MERGE’s ‘The Health Revolution' Report Unveils Insights into the Future of Health Engagement
October 7, 2025
MERGE research finds technology adoption surging; access and trust barriers are best overcome with personalized experiences.
October 7, 2025
MERGE research finds technology adoption surging; access and trust barriers are best overcome with personalized experiences.
MERGE, a leading marketing and technology agency, today unveiled its new report, “The Health Revolution: Empowered by Your Experience” at the inaugural Built 2025 summit. Drawing insights from more than 1,800 adults ages 26–75, the study explores how digital health and wellness tools shape daily lives and health choices while revealing the critical gap leaders must close to create contextual experiences that are accessible, trusted, and impactful.
The research highlights both momentum and barriers in digital health adoption. While 46% of consumers now use wearables and 70% rely on multiple technologies to manage their health, access remains uneven, influenced by income, identity, and geography. To better understand this divide, MERGE segmented respondents into two categories: experienced (regular users of digital health tools like health wearables, mobile apps and fitness trackers) and hesitants (non-users of any tool). The report found that 68% of experienced respondents said they regularly start health and wellness behavior change efforts, while 57% of hesitant respondents have never tried to change a health and wellness behavior.
Initial drivers for digital health tool adoption are often life events, prescriptions, and insurance coverage, yet many users abandon these technologies due to poor user experience. While Gen Z is a key driver of adoption, they also report feeling overwhelmed and face significant barriers like financial stability to making positive changes. For brands, providers, and payers, creating meaningful, lasting experiences starts with uncovering consumer motivations and meeting people where they are on their path to wellness.
“Our data study, The Health Revolution: Empowered by Your Experience, validates that people only have room in their lives for health and wellness experiences that are personal and resonant,” said Stephanie Trunzo, CEO at MERGE. “Brands must elevate contextual experiences - across data, AI, and design - far more dynamically than ever before, from top of funnel awareness through deep ongoing interactions. Across the complex ecosystem, from brands to providers, payers, and life science researchers, this opportunity to close access divides, and create health experiences that people can trust is much more than incremental change; it’s a call to reimagine how health connects with humanity and to unlock the next wave of value creation.”
Top insights from the report include:
Life events trigger initial adoption, but experience is what drives engagement and trust.
Gen Z leads the adoption curve, but feeling overwhelmed prevents sustainable action.
Financial anxiety and lack of access have the greatest impact on the least healthy.
In the survey of 1,800 respondents, in-depth interviews were conducted with selected participants to provide qualitative context to enrich the survey results.
Download the full report, "The Health Revolution: Empowered by Your Experience".
