Digital Pharma Innovation Week 2020 – a Recap and Key Takeaways Posted on December 1, 2020 by Andrii Nikulin Awareness campaigns, vaccination in the times of COVID, pharma to HCP communications, and, of course, the evolution of omnichannel – the very end of October 2020 was the time of vivid discussion in the pharmaceutical innovations community. The Digital Pharma Innovation Week organized by none other than Fierce Pharma, was the ambient for more than 70 speakers from leading pharmaceutical and digital enterprises to share their unique experiences during this extraordinary year. From launching products during a lockdown to the revelations about what medical reps will be doing in a year, the 50 sessions that comprised the event, lift the veil on what is waiting for pharma communications professionals in the nearest future. The best part is that the spectacular library of all the event materials, practical cases, and full recordings of panel discussions is available till 30th April 2021. As part of this event, Viseven team is happy to remember the key moments from Digital Pharma Innovation Week 2020 and highlight the most important topics and ideas. Pharma to patients – vaccines, awareness, telehealth What position does pharma occupy in today’s healthcare ecosystems? Multiple ones, one can say. What’s important is that not in a single one them is the industry allowed to leave the patients without attention they deserve. Especially now that the world is experiencing disruption on an unprecedented scale, pharma needs to step up and offer the patients adequate assistance along their journey; there is no lack of touchpoints. One of these is vaccination. With the pandemic, it is too easy for the casual public to forget the simple fact that the flu and other infections have not vanished without a trace – and that vaccines are still vital. This topic was raised twice, starting with an opening keynote with Judy Stewart, Senior Vice President, Head of U.S. Vaccines, GSK. While less than half of adult population in the U.S. are getting their vaccines, the importance of awareness campaigns with the right message to encourage vaccination is rising. In this regard, pharmas are looking more towards unbranded campaigns as a powerful tool. In the case discussed, the 50+ years old audience was specifically targeted when searching for health information online. With numerous touchpoints along the journey, a microsegmentation tactic became possible. This, in turn, allowed to provide contextualized messaging, e.g. on Facebook and Pandora music streaming service favored by the target audience, increasing traffic to the web resource. #ICYMI: Judy Stewart, our SVP and Head of US Vaccines, was a keynote speaker during #DPIweek2020. Watch her video to learn more on how we are working to educate on adult vaccinations here: ? #BroughtByVaccines pic.twitter.com/odwOcS4HyJ — GSK US (@GSKUS) October 30, 2020 A successful example of the next logical step was given by Chris Whitman, Vice President of the US Flu Franchise for Sanofi Pasteur. Even when there is full awareness of how important vaccination is, the fear of COVID represents another obstacle: how do I get vaccinated if going out is a hazard? As was said during the discussion, Business as usual was not going to be an opportunity. The solution deployed at Sanofi was to create adaptive vaccination “toolkits”, especially focusing on influenza, but not limited to it. Taking three different inroads based on loosely defined behavior patterns, the team designed digital blueprints for each: A one-stop shop walkthrough clinic (with special attention to safe traffic flow) Drive-through clinic Clinic checklist with goal checker Leaning on collaboration with partners in the medical space, the company was able to establish a safe and efficient way to provide the necessary immunization. An even broader topic directly concerning patients is disease awareness itself. Is pharma just going to let the patients search for health information online, possibly too late for optimal treatment results to be achieved? Or is the beyond-the-pill value, notably information, an offer that can make a difference? The panel Truths and Trends in Modern Disease Awareness Campaigns featuring Anand Reddi, Director of Digital Innovation at Gilead Sciences Inc, provided a sober, sharp look at the issue: Patients being at the center of everything means we have to take a different look at how we can provide information to patients. It’s not the same as it used to be, when you could just have a website, and you’d have some patient materials and that would be it. It’s really now about finding new, important and impactful ways to provide information to patients, because the time is so limited between what the HCP and the patient can say to each other in the office that a lot of times people are looking elsewhere for information. While there are new barriers for patients with chronic conditions to receive medical attention, pharma is in a position to help patients navigate their way to healthcare – and there are possibilities to make this interaction convenient to both the people and the industry. In the strategy employed by Gilead, the individual targeted patients were allowed to segment themselves by means of their choices and preferences. In an agile approach, the team was studying how consumers react to messaging and the opportunities that were offered, as well as mapped the awareness of telemedicine and at-home diagnostics possibilities, building a social media outreach to fill in the possible blanks. Another panel talk, featuring David Linetsky of Phreesia, Brendan Gallagher at Publicis Health and Kate Greengrove of GSK, represented an even deeper insight into the patient experience in the COVID times. The launching pad for this memorable conversation was a simple statement quoted at the beginning: the interaction between the doctor and the patient changed more in one week than it had in the last 30 years of practicing medicine. While telehealth used to be a secondary option, an experiment, earlier on, its growing prevalence raised a couple of questions. On the one hand, patients tend to feel that the physician is not likely to provide the same level of care