Your health and wellness brand can be well on its way towards growth but with how competitive the industry and the market in general is, you need a sure-shot way of growing. So, the focus will naturally have to be on customer retention and boosting repeat sales.
One of the best ways to encourage repeat purchases, retain customers and turn them into loyal brand advocates is through the subscription model.
In this post, we will walk you through everything you need to know regarding health and wellness subscriptions.
Recap: What is a subscription model in health and wellness
A subscription model is both a business model and a recurring revenue strategy where the customers pay a set amount––typically on a monthly, weekly or annual basis––to receive products or services regularly and consistently.
This business model allows health and wellness brands to provide consistent product delivery, especially for products that are regularly required as a part of the customers’ wellness journeys and routines such as fitness plans, skincare products, supplements or other wellness services.
What are the types of subscriptions health and wellness brands can offer
These are some of the most effective and widely used subscription types that health and wellness brands can offer to their customers:
Product subscriptions
Product subscriptions will involve the regular delivery of health and wellness-related products that customers need as part of their daily or weekly routines. By offering regular deliveries of products such as supplements, skincare products, fitness gear etc. customers can have uninterrupted access to their wellness essentials without having to repeat the purchase process multiple times.
Service subscriptions
Service subscriptions are subscriptions that provide customers with ongoing access to wellness services that are integral to their health journey. This type of subscription typically includes workout plans with virtual trainers, guided meditation apps for mental health, or personalized nutrition coaching.
Content subscriptions
Content subscriptions focus on offering customers quality health and wellness-related content. You can offer on-demand fitness programs or expertly curated content like blogs, webinars, newsletters, tutorials, video classes etc. This way brands can not only engage customers but also educate them and thus boost loyalty.
Meal kits
For customers with busy lifestyles, meal kit subscriptions can offer an ideal solution to their daily nutrient requirements. Typically, these subscriptions offer pre-portioned ingredients with easy recipes or fully prepared meals that meet the dietary specifications of the customer. This not only saves the customers’ time but also ensures they maintain a healthy diet.
Wellness challenges
Wellness challenges are programs designed to motivate customers to achieve their specific health goals. Subscription to these channels can entail incentives like exclusive products or discounts upon completion of milestones. Wellness challenges are a great way to foster a sense of accomplishment and community while reinforcing the customer’s connection with your brand.
Hybrid subscriptions
Hybrid subscriptions combine both products and services to deliver a comprehensive health and wellness experience for customers. A subscription, for example, can pair supplements with access to virtual fitness classes or skincare products with usage tutorials. This way, you combine the tangible value of the items with the value of services to address different aspects of a customer's wellness requirements.
Business benefits of health and wellness subscriptions
Here are some of the best benefits that a health and wellness subscription model can have for your business:
Predictable revenue
A subscription-based health and wellness business has the benefit of being able to predict its revenue. Subscriptions offer consistent and recurring income streams that can allow brands to forecast earnings more accurately and plan long-term strategies with confidence.
Higher Customer Lifetime Value (CLV)
Subscription models are inherently capable of increasing CLV or customer lifetime value, by encouraging customers to make repeat purchases over an extended period. Businesses can nurture long-term customer relationships and maximize revenue per customer while introducing them to additional products and services, through such ongoing engagement.
Improved customer retention
Subscriptions are ultimately designed to keep customers engaged with your brand over time and hence can greatly improve customer retention rates. As you provide convenience, consistency in quality and great value, you can greatly reduce churn and build stronger customer relationships.
Data-driven insights
You will be able to access valuable customer data from your subscription business, which can be used to refine your offerings, customize experiences and enhance your strategies. With subscriptions, you can gain insights into purchasing habits, preferences, engagement patterns and more, which can be also used to personalize recommendations and predict future trends.
Operational efficiency
Subscription models allow businesses to streamline operations as they allow for predictable demands and better inventory management. By knowing the quantity and timing of the recurring orders, you can better optimize supply chain processes and ensure timely deliveries without any hindrances.
Brand loyalty
With subscriptions, you are establishing a deeper connection with your customers, fostering a sense of loyalty that can go a long way for your brand. By regularly interacting with customers through product deliveries, service updates etc. you remain on top of the customers’ minds, and by consistently delivering quality, you can reinforce their trust in the brand.
Upselling opportunities
The subscription model offers you a lot of opportunities to upsell and cross-sell products. You can recommend complimentary products or premium services to your subscribers based on their interests, preferences and purchase history. By suggesting add-ons or upgraded subscriptions, you can boost your revenue while enhancing their experience with your brand.
Market differentiation
In the competitive health and wellness industry a subscription-based business model allows health and wellness brands to stand out through their unique value propositions. You can create tailored plans, exclusive benefits and smooth customer experiences to make sure that you stand out from your competitors.
Customer benefits of health and wellness subscriptions
Customers also tend to prefer subscription models, especially regarding health and wellness products that become a part of their lifestyle, routine and health and wellness journeys. Let us look at some of the key benefits health and wellness subscriptions have to offer customers.
Convenience
Health and wellness subscriptions offer customers the convenience of not having to reorder products that are crucial to their health and wellness journeys. The products, in a regular and timely manner, will reach their doorsteps on their preferred delivery dates.
Cost savings
Compared to buying the same product over and over again, subscribing to regular deliveries is much more cost-effective for customers. Product or service subscriptions are often accompanied by additional perks such as discounts, free shipping and other exclusive benefits, thus adding more value to the purchases.
