Inside the supplement buyer's mind: key psychological triggers to boost sales

Bobby Hewitt, Consultant, Creative Thirst

The Council for Responsible Nutrition (CRN) held its 2024 CONVERGENCE Conference October 9-11, in Salt Lake City, Utah. The WellComms forum—a platform for marketing and communications professionals—kicked off the conference. In one of these six presentations, Bobby Hewitt, a consultant with Creative Thirst, discussed the psychological triggers influencing supplement purchases in, “How People Really Buy Supplements: A Look Inside The Buyer's Mind.”

Hewitt first noted that supplements are different than other products consumers purchase. “The supplement buyer is really more like this. They're frustrated. There's a lot of misinformation out there. Really, they're not sure who to believe. They're not sure what works what doesn't work, and they’ve been burned in the past; they tried something and didn’t get the effect that they wanted.”

He shared several examples of his work with past clients on best practices frameworks for effectively reaching consumers. He explained four key components that companies should tie together in their sales and advertising: trust, believe, desire, and hope.

1. Trust comes in three stages: trust in the ingredients, company, and solution. Supplement buyers are more likely to educate themselves about ingredients, safety, and advocacy, Hewitt explained. Appealing to these by showing the consumer you are on their side will support the consumer’s decision to buy.
2. Belief has two factors, he explained: “The first is, what do you need to do or say to get them to believe that this is what they want, and the second is how do you leverage the beliefs that they already have, either about themselves or about that brand category, because you can amplify that. So belief is really personal philosophies that can influence subsequent choices.”
3. The next component was desire. “You can't create desire. You can only amplify desire. And think about desire—it's all about emotion,” Hewitt stated. Companies should demonstrate their support for consumers’ aspirations and speak to their desires directly.
4. Finally, hope. “The decision to buy supplements is frequently based on hope for a better health outcome.”

He addressed several questions from attendees on topics that included navigating soft product endorsements accurately, leveraging third party commentary to build trust, and providing different language for different segments of the market while directing consumer traffic to the most relevant segment.