remotely, leading to a greater effort from the HCPs themselves to achieve good outcomes – as a paradoxical outcome, interactions are now more intense, physicians are drained, but patients are consulted better. On the other hand, there is a move from a binary perception (either in-office F2F or telehealth) towards a hybrid approach, where some things are done remotely and some are reserved for an in-person visit. For the digital part of that interaction, the platforms are now being provided, and the real task is to fill in the content gap working in a holistic way instead of just reacting to developments Data excellence: where is pharma right now? The industry has stepped on the way to operating data in previously unthought of manners and using its power as an enabler for multiple purposes. There are still numerous questions along that way: is that data better managed in-house or by agency partners? What exactly is its role in decision making? What about privacy and compliance? In a panel talk with Jeordan Legon, Michael Jafar and Zoe Dunn, these questions were addressed from an expert standpoint, identifying the three components of data excellence: Mastery of the data lake Visualization tool Audience By sequencing the three of them, a manager, especially at the marketing side, can arrive at a better understanding of the audience needs, but also at an entirely new level of operations where data is more actionable than ever. This, however, requires a change in the mindset. As Jeordan Legon put it, Just because we have those dashboards, it doesn’t mean we can kick our feet up and drink a Margarita. We have to be actually involved with the data. But what is the best way to get involved with the data from an operational point of view? Instead of relying exclusively on in-house or agency capacities, experts also suggest a hybrid model, where some key people are within the organization, while other tasks are outsourced, so that the company does not have to hire an army of people. From the point of view of purchase cycle and ROI, another recommendation stemming from the past years’ experience was to put a value on each of the actions the users in the target audience perform – a click, a like, etc. – and put conscious effort into tracking them to see where exactly people are closer to making a decision. Another panel featuring Saad B Saeed, Senior Director, Global Digital/Technology Lead, Pfizer Vaccines & Medical Affairs, Pfizer, Imran Haque, Founding Partner, Mentors Fund, Mayank Misra, Head of Business Insights & Analytics, U.S. Oncology, Takeda Pharmaceuticals, as well as Adam Almozlino, Vice President of Data and Product Strategy, OptimizeRx, focused on the impact that the advances in data science have on pharma marketing and sales. In the light of the “democratization” of Big Data, pharmas now have an opportunity to create a complete picture of the patient based on the data from diagnoses, etc., as well as segment HCPs more thoroughly in terms of their treatment patterns. This opens new opportunities as one can predict, for example, what happens when a patient of one type is under care of physician of another type in the matrix, and even use AI to predict the next physician a patient will see. With a statistically validated assessment of the physician at product launch, this allows to optimize the messaging and communicate more efficiently in digital environment. Marketing, commercial and creative – surviving under pressure How was pharma marketing operating during the turbulent year of 2020? After all, even nationwide lockdowns did not cancel the marketing cycles, so how do you, say, launch a product under this condition? In a panel aptly named Adapt or Fail, an interesting case was presented by Alisa Lask, General Manager and Vice President of U.S. Aesthetics at Galderma: launching a lip care product while people were wearing masks. While the idea of models using iPhones at homes to try and substitute a professional photoshoot would sound strange even 5 years ago, today we are in the era of crowdsourced and user-contributed content, and these original moves fit in surprisingly well with the zeitgeist. Original solutions are also required to answer a not-so-original question: what is the future of the rep? While everyone now agrees that the field force is not going to become obsolete as such any time soon, its role is now shifting. As digital has supplemented (but not supplanted) face-to-face interactions, there is a tendency to a “hybrid” engagement model mirroring the balance of telehealth/in-person appointments mentioned above. The consequences of this were discussed in a panel with Tina Goyal, Global Head Marketing Innovation and Execution, Novartis, Martin Jernigan, VP, Marketing, Akebia Therapeutics, Sirsij Peshin, VP Global Commercial Options, Pfizer, and Santos Torres Jr., Senior Director of Marketing, Allergy/Anti-Infectives/Anti-Virals, Bausch + Lomb. The key to establishing a meaningful engagement strategy with HCPs is no less than reestablishing the value proposition itself. Pharmaceutical companies have to move away from brand-centric marketing to delivering value to the HCPs – whatever that value might be. Other industries have raised the bar quite high in terms of customer experience, which calls for an approach based on careful differentiation and personalization. Demographics and personal nuances have to be embedded in any strategy that encompasses any channels, including F2F calls and digital or non-personal promotion. Another aspect of a successful engagement mindset is a careful localization with attention given to local culture specifics, again turning the focus on content. Growing omnichannel capacities by filling the content gap Another hot topic that many other ones can be traced to is creating a holistic, harmonious omnichannel system that can include the different aspects of interaction with HCPs, patients, detect pain points and help produce value propositions accordingly, delivering them in time. An in-depth look at this topic was represented in a panel with Marie-Mistral Fruit of Viseven Group, Nick Bartolomeo of Fingerpaint, Elaine Gamble of Otsuka, and Lou Marcinczyk of Bristol Myers Squibb. The question of how to link together all the