40 RFP Questions That Get Real Answers from Wellness Vendors

The wellness tech market is booming. It is expected to reach $6.5 trillion by 2030 from $1.8 trillion in 2025. Almost every vendor today claims to have the perfect mix of features from wellness challenges and meditation libraries to nutrition tools and dashboards. Yet on paper, they all look alike.

This makes it difficult to tell who can truly deliver a meaningful employee wellness experience and justify a real return on investment (ROI).

That’s why the RFP (Request for Proposal) and/or Information (RFI) process matters. It’s your filter to separate slick marketing from genuine capability. The trick isn’t just sending an RFP; it’s asking the right questions.

Too often, companies rely on generic questionnaires that only scratch the surface. Vendors can easily say “yes” to those, leaving you without real insight into who can deliver.

So, what's the problem with a generic RFP?

Let’s find out.

What Most RFPs Ask (and Why That’s Not Enough)

When most organizations create a wellness RFP, they start with the obvious. They want to know if a vendor can run wellness challenges, manage incentives, integrate with wearables, provide biometric screenings, dashboards or offer a library of meditation and nutrition content.

On the surface, these sound like perfectly valid questions, and they are. The problem is that they’re also the same questions everyone asks, and the same ones every vendor knows how to answer “yes” to without hesitation.

At Vantage Fit, we’ve reviewed hundreds of wellness RFPs, and we’ve seen this pattern firsthand. Many of the requests that land in our inbox focus heavily on generic capabilities. For example-

• Do you provide health challenges?
• Can you manage incentives?
• Do you integrate with devices like Fitbit or Apple Health?
• Do you provide meditation or nutrition modules?
• Do you have a reporting dashboard?

Every vendor can tick these boxes. But that doesn't tell you if challenges actually engage employees, if integrations work seamlessly, or if dashboards give you more than vanity metrics.

The smartest RFPs dig deeper. For example, instead of asking “Do you provide health coaching?”, ask “How do your coaches drive sustainable behavior change, and what evidence supports your approach?” That small shift forces vendors to move beyond a checkbox and prove their strategy.

That’s where the right RFP questions make all the difference. Instead of settling for surface-level yes/no answers, you need questions that reveal how a vendor thinks, operates, and proves results. Below, we’ve organized 40 essential RFP questions into clear categories, each designed to help you separate feature checkers from true wellness partners.

40 Smart RFP Questions to Ask Your Next Wellness Vendor

Here’s what you should be asking in your RFP to truly evaluate wellness vendors, whether it’s your first search, a re-evaluation, or a final shortlist round.

Wellness Features & Support

• How do you measure the clinical effectiveness of your mental health interventions, and what credentials do your providers hold?
• Do you provide 24/7 access to licensed mental health professionals, and what is their average response time?
• How do you support employees with chronic conditions such as diabetes, hypertension, or obesity?
• Do you provide financial wellness education, such as budgeting and savings tools?
• How do you personalize nutrition guidance based on individual health conditions, dietary restrictions, and cultural preferences?
• What physical wellness activities are built in (fitness challenges, walking meetings, stretching reminders)?
• What specific qualifications do your health coaches have?

Engagement & Behavior Change Strategy

• How do you design challenges to address different motivation styles and personal health goals rather than one-size-fits-all competitions?
• Can you provide an engagement calendar of activities and campaigns for a full year?
• How do you measure authentic engagement versus passive participation, and what are your benchmarks?
• What strategies do you use to re-engage employees who have dropped off from wellness activities?
• How do you tailor incentive structures to different demographic groups and motivation preferences?

Technology & Integration Capabilities

• Which wearables and health apps do you integrate with (Fitbit, Apple Health, Google Fit, Samsung Health and others)?
• What APIs do you provide for custom integrations with HRIS, payroll, or benefits systems, and what technical support comes with implementation?
• How do you handle data discrepancies when employees use multiple tracking devices?
• How does your single sign-on (SSO) integration work with different identity providers (Active Directory, Okta, etc.)?

Data Security & Privacy Compliance

• How quickly do you close critical, high, and medium risks once identified?
• Do you enforce multi-factor authentication for remote access to personal or sensitive data?
• What is your process for securely deleting all employee data at the end of a contract?
• Which compliance standards do you adhere to (ISO 27001, SOC 2, HIPAA, GDPR, NIST)?

Analytics, ROI & Outcomes Measurement

• What specific health and productivity metrics do you track to demonstrate ROI beyond participation rates?
• What predictive analytics do you provide to identify at-risk employees or predict program success?
• How customizable are your reports for leadership or compliance requirements?
• How do you measure the ROI of your wellness initiatives?

Implementation & Ongoing Support

• What is your detailed implementation timeline with specific milestones and client responsibilities?
• How accessible is your member support team to employees?
• How do you support change management and cultural adoption beyond basic communication templates?
• What specific training programs do you provide for administrators, HR teams, and employee champions?

Innovation & Future-Proofing

• How many major platform updates do you release annually, and how do you communicate changes to clients?
• What is your technology refresh cycle, and how do you ensure platform stability during upgrades?
• Can your platform scale to global, multilingual workforces? Which languages do you support?
• What emerging wellness technologies (AI coaching, virtual reality, genetic testing) are you piloting or planning to integrate?

Vendor Stability & Partnership Approach

• Can you provide detailed case studies from organizations like ours, including challenges faced and solutions implemented?
• What is your client retention rate?
• What is your approach to contract flexibility and scalability as our organization grows or changes?

Pricing Transparency & Value Delivery

• What is your complete pricing structure including any setup fees, integration costs, or additional service charges?
• How do you price additional services like health coaching, mental health support, or custom integrations?
• What services and support levels are included in your base package versus premium tiers?
• How do you handle pricing changes and contract renewals?
• What payment models do you offer (annual, multi-year, usage-based)?

Pro Tips for Evaluating RFP Responses

Look for Specificity:

Vague answers like "We use industry best practices" are red flags. Strong vendors provide concrete examples, data points, and methodologies.

Request Proof Points:

Ask for client references, case studies, and third-party validation. Be suspicious of vendors who can't provide these or only offer generic testimonials.

Evaluate Follow-Up Questions:

How vendors respond to clarifying questions often reveals more than their initial RFP response. Do they provide thoughtful, detailed answers or deflect with marketing speak?

Test Technical Claims:

If a vendor claims seamless integrations or 99.9% uptime, ask for technical documentation and SLA details to back up these assertions.

Next Steps

The right RFP questions transform vendor selection from a feature comparison exercise into a strategic partnership evaluation. By asking these deeper questions, you'll identify vendors who can truly drive employee wellness outcomes and deliver measurable ROI.

Now that you have the right questions, let us show you the right answers. Book a demo with Vantage Fit and see how we deliver on every one of your RFP requirements.