Wellness Brands Are Losing Long-Time Customers Due to Rising Costs. Here’s What Can Bring Them Back
A survey of 1,000 Americans found that 64% of wellness consumers left a business they liked because of price, but there are practices businesses can take to keep those customers
Inflation appears to finally be hitting the wellness sector.
That’s according to a new report from fitness and wellness software provider Zenoti. The report, which surveyed 1,000 spa, medspa, salon and fitness providers and customers, looked into why loyal clients are leaving wellness businesses, and the most effective methods brands can take to win them back.
One of the most notable findings was that 64% of wellness consumers reported they left a business they liked because of rising costs.
“When 64 percent of clients say rising prices made them leave a business they liked, that’s not just inflation talking; it’s also trust and quality at stake,” Zenoti’s chief operating officer of fitness Dheeraj Koneru told Athletech News. “If a gym is raising prices, the experience needs to feel like it’s worth more, too.”
Zenoti found that nearly half (48%) of businesses lost long-time customers in 2025, despite those businesses thinking those customers were loyal through and through. Over half (57%) believed that price increases were the culprit.
“The most difficult part is that nearly half of the providers lost long-time clients this year, and most of them thought those clients were loyal and would stick with them,” Koneru noted. “That disconnect is proof that businesses aren’t checking in often enough or aren’t asking the right kind of questions to get the right insight to project who’s staying and who’s going.”
Repeat customers are key to a thriving business, as 95% of wellness providers reported a financial hit from diminishing brand loyalty. Data from Zenoti’s 2025 Beauty and Wellness Benchmarking Report bolsters this further: 42% of repeat clients generate 80% of sales, while one-time visitors only account for 20% of revenue, despite making up the majority (58%) of clientele.
How Should Wellness Businesses Retain Repeat Customers?
Zenoti found that the top eight retention strategies were:
- Loyalty or rewards programs
- Discount offers or free services
- Personalized outreach from staff
- Client satisfaction surveys
- VIP perks or private events
- Referral incentives
- Service upgrades or staff training
- Automated or personal text/email follow ups
Discount offers, free services and rewards programs prove time and time again to be the most effective strategy, according to the data.
70% of wellness clients said rewards programs would keep them coming back. The survey showed that half of wellness providers already use discount offers (51%) and loyalty programs (47%) as their primary retention tactics — which is too few, in Koneru’s opinion.
“Only about half of businesses are using loyalty programs or rewards, yet 70 percent of clients say that would keep them coming back,” he said. “This is a massive opportunity for businesses, not to mention a visible disconnect in what customers want and what they’re being offered.”
It’s not just about the deals and promotions, however — timing and personalized outreach matter too, according to Koneru.
“Forty-four percent of clients who came back to a business said it was because they were offered a deal,” he explained. “Timing and personalization matter more than blanket discounts. You don’t have to discount everything, just the right thing at the right time.”
Personalization can come in other forms as well, Koneru added, like making customers feel like they matter to the business beyond the revenue they generate.
“One in four clients left because the relationship felt too transactional, and considering how much personalization was echoed throughout our research, a transactional-leaning relationship is a red flag,” he said. “A quick text remembering a birthday or checking up on how their last visit was can do more in terms of retention than any sale.”