aspects of digital excellence to make them reinforce each other is essentially what omnichannel is all about. In the words of Marie-Mistral Fruit, We need to understand the interaction between channel, content and data. But there is no data without interaction. If we don’t have the people that are using the content, we will not produce the data that will be relevant enough to analyze and take decisions… Everything here is coming from the client preference, and if we don’t provide the content that is really suitable for the client, they will not provide data. The way to make this strategy work involves a complex of measures, including also change management and knowledge management. Even with bulks of data available, one has to make the right people within the organization know how to act with the data on all levels. At the same time, one has to free the people’s time from manual work, and that means operating with more intelligent tools. A smart way to achieve this and perfect the communications, providing content that brings value, is the recently formulated modular approach. With content no longer created as an immediate, reflex-like reaction to market needs, a more thoughtful paradigm implies creating materials in the form of channel-agnostic modules that represent core claims supported with additional materials. These are supplied with metadata and business rules to circulate in the corporate DAM system, validated for reuse according to the business rules, and can be fitted like puzzle pieces to create content assemblies in countless combinations. Apart from (obviously) saving the resources and budget allocations on content creation, this approach provides a more coherent and flexible communication medium that can further be used as a tool to accelerate the omnichannel evolution. With more quality interactions based on personalized content, more data flows in, closing the loop and facilitating the production of exactly the modules that can be reused for further interactions to bring pharma, HCPs and patients closer and make them collaborate. To view a full recording of this panel, learn more on the approach and/or get further materials and practical cases, press the link below:
5 Trends in Healthcare Digital Agency World to Watch in 2021 Posted on December 1, 2020 by Andrii Nikulin Amid all ambiguity, 2021 is eventually coming. Everything flipped on the head when the unknown virus broke into our lives at the beginning of 2020. All the predictions made at the end of 2019 have proved remote. However, a digital agency should have a comprehensive view of what to expect in the near future. There is no guarantee that something unpredictable will not break in again, but anyway, let’s try to outline what digital agencies should focus on in 2021, based on the current situation. The time has come. Let’s visualize the pharma marketing challenges in 2020 The COVID crisis and the shift to remote working models We look back on 2020 as one of the most challenging years for the pharma. The time when the coronavirus has put pharmaceutical companies to the test. The turmoil began with the cancelation of medical congresses, commercial events, and the shift to remote working models. The pandemic has severely disrupted the routine of life sciences companies where in-person visits had always been prioritized. When this strategy started to fall apart, pharma marketers had to adapt, without much readiness, to new market realities. Pharma companies had to find alternative ways to stay in touch with the HCPs and customize their processes of content production to remote communication channels. Things of this nature always require new models of work and readiness to adjust quickly and cost-effectively. The main obstacles to ensuring the effective transition to new operating models have become: lack of time lack of previous experience In other words, the time has come to master remote tools to communicate with HCPs. Сhasing the effective digital solutions In 2020, the pharmaceutical business is a front and center as the coronavirus pandemic has put it under the spotlight. A majority (46.2%) of healthcare marketers said they’re cutting budgets for 2020, vs. 18.5% reporting an increase. 75.9% reported that coronavirus was either a significant or very significant factor in those decisions. This way, life sciences companies have not squandered their marketing budgets in 2020. They rather demonstrated willingness to invest in easily deployable and cost-effective digital solutions. Thus, the time has come for creative agencies to rethink the traditional marketing approaches and deliver only advanced and high-quality solutions to the table. Growing need for content It is now established that pharma expects new modes of work and the ability to pivot to any business realities on the fly. Now creative agencies are divided into two tribes – those offering digital innovations and those who work under an old design. This problem was exacerbated by the need to tread the path of omnichannel that is today, slowly but surely mastering the largest players on the pharmaceutical market. During the pandemic, the whole omnichannel thing didn’t turn into just “cool stuff”, but instead proved its applicability. The problem is that the omnichannel strategy requires a large amount of content. Moreover, this content should be delivered to the customer flexibly, rapidly, and efficiently. For a top-notch creative agency it means to help pharma companies streamline their process and complex workflows and introduce innovations in the content development process. The time has come to offer something more than just content. 