How consumers define Wellness?

Although the terms “health” and “wellness” are often lumped together or used interchangeably, there is an important distinction between the two. Understanding this difference is essential to understanding the modern consumer.

“Health is really the goal, where wellness is really the journey,” explained James Stone, vice president of Global Marketing & Insights at Glanbia Nutritionals during a recent webinar.

Wellness is defined by combining the mental, physical, and emotional aspects of a fulfilling life to achieve a sense of well-being and find balance.

Research from Innova Market Insights shows that every generation is placing an equal or greater emphasis on their mental and emotional well-being compared to their physical well-being. This finding is supported by looking at the top five ways consumers are pursuing wellness:

1. Participating in stress-reducing activities

2. Getting more sleep

3. Making changes to nutrition

4. Improving work-life balance

5. Getting more physical exercise

Tellingly, physical exercise squeaked into the top five, but it’s no longer a top priority.

Several things can fall under health and wellness marketing (e.g., vitamins, over-the-counter products, personal care, beauty), but here are the primary sectors.

The Sectors

• Personal care, beauty, and anti-aging

• Healthy eating, nutrition, & weight loss

• Physical fitness

• Wellness tourism

• Traditional & complementary medicine

• Public health, prevention, & personalized medicine

• Wellness real estate

• Mental wellness

• Spas

• Workplace wellness

• Thermal/mineral springs

• Sleep health

Women usually come to mind when people think of the typical health and wellness consumer persona. While women do make 85% of all consumer purchasing decisions, you may be surprised to learn that men have become much more engaged in the wellness sector over the past year, accounting for 49% of the wellness conversation online (Source: Twitter Internal Data (Big Query), U.S. only, Tweets from March 1, 2021 - March 2022). 

According to McKinsey’s Future of Wellness survey,  the following segments can help brands understand the behavioral nuances between the wellness consumer subsegments:

1. The wellness enthusiast The wellness enthusiast is a high-income consumer who actively follows and engages with brands on social media. They are also most likely to track new product launches and are excited about innovative new products and services. The wellness consumers falling under this segment tend to be the biggest spenders. Attract this audience by offering exclusive, members-only, or early access to new products or services in exchange for a product review, repost, like, or share with their friends and online followers.

2. The socially responsible The socially responsible wellness consumer prefers environmentally sustainable brands that offer clean, natural ingredients. They’re also willing to pay more to get them. Attract this audience by promoting your cause first, instead of your products or services. This audience wants to love brands that share the same values as they do. Do you offer organic, natural, ethically-sourced ingredients? Are your products manufactured in a way that doesn’t harm the environment? If so, start there. If not, this probably isn’t your target audience.

3. The price-conscious The price-conscious consumer believes wellness products are important but meticulously compares features and benefits against pricing to get the best deal. Does your product cost more than your competitors? Attract this audience with clear, concise, and transparent information about your product benefits, features, and pricing. Tell them why it's worth the extra cost.

4. The loyalist and the passive participant The loyalist will most likely stay with the brands they know and trust. The passive participant is also more likely to stay with the same brands but does so because they have limited awareness of new brands or products and are satisfied with their current choices. This segment tends to spend less than those in other segments.

Trend 1: Natural/clean products get their day in the sun

Consumers are keen for natural/clean products in an array of areas, such as skincare, cosmetics, multivitamins, subscription food services, and sleep enhancers.

Trend 2: More personalization, please.

While many respondents told us privacy is still a concern, many are more comfortable trading privacy for personalization.

Trend 3: The future is digital.

We do see traditional channels holding for certain product categories: fortified foods, multivitamins, and skincare still largely sell through brick-and-mortar stores. Other breakout categories (such as fitness wearables) are almost entirely online native.

Trend 4: Under the influencers

Influencers are a key part of the wellness market, and one that traditional companies have had to learn how to leverage for connecting with consumers.

Trend 5: The rise and rise of services

Services has been a growing part of the wellness market: experiences are increasingly available as offerings.

Trend 6: Category lines continue to blur

A majority of consumers report that they don’t want a single solution or brand to help them with all facets of wellness, suggesting that targeted extensions are a more effective approach for companies.