Research Opportunities for Health & Wellness Brands
If you’re a Brand or Product Manufacturer in the health and wellness industry, you likely have at least explored the idea of doing some type of research on your products.
With more consumers seeking science-backed and evidence based products, it’s an unavoidable conversation.
And let’s face it, most brands are playing a similar marketing game. Or at the very least competing for the same consumer.
One way to stand out is by promoting real data on the use and performance of your products. Giving consumers transparent insight into product effectiveness.
Unfortunately, for most Brands, it was probably a very short discussion. With the decision being to shelf the idea because:
It’s too expensive
You don’t have the expertise in-house
It takes to long to get the results
It’s hard to see a measurable ROI
The results might not be favorable
Yes, those are all true if you’re only evaluating research opportunities from a traditional, clinical approach.
That’s not the only opportunity to do research. And, when you look at the other opportunities, all those reasons become irrelevant.
Besides the one about products not being effective. That comes down to you believing you’re selling a quality product.
Providing Brands and Product Manufacturers with research opportunities is one of the reasons we’re here.
We help passionate founders and executives engage consumers and do research on their products. We help you get the understanding you desire, and make you the subject matter expert on your products.
Research Opportunities for Brands and Product Manufacturers
1. Real World, Prospective Studies
Since COVID, the credibility and demand of Real World Data significantly increased. With many healthcare professionals, researchers, and even the FDA, calling out the need for more, and better (MoreBetter 😉) Real World Data collection efforts.
Some may be familiar with this form of research as Citizen Science.
Regardless of the terminology, it provides Brands and Product Manufacturers the opportunity to conduct meaningful research outside the clinical setting.
To be clear, this is not replacing clinical studies. You should beware of companies pitching a real world study as a replacement, or substitute, for clinical research.
It’s still a prospective study, meaning a longitudinal study that examines how a group of people experience an outcome over time, and how their exposures to potential risk factors relate to that outcome.
It can be done in a remote and decentralized setting. Meaning, you don’t need to take people out of their daily environment. You can engage with them, and study their product use and experience, in their regular day-to-day before, during, and after use of your product.
Some would debate this is a more valuable dataset to collect because you’re collecting it from people in the regular environment. Not from individuals who are in a new setting, controlled by a team of researchers.
If you collect real world data the right way, you can measure for statistically significant impacts on the use of your product. We’ve seen these data points serve as effective marketing collateral for brands.
If you’d like, you can even provide some participants with a placebo, to more closely follow the typical approach in a clinical study.
2. Academic Affiliated Research
There’s a certain prestige in being affiliated with an academic institution. However it comes at a price (and with some additional pain).
Research with a university is easily in the six-to-seven figure range. There’s a 50% - 60% tax you pay to the university just for the ability to use their name. That’s before you pay the researcher, their team, and any other expenses like recruitment, product, etc..
Also, academic institutions are selective with brands they’ll directly engage with. This is especially true in emerging markets, like cannabis. We’ve facilitated many cannabis studies with universities, serving as the CRO so the university could avoid engaging directly with the industry.
That said, there are obvious benefits.
You have a higher degree of likelihood of being published in a medical journal. Especially if your Principal Investigator (PI) and/or university has published previous studies.
There’s also a better chance of getting news/media outlets to talk about your study (and your brand/product) if it’s affiliated with a university.
Finally, as a vanity metric, as mentioned above there’s a certain prestige with having your name next to a university for any type of project.
It helps elevate your brand and reputation.
3. Independent IRB
If your goal is to be published in a peer reviewed journal. This is likely the most affordable option.
Going with an Independent IRB means you can do everything the university would have done, for yourself. Your only costs would be your staff, and the direct costs for the Independent IRB process. Which are usually under a few thousand dollars.
Someone on your team could likely serve as the PI. Saving you more money.
If you wanted, or if needed, you could hire a PI for the study. It’s another expense, but it’d still be significantly less than the academic path (more on this in #4).
It could also maybe be an advisor to your company?
The thing to prepare for is the push back you may receive from the IRB, science community, or general public in regards to being the PI on your own study. It’s easy for everyone to say you have every incentive to make sure your products look good.
With proper transparency and documentation though, this is an easy obstacle to get by.
4. PhD researcher collaboration
A middle ground between the previous two options is finding an independent PhD researcher.
Yes, they will need fair compensation for their time and contribution to the study.
But it won’t be as much as a university-led study. And, you’ll likely be able to work quicker with them.
This allows you to have some degree of separation from the results and say the study was conducted by an independent PhD.
5. Consumer Engagement Studies
What if a published study isn’t your primary goal?
Your goal is more about engaging with consumers and collecting statistically significant data on the use and performance of your product.
And using those results in many formats other than a publication.
There are many ways to see an ROI from research other than a peer-reviewed publication. Here’s an article that explores this further.
If this sounds more like your goal, there’s a direct to consumer approach that’s the most affordable.
You can engage directly with consumers and collect real word data on their use and experience with your product. As they integrate it into their daily lives.
If your brand ever did any type of product giveaway for feedback. It’s the same strategy as that. Except:
You’re including a more structured format and mechanism to collect the feedback.
You’re giving them a full product and asking for data over time, rather than a sample and one-off review.
This will significantly increase the amount of data you collect.
Lastly, this keeps individuals engaged with your brand for days and/or weeks after after receiving your product.
On average, our Consumer Studies are a 4 week campaign with daily text messages sent. Our average compliance rate is over 70%.
When else do you have individuals opting into hearing from you daily, for 4 weeks, while answering a series of questions about their use and experience with your product?
The end result is a data report which highlights statistically significant events that happened when comparing before vs during your product use.
6. Clinical Study
Like we said above. There’s a time and a need for clinical studies.
Collecting real world data, even if a placebo is involved, does not replace a clinical study. Again, beware of companies pitching that.
If you have the means and interest to do a clinical study, it’s likely smart to find the right CRO for your niche. Unless you have the talent/know-how in-house that can run a clinical study for you.
This article is slightly dated (2023), but here’s a list of different CRO options.
Conclusion
There are far more research opportunities available to brands than many might initially expect.
The common hurdles—such as cost, expertise, and time—are no longer as insurmountable, thanks to advancements in research methodologies. From real-world prospective studies to consumer engagement and even partnerships with independent researchers, brands now have affordable and accessible options to gather meaningful data.
The key takeaway for any brand is this: some data is always better than no data.
Many companies today still rely on assumptions or generalized studies that don’t fully reflect their product's unique formulation.
Engaging in research—whether through academic channels, independent IRBs, or consumer studies—can provide valuable insights that differentiate your brand in a competitive market. If you're interested in pursuing these research options, we encourage you to schedule a call with us to explore the best approach for your specific needs.
By choosing the right approach, brands can gain the data needed to back their claims, improve product formulations, and ultimately strengthen their relationship with consumers.
Not only does this data-driven approach enhance your marketing efforts, but it also builds consumer trust by offering transparency and evidence-backed insights.
With more accessible options on the table, the time to begin collecting actionable insights is now.