Wellness Practices Investing Without a Target Return

Page updated: 13 Aug 2026

Whole-practice growth for wellness practices. Rooted in Wiltshire, UK, working worldwide.

Practices that hand over money for new signage, another certificate, or a rebrand without ever deciding what counts as a win are, going by this, doing exactly what most small businesses do.

Original Research	A claim that roughly half of small UK firms have no investment plan, and that most spending on things like training or branding happens with no target return in mind
Source	https://www.enterpriseresearch.ac.uk/our-work/publications/
Overview	The claim sits inside the Enterprise Research Centre's ongoing State of Small Business Britain work, though this particular figure carries no visible citation of its own.
Year	2025
Publisher	Academic, Enterprise Research Centre
Relevance to Wellbeing	If practices are behaving like the average small firm, most are spending on visibility or new offerings without a fixed idea of what should come back from it, which matters more once the invoice needs justifying.
Our Verdict	Too early to tell the figure is plausible and matches wider small business patterns, but nobody has shown their working, so treat it as a steer rather than a fact to quote.
Our Summary	It lines up with what most small business advisers say anecdotally, so it is not far-fetched. The figure has no named survey, sample size, or method attached to it here. It is a useful prompt for practices to check their own habits, whatever the exact percentage turns out to be. The linked source is a general publications listing, not the specific report itself.
Our Geo View	Applies broadly to all countries, though the underlying claim concerns UK firms specifically.

Abstract of wellbeing niches and revenue flow

Recognise how this might impact your practice

Why this might matter to you

Coaching: this matters because coaches who charge for outcomes are especially exposed if they never define what a good outcome looks like before spending on getting more clients.
Therapy: this matters because a therapy practice can spend a whole year on directory listings and never know if a single client came from it.
Training: this matters because trainers investing in new certifications or kit rarely ask beforehand what extra bookings would make it worthwhile.
Alternative Healing: this matters because healers often invest in workshops or retreats on instinct, and instinct is hard to check against a bank statement.
Clinical: this matters because clinics sinking money into new equipment need a clearer return than most, given what the kit costs.
Retreat/Centre: this matters because centres investing in refurbishment or new programmes are making a bet that only pays off if someone worked out the target first.

Where this came from

The claim comes from material connected to the Enterprise Research Centre's State of Small Business Britain 2025 work, alleging that under half of firms set any target return before spending on growth.

Enterprise Research Centre, 2025. The specific figure appears without a named survey, report title, or sample size attached, and the linked page is a general publications directory rather than the source document itself.

Credibility flags: methodology not disclosed for this figure, sample size not disclosed, publisher type is an academic research centre in principle, but this particular claim is effectively unattributed.

How we scored this

A relevance score out of 100, built from three things: how well it fits the six practice types, how recent it is, and how solid the methodology behind it is.

40%

Practice fit, 25How new, 100How solid, 0

Marked down hard on how solid the method is, since nothing here can be traced to a specific study, though it scores well on how current it is and only middlingly on how closely it fits wellbeing practices, given it is framed around firms in general.

It's worth considering changes to your marketing practices

What this means for your marketing

Put a rough target next to any spend before you make it, even if it is just "three more enquiries a month".
Say out loud in team meetings that most small businesses never bother with this, so doing it looks like sense, not paranoia.
Before booking that next training course or new sign, write down what you would need to see to call it money well spent.
Do not quote the 48 per cent figure to clients as fact. Use it as a private nudge, not a public statistic.
Review last year's marketing spend and mark which bits you could actually measure. Start there next time.

Who this is most useful for

Practice type	Relevance	Recommended action
Coaching	Medium	Set a target before the next spend on lead generation.
Therapy	Medium	Track referral sources properly before adding new ones.
Training	High	Cost out new certifications against likely extra bookings first.
Alternative Healing	Medium	Decide what a good workshop or retreat outcome looks like before booking it.
Clinical	High	Model the return on new equipment before signing anything.
Retreat/Centre	High	Set occupancy or booking targets before any refurbishment spend.

Best before

Best before: revisit once the Enterprise Research Centre publishes the full State of Small Business Britain 2025 report with proper figures attached, or by early 2026 at the latest.

Most small wellness practices spend on marketing without ever asking what return they want