Health and wellness brand websites

Wellness brands sell trust. Whether you make supplements, skincare or fitness products, or offer wellness services like coaching, massage or nutrition, customers are deciding whether to put something in or on their body, or to share personal information with you. That makes credibility, careful claims and privacy more important than in most industries. This guide covers what your website needs.

General information, not legal advice

The rules for health claims and health data depend on what you sell, how you sell it and where your customers are. Have counsel with health and advertising experience review your claims, testimonials and privacy practices.

What the website needs to do

Explain the product honestly and completely

What it is, and what's in it. Full ingredient lists, sourcing and how it's made.
How to use it, with clear directions and warnings.
Who it's for, and who it's not for. Pregnancy, allergies, medications and age warnings where relevant.
Testing and certifications, such as third-party testing, only if you actually have them.

Show real people and real results, carefully

Customer reviews and before-and-after content are powerful in wellness, and closely regulated.

Reviews must be genuine. Don't suppress negative ones, write fake ones or pay for positive ones.
If a testimonial describes results that aren't typical, the FTC expects you to make clear what people can generally expect.
Paid or gifted influencer content must be clearly disclosed.

Make buying easy, including subscriptions

Many wellness products are consumables that suit subscriptions. Make subscribing, pausing, skipping and cancelling straightforward. See Subscription business websites and Direct-to-consumer e-commerce brands.

For wellness services

If you offer services, the site works more like a booking site: clear service descriptions, practitioner bios and qualifications, pricing or price ranges, an easy booking flow and intake forms. Licensing rules for practitioners vary by profession and state, so describe credentials accurately.

Health claims

This is where wellness sites most often get into trouble.

Claims must be truthful, not misleading and supported by evidence. The FTC's Health Products Compliance Guidance explains that health-related claims generally need competent and reliable scientific evidence, and that the level of evidence depends on the claim.
Disease claims are a red line for supplements and cosmetics. Saying a supplement or cosmetic treats, cures or prevents a disease can turn it into a drug under FDA rules.
Supplements may make certain structure/function claims, with an FDA-required disclaimer and notification. Ask your regulatory adviser before writing product copy.
Implied claims count. Images, product names, testimonials and SEO keywords can all imply claims you couldn't make in words.
Blog content counts too. An article linking a condition to your product can be treated as part of your marketing.

Health data and privacy

Help me choose

Does HIPAA apply to you?

What do you sell?

When HIPAA applies

HIPAA applies to healthcare providers who conduct certain electronic transactions (such as billing insurance), health plans, clearinghouses, and their business associates. Most wellness product brands are not covered. Some wellness service providers may be. If you're unsure, read HIPAA basics for websites handling health info and Healthcare websites and HIPAA basics, and ask counsel.

When HIPAA doesn't apply

Not being covered by HIPAA doesn't mean health data is unregulated.

The FTC Health Breach Notification Rule can apply to apps and services that hold personal health records and aren't covered by HIPAA, and the FTC has treated unauthorised sharing of health data as a breach under that rule.
State laws, including some aimed specifically at consumer health data, may apply depending on where your customers live.
General privacy laws like CCPA and GDPR apply where relevant. See CCPA basics and GDPR basics.

Be careful with tracking

Advertising pixels and analytics tags can send information about what people browse to third parties. On pages about health conditions, quizzes, intake forms and order confirmations, that can expose sensitive information. Practical steps:

Know exactly which tags run on which pages. See Google Tag Manager.
Don't send health-related form answers or detailed product data to ad platforms without legal review.
Use consent tools where required. See Cookie consent law.
Keep intake forms and quizzes on tools suited to sensitive data.

Recommended features

Detailed product pages with ingredients, directions and warnings.
Review platform with verified buyer reviews.
Subscription management that customers control.
FAQ answering safety and usage questions.
Booking and intake forms for services, on appropriate tools.
Email and SMS flows with proper consent. See Transactional vs. marketing email.
Clear privacy policy and terms.

Common pitfalls

Copy that drifts into disease claims, often added later by marketing or in product names.
"Clinically proven" without the clinical evidence to back it.
Cherry-picked testimonials presented as typical results.
Pixels on intake and quiz pages sending sensitive data to ad platforms.
Hard-to-cancel subscriptions, which generate complaints and chargebacks.
Influencer content without disclosures.

Frequently asked questions

Can we use customer before-and-after photos?

Possibly, with consent and care. They must be genuine and unaltered, and if the results aren't typical you need to make clear what people can generally expect. Have them reviewed alongside your other claims.

Do we need a medical disclaimer?

Disclaimers help set expectations, but they don't cure a misleading claim. Get the claims right first, then add the disclaimers your counsel recommends.