When Bruce Lee said “Long-term consistency trumps short-term intensity”, he probably didn’t know that this ought to become a guiding mantra for anyone in the business of health tech and wellbeing.

Statista reported a 30-day retention rate of a mere 2.8% in the health and fitness category. This is alarming for an industry that relies heavily on user effort and consistency for a longer period. Another report by Plotline suggests that adding social features can lead to retention rates up to 41% higher compared to those without such features.

This increase in retention directly translates into improved user engagement, higher program completion rates, and ultimately, better health outcomes. In the post-COVID-19 era, where people are falling back into their older routines, businesses can no longer rely on environmental factors.

In this blog, we’ll discuss in detail why health, fitness, and lifestyle apps need social features more than any other industry, cover briefly some of the subsegments within the category, and discuss how to decide what kind of social features to add based on your specific use case. Let’s dive in.

Why Build Community in the Health and Wellness Category?

We have already talked about the data points that support the idea of building social and community features in your app. Let’s now look at the specific business outcomes that can be expected through the addition of building a community within health and wellness platforms:

Enhanced App Opens and Engagement

Community features such as forums, chat groups, and activity feeds prompt users to open the app more frequently to check updates, participate in discussions, and share their progress.

Increased Wellness Program Purchases

Users are more likely to invest in wellness programs when they see active, supportive communities participating. This creates a sense of belonging and shared purpose. By adding features such as leaderboards, badges, etc, and chat groups where users can discuss their progress stories, ask for tips, and even share the challenges along the way, a business is able to move beyond being yet another brand and instead build a personal relationship with the users, thus making them members.

Higher Program Completion Rates

Community features encourage accountability and motivation among users. Seeing peers achieve their goals can inspire others to stick to their programs, leading to higher completion rates. At the same time, a conversation with a fellow community member can help someone on the verge of quitting, find a newfound sense of conviction and discipline.

Better Health Outcomes and Customer Satisfaction

Community support leads to better adherence to health plans, which can result in improved health outcomes. Satisfied customers are also more likely to recommend the app to others, driving organic growth.

Boost in Renewals

Higher engagement in the community → higher program completion rates →  more visible outcomes → higher renewals of subscriptions.

An engaged community leads to users coming back. Regular interactions, shared success stories, and ongoing support make users more likely to renew their subscriptions.

Improved Retention

With a supportive community, users feel less isolated in their health journeys, which significantly boosts retention rates.

Examples of Different Subsets of Healthtech Businesses, Successful Ventures In Said Subcategories, and Their Use Cases

Health and Fitness is a vast industry with a range of subsegments from mental health apps focused on a specific disorder such as NOCD, guided meditation and relaxation apps such as Headspace, fitness tracking devices such as watched and Rings, lifestyle apps such as HealthifyMe and many more. Let’s look at them based on their focus areas with some example names and possible use cases. This should help you identify use case(s) for your venture as well. Let’s discuss:

Preventive Care Apps

These apps focus on maintaining health and preventing diseases through lifestyle choices, regular check-ups, and early detection.

Examples: Apps like MySugr for diabetes management, and SkinVision for skin cancer detection.

Use Cases: 

Community Forums: Users can join forums to share tips on managing their conditions, participate in challenges like "steps walked in a day," and have Q&A sessions with healthcare professionals.

Support Groups: Individuals with similar health concerns can provide emotional and practical support to each other by being part of support groups focused on the specific concern.

Mental Health Apps

These apps help users manage mental health conditions, such as anxiety, depression, and stress, through therapeutic exercises, meditation, and professional consultations.

Examples: Headspace, Calm for guided tools, BetterHealth and Talkspace for professional consultations, NOCD, and PTSD Coach for very specific concerns.

Use Cases: 

Group Therapy: Users can participate in group therapy sessions, share experiences, and support each other in managing mental health issues.

Discussion Forums: Safe spaces for users to discuss their mental health journeys, share coping strategies, and recommend resources.

Physical Health Apps

These include fitness tracking, workout planning, and physical therapy apps aimed at improving physical fitness and managing rehabilitation.

Examples: Strava, Fitbod, Ultrahuman, Oura, Peloton and NoiseFit.

Use Cases 

Workout Challenges: Users can join challenges to motivate each other, track progress, and celebrate achievements.

Social Sharing: Sharing workout routines, progress photos, and personal records to inspire and be inspired by peers.

Also Read: How Noise Got Their Users To Create 20,000 Posts In A Day

Nutrition and Healthy Eating Apps

Apps that provide dietary recommendations, track nutrition, and help users develop healthy eating habits. Apps that focus on providing diet programs aimed for weight loss can also fall in this category along with those that focus on reversing health issues where lifestyle plays a key role such as type 2 diabetes, blood pressure management, thyroid care and PCOD/PCOS management.

Examples: MyFitnessPal, Yazio, Noom, HealthifyMe, WeightWathers, AskPCOS etc.

Use Cases: 

Recipe Sharing: Users can share healthy recipes, meal plans, and cooking tips.

Diet Challenges: Community diet challenges, like a month of plant-based eating, to foster group participation and support.

