Why It’s the Most Challenging for Health and Wellness Brands to Grow Incrementally Through Affiliate Partnerships

Growing Health and Wellness brands through Affiliate Partnerships sounds straightforward on paper after all, supplements are booming, consumer demand is high, and publishers love performance-based revenue. But in reality, supplement brands face some of the toughest barriers when trying to scale incremental revenue through affiliate marketing.

Whether you’re selling vitamins, nootropics, immunity boosters, or functional blends, you’ve likely already experienced how difficult it can be to grow incrementally without cannibalizing existing traffic or overspending on commissions.

Here’s why supplements are one of the most challenging categories in the affiliate ecosystem and what brands should do to win.

1. A Smaller Pool of Publishers Willing to Work With Health and Wellness Brands

Unlike beauty, home, or consumer electronics brands, supplements face strict editorial limitations. Some of the biggest mass-media publishers including BuzzFeed, HuffPost, and CNN avoid ingestible brands entirely or require extensive compliance checks.

And even when publishers do work with supplement brands, many:

• Don’t accept paid activations

• Only run products that are editorially approved

• Require proof-backed claims and strict language compliance

• Will not promote emerging brands without third-party validation
  

This creates major hurdles when building or deepening publisher relationships. Health and wellness brands must work significantly harder to get their foot in the door and even harder to secure prime visibility.

2. Brands Shelling Out 80%+ in Commissions Just to Compete

The competition in the supplements space is intense. To win placements especially with media arbitrage partners many brands end up offering exorbitant commission rates, sometimes 80%+ of the sale.

Why?

Because:

• The category is saturated

• Competitors are aggressively bidding for visibility

• Publishers know supplement margins are high

• Arbitrage partners drive massive volume and demand high payouts
  

Many brands justify this because they rely on Subscribe & Save or LTV to make the margin back later. But this approach is not sustainable unless you're managing incrementality carefully and tracking channel interactions tightly.

Without a strong affiliate strategy, brands risk turning affiliate into a high-cost, low-profit channel.

3. Extreme Category Clutter Makes It Hard to Stand Out

New supplement brands launch every week. Consumers are overwhelmed, publishers are overwhelmed and this means:

• Getting the attention of partners becomes harder

• Your product must be genuinely differentiated

• A strong pitch and partner-facing narrative is essential
  

Unlike paid ads where creative can do the heavy lifting, affiliate partnerships require human-to-human persuasion.

You need a team that:

• Understands the partner’s language

• Knows how to pitch the brand compellingly

• Can negotiate visibility

• Can position your supplement as worth featuring over dozens of alternatives
  

Without that partner-first communication, even strong brands get lost in the noise.

4. Heavy Regulations Around Claims Limit What Can Be Said

This is the biggest and most overlooked challenge.

The supplements category is highly regulated, and brands must follow strict rules around:

• Claims

• Benefits

• Scientific language

• Testimonials

• Health promises

• Context of usage
  

This means both your team and your affiliates need tight oversight. One incorrect phrase can trigger:

• Compliance issues

• Publisher rejections

• Adverse legal risks

• Content takedowns
  

Health and Wellness brands require:

• A clear one-pager of approved language

• Tight brand guidelines for affiliates

• A team reviewing every piece of partner content

• Proactive communication with publishers and creators
  

Having an experienced affiliate agency like Commerce Bridge makes this process dramatically easier and prevents costly mistakes.

The Bottom Line

Scaling Health and Wellness Brands through Affiliate Partnerships is absolutely possible but it requires:

• Deep category knowledge

• Strategic relationship-building

• Smart commission management

• Compliance-first content oversight

• Incrementality-focused execution
  

Most supplement brands don’t fail because the channel doesn’t work they fail because they underestimate how complex this vertical truly is.

Looking to Scale Your Health & Wellness Brand to 7 Figures Through Affiliate?

Commerce Bridge has helped multiple Health and Wellness brands scale to 7-figure revenue through the affiliate channel while maintaining strict compliance and maximizing incrementality.

👉 Book a strategy call with Commerce Bridge here to see how we can help you scale your supplements brand profitably and sustainably.