A critical aspect of any pharma/life sciences commercialization strategy is to develop and deploy effective and meaningful ways to engage, inform and build trust with healthcare providers (HCPs). A brand can best meet its clinical and commercial objectives throughout its lifecycle by offering a well-orchestrated mix of information and resources in different digital and in-person formats that HCPs can easily access.
As with any multifaceted marketing and commercialization strategy, brand teams must identify and track the most relevant metrics to measure the impact of these programs. The main objective is to ensure all program elements are designed and delivered in a way that meets the specific needs and preferences of individual HCPs.
Results from a recent survey of field and marketing executives from life science companies conducted by IQVIA show that stakeholders in the life sciences sector are prioritizing the use of hybrid HCP engagement that provides personalized content to create trust and connection with the brand (Figure 1).
Figure 1.
Well-designed measurement initiatives provide the evidence to inform continuous improvement of specific program elements over time. Likewise, benchmarking the performance of a brand’s omnichannel deployment against those of competitors in the same therapeutic space provides visibility into key trends in the competitive landscape. The resulting insights can help a brand team better meet the needs of HCPs while optimizing the product’s share of voice and performance against competing therapies.
Understanding the needs and preferences of HCPs
The pace of innovation across the pharma/life sciences industry is encouraging for all stakeholders, yet it poses particular challenges for HCPs. Given the complexity of so many of today’s innovative therapies and the pace of approvals in recent years, HCPs face a tremendous burden staying abreast of all the information they need to ensure proper clinical care. This includes the need to fully understand not only the safety, efficacy and dosing information of a given product but also the need to understand how it performs compared to other treatment options in the same therapeutic space.
In recent years, pharma/life sciences companies have been shifting away from go-to-market strategies that focus primarily on showcasing product-centric features. Instead, today’s mindset is to provide a more comprehensive HCP-facing offering that helps stakeholders:
- Understand the disease state.
- Overcome challenges associated with proper and timely diagnosis.
- Recognize the growing role of biomarker and genetic testing during diagnosis and therapy selection.
- Understand how a given therapy performs in comparison to treatment options in the same therapeutic space.
- Help patients master complex dosing and self-administration, as well as manage side effects that can reduce adherence to therapy.
- Help patients find the resources they need to swiftly access their prescribed therapies and overcome affordability barriers.
Against the backdrop of needing more information than ever, today’s HCPs are also busier in terms of constraints on staffing, time and patient load. One enabling factor that arose during the COVID-19 pandemic is that stakeholders throughout healthcare are now more accustomed to using remote and digital approaches to access information and connect with others.1 Today’s HCPs are more likely to seek information and resources through online channels, in lieu of relying primarily on scheduled face-to-face meetings with sales reps. These include educational videos found on HCP-only platforms, professional and academic journals, live online streaming conferences, remote video calls and more.
This environment also allows HCPs to seek content that is better aligned to their individual needs and access it in the most convenient format at their own pace. While gradual, this shift has enabled brand teams to both refine and optimize omnichannel strategy so that it incorporates the best high-touch (human) and high-tech (digital) elements. When this is done right, HCPs have everything they need at their fingertips to make the most well-informed treatment decisions and incorporate the product seamlessly into clinical practice at the point of care.
Augmenting the role of the sales rep
Historically, the pharmaceutical sales representative has been a central element in any commercialization strategy. However, today’s reps often find it challenging to engage with HCPs for the reasons noted above. Despite the challenges, building and maintaining effective ongoing relationships with HCPs remains a pivotal success factor in integrating today’s complex therapies into routine daily practice.
Ongoing advances in artificial intelligence, machine learning capabilities, and related data-analysis and modeling methodologies give brand teams new ways to understand the personal preferences of individual HCPs. All of this enables them to deliver more targeted information in the most desirable format and at the most opportune time.
Such data-driven insights can help a brand team optimize the mix of digital and personal engagement and create a right-sized sales force that can be more effective thanks to precision targeting. Using digital capabilities allows materials to be accessed at will and reviewed at a convenient time.
The goal of such a data-driven ecosystem is to continuously learn from each data point to inform smarter interaction going forward. This makes it possible to provide targeted information based on HCP preference, which helps cut through the digital noise and deliver more successful engagements.
Choosing the most appropriate metrics
Measuring an increase in prescriptions written following an interaction is one metric that is commonly used by brand teams. However, when a robust omnichannel program is offered to support HCPs, it is not always possible to say whether it was one particular email, virtual call or face-to-face interaction that truly led to a change in prescribing behavior. No matter which element resonated most with a particular HCP, the combination of all engagement efforts over time can provide a collective shift in prescribing habits. This can ultimately improve clinical outcomes for patients and financial outcomes for the brand.
