5 Tips for Wellness Brands on Ecommerce

There are millions of products in the health and wellness category, from pharmaceuticals to fitness equipment to groceries and more. For a wellness brand entering the ecommerce space, that can be incredibly intimidating. How do you compete? How can you grow? On July 1, our Pattern team discussed some of the best practices and tips that can help wellness brands increase their revenue and thrive across all ecommerce platforms. Here are five.

1. Expand your ecommerce business internationally

Ninety six percent of ecommerce consumers are outside of the U.S, with China being one of the biggest players. JD.com alone, the second largest marketplace in China, is expected to surpass Amazon’s Global Gross Market Value by 2023 or 2024. Wright says moving into international marketplaces to capture their traffic is almost a must-do for brands.

“You almost have to get in front of this curve, even as a wellness brand, to have the next five or ten years be dominant for your brand,” said Dave Wright, CEO of Pattern. “That’s where the traffic will come from, that’s where it’s already coming from now.” Cross-border ecommerce is one of the simplest ways to get your brand international, and it doesn’t require much in terms of regulatory compliance. Partnering with companies like Pattern that have boots on the ground internationally and can help you create a personalized strategy can take it to the next level.

2. Use advertising engines to win big on keywords

When it comes to advertising, Wright says everything comes down to search. Organic searches are the least expensive way to drive traffic to your brand, and according to Wright, focusing on how you can win on certain keywords and determining if your brand can live on those keywords organically will give you the biggest bang for your buck. “If your product is of high quality, then as long as you give it its day in the sun, you will win there organically, then you don’t have to keep spending money,” Wright said.

The key to effective advertising, Wright says, is to use an algorithmic advertising engine that can determine which keywords to drive dollars into, put those dollars into those keywords, and adjust ad spend accordingly if you win. Our Predict Software can help brands do just that, making everything from ad spend to ROAS completely visible and transparent. Contact us here to get a free demo.

3. Create content that converts

Showcasing your products in a way that educates, engages, and connects with customers—and doing that consistently across all channels—is critical for conversion. It’s important to put keywords in your listing title and description for SEO purposes, but what really helps conversion is your image stack.

“Over 95% of the people that will make a purchase will view every single image on a product listing,” said Josh Mendenhall, VP of Creative at Pattern. “They’re trying to figure out what the product is. They’re trying to be educated on it.”

For wellness brands, putting things like high quality nutritional charts, infographics, or video in your stack or below the fold is a great way to engage customers. Make sure you utilize every space you have available to maximize engagement, and look to customer reviews for ideas of what you can highlight in your images. Just remember to make sure your content is compliant and keep a consistent look across all channels so customers can easily identify your brand.

Pattern's supplement brands have experienced increased conversion due to great image stacks. Check out these case studies to learn more about how Pattern's helps wellness brands succeed on ecommerce:

• Pure Encapsulations' units sold increased by 325.7% after one month of using our images and EBC.
• Thorne experienced 50% sales growth from new image stacks, 360 bottle renders, and videos from the Pattern creative team.

4. Manage pricing

The health and wellness category is not immune from the ills of price erosion—grey market sellers often undercut brands on price, hurting their relationship with practitioners and distributors as well as wrecking their image. Price erosion ultimately costs brands their profit, which is what makes price management so important. “The best case scenario here is that everybody always gets the lowest price, because that’s the only price available, which is your MAP price,” said Jared Mason, Director of Brand Management at Pattern.

Consistently enforcing MAP across every channel helps your distributors feel confident in your brand and weeds out unauthorized sellers so your brand can grow. It also prevents negative side effects of erosion like Buy Box suppression.

5. Offer stellar customer service

Once you’ve got eyes on your products, the best thing to do for your brand and your buyers is make sure they feel supported prior to, during, and after the sale on all marketplaces. Brands that prioritize good customer service—like responding to buyers in under 24 hours and answering their questions—increase the likelihood that their customers will return.

Combined with effective advertising, expansion, price management, and content conversion, good customer service can help your wellness brand thrive and continue to thrive with the brand loyalty to back it up. Pattern has valuable experience helping wellness brands succeed on ecommerce, in the US ad globally. Schedule a free consultation for your wellness brand here.