LifeVantage responds to purchasing trends with business plan revamp

Network marketing company LifeVantage just announced major transformation initiatives, including a customer loyalty program and a new consultant compensation plan called ‘Evolve.’

“We call this strategic transformation ‘LV360’ because we looked at not just one aspect of our consultant and customer experience, but every touchpoint in our model. We have been laying the groundwork for this shift over the past year with updates to things like our incentive program as well as product differentiation and positioning,”​ said Steve Fife, president and CEO of LifeVantage.

Purchasing behavior

Fife told NutraIngredients-USA​ that consumer purchasing trends led the way for this relaunch.

“Each element of this groundbreaking transformation was designed in response to evolving consumer trends, while also supporting growth opportunities and multiple paths to earned success for our consultants,”​ said Fife. "It was important to us to have our consultants who simply love the product and want to share and retain their customers, win through their efforts while also providing a path to earning for those consultants wanting to build a business while developing other managers and leaders."​

Changes to social selling experiences on popular social platforms and the rise of influencer marketing was another major trend inspiring the initiatives included in LV360. “The ability to partner with brands and earn commissions on traffic and sales driving is familiar and embraced by consumers as shown by the growth of influencer marketing over the past several years.”​

Fife added that trends reported by the DSA show a strong growth of preferred customers in the channel with more than 44.6 million customers purchasing from direct sales companies. “This is a 7.2% increase over 2020. This figure excludes those who have not signed an agreement with a direct selling company. This is paired with 7.3 million direct sellers (a 5.2% decrease over 2020) who built a business full time (30+ hours per week) or part time (few than 30 hours per week). This insight showed us that there was a need for a path to earn a meaningful income by sharing products, and not necessarily having to build an organization.”​

On the health front, Fife said the rapid democratization of genomic and other personalized health data is giving rise to a new wave of health-conscious individuals and now, more than ever, education and understanding of one’s own health is more widespread.

The blueprint

The new initiatives will serve as a blueprint for a more modernized direct-selling industry, with the new approach aiming to solve fundamental challenges of direct/social selling, including:

• Ensuring consultants (no longer called distributors) have a path to supplemental income and a clear, supported road to earned success.
• Creating clear, structured pathways for both “customer gatherers” (those that love to sell the product, but don’t wish to build a business) and engaged business owners (those that want to build their own business that transcends simply managing a sales network).
• Rewarding consultants for any way they want to work and compensates them for building customer sales.

Other initiatives include a revamped e-commerce experience as well as enhancements to account and subscription management.

Activation

In addition to new leadership training and a fresh customer loyalty program, some other key highlights include in-depth mentoring programs, as well as a renewed focus on scientific innovations around cellular activation, including the introduction of three activation paths.

LifeVantage’s products fall into three “Activation Paths” (Optimize Health, Achieve More and Look Radiant) to help customers understand what cellular activation can support.

“Activation is the differentiator that sets our products apart from others in the space. Our product line is focused on not simply supplementing when there are nutritional gaps, but activating the body’s natural processes to help it work as designed. Liquid Collagen is another great example of cellular activation – its daily boost of collagen and exclusive botanicals activates the body’s own collagen production, replenishes depleting collagen levels (supplementation) and maintains those levels by reducing enzymes that break down collagen,”​ Fife explained.

Tech

There will also be significant advancements to LifeVantage’s technology stack, including the use of A.I. to help consultants identify and invest in talented individuals.

Fife explained that new reporting and tools built for Evolve will give consultants insight to where the activity is happening within their business as well as reports that show the key behaviors needed to advance in rank and increase potential earnings. These tools will provide consultants with specific actions to take as well as how and when these actions should be addressed. 

Incubator > sales-organization

Fife said he hopes these changes will lead to an organization that behaves more like an incubator for small business, rather than a typical parent sales-organization.

“What excites me the most about LV360 is that we did not approach these initiatives out of necessity. We approached them with the desire to further solidify our status as the company to watch in the space,”​ said Fife.

Coming up

According to the company, several new promotions and incentives will be rolling out to help consultants prepare for the changes. Over the coming weeks, LifeVantage will host over 50 roadshows and virtual training sessions.

More LV360 initiatives include a new customer loyalty program called Rewards Circle. Both Evolve and Rewards Circle are scheduled to launch in the U.S., Australia, New Zealand, and Japan on March 1, 2023.