One useful metric, called the Net Promoter Score (NPS), provides a very effective way to show whether an HCP would recommend an interaction to a colleague on a scale of 0−10. By pairing this with an Intent to Prescribe metric, the brand team can see whether an in-person or virtual interaction was (1) well-received and (2) likely to result in an increase in prescribing that therapy.
Other useful metrics, such as tracking HCP Satisfaction, Customer Effort Score and Customer Lifetime Value, can yield valuable feedback on how the omnichannel strategy is working and provide a feedback loop that informs continuous improvement over time.
Barriers remain
Several challenges must be considered when developing a robust omnichannel commercialization strategy (Figure 2). These include:
Overwhelming volume of data: Each channel generates a vast amount of data that needs to be collected, analyzed and interpreted to yield actionable insights. Such a data-driven approach is crucial for understanding customer behavior and preferences but requires significant resources, expertise and fit-for-purpose analytical tools.
Complex and resource-intensive effort: Building omnichannel capabilities in-house involves large investments in the necessary technology infrastructure, training staff, and establishing processes for managing and coordinating multiple channels. This can be especially daunting for smaller companies with limited resources.
Building trust: Establishing trust with HCPs is crucial, and brand teams must demonstrate that they can handle complex information and sensitive data securely and responsibly. They also need to ensure that all branded and nonbranded content they provide is accurate, reliable and relevant across all channels.
To understand how different HCPs prefer to seek and consume information, which will inform program development, specific elements of interest include:
- Geographical/cultural context: Where are the HCPs located, and what are the expected engagement practices?
- Specialization: Which medical fields are of paramount interest to specific HCPs?
- Behavioral patterns: Do these HCPs have an affinity for traditional news sources and educational resources, or are they more inclined toward social media?
- Priorities: Are there healthcare system constraints? How are the HCPs balancing cost efficiencies with patient-centric outcomes?
Figure 2.
Against this backdrop, brand teams should consider partnering with a third-party expert that can provide the experience, expertise and resources needed to develop a robust omnichannel offering that address the HCPs’ needs. The goal is to create the infrastructure that is needed to launch and then grow specific program elements over time as the size and needs of the market continue to evolve.
While the promise of a data-driven omnichannel strategy is high, a recent IQVIA survey of field and marketing executives from life science companies shows that there is still a lot of work to be done across the industry to take full advantage of the many benefits such an offering provides (Figure 3).
Figure 3.
At the end of the day, the omnichannel engagement strategy should balance push and pull methods with optimal frequency so HCPs are well-informed and motivated and feel properly supported to consider the therapy at their point of care. When such efforts are successful and the number of prescriptions grows over time, the benefits include improved clinical outcomes for patients and financial outcomes for the pharma/life sciences company — both of which support a strong brand reputation for the therapy.
Benchmarking the program
The first step for any brand team is to conduct an internal audit or assessment to understand the capabilities and limitations of the existing HCP-facing support offering. The goal is to identify where the company sits on the adoption ladder with specific attention placed on data and technology, alongside human assets. It is important to have all key stakeholders involved early in the process. Buy-in from senior management is crucial so they are able to advocate for ongoing investment in favor of a state-of-the art omnichannel approach.
In order to benchmark the current capabilities effectively, it is important to pool together various sources of information that showcase which competitors are relying more on a traditional approach versus which ones are already invested in robust digital capabilities when engaging HCPs. From an insights perspective, such an exercise will help the brand team to identify which companies are best meeting the needs of different HCP groups. For example, if an individual HCP indicated they preferred 50% of their interactions to be face-to-face while the pharma company is trying to engage with them 90% of the time via this method, then the data highlights the disparity between what HCPs want and what they actually receive.1 In addition, it is possible to profile the channel mix of competitor brands similarly. At the same time, a full omnichannel competitor benchmarking project can be significantly more detailed depending on the requirements and therapy area.
About Christopher Wooden
Christopher Wooden is the Senior Director of Business Marketing at IQVIA, a global provider of advanced analytics, technology solutions, and clinical research services to the life sciences industry.Christopher began working in healthcare in the 1980s, driving ambulance in New York City. Since then, he has held a variety of international market research, business development and marketing roles in the life sciences industry. Christopher now leads ChannelDynamics, the global reference for tracking sales force and marketing channel performance.
Reference
Time to take omnichannel action: Delivering an optimal customer experience through harmony of people-based and digital channels [cited 2024 August 21]. Available from time-to-take-omnichannel-action.pdf (iqvia.com).