5 trends that define 2021 for creative agencies 1. Agile processes Agility defines pharma marketing in 2021. We wouldn’t want this word to become the ubiquitous “new normal”, however, companies with agile content supply chains can seize growth opportunities and recognize potential risks faster. According to statistics, nearly 80% of healthcare executives say they need to be more agile, but only 30% are familiar with agile innovation.The thing is pharma is a regulated and complex ecosystem where each piece of content needs to go through the rounds of approvals before it’s finally ready to publish. The challenges the pharma industry is facing today require streamlined workflows, revised content supply chain and сonsistent processes within the team of content creators. What makes a creative agency as agile as it could be? Agencies that are constantly enhance their content creation processes becoming more agile. Three working models that set the tone for agility are: agile teams agile digital assets agile content supply chain An equally important link adding agility in content creation processes is the availability of technological advantage, to deliver content more flexibly. The right content authoring solution ensures that interactive content can be created from scratch, localized, and approved in a few clicks. Moreover, it helps respond, pivot, and market faster and better than the competition. This provides flexibility needed to survive the current pharmaceutical marketing environment. 2. The question of loyalty This trend doesn’t sound like something new, however, the COVID-19 in many ways has opened our eyes to the problem of disconnected communication between pharma enterprises and patients. This applies to both people who need primary care and patients with chronic diseases who cannot just “stay home to be healthy”. According to a survey, fielded prior to one of the first weeks of significant impact of the pandemic in the U.S., 73% of respondents said they feel vulnerable to COVID-19, yet just 36% said they had discussed those concerns with their healthcare providers, vs. 58% who said they had talked to “others with their condition” about it. People with chronic diseases talking about the effect of the lockdown on their healthcare routine: “When I was pregnant, there was a lack of information about prenatal care from my healthcare provider. When all the media with one voice advised us to stay away from hospitals, I felt that my condition is poorly managed. I couldn’t get a timely consultation from my doctor.” Another patient adds: “Patients with mental health issues might feel more vulnerable to the lockdown. The key challenges were to do daily exercise, and maintain daily health care. I felt a shortage of medications because I couldn’t get in touch with my doctor.” This disconnection leads to loss of brand loyalty and vast sums spent on patient care when desired outcome is not achieved. The next challenge is to engage patients into active communication with healthcare providers. To be patient-centered, pharma companies need to support omnichannel models providing an inclusive approach that helps to get better treatment outcomes and engage patients into active communication with healthcare providers. Explore a real-world case proving that omnichannel technologies improve the quality of patient care and empower patient-centricity driven by productive communication tools. 3. Powering through the coronavirus crisis Unfortunately, we won’t wake up from COVID-19 in 2021 – not this year. Coronavirus will continue to affect pharma in a number of ways, shifting their focus to digital initiatives and forcing more collaboration between organizations. Collaborative approaches and cross-enterprise collaboration will help digital agencies to tackle global challenges by joint efforts. Moreover, the right partnership provides additional flexibility that can sometimes come in handy and opens up the possibilities and fuels greater achievement to augment your own capabilities. Therefore, in 2021, we recommend relying on a mutually beneficial partnership to achieve common goals. Choose the type of relationship that will meet your business’s needs – open up Viseven partnership programs. 4. Remote is here to stay When marketers rushed to implement remote instruments into their work, it opened up a new perspective on number of tools that were previously ignored. This list can include telemedicine, self-detailing and many others instruments to explore patients without direct exposure. These solutions are becoming mainstream in 2020. In 2021 the demand will only grow. We still have no clear forecasts about the epidemic’s end. The shift toward remote models was fully appreciated by doctors because of the flexibility they give. These tools have proved to be those that can reduce sales costs and increase the efficiency of communication – which is relevant at any time.The pandemic may shift pharma sales to remote mode permanently because of the flexibility of this solution. Judge for yourself: it is not tied to the doctor’s schedule provides great coverage of the HCPs in remote regions stimulates value-based conversation between the medical representative and the doctor Benefits of Remote communication: HCPs’ opinion 5. Focus on video In the new decade, video and visualized materials will be highly effective forms of communication with target audience. Have you noticed that lately, instead of searching for information on Google, you are looking for it on YouTube? We all consume online videos daily but now we more often prefer it over statistics or plastic content. Today, marketers are more likely to create a video for their marketing campaigns. In 2020, 92% of marketers say that video is an important part of their marketing strategy. Visualized information is always eye candy. Even treatment procedures and other medical content accompanied by video stimulate more audience engagement. With the growing popularity of visualized educational medical materials, video is becoming a powerful marketing tool for HCP engagement. It is also highly trackable and allows for consult and treat patients without immediate access to hospitals or healthcare facilities. Wrapping up 2020 was like a lucid dream. However, it opened our eyes to many things. It is not only the importance of handwashing but also the need to introduce flexible technologies and establish work processes in fields that regularly take care of our health. We’ve learned the lesson about the importance of having a couple of alternative tools for HCPs engagement. The importance of introducing omnichannel technologies into the healthcare sector, not as an accessory, but as a tool that helps patients to manage their health better. This challenging time sets even more stringent requirements for creative agencies. That’s why they currently rethinking their strategies to bring even more products to the market. The time has come to improve digital asset flow and create content that will be easily adapted to any communication channel and any device. The key to succeeding? Flexibility, and there cannot be too much of it in the 2020s. With a proper content authoring solution providing for agile, reusable content, you’ll always feel confident about your agency regardless of any surprises that next year may bring us. Contact us and explore a more efficient approach to creating content.
