Stuck in the middle of the road to omnichannel? Here’s what to look at

The “good old days” in pharma are gone. Over the last year, the concept of pharma digitalization has drastically changed. A couple of eDetailing presentations on tablets and a dozen email templates – this is no longer enough to impress and engage.

Leaders of industries are growing omnichannel as a living organism that makes the content circulate and deliver top-notch experiences to their customers. Experiences they expect to receive. The pharmaceutical industry has taken up the challenge, and by trial and error, by risk and courage, started implementing elements of omnichannel into their strategies.

How to make omnichannel live and function, though? How do you grow this ecosystem correctly? Let’s answer this question.

Why pharma is taking the omnichannel path

Look at the HCP audiences beyond the metrics. Beyond the figures and graphs. Something very important has changed, and that is the expectations. For the moment, 67% of all customers say their standard for good experiences is higher than ever. Modern customers, be it a doctor or anyone else, no longer interact with the brand through one platform. Instead, they expect a connection between digital and in-person experiences, devices and service, consistent and contextualized interactions across every channel. In other words, they demand a seemingly uncanny level of personalization and multiple means to connect with their companies of choice.

That’s why major players in the pharmaceutical market are trying to keep pace with the customers’ expectations. They are growing their own omnichannel ecosystem to not just to keep pace but thrive on the market.

The industry has encountered an entire science, where different competencies are intertwined: solution architecture, content, psychology, strategy, people, workflows, and tech. To manage all of this, you need expertise, and up to this day, many are bound to scrape for it piece by piece.

Fork on the omnichannel trail. Which path is yours now?

There is no single truth about how to become omnichannel. Pharma companies have to be a little more creative when it comes to giving customers what they want. Nevertheless, those who have already set foot on the omnichannel path have a solid foundation in the form of a good Marketing Automation system, CRM system, or content strategy. See why it is important.

If omnichannel had a trunk, it would be the CRM system. Omnichannel is contextual marketing that should be data-rich. CRM generates the needed amount of information from multiple channels, tracks information in real-time, and represents a real center for their response. It allows to apply analytics “on the fly” and record, in detail, each customer’s journey to make a customer engagement more than ‘strictly business.’

At the core of every omnichannel success story is a powerful automation system that orchestrates a large amount of data and helps to segment the target audience. It is the platform to automate and manage various crucial campaign processes (build customer journeys, and conduct social media management and broadcast emails, manage customer experiences) in one place. It gives a single view of the customer across channels.

A lot of channels sprout from the omnichannel system to make the content circulate and fill the strategy with meaning. Content is the king, the essence, the most important thing you can share with your target audience. With its help, you can hit the sensitive strings responsible for your customers’ needs; express who you really are and what differentiates you from the competition. To make this a reality, you need a content platform tailored specially for creating flexible omnichannel content. Regarding this, eWizard platform offers Modular Content – the future of omnichannel marketing.

Omnichannel is a complex ecosystem where many components come together. A technological basis alone can’t make you omnichannel. Now the question is how to transform the sophisticated technical & organizational system into a living organism that reacts and adjusts its functions to the reality around it?

Of course, there exists no single right way to become omnichannel. Every organization is different and has different elements in place. The company may have everything that is fundamental for growing omnichannel (CRM, email service, marketing automation system) and, at the same time, face choice paralysis when looking for the next steps.

What to do next?

While having a bunch of channels to engage HCPs is a great thing, there is still a question of how to convert them to success and achieve actual ROI. Why do some companies get real profits from the introduction of omnichannel, while others stagnate at some stage and don’t get the promised outcomes?

It’s all about the perception of omnichannel, which has long been imposed as nothing more but a buzzword. When many realized that it is not a perk but a foundation of tomorrow’s HCP engagement, they rushed to cultivate omnichannel by plugging as many systems and channels as it is possible.

In an ideal world, all the technologies needed for omnichannel customer service would be plugged-in, but the reality is far different. Organizations are typically set up around specific channels and systems that are not integrated and do not necessarily have the same goals.

The lack of a clear strategy that would consider the missing pieces of the puzzle prevents them from harmonious cultivation of the omnichannel system instead of imposing it. A true customer experience isn’t’ meant to have as many channels and systems as possible – it replicates the HCP’s path in the real world.

As pharma started grasping the concepts behind omnichannel, it became clear how integration and interconnection could bring something you could never achieve with just a conglomeration of channels and tools. Having a good Marketing Automation system in place is a prerequisite. Once it is there, we have to sew the various experiences together.

Believe it or not, you can always start growing omnichannel with what you already have. You don’t have to give up what you already have, you just need to identify the gaps or missing pieces and consider the paths you can take now. At this stage, you can:

Why choose Viseven

At Viseven, we have the expertise to grow your ecosystem organically from what you already have. Gently providing the missing links, systems, breaking silos, and establishing agile workflows, from architecture to content to mindset, we help our customers move in the direction that benefits them the most, yielding high ROI.

• No need to risk and build. Evolve and grow your omnichannel capacities organically instead, step by step.
• Take your place at the forefront of dialogue with HCPs. Because they deserve to hear your voice.
• Holistic approach from the very start: systems, content, and people. The trial and error phase of omnichannel has just ended.
• Confidence you are moving in the right direction
• Be sure of every bit of your investment, in the effort, costs, and focus. Take small, reasonable steps toward the big goal.
• We know your organization is unique, and tailor our expertise and offers to match your requirements with precision.

It may be that you have already taken the omnichannel path but have no idea what direction to take next. If you want to grow further and transfer the efforts of growing omnichannel into real income – book a meeting with experts. They align journeys, content, architecture, and workflows together and transform this sophisticated technical & organizational system into breeding grounds for your growth.