Summary: In this comprehensive, data-driven guide to naming and branding in the health and wellness industry, we presented 13 questions to a representative audience of American consumers. We gained insight into the most credible domain names for health and wellness startups, which names build the strongest connection with customers and the key branding trends in this industry.

Key takeaways:

• .org was chosen slightly ahead of .com as the most credible domain extension
• 78% say a longer .com domain is more credible than a shorter domain at an alternative extension.
• Add-on words are very or moderately harmful to credibility with 60% of customers.
• Single English-language words build the most trust and curiosity.
• 65% of customers say trust/reliability is the most important emotion to evoke in a name.
• 85% say it’s important for a health and wellness brand to have a clearly articulated social, ethical or environmental mission.
• Mission-driven branding is the most impactful trend.
• AI-based branding is the least impactful.
• A health and wellness brand’s mission and values have a bigger impact than the product on the customer’s connection with the brand.

Objective: Health and wellness brands are uniquely positioned to tap into their target audience’s lifestyles, values and aspirations to build a strong connection with customers. They can only do this by understanding customer perceptions and expectations. Our goal is to help new and rebranding health and wellness companies understand customer perception of names, domain names and brand positioning.

Audience: A representative panel of American consumers aged 18 – 64. We asked a qualifying question to ensure our panel are engaged with health and wellness industry brands: all respondents purchase purchase health or wellness products, (e.g., supplements, fitness tools and accessories, wellness apps) either  “frequently” or “occasionally”.

Our Results

Domain Name

Domain name is an important factor for 77% of consumers when engaging with brands online, and health and wellness brands will find that a strong domain name plays an important role in building trust among your audience.

• .org was chosen slightly ahead of .com as the most credible domain extension
• 78% say a longer .com domain, such as soakinghealth.com, is more credible than a shorter alternative domain such as soaking.health.
• Add-on words are very or moderately harmful to credibility with 60% of customers.

Rank the following domain extensions from most to least credible for a health and wellness brand.

For a health and wellness brand website, which domain name is more credible?

How does an add-on prefix or suffix word in a domain name (e.g., getsoaking.com or soakingapp.com, vs. soaking.com) impact your perception of a health and wellness brand credibility?

Explore our core research on domain names here for a full exploration of this landscape, and the impact on bands.

Naming a Health and Wellness Brand

A health and wellness brand’s name plays an important role in connecting customers’ aspirations and values with your own product or service. Names, and naming styles, can have a varying impact on trust, memorability and the emotional response of the target audience, as well as indicating your potential to investors.

• Single English-language words build the most trust and curiosity.
• Compound names of two words generate strong interest.
• Customers want memorable names.
• 65% of customers say trust/reliability is the most important emotion to evoke in a name.
• Warmth/care is an important secondary emotion for health and wellness names.

Rank the following aspects of a health and wellness brand name based on their importance to you. 1 is the most important, and 5 is the least important.

Rank the following name types based on how curious they make you about a health and wellness brand. 1 is most curious, 5 is least curious.

Which naming style builds more trust when you’re hearing about a health and wellness brand?

Do you prefer a health and wellness brand name that describes the product/service or a more creative name?

What emotions should a health and wellness brand name evoke for you to feel connected to the brand? Choose up to two.

Want to learn more? Explore our core research on business names — including what venture capitalists look for in a name when deciding where to invest.

Brand Identity

Customers reach out to health and wellness brands because they want to feel something. Every health and wellness brand needs to tap into this with a brand identity that connects with its customers. What’s more, leveraging the most impactful branding trends can have a big impact on customers’ feelings about your brand. Explore further with our core research on branding in 2025.

• 85% say it’s important for a health and wellness brand to have a clearly articulated social, ethical or environmental mission.
• Mission-driven branding is the most impactful trend.
• AI-based branding is the least impactful.
• A health and wellness brand’s mission and values have a bigger impact than the product on the customer’s connection with the brand.
• 82% say it’s important for a health and wellness brand to understand its customers’ lifestyle and values.

How important is it for a health and wellness brand to have a clearly articulated social, ethical or environmental mission?

Rank the following branding trends from most to least impactful for a health and wellness brand.

Rank the following in order of how important they are in building a relationship with a health and wellness brand.

How important is it that a health and wellness brand expresses an understanding of your lifestyle and values?

How likely are you to buy a product or service that you want from a health and wellness brand that does not align with your values?

Conclusion

One big surprise is that customers slightly favor .org domains to .com. This demonstrates the unique position of health and wellness brands, and how a brand identity based around doing good in the world can have a strong impact on customers. Similarly, we found that brands in this industry can form the strongest connection with customers by articulating their mission and values — and that this could be even more important than the product in the customer relationship.

Our research shows that names that evoke trust, warmth and care provide a powerful platform for your brand, but only when paired with a credible domain extension such as .com or .org. We found that compound names combining two words are a great way to build curiosity in your audience: get started by exploring Atom’s collection of health and wellness domain names.

If you’re interested in digging deeper into our findings, or asking your own questions on consumer, branding and worklife topics, contact thom@atomradar.com to learn more.

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About The Author

Thom Davies

Thom Davies is a researcher at AtomRadar and content strategist for Atom.com. His background in quantitative and qualitative analysis is the foundation for data-led brand strategy.

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