With UK consumers reportedly spending over $2 billion each year on monthly subscription boxes – often built on the promise of convenience – it is a thriving market.
And it seems there really is a subscription service for everything these days.
Numan is a new subscription business that offers something a little more unusual than make-up or razors. Specialising in male health and wellbeing – specifically difficult and often uncomfortable issues like erectile dysfunction and hair loss – Numan is aiming to revolutionise how men in the UK deal with and access healthcare solutions.
I spoke with Numan’s founder, Sokratis Papafloratos, to find out more about the digital clinic and its marketing strategy.
The healthcare gap
Numan is not the first digital business that Papafloratos has been involved in. He was also an original investor in Calm.com – the sleep and meditation app that is now used by millions across the world. The success of Calm has been one of the key motivations behind Numan, with Papafloratos having previously witnessed how technology can be utilised in the context of health and wellbeing.
“There is a big gap right now in how healthcare is delivered and how expectations around experience are changing”, says Papafloratos.
He discusses his own frustrations when it comes to accessing healthcare in the UK – which typically involves having to wait weeks for a GP appointment, or paying a lot of money in order to see someone privately – and believes Numan could play a part in filling this gap.
“We have an opportunity to use technology to create something that changes the way we educate men – especially around health and wellbeing – and how we can help men take better care of themselves.”
Making men’s healthcare accessible
A direct-to-consumer business; Numan sells medications for erectile dysfunction, premature ejaculation, and hair loss (as well as offers consultations with qualified healthcare professionals).
“We are bringing together aspects of telemedicine, online pharmacy, and what you might describe as B2C. But first and foremost, we want to deliver a first-class healthcare experience”.
According to Papafloratos, the main benefit of the DTC model is how it makes these products (and the medical expertise that goes with it) immediately accessible to men.
“To give you an example, some of the specialists that we work with to design our products and digital pathways are world-experts in their field. You would have to pay a lot of money to go and see them where they practice; we can make that same knowledge and experience accessible to anyone, anywhere in the UK.”
In terms of the biggest challenges that Numan has faced so far, Papafloratos suggests that this has been mostly down to engaging men in topics that are often difficult to talk about.
“We have come up against the same problems of any young business trying to create something out of nothing” he says “But in our case, there is a lot of education that we need to provide. We are dealing with issues that are… not well understood and… are also shrouded in stigma, so that makes it difficult to get the message across.”
Personalisation vs. privacy
Access to first-party data is undoubtedly one of the biggest benefits of the DTC model, and is something that enables companies to deliver deeper personalisation.
For Numan, however, this can be a tricky balance, particularly when it comes to reassuring customers that their privacy is paramount. After all, the very reason why someone might use Numan in the first place could stem from embarrassment or awkwardness at having to acknowledge the problem with their own doctor.
“We take data privacy extremely seriously, so it’s more a case of letting people engage with us in whatever way they want to” Papafloratos explains. “We provide access to independent pharmacists and fully qualified clinicians in the UK, and people can engage with them directly – they can speak to them and message them in order to get the advice that they need. But we only use the clinical data required to deliver a service; privacy and protection of that data is fundamental in this space.”
A focus on branded content (and CX)
In terms of getting the word out, Numan has so far invested in a mix of performance marketing and TV advertising. However, educational online content has also been a big focus for the brand, which has helped to establish a position of authority on niche subjects.
“We started investing in proprietary content right from the very beginning. One of the first things we did was write the ‘Book of Erections’ which – it’s a bit of a funny title – but it popularises medical and scientific content around erections and how they work.”
Naturally, data is also at the heart of Numan’s marketing strategy.
“As with any consumer-facing business” Papafloratos says, “you need to be prepared to test and iterate quickly, and to always combine conviction with data – and let one drive the other.” This mentality also feeds in to the brand’s approach to CX, which Papafloratos describes as ‘the reason we (Numan) exist really”.
“For us, CX is a huge opportunity, as the status quo that we are competing with is primarily practices and systems that were designed and optimised for the time that they were created. So, we can use technology to our advantage and deliver something entirely new.”
Combatting apathy and inaction
Interestingly, Papafloratos was rather tight-lipped on the subject of competitors. There are certainly similar DTC companies out there, such as Roman and Hims, which also deal with the same men’s health issues. However, what might differentiate Numan – along with being a company that is very much rooted in the UK – appears to be a wider brand purpose.
“Essentially, we are building a digital clinic that helps men, which means our biggest competitor, or hurdle if you like, is apathy and inaction when it comes to men taking care of themselves. We need men to go beyond the addressing of symptoms and look into the root causes, and want to make changes to their lifestyle, which is difficult. That is the thing that we’re really fighting against.”
Another point of differentiation might be Numan’s target market, which Papafloratos sees as older men with more of a serious interest in health and the science behind it.
“We believe that we appeal to men who are now at a point in their lives where they are starting to take care of themselves, and for who health is becoming increasingly important” he explains, “we’re not focusing on twenty-somethings who are perhaps more interested in ‘lifestyle’. Our target consumers are men that maybe already have families, or are in the process of starting one. It’s engagement in the context of getting men to do something about their health that we are competing for.”
So, will men in the UK start to take action against hair loss and erectile dysfunction in the same way they might tackle poor sleep? It’s a pretty big leap, but thanks to DTC companies like Numan, at least the potential solution could be a mere few clicks away.
