Brands often reach out to us asking for marketing support and are eager to put media in the market to drive growth. They know they need to be on the big media platforms, but they often feel unmoored without a clear channel strategy rooted in a larger marketing mission. So many brands in our space are focused on the “health enthusiast” who has disposable income to spend on their wellness routine, but that generic persona doesn’t reflect how their prospective customers learn, research, shop, buy and fall in love with brands.
Marketing activation should begin with deep knowledge of your unique customer journey. Given our industry sees this as a blind spot, it’s no wonder marketing activation often feels like throwing darts in the dark.
As a resource for supplement brand marketers, we’re providing total sample insights from our latest census-balanced PureSegmentation Research. Total sample data points reveal customers’ average attitudes and behaviors, but we know the supplement category is not homogeneous. Total sample data should be used as a framework, not a prescription. Ultimately, each brand must define its unique customer journey rooted in knowledge of its target segment’s beliefs, needs, influences, shopping behavior and engagement preferences.
Beginning the Journey
Many supplement users (37 percent of the total market) begin taking supplements after independent research, driven by a desire to take better care of themselves. The second most common path to supplements is incited by a health care practitioner (21 percent).
The remaining supplement users have a myriad of stories about how they first discovered supplements: from being given supplements by their parents as a kid to being influenced by a friend or family member to being ill and looking for a way to take control of their health.
PureSegmentation Insights: Understanding your customers’ initial reason for entering the market can be valuable context. From our PureSegmentation Research, we uncovered one segment that is commonly driven into the market by their doctor’s recommendation, while a second segment is incited by their own research and self-motivation to take care of themselves. These two starting points represent distinct mindsets, working knowledge bases and category awareness, necessitating different degrees of educational information from a brand.
Researching
The majority of supplement users (60 percent) research online before ultimately buying online, in-store or at their health care practitioner’s office. Despite this reliance on online research, nearly half of supplement users (48 percent) report at least occasionally seeking out in-store staff for supplement advice or recommendations.
When researching, conventional health-focused websites like WebMD were reported to be the top resource (41 percent), followed by health institutions like Mayo Clinic (31 percent), health and wellness books (27 percent), scientific articles and studies (27 percent), and social media (21 percent).
PureSegmentation Insights: Media consumption and influence is heavily dependent on your target segment. From our PureSegmentation Research, there is one segment of the market that voraciously researches and traverses many digital channels to self-educate—from wellness websites to Reddit to podcasts and PubMed. Comparatively, there is another segment that narrowly relies on conventional health institutions for their information. Understanding your target segment’s key resources should directly inform your brand’s marketing channel mix.
Influential People
Most supplement users (60 percent) ranked medical doctors—like their PCP—as the most influential people when learning and making decisions about their health and wellness. Family and friends are also a key influence for nearly half of users (49 percent), followed by their own accumulated knowledge from self-education (48 percent).
For those who have seen an integrative health care practitioner within the past year, the majority (61 percent) have received a recommendation to take supplements.
PureSegmentation Insights: Knowing which people are most influential in your target consumers’ decision-making is actionable intelligence for sales, marketing and content strategy development. For example, from our PureSegmentation research, two segments over-index for valuing the perspective of nationally known health experts and integrative health care practitioners. Brands targeting these segments might recruit well-known integrative HCPs for their influencer programs and advisory boards. They may also consider a practitioner strategy to sell through relevant credentials.
Shopping
Nearly half (48 percent) of supplement users self-report buying at least some of their supplements at large mass retailers. Drugstores rank as the second-most traversed channel (39 percent), followed by Amazon (38 percent).
PureSegmentation Insights: Understanding your target’s shopping behavior should influence your approach to retail. For DTC (direct to consumer) brands, we know from our PureSegmentation research that two segments of the market prefer to buy directly from a brand. Those segments are heavy omnichannel shoppers who spend their dollars throughout natural channels and specialty retail. This intelligence gives DTC brands guidance on where to enter next as they expand into retail.
Purchase
When they’re ready to buy, nearly half of supplement users (45 percent) say that verified customer reviews will “push them closer” to making a purchase. Customer reviews were more persuasive than a 20 percent promotional offer!
PureSegmentation Insights: Knowledge of your target customer’s purchase drivers should influence priorities for your shopping experience. For example, we know one market segment wants to see an impressive medical or scientific advisory board before they buy, while another segment is primarily promotion driven.
Brand Engagement
Once a supplement user has entered a brand’s DTC ecosystem, they primarily want to receive personalized lifestyle recommendations from the brand (34 percent) or access to a loyalty program (34 percent).
PureSegmentation Insights: Again, this intelligence on engagement preferences should influence your brand’s content and email marketing programming. There are two segments of the market that want personalized product recommendations and tools to measure their progress and another segment that simply wants notifications of upcoming sales. Tailoring your program to these preferences will effectively engage and retain your best customers.
Brand Loyalty
The average supplement shopper is brand loyal, with 61 percent reporting they rarely or never switch brands. We saw this brand stickiness increase after the pandemic. (Check out our Post-Pandemic Webinar for more insights!)
For those open to switching, the most common reason is price (39 percent) or simply wanting to try something new (37 percent).
PureSegmentation Insights: There are two segments of the market that rarely or never switch their brands. Brands targeting these loyal groups might have a higher threshold for customer acquisition costs because winning over these customers will result in high retention. Conversely, one segment has low loyalty and is constantly experimenting with new brands. For brands targeting this segment, a strong emphasis should be placed on retention and lifecycle marketing to keep them engaged.
Your customers’ journeys are unique and complex. Intelligent branding, marketing, content, sales and retail strategies are rooted in knowledge of your target segment—how they think, feel, learn and act. Respect and demonstrate your understanding of their journeys, and your marketing activation will benefit. NIE
Yadim Medore, founder and CEO of Pure Branding, has spent more than 20 years transforming science-driven supplement companies into beloved brands through smart strategy, research and activation. Pure Branding’s rebrand of Gaia Herbs tripled its sales in only four years and launched the industry’s first transparency platform, Meet Your Herbs. He helped MegaFood double its sales in only two years, which led to its acquisition by Pharmavite, and launched the digitally-native personalized nutrition brand Persona that was acquired by Nestlé Health Science. Pure Branding’s Supplement Consumer PureSegmentation Research is a quick, cost-effective, and predictive custom research tool designed to fuel growth for both legacy and emerging dietary supplement brands. Learn more at www.purebranding.com.
