain customers, drive sales, and build brand loyalty. In this article, we’ll share with you our top tips, examples, and a general landscape of the industry to inspire you to power up the marketing strategy for your brand.
Best Email Marketing Practices and Examples for Brands in the Health and Wellness eCommerce Industry
According to market research, the global wellness market is projected to hit nearly $7 trillion by 2025. This industry is rapidly growing with niches ranging from fitness to mental health, nutrition, appearance, and mindfulness.
Email marketing is a crucial tool for businesses in the health and wellness industry to connect with customers and drive revenue. Email marketing is one of the most cost-effective marketing tools available, not only for customer acquisition but also for customer retention. With low overhead costs and high ROI potential, email campaigns allow businesses to reach large audiences at affordable prices. It also allows brands to personalize the consumer experience by segmenting their audience based on a range of factors.
Not only that, when done right, a good content and email marketing strategy that accompanies the user through its entire customer lifecycle can influence users to decide on a brand and a product or service. This is vital in a world where people actively seek out information online to help them feel good about their decisions and to feel confident in their resolution to buy something.
This rings even more true when we talk about email marketing for health and wellness eCommerce stores. This industry is all about self-care, therefore, most purchases won’t be impulsive. Besides focusing on acquisition, brands catering to this niche need to:
- Educate their audience about their products and the problems they solve
- Building solid relationships with leads and customers
- Leverage auto-replenishment and subscription models
- Place themselves as a trustworthy source and an authority in the industry
- Create personalized wellness experiences
- Provide value in every interaction
Educate your audience about your products
Educating the audience about the products is crucial. To ensure that the customers understand the benefits of the products, brands have to get creative and smart about sharing educational content.
There are two ways to educate the audience effectively. Firstly, brands can explain what the problem is before introducing their products as the solution. Secondly, they can explain the science or ingredients behind their products in a way that makes them accessible to a broader audience.
The global vitamins, minerals, and supplements market is one of the leading products in the health and wellness segment. These categories of products need to be properly introduced to people who may not be familiar with them. For example, this supplements and vitamins brand’s email puts its subscribers in context by explaining what Alzheimer’s disease is, its symptoms, and how their Brain & Memory Support collection can help. This email serves as the perfect introduction to the brand’s product line.
Another great example comes from a beauty brand that is well aware of its audience’s interests and generates email content around it. In this email, the brand features one of its best-selling products and educates the audience on what it does and how it should be used.
Place your brand as a trustworthy source and an authority in the industry
The health and wellness industry cannot afford to be ambiguous or use the information without reliable sources. It is important to establish trust with your audience and show that your brand and products are worth investing in. Creating niche content that is relevant, engaging, and helpful is the key to establishing your authority in the industry.
There are various ways to build trust with your audience and establish your brand as a thought leader:
- Share verified and well-contrasted information instead of generic content and unreliable data.
- When using any specific data from third-party sources, mention the source so that people can fact-check and verify the information, which will increase your credibility.
- Use social proof in the form of reviews or user-generated content. Real people backing up your products will always add to your credibility.
For example, this health and wellness brand that sells intimate wipes leverages the expertise of its founder, who is a psychologist, to establish credibility. In this email, the brand’s founder answers frequently asked questions, reminding the audience of her expertise before the call to action to shop.
On the other hand, this supplements brand combines research and social proof effectively in their email. The first section of the email provides a brief overview of a case study on their best-selling product and directs interested readers to the research. After that, the audience can read a couple of great reviews that explain the product’s effectiveness.
Building solid relationships with leads and customers
Educating your audience about your products and positioning yourself as a credible source are important starting points for building a strong relationship with your audience. However, if you want to take it a step further, leveraging storytelling, sharing user-generated content (UGC), and trying to be a constant guide for your audience are great ways to make the relationship grow stronger.
Health and wellness brands are all about self-care, but self-care isn’t limited to just one product from one brand. Your customers’ personal care routines are multifaceted, so in addition to being a great educator on your products, provide value by sharing tips, recipes, quizzes, and fun guides that engage your audience with your brand beyond just making a purchase.
Storytelling is a powerful tool in email marketing that allows you to focus on an overarching theme with a meaningful message. Use storytelling to paint a relatable picture for your audience or share a success story from a customer.
User-generated content (UGC) is one of the most compelling forms of content for eCommerce businesses. According to PRWeek, 86% of consumers seek out UGC before deciding to buy a product they haven’t personally tried before. Including UGC videos, images, etc., in your emails can help show your audience that you value authenticity and can make a significant difference in your email marketing campaign.
Leveraging auto-replenishment and subscription models
Subscription models are a great way for businesses to stop chasing one-time buyers, build authentic, long-term relationships, and increase customer lifetime value. According to Insider Intelligence, the beauty and personal care category has the highest share of subscribers worldwide (27.6%). Health and wellness, meanwhile, has a 16.3% share of subscribers.
This data makes sense. When someone finds something that works for them, they tend to stick with it, especially when it comes to skincare, fitness, mindfulness, and other health and wellness products. Brands in this industry are missing out if they aren’t leveraging subscription models and using email marketing to promote them.
For example, this supplements brand regularly sends emails reminding its subscribers about the benefits of subscribing to their auto-reload service. They emphasize that customers not only benefit from achieving their goals more easily but also from the 40% savings they’ll receive when subscribing. By encouraging customers to subscribe, the brand is able to secure a more predictable revenue stream and build long-term relationships with its customers.
Create personalized wellness experiences
Health and wellness mean different things to everyone. Each customer has different needs and preferences. Sending the same content and products to your entire audience may not be effective. According to an Omnisend study, segmented campaigns had significantly higher open, click-through, and order rates than non-segmented campaigns in the health and wellness industry.
Brands in the health and wellness segment need to create personalized experiences. However, this can be a challenge. A recent study found that 56% of consumers don’t trust tech companies with their health information. Thus, collecting too much data from your audience can be difficult. But it’s worth trying. By implementing the previous best practices, you can build trust with your audience. Which in turn, will make it easier to collect information.
Creating personalized experiences is not only a best practice but also a necessity. To prepare for the upcoming elimination of third-party cookies from the internet, health and beauty marketers must focus on gathering Customer-First Data, information that customers voluntarily provide. The easiest way to collect data is to ask customers directly to share their preferences. According to Accenture, 83% of consumers are willing to share their data with brands if it leads to more personalized experiences.
This supplement brand regularly asks its subscribers to update their preferences. But that’s just the beginning. The brand partnered with LifeDNA. This partnership enables its customers to take a DNA test and receive a personalized health plan. The perfect opportunity to suggest customized bundles of products. Can you get more personalized than that?
Provide value in every interaction
In today’s economic climate, many people are hesitant to commit to anything due to the uncertainty it brings. To succeed, brands must alleviate this pressure. Offering free resources or discounts on your products is an excellent way to seal the deal, particularly with first-time customers.
Follow these best practices to create effective email marketing strategies that drive engagement and revenue.
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