How to Start an Online Health and Wellness Business in 10 Steps

Health and wellness is one of the top niches for online businesses. From weight loss and nutrition to sleep health and meditation, there’s plenty of opportunity for new businesses. The increasing shift to digital is more apparent than ever. Health and wellness is now on-demand, streaming, and fully online. 

The concept of convenient and connected wellness is extremely relevant in the current climate. Online health and wellness cover such a wide range of sectors. When starting an online business, finding a niche is essential to opening up the market and driving value. Whether you’re setting up a virtual personal training business or developing a personalized supplement to deliver straight to the customer’s door, here’s how you can start an online health and wellness business in 2021. 

Skip ahead to:

• The Digital Health and Wellness Industry in 2021
• 4 Online Health and Wellness Business Opportunities
• How to Start an Online Health and Wellness Business in 10 Steps

The Digital Health and Wellness Industry in 2021 

As the general population increasingly turns to self-care, digital health and wellness is growing at a massive rate. The coronavirus continues to impact lives all over the world. The pandemic has caused a shift in the way people think about their own health. People are embracing self-care services, technology, and products in a bid to live happier and healthier lives. 

Consumers are looking to take control of their health. The technology available is empowering people to take the steps they need to be healthier. This applies to multiple areas of wellness. They are wanting to take control of their healthcare, sleep, finances, mental health and more. Mobile devices are playing a key role in delivering health and wellness services. 

With remote patient monitoring, online councillors, personalized supplements and acne treatment, digital health and wellness is evolving. It is now more convenient and efficient. There is a clear increase in the acceptance of digital wellness services that has risen in the last year. 

Health and wellness is now at the forefront of a lot of conversations. Digital tools, services, and businesses continue to fill the gap in a world that has to stay at home and socially isolate. But, now that many people have been using online businesses so effortlessly, there is a big opportunity for an online health and wellness startup. Digital health will continue to weave into our everyday lives in a way that makes integrating data, technology, and wellness, a seamless interaction. 

The Fitness Founders Podcast has an interesting episode with Bryan O’Rourke, the President of the Fitness Industry Technology Council. He talks about how technology is shaping the future of fitness. The episode covers how technology is influencing fitness and how major tech companies are moving moves in the health and fitness space.  

4 Online Health and Wellness Business Opportunities 

Health and wellness is such a broad topic, which means there are plenty of business opportunities in this space. Your budget, passion, skills, and qualifications will dictate which area you should delve into. Here are four wellness business ideas that you can start.  

Online Health Coaching Business 

Online health coaches can focus on a range of niches. From online wellness coaching to helping clients develop a better relationship with food. Whether it’s online group wellness programs or one-to-one virtual training, you can help clients from all over the world in a way that offers complete convenience and flexibility. Health and wellness coaches can help with managing stress levels, developing healthy habits, boosting confidence, and helping someone to reach a professional or personal goal.  

Virtual Personal Trainer 

The global online and virtual fitness market was valued at $6,046 million in 2019. Now, it’s projected to reach $59,231 million by 2027. Digital fitness and wellness services give members access to a virtual personal trainer or fitness instructor instead of visiting a facility. Online personal trainers allow clients to work out when they want to but still have someone to keep them accountable and guide them on their journey. 

Selling Health and Wellness Products 

The health and wellness product market is vast. Consumers are willing to pay a premium for health and wellness products. The market includes supplements, beauty products, immune support, sleep tech, weight management products, organic produce, health and wellness subscription boxes and more. You have the opportunity to build an online brand with a fully digital presence and e-commerce brand to sell wellness products to a growing audience. 

On-Demand Wellness 

Another potential business area is on-demand wellness. This includes on-demand fitness, meditation, and wellness apps and digital platforms. Streaming and on-demand services are hugely popular and allow people to have access to multiple services at one time. Whether it’s starting a meditation app or launching an on-demand yoga platform, there’s a ton of niches and opportunities to explore. 

How to Start an Online Health and Wellness Business in 10 Steps 

When starting an online health and wellness business, it’s essential that you’re creating a solution for a problem. There needs to be a gap in the market for your services so that you can add value to your customer’s lives. An online business in the wellness niche has massive potential. 

Although there are a lot of players in health and wellness, the market is large. It’s easy to think you’ve missed your opportunity and the market is too crowded. But the truth is that people are willing to pay a premium for a solution to a problem. The added bonus is that starting an online business can be a cost-effective way to get a piece of the wellness pie. Let’s take a look at the process for starting an online health and wellness business, so you can enter into the market with a strong foundation. 

1. Get Your Qualifications 

While this step doesn’t apply to all businesses, certain niches need qualifications. If you’re looking to get into virtual personal training, nutritionist, and weight loss management, you need to have the right qualifications. Knowledge and education give you authority in your niche. It makes potential customers think that you can solve their issues and give them the advice you need. 