Key Takeaways from IQVIA TechIQ Global Virtual Conference Posted on November 13, 2020 by Andrii Nikulin This autumn, innovations are on the lips of almost every major pharmaceutical conference. IQVIA TechIQ brought together more than a thousand experts from Abbvie, AstraZeneca, Bayer, GSK, Novartis, Roche, Salesforce, and other global pharma and tech leaders to share their experience in orchestrating outcomes for the life sciences industry. The changing environment has redefined and accelerated the role of digital transformation in the day-to-day approach to healthcare. That’s why the development of lifesaving therapies through virtual and digital channels had become front and center of the event. Let’s dive deep into the hot topics discussed at the premier TechIQ Global Virtual Conference. How the voice of the patients boosts brand success Effective communication and understanding of the patients’ needs is a challenge. Digital technologies are getting more involved in the healthcare sector, and now patients want to be treated in a more personalized manner. The modern healthcare approach goes beyond the pill and revolves around smart disease management. It is crucial to target the right patient and provide support and encouragement at the points they need it the most. That’s why one of the recurrent themes of the TechIQ conference was awareness, adherence, and market intelligence that boost brand success. During one of the sessions, AJ Ploszay, Ph.D. Vice President, Digital Strategy IQVIA Technologies emphasized the point: “I think we all know that a growing priority for life sciences is to embed and amplify the patient voice across the entire value chain of medicine development. Here at IQVIA Technologies, we are trying to do the same thing. As part of this ambition, we want to learn how to build trusted relationships with patients”. It is hard to disagree considering the number of challenges that brand managers face these days. According to the conference data, 25% of drug launches didn’t reach 50% of the sales target during the past 8 years. To achieve better results, pharma companies strive for greater patient centricity and a deeper understanding of patients’ routine needs. “The clock is against the brand manager. There is a huge pressure to make a successful drug launch and the amount of time they have to do this is continuously shrinking” – Martin Collyer Global Head, Orchestrated Patient Engagement IQVIA Currently, both HCPs and patients are bombarded with all sorts of information that is becoming harder to differentiate. Non personalized communication and gaps in daily interaction of patient and healthcare provider often result in poor patient adherence and impose another challenge for a brand manager. Hence the growing urge to integrate more and more data about the patients into customer engagement strategies. The question is how to reach the target audience at the right time? The target is to give them differentiated and applicable information and provide services they need at the time. In that sense, the rise of artificial intelligence is multiplying opportunities for life science companies as 85% of executives say that AI is advancing faster than their organization’s pace of adoption. IQVIA TechIQ Conference revealed the power of artificial intelligence and machine learning for HCPs engagement at its best. One of the sessions conducted by Paolo Molinari, Senior Principal, Commercial Effectiveness, IQVIA, addressed the role of advanced analytics for connected commercial platforms. One of the takeaways of this session is that AI helps to address the current challenges in commercial analytics faced by global teams in pharma. It also lifts the veil over the role that AI/ML algorithms played in the development of comprehensive solutions that will have a significant impact on healthcare management in the future. The conference addresses the AI and ML technologies as those able to change the outcome for the patient. One such solution is patient communities that integrate AI/ML, real-world data, transformative technologies, and advanced analytics. Patients are moving to more digital avenues and looking for holistic engagement. Accordingly, the engagement techniques must speak to the customer directly. Connected AI/ML-powered Commercial Insights Apps provide a single predictive view through: Identification of the target patient Filling gaps in performance to maximize brand success across HCPs and patients. Providing alerts to target the right HCPs at the right time Channel optimization Submitting predictive metrics and smart segmentation. AI/ML algorithms extract information from medical records, free text, and chats to establish patients’ journeys in real-time. Meanwhile, сommunities provide clinical, social, and emotional support when and where the patients need it. When patients are starting to take medicine, they have plenty of questions. Martin believes that all of them can be answered inside patient communities that provide personalized experiences for patients through the use of AI and ML. Inside they interact, ask questions, share information, and getting more involved in their healthcare program. In other words, this technology has the potential to become a single source of truth for the patients where they can get an answers to their questions from the right people at the right time. They help to embed the patient’s voice into customer engagement strategy and augment patient support programs. How to Thrive in the New World of Hybrid HCP Engagements The highly changeable pharma landscape creates competition for the most diverse digital HCP engagement models. Another urgent topic of