Medicine and Prescription Management Apps

These apps help users manage prescriptions, find pharmacies, and order medications.

Examples: GoodRx, Medisafe, NetMeds, 1mg etc.

Use Cases:

User Reviews: Sharing reviews and experiences with different medications.

Medication Reminders: Community support for adherence to medication schedules through shared reminders and tips.

Telehealth and Online Consultation Apps

Platforms providing virtual consultations with healthcare professionals. Most of the time medicine and prescription management apps also offer online consultations and test booking along with at-home sample collection services.

Examples: Teladoc, Amwell, and Doctor on Demand

Use Cases: 

Patient Experiences: Users can share their experiences with different doctors and treatments.

Health Q&A: Forums where users can ask health-related questions and get answers from both peers and professionals.

Goal-Based Health Programs

Apps focused on specific health goals like weight loss, muscle gain, or smoking cessation.

Examples: Weight Watchers, Noom, and Quit Genius.

Use Cases: 

Progress Tracking: Users can share their progress, milestones, and success stories.

Support Groups: Goal-specific support groups where users can motivate each other and share tips on achieving their objectives.

Also read: Cohort-Based Communities - The Gateway to Retention

Successful Healthtech Ventures with Community Features

There are many, many examples of health and fitness ventures with some level of social features integrated into them. Let’s look at some of them in different subcategories and how they brought social interaction to their product.

NOCD

This app for obsessive-compulsive disorder offers a community where users can share their experiences, receive peer support, and participate in therapist-led group sessions.

Fittr

A fitness app that has a vibrant community where users share workout routines, success stories, and provide mutual support and motivation.

Strava

One of the most popular apps for runners and cyclists, Strava’s community features include activity feeds, challenges, and clubs that keep users engaged and motivated.

MyFitnessPal

This app offers a robust community where users can share their fitness journeys, exchange tips, and support each other in achieving their health goals. The app features forums and groups based on interests and goals.

PatientsLikeMe

A health management platform that allows patients to connect with others having similar conditions. Users can share their experiences, track their health, and find support from a community of peers.

Fitbit

Known for its wearable fitness trackers, Fitbit offers a community feature where users can join groups, participate in challenges, and share their fitness milestones to stay motivated and accountable.

Glo

A yoga and meditation app that includes community features where users can join classes, interact with instructors, and connect with other practitioners to share experiences and support each other’s practice.

Flo

A menstrual health app that includes a community where users can discuss topics related to reproductive health, share experiences, and receive support and advice from peers and experts.

ClassPass

While primarily a fitness class subscription service, ClassPass includes community features where users can review classes, share their experiences, and connect with fellow fitness enthusiasts.

Noom

A weight loss app that combines psychology with community support. Users can join groups, share their weight loss journeys, and receive encouragement and tips from others working towards similar goals.

How to Build a Community for the Specific Use Case

Building a community can be tricky due to privacy concerns and the fact that health is a very personal journey and customizing the experience while maintaining a standard system can be tricky.

Let’s look at the steps that you can take to design a community use case for your product and integrate relevant features with efficiency and ease.

1. Identify the Core Purpose: Determine the primary reason for the community. Is it for support, sharing tips, or motivation? Align the community’s purpose with the app’s overall goals.
2. Decide on Features to Support the Purpose: Do you offer mental health counseling? A feed with an option for anonymous posting can be a good bet for you. Is it a lifestyle app? Recipe-sharing chat groups for different diets/cousins with options to bookmark, upvote, etc. is the way to engage the community.
3. Choose the Right Platform: Decide whether the community will be hosted within the app, on social media, or through a separate forum. Each option has its benefits and drawbacks. The biggest reason to host a community within the product is to create engagement and retention loops by adding another layer of offering within the product.
4. Seed Engagement Whenever Needed: Utilise the power of super users by getting them to create content and encouraging user participation through regular prompts, challenges, and rewards. Highlight user stories and successes to motivate others.
5. Provide Support: Ensure the community is a safe and supportive space by having moderators to guide discussions and address any issues.
6. Incorporate Expert Interaction: Bring in health experts for Q&A sessions, webinars, and advice. This adds credibility and value to the community.

Also Read: Designing Community Use Cases For Better Business Impact

Conclusion

Incorporating community features within health and wellness apps is more than just a trend; it’s a powerful strategy for driving acquisition, retention, and renewals. By fostering a sense of belonging and support, health tech companies can enhance user engagement, improve health outcomes, and achieve sustainable growth. As the health tech landscape continues to evolve, the importance of community will only grow, making it a crucial element in the success of any health and wellness platform.

About LikeMinds

LikeMinds elevates businesses in unlocking the true potential of their users through their in-app community and social network. Using LikeMinds, businesses achieve higher conversion and retention, by building custom community experiences in their existing platform unlocking community-led growth.

With LikeMinds, businesses get an easy-to-implement and highly scalable infrastructure with a fully customizable UI. All of this with a customization time of 3 days and a deployment time of 15 minutes.

Our Chat and Feed infra have pre-built widgets such as image carousels, PDF slides, short videos, polls, quizzes, events, forms, and more for user engagement and retention along with moderation capabilities to ensure frictionless community operations.