From a safety standpoint, you need to have the right qualifications to give advice on fitness, movement, and nutrition. With other businesses in the wellness niche, you simply need passion and interest to make an impact. Many people launch health and wellness businesses without qualifications, you just need to find the right opportunity.  

2. Find Your Niche and Speciality 

Your niche should be profitable and in-demand; you should have an audience. Your market research will help you to identify some of the top niches in the market. Finding your niche is a balancing act. Too narrow and you don’t have an audience. While a niche that’s too broad doesn’t attract the type of clients you want. To get you started, here are some popular health and wellness niches: 

• Weight loss and nutrition 
• Fitness and yoga 
• Gut health 
• Sleep 
• Hair loss 
• Skincare 
• Healthy living and eating  
• Self-improvement 
• Financial wellness 
• Stress management 

3. Define Your Target Audience 

After choosing a niche, you should start to have a clearer picture of who your target audience is. Your target audience will help you to make a lot of decisions. Creating an irresistible offer, marketing your online business and developing marketing collateral is based on who you are talking to. 

It’s a good idea to segment your target audience and consider the interests, demographics, wants, and obstacles of each persona. For example, as an online yoga studio, you may have a beginner audience, a post-natal audience, and a more senior audience. All these people have different needs and wants. To speak to these people, you need to adjust your strategy and messaging. Defining your target audience will help you do this further down the line.  

4, Create a Strong Online Presence 

A strong online presence is non-negotiable for the majority of businesses nowadays. But as a digital-only business, you need to put a lot of effort into creating a strong and robust online presence. Your social media platforms, website, and marketing should be fully aligned to the business goals. 

Your digital experience should be seamless and effortless for the user. If you deliver organic chef-made meals to help people lose weight and build muscle, it should be easy to sign up and pay for the subscription service. This applies to on-demand services, personalized supplement services, and all businesses in the wellness niche.  

5. Design an Irresistible Offer 

Your irresistible offer is so good that your ideal client can’t say no. When they get this offer, it’s too irresistible to turn down. To craft an offer that’s so relevant to your ideal client, you need to have a solid understanding of the problems, obstacles and wants of your niche.

When you create a compelling offer, you’re solving a problem. It’s not an online personal coaching course for a set amount of time. It’s a promise that you will help your client to develop a healthy habit with food so that they can lose weight and keep it off. And it’s a solution that is worth paying a premium price for; to impact a person’s life positively.  

6. Generate Leads 

To run a business and have longevity, you need to make money. But when starting a new business, it takes time to build brand awareness and attract new customers. As an online business, you will need to start generating sales leads and pitching your services. To generate leads for your online business you can create a lead magnet for your target audience, such as:

• Healthy eating shopping list
• Ebook or guide 
• Workout video series 
• Free sleep health workshop 
• Live webinars 
• Email fitness challenge 
• Free consultation 

7. Market Your Services 

Your marketing strategy plays a big role in the success of your business. After launching your business, you need to tell people about it to attract and retain customers. Whether you’re launching an online wellness coaching platform or weight loss group program, you need to market your services. 

There are several ways to market your business across different cost points. Social media marketing will form part of your larger digital marketing strategy. Other marketing ideas include a health and wellness blog, a wellness podcast, video marketing. Content marketing, Facebook marketing, and pay-per-click can all be beneficial when marketing your services and growing brand awareness. 

8. Create a Sales System 

Implementing a sales system for your business is vital to growing your business. By fine-tuning how you attract the ideal client, pitch your services, and close a sale, you can start to take the guesswork out of sales. By sticking to a strategy that works for your business and target audience, you will genuinely connect with your customers and generate more money. 

Embrace selling your services. View sales as a way to solve a problem someone has in their life. Your business is the solution. It’s a good idea to lead with your value, rather than focusing solely on cost. By creating great lead magnets, connecting with people, and converting strangers into clients, you can develop a sales system and elevate your sales process.  

9. Nail Your Delivery 

Think about how you will deliver your services. As an online business, you may use a member portal for customers to access resources and your services. If you’re selling products or wellness services, you might need an app and website to create a smooth digital experience and delivery. 

The experience and driving value and results are crucial. You might use a combination of methods to deliver products and services. The most important thing is that every part of the sales and customer journey is flawless. 

10. Leverage Technology

You can’t run an online business without technology. Apps, websites, member portals, and wearable technology can all help to create a better customer experience. Your health and wellness business should use technology in a way that appears seamless. It should be easy to make a purchase, pay, book, and communicate with your business. 

Depending on your business, you may need to leverage different technology. Things like social media management software and email list campaign software can help enhance your marketing. While member management software and financial tracking would be beneficial to virtual personal trainers. 

In Summary 

Starting an online health and wellness business is an exciting process and can be a very rewarding path. If you’re passionate about wellness, a digital-only business could be just for you. By finding a niche and developing the right concept with an online business model, it could be a potentially future-proof idea that could make a huge impact and prove to be an extremely successful business.