Rebecca Aldag Grows Functional Nutrition Wisconsin Virtually With Well World
Rebecca Aldag is a Certified Nutrition Specialist and herbalist. She has an MS degree in Herbal Medicine from the Maryland University of Integrative Health, and she is the only practitioner in the state of Wisconsin who holds a Master of Science degree in Herbal Medicine from MUIH. MUIH is the only accredited university in the U.S. that confers this degree.
Three years ago, she partnered with Registered Nutritionist Kristie Butler, RDN, to launch their joint nutrition practice, Functional Nutrition Wisconsin. They offer one-on-one nutrition consulting, group programs, and specialty testing such as the DUTCH test and GI-MAP.
Prior to March 2020, they offered in-person services only in their brick-and-mortar office. They offered supplements and carried inventory in their office, and they also had an online dispensary.
Once the pandemic started, they had to close their office and wait and see when they could reopen. While that happened, they started scheduling phone appointments instead of in-person appointments.
“It was a strange time,” Aldag explained. “We started our virtual telehealth business and used our online dispensary and a HIPAA-compliant electronic records management (EMR) system. But we didn’t know if our clients would adapt and like it.”
At the beginning of 2021, they started to attend other practitioners’ webinars and experiment with growing their online presence. They took inspiration from their peers, including Dr. Brandy Zachary who reinvented her Body Love Cafe online.
Done-For-You Lead Magnet Attracts Clients
To attract more online clients, Aldag customized the Clean Eating plan within Well World. She renamed it the Metabolic Makeover, personalized the automated messages within the plan, and launched it as a promotional lead magnet — or free offer to build their mailing list.
Using the done-for-you plan made adding more prospective clients to their system easy — all they needed to do was set up a simple integration between their custom program and EMR.
Customized Cleanse Gives Clients a Healthy Jumpstart
The team has also successfully offered their customized cleanse using Designs for Health’s two-week cleanse protocol. They customized it in Well World by renaming it, You Glow Girl and adjusted some of the messaging within an existing Well World nutritional plan.
This mostly self-guided plan allows clients to get a jumpstart on their health goals before making a bigger commitment with one-on-one nutrition consulting with the team. “It’s easy to moderate and the app makes it easy for clients to follow,” Aldag said.
Clients Like Using Well World
Aldag says that her clients enjoy using their Well World app because it is so easy to use and they have everything they need. “Clients can record their progress and see what they need to do. And they have recipes right at their fingertips,” she said.
Aldag and her partner Kristie Butler have assigned several different plans to clients, including the adrenal and ketogenic plans. “Clients can easily follow each plan on their own,” she remarked. “It’s seamless and it frees up our time.”
Supplements-Only Plans Boost Revenue
Once Well World launched their supplements-only option, Aldag could easily assign Designs for HealthⓇ protocols to clients and keep them in the practice’s EMR. “With our previous online dispensary, we would have to get people to register in order to get them to purchase. The extra step got in the way,” Aldag said. With the new supplements-only feature, Aldag can now pre-fill their shopping carts, and clients can easily automatically purchase the recommended products.
“With Well World’s supplements-only feature, it was so easy to use. I could add a patient or client and pre-fill their cart for them. Then just send them an email invite to purchase, and they would simply order it.”
Aldag saw their practice’s supplement sales increase 250% since the launch of the supplements-only option.
Renewing Clients with New Protocols is Easier Than Ever
Aldag says that Well World makes it easy to offer new nutrition protocols and supplement recommendations to retain clients. All she needs to do is assign a new plan, modify the shopping cart with new supplements, and re-send the cart link to her clients.
The best part is that clients are asking for renewals — and it takes just seconds to renew clients who are already in their Well World practice.
Better Data with Well World’s Dashboards
Aldag also appreciates the insights she can glean from the supplement sales dashboard. Any supplement sales that their clients place through the Well World app are recorded right within the Well World dashboard.
“If a specific protocol is popular with our clients, we know by looking in the dashboard. Then we know what to promote to our audience,” she said.
They also like the quick-reference guide to what’s in and out for each nutrition plan. The handy chart makes it easy to recommend different plans.
Functional Nutrition Wisconsin Plans to Stay Virtual
Because Well World has made it easier than ever for the team to work with clients, the nutrition practice partners are planning on keeping their business 100% virtual.
“We have expanded our practice because we can now see clients that live several hours away. Instead of traveling to us, they can log in to their appointment online. It’s easier for us and our clients,” Aldag remarked.
Using Well World has saved Functional Nutrition Wisconsin extra time so that they can help more clients. And they’re also saving on the expenses of running a brick-and-mortar nutrition practice.
