Five areas of innovation transforming wellness payments
Discover how emerging tech can transform health and wellness transactions — and why ambitious businesses must adapt to remain competitive.
As the health and wellness industry grows, businesses that blend smart strategy with innovative technology stand to make substantial profits.
The market is worth $480 billion in the U.S. alone, growing at five to ten percent annually. Meanwhile, the global market was valued at $5.8 trillion in 2024 and is projected to rise to $7.9 trillion by 2030. Categories such as fitness, nutrition, and mindfulness will contribute to this uplift as consumers prioritize their physical and mental well-being.
Despite the sizable opportunity, businesses face the challenge of keeping up with evolving consumer expectations, particularly in payments. Today’s buyers seek seamless, flexible, and diverse payment options, whether online or in person. Adapting to these expectations is critical for health and wellness businesses to thrive.
This article explores five areas of innovation helping the industry to boost profits, enhance customer satisfaction, and streamline operations.
1. Digital payments
Consumer payment preferences are shifting as digital transactions become faster and more convenient. Health and wellness businesses need to accommodate these preferences to ensure smooth customer experiences that maximize revenue potential.
Two digital payment methods have become especially popular:
Pay by Link
From dental practices to gyms, organizations are leveraging pay-by-link solutions to simplify one-off transactions.
Pay by Link lets businesses send links via email or SMS that customers can click to pay. In addition, you can convert links into scan-to-pay QR codes for display on paper bills or around your facilities.
Payment links are ideal for drop-in classes or ad-hoc services because they enable user-friendly transactions without a payment terminal or subscription setup.
Digital wallets
Paysafe’s research found that 32% of consumers increased their use of digital wallets in 2024. Meanwhile, an American study found that 55% of U.S. consumers use wallets like Apple Pay or Google Pay for regular expenses.
Digital wallets are convenient, secure, and occasionally offer benefits like loyalty rewards, making them an attractive option for buyers.
2. Split payments
Affordability remains a key concern for consumers purchasing wellness goods and services. To address this, businesses can provide flexible payment options that let customers pay in installments, enabling them to afford high-value items they would have struggled to pay upfront.
Businesses have two options when providing split payments:
- Payment plans and installments: For service-based wellness businesses, payment plans can significantly increase the uptake of treatments and memberships. Plans are usually managed by a business or its payment provider, with repayments scheduled over a fixed period.
- Buy now, pay later (BNPL): Typically associated with e-commerce, BNPL is expanding to other industries, including health and wellness. Third-party BNPL providers facilitate the service, paying the business upfront (minus a fee) and taking over responsibility for payment collection.
Either option solves the challenge of making premium products and services more accessible. The best choice for your business depends on whether you are willing to handle the debt or prefer to have a BNPL provider take care of it for a fee.
3. Subscription-based billing
Monthly subscriptions offer convenience for customers and predictable revenue streams for businesses. From nutrition companies selling supplements to mental wellness apps providing guided meditations, recurring payments fuel growth for various organizations.
However, subscription-based billing can make payments more complex for brands. With a subscription model, security is paramount, as businesses must safely save customers’ financial credentials to collect repeat payments. Most wellness businesses overcome this challenge by outsourcing the management of subscription payments to providers like Paysafe.
When it comes to innovation, two trends are affecting subscription services:
- Pay by Bank: Many payment providers offering subscription billing services now support Pay by Bank (account-to-account payments). This payment method is often faster (transactions happen in real-time), cheaper (processing fees are lower than cards), and more reliable (unlike cards, bank details don’t expire).
- Customer controls: Giving consumers the flexibility to pause, skip, or adjust their subscriptions helps businesses boost satisfaction and reduce churn. For example, a customer might want to add extra training sessions to their plan in preparation for a holiday. With modern technology, offering this flexibility and automatically syncing changes with your billing system is easy.
4. AI-driven automation and personalization
With the ability to process large datasets quickly, AI is transforming how health and wellness businesses handle payments and interact with customers. In fact, reports indicate that integrating AI for automation and analytics could save the U.S. healthcare sector up to $360 billion, significantly cutting administrative costs.
Applications of AI in wellness payments include:
- Streamlined payment processing: AI-powered systems can re-route transactions for optimal processing speeds and improve fraud detection.
- Enhanced personalization: AI tools can analyze customer spending patterns to provide highly targeted product and service recommendations.
AI has the potential to transform the customer experience — making it faster, safer, and more personalized. For the wellness industry, the technology will be key to reducing costs and engaging customers.
5. Loyalty programs
Research has found that 81% of consumers will buy from a brand more frequently if they offer a loyalty program. So, it’s hardly surprising that loyalty schemes have become crucial to businesses’ customer retention strategies.
In the world of wellness, businesses are redefining loyalty rewards by linking them not just to how much a customer has spent, but also to their adoption of healthy habits. For example, a fitness app might award points whenever a user completes an on-demand workout. This approach strengthens customer engagement by encouraging healthy lifestyles while making the brand an integral part of daily routines.
Successful loyalty strategies rely on seamless integration between your payment system and customer relationship management (CRM) software. Connecting these systems lets your business gain a 360-degree view of your customers and automate reward redemption.
Seize the power of payment innovation
As consumer preferences evolve, wellness businesses must adapt their payment strategies to compete in a crowded marketplace.
To succeed, adopting technologies that make transactions more convenient, flexible, and personalized is essential. Whether you’re implementing digital payment solutions, subscription billing, or loyalty programs, the key lies in understanding your customers’ needs and delivering a payment experience that exceeds their expectations.
By working with a provider like Paysafe to optimize your payment processes, your business can unlock untapped revenue opportunities, foster lasting customer relationships, and secure a competitive edge.
Take the first step toward transforming your business. Contact us to learn how we champion your success and turn transactions into experiences with secure payment solutions.