Personalized experience
Subscriptions offer customers an unrivalled level of personalization, as brands can tailor products and services based on their unique preferences and needs. This means that the customer gets exactly what they require for their health and wellness goals, at the required intervals.
Time-saving
Customers only have to subscribe, and till the end of their subscription period, the product will be delivered to them. These automated deliveries mean that the customer does not have to spend time browsing and shopping every time they require the product or service.
Consistency
Wellness shoppers require their products at regular intervals and these products can be essential parts of their routine. Subscriptions help them have uninterrupted access to their essentials so that their wellness routine can be maintained without any hitches.
Flexibility
Subscription-based health and wellness businesses offer customers the flexibility and choice to modify their subscriptions, pause or cancel as they see fit. This means that the customer is in complete control and hence can freely choose how they want their subscription plans to be.
Engagement
Health and wellness subscriptions often come with other benefits such as access to additional content, rewards or community support. This regular engagement allows customers to get more than just monthly or weekly product deliveries from the brand.
Sustainability
Through planned delivery, subscriptions offer an added benefit to customers, of reducing packaging waste. These sustainable and eco-friendly practices are important to customers and can go a long way in their perception of the brand.
How do you set up subscriptions for your Shopify health and wellness?
Here are the major steps you need to take to set up your own Shopify health and wellness subscriptions:
Identify your niche
The first step to setting up a subscription for your Shopify health and wellness brand is to identify what specific niche you are focusing on. In other words, you have to define the specific health and wellness focus of your subscription service. This can be anything ranging from nutrient supplements, fitness, skincare, and home wellness products to hair care products.
Define your target audience
Once you know what your subscription service will be selling, try to define who will be your target buyers. Research and understand what their demands are, what they need, their demographics, their expectations etc. For instance, if you are offering a fitness supplement subscription plan, your target audience will more often than not, be bodybuilders, gymnasts, athletes, fitness enthusiasts etc.
Choose a subscription model
Now that you have defined what you are selling and who you will be selling to, you need to choose an ideal subscription model. We have already discussed some of the most common subscription types like product subscriptions, service subscriptions, hybrid subscriptions and more. You can do what will work best for you and modify it as you see fit.
Curate products or services
By understanding your audience and their demands and expectations, you need to curate high-quality products and services that meet the customers’ needs. Be it personalized supplements or workout plans, ensure that you select services or products that rise to meet not only the customer's expectations but also your own claims. Take a look at how Capella Sydney spells out its Wellness membership offer:
Set pricing structure
Once you have defined and curated your products and/or services, set the pricing structure. You will have to define whether your pricing model will involve monthly, quarterly or annual payments. At this stage, you also need to decide on offers and discounts that you will provide for long-term subscriptions.
Build a website or subscription platform
You will need either a good eCommerce website that comes with subscription management tools or will have to integrate a dedicated subscription tool with your existing eCommerce platform. These tools offer great features like customizable subscription plans, automated notifications, and flexible payment options, making it easy for customers to subscribe and manage their plans.
Integrate payment gateway
Now that you have set up a subscription platform, you need to offer customers a way to complete payment. Choose and integrate a reliable payment gateway that can easily handle recurring payments, such as Stripe or PayPal.
Develop a fulfilment process
Your fulfilment process needs to be solid and fail-proof to prevent subscribers from dropping out. Set up efficient inventory management, packaging and shipping logistics to ensure that the deliveries are regular and consistent.
Create personalization options
A huge part of why customers prefer subscriptions is due to its perceived customizability. Deliver on this expectation by implementing personalization tools such as product customizations or quiz-based recommendations to provide customers with exactly what they need. Here is how Rheal Superfoods do it:
Launch marketing campaign
Develop and launch marketing campaigns to ensure your subscription and its benefits are known to your target audience. Incorporate different strategies such as social media promotions, influencer partnerships, email campaigns etc. to boost subscriptions.
Offer subscription flexibility
Allow customers to customize, modify, pause or cancel their subscriptions easily. This is important to ensure that the customer always has control and thus it becomes easier for them to trust your brand and subscribe to your health and wellness products/services.
Measure and optimize
The success of your health and wellness subscription heavily relies on how you improve it regularly. Track the performance of your subscriptions through performance metrics like customer retention rates and churn rates. You should regularly adjust the pricing, products and/or services based on customer feedback and analytics to ensure that it remains perfectly optimized.
Best Shopify apps to set up subscriptions
Now that we have looked at the benefits of health and wellness subscriptions and the steps required to set them up, we can take a look at a few reliable and effective subscription apps for you to consider:
Recharge subscriptions
Recharge subscriptions app comes with a lot of handy features such as custom CSS, one-time product upsells, an analytics dashboard, automatic payment retries and more. If you require a subscription app with a smooth and fast set-up process, this is a good choice to consider.
Appstle subscriptions
Appstle subscription is a great solution if you are looking for a subscription app that is both rich in features and cost-effective. It comes with essential features like inventory forecasting, performance tracking and multi-channel support.
Skio subscriptions
Skio is one of the premium subscription apps that offer some exceptional features. Skio lets you offer group subscription discounts, carry out A/B testing with its Theme Editor, send SMS notifications and more. Additionally, it has one of the most intuitive and smooth dashboards in comparison to other subscription apps.
Conclusion
Subscription models offer a level of convenience that can be unrivalled, and the recurring revenue offers you predictability that can really benefit your business in diverse ways. For this reason, the subscription-based business model is a common sight in the health and wellness industry. And it is time that you also start availing its benefits.
Whether you are just starting with a health and wellness subscription model or are planning to make it a new addition to your existing strategies, our experts can help you get the best results.