the conference was how the pandemic has redefined and accelerated digital transformation. The industry is slowly but surely moving towards hybrid interaction models. Commercial teams and creative agencies are racing to adjust to new modes modified by the COVID crisis. COVID-19 prioritized virtual engagement, but it seems that doctors have also fully appreciated remote communication and the flexibility it gives. These tools have proved to be those that can reduce sales costs and increase the efficiency of communication – which is relevant at any time. IQVIA’s customer engagement model is built on a trusted and valued HCP relationship. They build this model on three pillars – extensible platform, omnichannel optimization, and orchestrated relationships. They consider remote communication in 4 aspects – remote interactions, virtual events, and webinars, HCP portal, communities. Another point is that transition to remote engagement is quite challenging. The main obstacles are usually as follows: Disconnected and siloed system Lack of tools for remote work Lack of time Lack of previous experience Hard to scale Adjusting to policies & regulations No single source of truth How to handle the shift to remote engagement and drive innovations through technology partnerships Up to this point, virtual engagement had not been well-established in the pharmaceutical industry at all. Changes of this nature always require new models of work and readiness to adjust quickly and cost-effectively. The question is how to provide a safe and cost-efficient transition for your organization? HCP engagement is a complex area where many components come together. It requires both the precise work of creative minds and technological solutions at a fundamental level. That is why, among other things, collaborations were the central theme of this conference, namely, how to drive innovations through technology partnership. IQVIA OCE ecosystem is built on the base of the Salesforce platform. Their relationship was established in 2004, since then, IQVIA is one of Salesforces’ largest customers and industry partners. This type of partnership guarantees that information can be shared across the enterprise, driving actionable insights and tailored, relevant interactions with customers. “We aim to build an ecosystem of partners and developers to continuously enhance the OCE ecosystem and quickly deploy its capabilities to the customers.” – Manish Goel General Manager Customer Engagement GBU Together with IQVIA, Salesforce launched the first clinically-focused technology solution suite for life sciences on Salesforce health could. One of the purposes of this solution is to build stronger connections between patients and clinicians. This suite contains valuable R&D insights from AI and ML. In 2021, pharma business is going to focus more on collaboration between organizations. The technological partnership of IQVIA and Salesforce is the reflection of cross-enterprise collaboration that will help digital agencies to tackle global challenges by joint efforts. IQVIA + VISEVEN IQVIA is a great partner for pharma and everyone involved in the health sector. The end-to-end capabilities of IQVIA and their leading could technologies constitute significant competition in the innovation market. The content produced by Viseven Team or exported from eWizard is perfectly compatible with IQVIA system requirements. Viseven is proud to be IQVIA’s timeproof Content Partner. Together we create and manage content to deliver customer success. Our approach to partnerships implies long-term relationships with robust technology leaders such as IQVIA, Veeva, Salesforce, Adobe Experience Manager, etc. We turn to partnerships and collaborations as a strategic move when navigating the challenges in life sciences. We invite digital agencies to join the community of our partners to achieve common goals, fuel greater achievement and augment our capabilities. Viseven can help achieve digital excellence for pharma companies in many different aspects of the omnichannel strategy. We will help you to build an elaborate omnichannel architecture that you will be able to expand gradually and get the expected outcomes for your brand. Don’t hesitate to contact our experts for insights and guidance to drive pharmaceutical innovations together!
Omnichannel communication strategy in healthcare: scrutinize your content Posted on November 1, 2020 by Andrii Nikulin Let’s dive into the topic and find out how omnichannel communication works in healthcare. Nowadays, it is essential to take care of customer service due to the high competition between players in the markets; the bar of service delivery is higher than ever. Technological progress and the spreading popularity of review sites and social media have made modern customers always compare options and choose the best one. And if they find the service does not meet their expectations, they march on quickly. When you have so many choices, you pay less attention and patience to the companies that fail to arrange efficient omnichannel communication, especially in healthcare. According to healthcare organizations’ research, 72% of customers state that it’s easier for them to “keep going with certain brands until they deliver a bad service and move on right after,” and 63% “decided to switch a brand to another when online experience is imperfect.” To control the patient experience, you must pay much attention to your communication strategy. It means additional investments in the tools and development of a single approach to keep a consistent customer experience. Omnichannel communications definition What is omnichannel communication? In a nutshell, it involves the usage of compatible channels or means of connecting with prospects and combining them, so the patient experience is indifferent and seamless of the channel they use. Any communication flows in different marketing channels can be united into healthcare omnichannel communications. The objective of the omnichannel communication system is to unify and standardize the healthcare providers’ daily activities and interactions with customers. For instance, a company may offer sales or services via different channels, platforms or resources —over