Client engagement and retention is fundamental for any successful health and wellness business. Over the last two years, we have seen how the creation of online wellness programs has enabled private practices, clinics, and organizations alike, to bolster communication, offer a new revenue stream, and save time, when working with clients. Programs are an increasing popular way to add to your services, for both prospective and existing clients.

Healthie’s Programs feature enables providers to create courses online, automate distribution, seamlessly enroll and track client activity, and connect to packages to charge for courses. Clients can complete enrolled programs through their Healthie Client Portal, on their computer or mobile device when logged into the Healthie app.

Create, launch and sell wellness programs

Programs enable you to build, compile, and distribute resources on a specific topic, to an audience of your choosing. The core tenant of a program is that it drips content out over the course of weeks and months, rather than sharing all information at once. Content in a program can include videos, e-mails, documents, surveys and quizzes, and links to external websites.

Programs can be used as lead generation tools (and given to clients for free), as a part of an encompassing online program, or as an add-on service that clients can purchase directly from you (and, via Healthie). Clients appreciate receiving guidance over time, in digestible formats that enable them to build successful habits, or achieve specific goals. Wellness programs can also be used to deliver branded programs, like the Diabetes Prevention Program.

The benefits of offering wellness programs

There is undoubtedly an upfront investment required to put together an online program that will be successful. That being said, once complete, it’s a service offering you can provide, time and again, to your clients.

Here are some of the core benefits and reasons to offer a program in your business:

• Create a valuable-add on service. A tailored program provides a way to bolster client engagement between sessions. Your clients will be able to receive valuable information (and support) in a drip fashion over time. It will help maximize the success of your clients, enhance their experience and also offer support in-between sessions.
• Attract new clients. A great program is an attractive offer that you can use to bring more new clients into your business. Programs can lend credibility to your practice, showing that you have valuable and quality services to offer. Market your wellness programs as a stand-alone service that you can promote on your website, social media accounts and within your referral network.
• Increase revenue for your practice Putting together your program will initially take time, but once you have it created you have a package service that you can keep on selling over time. With automated content distribution, your program can run independently, or with minimal oversight. This generates another stream of income for your business, and allows you to focus on other important ways to build and grow your practice.
• Increase your online presence. Use your program as a marketing tool to increase your online presence and drive up sales. Creating timely and relevant wellness programs will help drive traffic through your social media and online accounts, to your website and business.
• Automate important but repetitive activities. When counseling your clients, although every journey is unique, you may find yourself repeating the same information and giving the same documents or support, time, and time again. Gathering this information into one tailored program, offers the same valuable information to a group instead of taxing your time and energy during individual sessions.
• Generate passive income from services you’re currently giving away for free! When working with your clients, you’re liking sharing e-books, documents, videos, recipes and exchanging e-mails. This content is valuable to your clients, and can serve as the basis for a high quality program you offer to your existing client base.

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How to create an online wellness program that SELLS:

Select a topic that speaks to your client-base

This may sound really obvious, but it’s the most important thing you can do, and quite honestly, is harder than it sounds. You’ll need to hone in on a topic that will genuinely, and truly, resonate with your audience, in order to build a program that will scale with you.

Here is a set of questions to answer, as you brainstorm possible program topics:

• Describe the ideal client who would purchase this program
• What are the challenges that this ideal client faces?
• What does he/she want to learn? What should he/she take away from your program, after finishing it?
• What is the health transformation that they are looking for help with?

You don’t want to waste your time creating a program and materials that won’t sell. Do some market research. Come up with a list of 3-4 programs topics and survey your current clients. Ask them during sessions or email them a survey (ie. through Google Forms) to gauge interest. What you want to know is: do your clients find the program topic to be beneficial for them and will they pay for it?

What can you offer that will help them solve this problem?

Once you’ve clearly identified the problem (and gauged that your target audience is interested!) you can start to curate your online program. There are two aspects every program should include:

Ongoing support: Your program should help provide another level of support for your clients between sessions. Behavior and lifestyle change is challenging, but with the right support and motivation, you can see your clients achieve success. Including inspirational emails, documents, challenges, goals and ongoing email reminders during your program will let your client feel supported in their journey.

You may even want to consider creating a group chat or private facebook group for members enrolled in your program. It can be a way for them to connect and support each other, while you facilitate the group.

Quality education: Clients are turning to you as a wellness professional because of the reliable information you can offer. You are the expert, and you are the best source of education for them. By creating videos, handouts, documents and other educational materials, your program can enhance what you discuss in sessions.

