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Emsculpt has been making serious waves with aesthetic consumers since its debut in the first half of 2018. The device delivers electromagnetic pulses to the muscles, activating more muscle fibers than the contractions a patient would achieve through normal exercise.
With promotion to die for, the innovative new body sculpting procedure has been featured on magazine covers, won celebrity endorsements, and even been a scene stealer on the influential Real Housewives franchise on Bravo. That’s all thanks to a crack promotional team touting an inventive new device that delivers influencer-pleasing results. But winning thumbs’ up from a critical mass of patients who have actually undergone a treatment is an altogether different achievement.
That’s why it was such a big deal for the brand when RealSelf consumers who had used Emsculpt themselves gave it resounding praise as a “Worth It” procedure, lifting Emsculpt to a coveted spot as one of the 2020 RealSelf Most Worth It winners and one of the most-recommended procedures on RealSelf by confirmed Emsculpt patients.
This patient-driven recognition proved that Emsculpt lived up to the hype, but we wanted to unpack the layers beneath that Most Worth It recommendation for providers—the trends, attitudes, expectations and habits that are driving consumers to seek Emsculpt. How can these deeper insights help doctors better promote the treatment to consumers, or even decide whether to offer Emsculpt treatments in the first place? Read on for a brief tour of the underlying factors that make Emsculpt “Worth It” for both aesthetic patients and for the providers who treat them.
Simply put, Emsculpt is the type of procedure that lots of patients want
Emsculpt delivers on a specific type of procedure that an overwhelming majority of consumers say they are interested in—namely, non-surgical body sculpting. RealSelf data from 2019 revealed that a full 98% of consumers are interested in a treatment that both sculpts their body and reduces fat. As of early 2019, this interest had driven RealSelf consumers to view pages about non-surgical body sculpting nearly five-and-a-half million times overall.
One of the aspects of Emsculpt that makes consumers so excited about the treatment is that it is uniquely able to not only reduce fat, but also to build muscle in ways that even the most dedicated fitness buff can’t achieve with exercise. That’s why practices can leverage Emsculpt to tap into a blue ocean of new potential patients and grow their addressable market. It can compliment both surgical and nonsurgical fat reduction procedures, and it unlocks potential among a swath of patients who would not consider surgery—or are not candidates—but might still enjoy the considerable muscle-toning benefits of Emsculpt.
It specifically targets the top patient body concerns
Relatedly, Emsculpt was also bolstered by the fact that the device was designed to address two body areas that happen to be top concerns for patients: their belly and their butt. Ninety percent of consumers are concerned about at least one of those two areas.
Emsculpt also treats the three non-facial parts of the body that people most find attractive in others: the butt, belly, and arms.
Body concern is a significant driver in decision making as consumers search for treatments and providers. This sits at the very top of the pyramid as they narrow their search, and effectively targeting the very body areas consumers most want to address helped lift Emsculpt right out of the gate.
Emsculpt is great for the experience-driven consumer
As of 2018, 89% of companies compete primarily on customer experience, and consumers are increasingly factoring in end-to-end experience as they make purchase decisions.
Emsculpt requires only a few treatment sessions for patients to see results and minimal downtime after each of those sessions. This type of patient-pleasing experience makes it hugely appealing to consumers. After each half-hour treatment, patients can simply get up and go, marking a significant contrast not only with more time-intensive procedures, but even with garden-variety daily workouts.
Perhaps that’s why nearly as many RealSelf consumers used the word “experience” in their Emsculpt reviews (23.5% of reviewers) as used the word “procedure” (24% of reviewers). Other words Emsculpt patients who have rated the procedure Worth It used to describe the procedure: “fast and easy,” “pleasant,” and even “fun.”
For the on-demand consumer, results are felt early and lock in fast
Even the physical sensation of Emsculpt—patients report feeling like they’ve done an intense workout immediately after each treatment session—promotes a real-time impression among patients that the experience they were promised has been delivered, even as it takes weeks for patients to see and feel maximal results from the treatment.
As one of the first-ever patients to review the procedure on RealSelf put it, “It is so cool to know and FEEL very targeted areas of my body being worked.” This patient reported working out six times per week.
But of course, real results are what ultimately matter to patients, and time is a significant factor as they consider the cost-benefit of undergoing a particular aesthetic treatment. An overwhelming number of patients, more than nine out of ten, would consider a sculpting treatment where visible results can be seen in less than three weeks. But this figure drops over time. Consideration is still high at four weeks (86%), but drops appreciably in the one- to two-month range (68%) and precipitously in the three-to-four-month range (only 34%).
Emsculpt delivers visible results, on average, in two to four weeks after a patient’s final session.
Social proof is results truth for the discerning aesthetic shopper
More than 80% of RealSelf consumers look at reviews before choosing their doctor. Having a sizable and consistently updated library of this type of “social proof” content is all but required for consumers to say they trust an aesthetic provider.
Emsculpt provides ready opportunities to build this type of strong content library on RealSelf. Since the treatment’s first RealSelf review in early April of 2018, consumers have uploaded more than 650 before-and-after photos that visibly demonstrate their results, and they’ve posted more than 400 Emsculpt reviews. For reviews, that’s an average month-over-month increase of 22%, a more than 5x faster-than-average monthly growth rate that demonstrates the treatment’s rapid rise to popularity on RealSelf.
Early adopter providers are meeting high patient demand by bringing this coveted treatment to market
All of these fundamentals are driving adoption and high patient satisfaction for Emsculpt, but consumers would not have great Emsculpt experiences without talented providers to deliver them.
More than 700 providers on RealSelf offer Emsculpt treatments, including nearly 30% of doctors who offer the treatment that are RealSelf Verified. Those with ratings boast an average of 4.8 stars—a notch higher than the average 4.7-star rating across all RealSelf providers.
Additionally, nearly three in four Emsculpt providers have leveraged a treatment gift card offer on their profiles to make the decision that much easier for consumers. Results are early, but we’ve already seen an initial 8% lift in inquiries for providers who added the offer versus those who did not.
These doctors are being strategic about using Emsculpt to broaden their market share with patients who want their experience to start and end with nonsurgical body sculpting—but also to create a great result for their surgical patients and to compliment other nonsurgical procedures.
By offering a truly novel treatment that has appeal for fit patients seeking non-surgical treatments, and also supplements results for patients who have had surgery, Emsculpt allows doctors to offer an in-demand solution for patients while also representing a smart investment in growing their patient pipeline and elevating their satisfaction.
Want to learn more about offering this Most Worth It treatment to your patients? Request more information from Emsculpt here.