the phone, by text, email, etc. With omnichannel communication for marketing, the assets and communication approach will stay solid across every channel because omnichannel flow considers all of them. Why it’s important? With omnichannel personalized communication, you receive an increase in your primary key performance indicators and customer satisfaction. It justifies additional investment and time on its implementation, as researches show us. Using customer journey maps reduces service by 15-20%. An omnichannel communication strategy is costly as companies need to create extra expenditure on advanced tools, technology, solutions and processes. Nevertheless, it has a deep-rooted effect on general metric growth. It requires a broader vision by decision-makers and must be inflicted from the very peak for success. However, funding in customer engagement strategy ends in 2x-3x RoI in the long run. It provides an 89% increase in customer retention and a 9.5% YOY growth in annual revenue. Hence, it is urgent to check with customers at what stage they are and supply consistent support across all channels. Brands that struggle to engage their customers with an omnichannel approach prevent customer lifetime attrition. What is an omnichannel customer communication strategy? Omnichannel communication starts when a company charts its customer’s journey and delivers an accordant customer experience (CX) through any online and offline touchpoints (or marketing channels), such as webpages, platforms, social media, mobile apps, physical stores, and face-to-face visits. These touchpoints are wired into a single communicational chain that delivers cohesive customer experience and marketing key messages to the target audience via different channels. Omnichannel customer communication re-examines the interactions and provides an amplified customer service experience. Why is it important for healthcare businesses? The omnichannel consumer engagement model proactively engages patients with consistent access to their healthcare information, communications with doctors, and recommendations anytime and anywhere. It makes the treatment process much more accessible and comfortable for both doctor and patient. What are the most critical issues in healthcare communication today? Lack of up-to-date communication disrupts patient and physician interaction. Here are two omnichannel customer experience examples of how it works without and with this approach so you can judge yourself: Kate tore a muscle, and her doctor told her she needed surgery. The surgery has gone well with no aftermath issues. Kate’s doctor’s office still works with orthodox communication healthcare follow-up. Upon discharge, the team provided Kate with printed instructions for after-op care and a reminder card for follow-up appointments. In the days after surgery, Kate was responsible for her post-surgical treatment at home and keeping in mind her follow-up appointments. John passed the same surgery operation as Kate. His operation has gone great, but John’s doctor’s office deployed an omnichannel health support center follow-up for post-surgical care. John went home without any paperwork or reminders upon discharge. The office has invested in comprehensive omnichannel engagement. The organization is aware of John’s communications preferences (mobile, text, or email) and has turned data across the care continuum into practicable insights. The system also suggests John’s care team with the right actions at the right time in the proper channel. The next day, a nurse rings John to check his condition, answer any questions, and ensure accordant care. He also receives an SMS reminder about a follow-up appointment and a call saying his prescriptions are up to be picked up. John gets emails with a customized post-care checklist each day for two weeks. He also can receive text notifications for each procedure throughout the day. John receives another phone call the next day because his prescriptions are still waiting. John misses the ring, which follows a voicemail message. On the third day, John still does not take his medicines, leading a nurse to call John, check-in, and inform the importance of the medication. So you can see that omnichannel communication solutions give decent care to clients and makes them trust their health and time as if you are their parents. What are the industry challenges, and what are the benefits? Physicians are hard to reach because they have a short time to check your messages. At this point, high-engagement strategies, like omnichannel, are a must. Such approach helps cover many different channels without simple ad spamming but by building a creative customer journey via all communication channels. Sticking to omnichannel digital transformation will bring you what you expect from customer interactions. Let’s move on with some tips. How to plan effective omnichannel communication in healthcare? Step 1: Choose the service platform for your omnichannel strategy Step 2: Elaborate and use consistent branding across all channels. Step 3: Establish a brand voice guide for your employees. Step 4: Build strong communication channels between company divisions. Step 5: Implement technology Clear as the sky. To make it on time for your business and customer needs, you can use our tailored solution called eWizard. Viseven team presents eWizard Imagine a medical representative’s dream – smart-organized content that updates/changes/re-designs for all channels simultaneously and quickly, plus cost reduction and cross-connected channels as benefits. What if we tell you that it is not a dream and you can easily implement such a solution? eWizard is an omnichannel communication platform that extends the standard Veeva Vault functionality offering seamless content management. eWizard makes the dream of flexible, reusable content a reality! It allows the new COPE (Create Once – Publish Everywhere) approach to reuse all previously created content for different marketing channels and purposes. Also, it is deeply integrated with Veeva Vault PromoMats, a solution for digital asset management and content deployment. Both eWizard and VeevaVault allow you to handle your marketing campaigns and deliver correct messages to the targeted audience without additional expenses, even if your materials require rework or MLR review. As healthcare and life science industries are getting used to becoming more omnichannel-oriented – brand managers should use the arsenal of diverse digital skills and models. Therefore, generating a high-quality omnichannel content strategy is a critical priority that can’t be neglected. Digital Content Factory, powered by the eWizard, is designed specifically to augment audience experience. If you are wondering how to create a powerful omnichannel strategic approach, fill out the form below and our team of experts will reach you out shortly.