Choose a time frame that makes sense and put together quality content.

Realistically, how long will it take your client to achieve the results you’ve promised? What’s the right amount of time that your ideal client can commit to, and will also be enough time to support their transformation? For reference, most wellness programs will run anywhere from 1 to 6 months. Even more to consider, is how you want clients to join your program: on a rolling basis, or with a clear start-date as part of a group.

Fixed-start date wellness programs

Programs that start and end on a specific date are considered a fixed-start program. These types of programs allow a group of clients to begin the same program at the same time and move through the modules collectively. You may choose to have clients engage with each other (ie. create a group chat, or offer weekly group sessions) — but this is optional.

Benefit: Many wellness providers choose this type of structure when running short-term programs that are meant to be engaging and drive new business. These types of programs can be run periodically throughout the year, or even one-time, depending on your business goals. For example, a New Year Wellness Challenge can run every January or 30-day Sugar Detox program can run once every season.

Rolling start date (evergreen) wellness programs

A wellness program for individual clients to enroll in on a rolling basis is considered an evergreen program, that you want to continue to offer over time. It doesn’t matter when a new client joins. As they are added to your program, they independently receive the program content on the timeline you selected.

Benefit: Evergreen programs offer a way to continue to gain revenue all year round. You can work on building up a few, solid wellness programs, that really enhance your ideal clients’ experience when working with you (ie. you work with eating disorder clients and you offer a comprehensive “Intuitive Eating Program”). You’ll have to continue to market you program, but it helps with client retention and success.

Group wellness programs

Group wellness programs allow you to reach a broader audience in a shorter period of time, and it is a way for your group members to support each other in their journey.

Benefit: group wellness programs are a great way to drum up a large number of members in a short period of time. They are also a way for your group members to support each other in their journey. The program can be timely (ie. for National Nutrition Month) or seasonal (ie 60 Day Holiday Wellness Program). You’ll have to market your program periodically.

Build out your content

Now that you have a time-frame and structure in mind, think about how much content you’ll need to create. If you’re planning on a 10-week wellness program, then you’ll need at least 10 weeks worth of valuable content. The initial time that you invest in creating your program will pay for itself overtime with a high quality program that continues to sell. For a successful program, it’s important that you send out quality content that your subscribers will value and find applicable to their life.

The initial time that you invest in creating your program will pay for itself overtime with a high quality program that continues to sell.

Create automated wellness programs online

Healthie’s Program tool makes it easy to customize your wellness programs and automatically distribute pre-loaded content like videos, quizzes, surveys, handouts, and even customized emails. Schedule when you want your program materials to be released and how you want your clients to receive it.

You can include your Healthie Program in one of your packages. When a client purchases that package from you, they will be automatically enrolled into that program. They will then get email notifications every time a new module is shared with them. Alternatively, you can price your package independently to strategically market to new clients or as an add-on to existing clients.

Marketing your wellness programs

Beyond just listing out what your package includes, you want to think of how you’re going to sell it. If you shy away from “selling” your services in an effort to not sound too “salesy,” remember that what you are offering is a chance to better someone’s life. Your potential clients need your help, so don’t be afraid to put the offer out there!

One way to market your wellness programs is by hosting a promotional webinar. Your webinar should be relevant to your program and provide them with a snippet, or introduction. Healthie integrates with Zoom to offer group webinar capabilities — creating a seamless experiences for you to create, distribute and market your program.

Now, you’ve got the attention of your target client, and you’ve shown them the value of your services. At the end of your webinar, it’s time to introduce your program. Talk about what it will include and how your webinar attendees can benefit from it. Consider offering a discounted rate for participants if they sign up in XX amount of time.

If you’re marketing your program and feel like the fish aren’t biting, it’s time to make some adjustments. Survey potential clients, or ask existing clients for some feedback. What’s their biggest barrier to signing up? Is it the price point? Time frame? Do they not find the topic particularly relevant to themselves? Are you reaching your target audience, or are you missing them? In marketing, reflecting and making changes is par for the course.

Another way to gain valuable feedback is to survey program subscribers. The information you receive will give you ideas for new content, ways you can improve, and insights into your program experience. As part of the Healthie platform, you can create a survey using the custom form-builder and schedule it to send out to to subscribers as part of the program.

For Healthie Members: Deep-dives on making the most of Programs

Getting Started: Programs

Best Practices: Programs

Creating a Program

Adding Clients to a Program

Embedding a Video into a Program