Meta’s 2025 policy update is reshaping how healthcare and wellness brands advertise on Facebook and Instagram. As of January, Meta (formerly Facebook) has implemented significant limitations on ad targeting, tracking, and optimization to enhance user privacy and align with global data regulations.

According to Polar Analytics, many brands have experienced a 30–40% drop in ad efficiency since the rollout, citing rising costs, weaker targeting, and limited conversion tracking as key challenges. This shift is particularly critical for brands that rely heavily on Meta's tools for customer acquisition and retention.​

If your business sells supplements, fitness programs, offers virtual care, or runs a wellness app, these changes are likely affecting how you track performance, retarget customers, and scale your campaigns.

Here’s what’s changed and how your brand can adapt.

Affected Industries

• Health and Wellness Brands: Companies selling supplements, fitness programs, or wellness products face restrictions on tracking conversions, retargeting, and making certain health claims.
• Pharmaceutical and Medical Services: Pharmacies and healthcare providers fall under stricter data privacy rules to protect sensitive medical information.
• Fitness and Lifestyle Apps: Apps focused on workouts, dieting, weight loss, or mental health may be restricted under health-related advertising policies. Restrictions apply to ads that suggest dramatic results, before-and-after images, or unverified health claims.

Meta Ad Restrictions 2025

These changes could significantly impact businesses in health-adjacent industries such as fitness and supplements. In some cases, brands may need to rebuild their campaigns with different objectives to stay effective. So, what does this mean for your brand, and how can you adapt? Let’s break it down.

1. ‍Limited Event Tracking: Health and wellness advertisers are now restricted from using lower-funnel event tracking, such as "Purchase" or "Add to Cart," for campaign optimization. Instead, campaigns must focus on upper-funnel events like "Landing Page Views," "Lead Generation," or "Engagement."
   This makes it harder to retarget warm leads and reduces the overall effectiveness of conversion-driven campaigns.

2. ‍Data Sharing Restrictions: Meta now limits health and wellness brands from using the Conversions API (CAPI), restricting the ability to send detailed customer activity data back to the platform. This prevents businesses from sharing lower funnel data, such as purchases, add-to-cart actions, or subscriptions for ad optimization.
   The restriction aims to comply with privacy regulations and prevent the misuse of sensitive health-related data, ultimately impacting how brands track and optimize their ad performance.

3. ‍Stricter Ad Approvals: Ads that mention specific health conditions, results claims, or personal attributes are subject to more scrutiny and potential disapproval.

4. Brands won’t be able to use sensitive health-related data (e.g., people who purchased vitamins or clicked on weight-loss ads) to build similar audiences. This limits the ability to expand reach based on past customer behavior. As a result, brands using phrases like “supports digestion,” “boosts energy,” or “relieves stress” may face increased scrutiny under Meta’s stricter ad review process.

Impact of Meta’s Policy on Healthcare Brands

• Less Accurate Ad Targeting: Without CAPI data, Meta has less information about customer actions, making it harder to optimize ads for conversions.
• Weaker Retargeting: Brands lose the ability to re-engage users who viewed product pages, abandoned carts, or interacted with health-related content but didn’t convert.
• Higher Ad Costs: As campaign efficiency drops, cost-per-acquisition (CPA) often rises, straining budgets and reducing ROI.

How Brands Can Adapt

To navigate these changes and keep your campaigns on track, here are a few recommendations:

• Focus on First-Party Data: Build direct communication channels via email/SMS marketing for direct retargeting. Furthermore, push notifications allow businesses to reach users directly on their devices, cutting through the noise of traditional advertising methods. When paired with email or SMS marketing, you can create a seamless, multi-channel experience that keeps your brand top-of-mind.
• Optimize for Upper-Funnel Events: Shift your campaign objectives to emphasize actions like landing page views, content interactions, and lead submissions. These signals still offer meaningful engagement and are easier to track under Meta's new rules.
• Explore Alternative Ad Platforms: Google, TikTok, Pinterest, and LinkedIn allow better data tracking for health and wellness brands and can serve as strong complements to Meta.
• Increase Organic Reach:  Invest in content marketing and SEO to drive qualified traffic without relying on ads. Optimize your website for search to capture users actively looking for wellness solutions.
• Launch Your Mobile App: Apps allow direct tracking of user actions such as browsing, purchases, and preferences.
  
  • Personalized marketing via push notifications: Brands can use push notifications to re-engage users who viewed products, abandoned carts, or interacted with content. Notifications can drive users back to the app, reducing the need for paid retargeting ads.
  • Build a Stronger Customer Community: Apps encourage ongoing engagement through loyalty programs, exclusive content, and challenges (e.g., fitness tracking, meal plans, meditation streaks).

CASE STUDY: Check out how Happy Healthy You increased engagement by 42% using a custom mobile app to deliver targeted offers and wellness content.

A mobile app helps brands take control of their customer data, improve engagement, and create alternative marketing channels. Users downloading the app can be marketed directly, reducing reliance on paid ads. It’s a long-term strategy to maintain strong customer relationships and drive conversions without heavy dependence on social media ads. 

Key Takeaways

• Meta’s new health and wellness ad policies limit lower-funnel tracking, data sharing, and audience targeting.
• These changes can lead to less effective ad campaigns and higher acquisition costs.
• Brands must adapt by collecting first-party data, optimizing for upper-funnel events, and diversifying their advertising channels.
• Launching a mobile app is a powerful strategy to regain control over customer engagement and reduce dependency on paid platforms.

With Shop2App, you can launch your mobile app in just 7 days and cut acquisition costs by up to 31%.

Connect with a mobile expert to learn more: CONTACT NOW