As the wellness industry is booming, femtech companies appear to be adopting many of its strategies, we ask why this is happening and what are the benefits
The global wellness market increased from $148.5 billion in 2017 to £275 billion in 2020 with a 22 per cent annual growth. Since then, a growing interest in nootropics, adaptogens and CBD have increased sales during the lockdown as consumers address growing mental health concerns.
While femtech industry share is also increasing, several companies are embracing a holistic and wellness approach to marketing their products or developing their range.
There are multiple benefits to introducing a wellness-inspired product or marketing. We examine some of the benefits and examples of brands that do it well.
1- Introducing the human element to healthcare
Accessing healthcare can be a lonely and confusing time especially when it comes to longer processes such as IVF or
menopause treatments. Hormone tracking app, Hormona reported that 60 per cent of women felt alone in their hormonal journey including accessing care.
A lot of platforms and apps within the femtech sector have been developed with the aim of providing support and connecting women to experts or communities to address this loneliness. Sites offering women’s healthcare can often be mistaken for wellness websites with their colourful marketing and easy to understand language. The aim is to disrupt the traditional forms of healthcare by making women not only feel included in their healthcare options but empowered to take control of them.
The best femtech options are the ones that introduce the human element and offer connections that share personal experiences.
Femtech fertility start-up Aura is a great example of this. The London-based company was founded in 2020 after two of the female founders, Abi Hannah and Karen Hanson experienced the trauma of miscarriages and failed IVF cycles. The women were inspired to develop Aura, a B2C app that recognises that fertility treatment is more than just a clinical procedure. It offers an evidence-based tech companion for every stage of the IVF journey. The app, launched in October 2020, experienced more than 6k downloads in just the first six months.
2 – Understanding healthcare
When it comes to reading results or health-based instructions, it can be a nightmare to understand exactly what you are seeing. This is also true of helping clinicians to understand data around women’s health conditions.
Fertility, period or menopause trackers can help by charting the daily experiences of women to create a pattern that can identify anything that might be wrong. Apps and platforms need women to be able to use the interface and input data as cleanly and effectively as possible. It means simplifying language, adding fun or engaging twists to keep users returning to the platform daily.
Results need to be easy for the average user to understand without the need for medical intervention. Women must be able to take control of their own healthcare in a way that they feel comfortable with. In recognising the data and identifying patterns, women are able to involve their clinicians earlier for extra support or faster diagnosis. Earlier diagnosis in many conditions may mean reduced symptoms, longer life expectancy and reduced costs both for the healthcare systems and also the patient.
3 – Inclusivity
Femtech companies are leading the charge in inclusive language, apps, marketing and healthcare.
There has been a huge gap in the market for products that acknowledge the fluidity of gender and the limits that ‘his or her’ tech devices can have. Companies particularly in the femtech, period care or sextech industries have already introduced gender-neutral language, non-gendered toys or even marketing that is non-gender biased.
Studies show that women make up only a quarter of tech developers in the market which may explain why female tech developers are embracing inclusivity in their companies. A glass ceiling needs to be properly smashed for everyone not just one sector.
By embracing other minority groups within the products, femtech designers are addressing needs that are generally not catered for with mainstream concepts. One example of this is FEWE’s marketing campaign around transmen who experience periods and need menstrual care products. Their slogan instantly sets the tone: ‘female-founded cycle care for every phase, for everybody.’
4 – Alternative options for healthcare
The wellness industry is aimed at finding alternative options for healthcare. The CBD industry increased dramatically during Covid lockdowns as patients searched for natural alternatives to anti-depressants or anti-anxiety medications. Wellness trends such as nootropics have also increased as people search for alternative ways to tailor their healthcare to their own needs.
Traditional paths of accessing medicine will always be visiting the doctor, getting a diagnosis, receiving a prescription and accessing medication through a pharmacy. However, femtech offers alternatives to these steps such as home testing kits, prescription deliveries, alternative or natural options for medications even wellness practices such as incorporating yoga into period care.
The sector recognises that wellness and physical health are connected. There cannot be an improvement in one without the other and it provides a platform for women to access education.
5 – No topic off limits
When it comes to women’s healthcare, there appears to be no topic off the table with femtech companies. Which is a good thing too given the gender pain and data gaps that exist when it comes to even common health concerns such as strokes or heart attacks.
When it comes to the more difficult topics in health, femtech does not shy away from providing alternative care. This can include abortion pre and aftercare, period blood analysing and even vaginal PH testing. They focus on making care, education and community more accessible, safe and affordable for women whereas this hasn’t always been the case.
The wellness industry also caters to difficult subjects with companies offering alternative period care or pain therapies. There is also a strong emphasis on difficult
mental health subjects such as depression or anxiety. Both industries are focused on providing a service that looks at one area of healthcare in full such as fertility. This means potentially tackling subjects that aren’t always easy to talk about.
Hey Jane is a great example of wellness meets femtech company that doesn’t shy away from controversial subjects. Hey Jane was founded by Gaby Izarra and Kiki Freedman. It gives women the option to access safe, affordable and easy delivery of abortion pills. The platform offers a telemedicine text chat service where women can speak with experts about their choices before delivering the pills. It also connects women to 24-hour support if they need to speak to someone.
