The Weight Loss Market: Finding The Consumer Connection

Connecting with the consumer is the key to success for weight loss products.

By Greg Kitzmiller

Weight management is fairly simple. The formula is to eat smart, eat less and exercise more. Yet, consider the following: “Obesity is our nation’s fastest rising public health problem,” according to U.S. Senator Jeff Bingaman (D-NM). Mr. Bingaman was one of three Senators to introduce a bill into the Senate to encourage better nutrition and physical activity through funding for education, clinics and research. The Senators stated that as much as 61% of the U.S. population is overweight or obese, bringing with it related costs totaling between $99-$117 billion in the U.S. Furthermore, the Senate bill stated that there are twice the number of overweight children and three times as many overweight adolescents as there were 29 years ago.

A search for books about diet on amazon.com reveals 25,879 titles, including one book from Prevention magazine titled, The Ice Cream Diet. And if you enter any grocery store or pharmacy there are countless weight loss products available. Even looking in the telephone book will reveal multiple listings for “weight control services.” With so many resources available to consumers to help them reduce weight, it is puzzling that Americans are fatter than ever.

Obesity/Overweight

Obesity is defined as having a Body Mass Index (BMI) of 30 kg/m2. Believe it or not, a BMI of 30 for most of us means “only” about 25-30 extra pounds (a little on the high side of a healthy weight). For example, a man weighing 200 pounds is obese unless he is at least 5’9” tall and is labeled “overweight” unless he is at least 6’3”.

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) does not make a distinction between males and females in their tables. Thus, the same height/weight statistics apply for women who weigh 200 pounds. For instance, a woman or man at 150 pounds is obese if under five feet tall and is overweight if under 5’5”.

Relationship Marketing is Key for Weight Loss Products

Many consumers who try weight loss products may have two major issues—compliance and impatience. If the plan does not yield results quickly they are ready to give up. Nevermind that Subway’s Jared took one whole year of eating the same sandwiches and walking to the same restaurant daily to lose weight, most of us would have given up far sooner.

What is a firm to do? Consumers want help and comfort. Consumers also long for relationships. Thus, relationship marketing is key. Relationship marketing is the ability of a brand to connect with its consumer. I receive e-mail once a week from my airline and hotel chain of choice. They remind me of specials and remember what I like when I make a reservation on the web. I’m a member of their “club.” These are examples of relationship marketing. Su­per­markets have been doing the same thing for years. You carry a plastic tag on your key chain and you choose items with special prices. You are allowed those lower prices be­cause you scan your key chain card to show you are a member.

While most weight loss products may have a website or an 800 number, they are likely not building a relationship. Relationships are interactive.

Perhaps I’m a “Hyatt” hotel regular, a Continental Airlines regular and a Honda driver. These brands, if they are building a relationship, make me feel that they add to my identity.

People using weight loss products need relationships too, even more than Honda drivers. If compliance and impatience are an issue then people need to be comforted, congratulated, reminded and rewarded.

Today all of this can be done electronically. While Jenny Craig and Weight Watchers organizations at­tempt to forge relationships with their clients, they do not visit you at home. Yet, with permission my hotel chain and airline visit me weekly. This permission allows for relationship marketing. These companies enter my space because I allow them to.

Similarly, those involved in weight management can use e-mail and a website to provide the relationship. For those consumers who are not tech­nology savvy, paper mailings still work, although they are more expensive.

The next step is to provide something of value. My hotel and airline pals allow me to earn free vacations. And while weight management pro­ducts might offer a points system with rewards, weight loss may be reward enough. The key for consumers of these products is encouragement or a discount after staying with a program for a period of time.

Since most experts believe weight management is a combination of exercise and diet, it seems those in the weight management products arena will want to add steps in the relationship that encourage these behaviors. While supplement makers may wish to suggest all you need is their tablet, consumers might feel better if the manufacturer was realistic and helped them find a combination or system that works for the them. NW