Fitness & Wellness Brands Pivot From Influencers to Experts
As consumer trust in influencer marketing wanes, brands are turning to certified experts for product validation – and seeing significant conversion gains
Kiri Masters is a retail industry analyst and exited founder of a retail media agency (2022). She covers trends in retail media and ecommerce marketplaces.
The fitness and wellness industry’s love affair with influencer marketing may be cooling. As consumers grow increasingly skeptical of sponsored content from social media personalities, brands are discovering that expertise trumps influence when it comes to driving sales conversions, particularly in the wellness space.
Trust Issues Spur a Marketing Evolution
The shift toward expert validation gained significant momentum this year when The Desire Company, a platform connecting brands with credentialed industry experts, secured a $97 million valuation in their Series B round. Co-founded by entertainment marketing executive Eric Sheinkop and Coca-Cola veteran Judith Levey Sheinkop, the company champions product endorsements from verified experts ranging from dermatologists to Olympic athletes.
“The way I think about it is like a relay race where the influencers have the baton and they hand it across to the expert to close the deal,” Judith Levey Sheinkop told Athletech News.
The Desire Company’s approach places expert content directly on retailer product pages and in video advertising units, helping consumers make informed decisions at the point of purchase.
This strategy appears to be working. Recent data shows that viewers of expert review videos are more than twice as likely to make a purchase compared to those watching traditional influencer content, while spending 25% more on average.
“Often brands are looking for influencers to promote their product and the conversation revolves around the numbers: analytics, followers, views, reach,” says Amy Kiser Schemper, founder of BodyFit by Amy and a certified trainer with 20 years of experience. “The focus needs to be on the content versus the numbers, how it applies to people and people’s lives, versus how many people will see it and click.”
A study by Wakefield Research for The Desire Company reinforces this sentiment, finding that 87% of consumers believe influencers likely don’t use the products they advertise, while 4 out of 5 consumers who have purchased based on influencer recommendations report negative experiences with those products.
Experts Drive Real Results
For ergonomic furniture maker Ergo Impact, the transition from influencer to expert-led marketing proved transformative.
“After working with influencers in the past, I was becoming less and less captivated with the idea,” Ergo Impact founder Jonathan Sheinkop says. “While a traditional influencer may move the needle for some brands, our product is very specific and at a price point that deters most impulse shoppers, so our influencer campaigns were seeing marginal ROI.”
The company’s pivot to expert validation paid off. A campaign featuring acrobat and trainer Michelle Adams showcasing their LeanRite Elite product — designed to remedy back pain while improving posture — generated significant engagement from athletes, trainers and physicians.
“Having something vetted by an expert provides usable feedback that helps to make well-informed decisions that I haven’t found from influencers,” Jonathan Sheinkop says.
The proof is in the performance data. Active recovery brand ReAthlete saw dramatic improvements after partnering with The Desire Company for expert-led content. A product review from Bryan Jean-Pierre, a personal trainer and former member of the NFL’s Carolina Panthers, helped drive a 31% increase in revenue compared to their standard content.
The results were particularly striking on the customer acquisition front, where the expert-led approach reduced acquisition costs by 39% while generating almost double the return on ad spend. The expert review also tripled page views compared to brand-produced content, suggesting that consumers are actively seeking out credentialed perspectives when making purchasing decisions.
Beyond Surface-Level Influence
The distinction between influencers and true experts is particularly crucial in the wellness space, where bad advice can have health implications. Schemper, who holds a Masters in Exercise Science, points out that experts bring deeper value.
“Experts know how to interpret research and understand there’s no one-size-fits-all approach,” she says. “We can go beyond the N=1 experience of what worked just for them.”
This expertise-first approach is gaining traction in wellness – and other industries. The Desire Company reports that viewers of expert review videos are more than twice as likely to make a purchase compared to those watching traditional influencer content. These viewers also spend 25% more on average.
“Brands and retailers are seeking to expand beyond their traditional commerce media models and integrate trusted product information directly into their shopper’s purchasing journey,” says Eric Sheinkop.
For wellness brands navigating an increasingly crowded marketplace, authentic expert validation may be the key to standing out — and more importantly, earning consumer trust.