3 top ways for pharma to cross from multichannel to omnichannel Posted on October 14, 2020 by Andrii Nikulin Why the omnichannel approach in marketing in life sciences companies is becoming crucial and is going to be even more widely acquired in the years to come? The widely circulating stories of how various industries have accepted the omnichannel way of leading marketing push pharma enterprises to embrace these learnings in order to tighten future communications with HCPs and other pharma stakeholders. Why not just “multichannel”? You might wonder whether this omnichannel expertise includes multichannel practices as well. Well, not exactly. “Multichannel” and “omnichannel” are both high-frequency buzzwords in pharma marketing circles, yet quite distinctive. “Multichannel” means something like, “The more channels of communication you use, the more likely you’ll get through with your key message. All you need is to add one more channel to the mix.” Here is the point, the “old” multichannel scheme implies the manager puts the channel first. However, these channels are often disconnected, and content is created for every existing channel separately without considering customer preferences or purposes. Omnichannel is, on the other hand, an integrated form of multichannel – “multichannel done right”. For example, with no omnichannel strategy in place, a pharma manager cannot see (or doesn’t have access to the database) the entire history of previous interactions with the HCP who he or she is communicating with. While omnichannel marketing allows serving customers through personalized interactions based on their preferences and other patterns. This is so far the greatest benefit of omnichannel: all the channels are connected, and content integrality provides the opportunity to build personalized customer journeys. This is the shift towards personalized care that life sciences and pharmaceuticals declared their priority. Let’s address now what needs to be within an omnichannel focus to advance marketing capabilities: Capacity to create personalized customer journeys and orchestrate the customer-centered vision Integration of multiple channels Marketing automation system Proper HCP segmentation scheme Ability to create content for a whole mix of channels 3 key factors for successful omnichannel implementation Looks like a lot of struggles could be met by pharma companies when it comes to establishing such a coherent customer experience. However, we already have proven transition methods, and here is the approach to count on: #1 Create a truly omnichannel customer experience: As the figure of the HCP becomes central in the picture, the omnichannel visualization is not just a dashboard with cumulative figures but a real customer journey map. By segmenting HCPs’database and estimating channel preferences, the journey helps represent the potential route that the customer follows on the way from encountering the key message to making the final decision. Integrate all the channels into a single ecosystem. For doing so, various platforms should be united to manage different types of interactions. Let’s say, CRM system, Marketing Automation platform, such as Salesforce Marketing Cloud, Adobe Campaign, Oracle Responsys, etc.), content management platforms, other tools and services (Webinar platform, Survey platform, Messengers, and so on). Create content that is precisely adjusted to each channel with no extra effort. In such a way, the process of content creation becomes easier and more cost-efficient. #2 Marketing automation system This step refers to creating a “data pool” which will drag data assets from different channels. Technically this can be implemented as a database handled by a Business Intelligence (BI) platform. This kind of omnichannel content integration allows to fine-tune interaction tactics across channels according to the customer journey map. Apart from automation itself, all channels that are already in the mix should be arranged with all connected touchpoints within a single journey. Use a powerful content management system in order to gather data after each interaction with the customer. CMS is software used to create, manage, and optimize content while designing user experience at the same time. Such software becomes a great help in terms of tracking and handling web content or managing website workflows. A perfectly chosen content management system stands as a single hub for marketing and sales teams, allowing both effectively communicate with each other and skyrocket customer engagement by managing digital content properly. #3 Build journeys of success One of the most noted advantages of the omnichannel approach is that you can add a needed number of channels to the existing mix, making the message heard even better. With omnichannel there are no constraints that can influence the holism of your brand message delivery – the audience will be able to hear all of it at its fullest. To start with, launch a pilot project by adding 1 or 2 channels to the mix to identify and track HCPs’ preferences and behavioral patterns. During the journey, add one more channel to the same mix to pursue the needed results. HCPs want to receive as much content as fits their needs. An omnichannel approach requires pharma to present more information about their brands to engage efficiently. Using the omnichannel approach it is easy to assume what kind of information the audience is looking for and be fully equipped to fill these requests. Life sciences have already acquired versatile solutions that help automate any content-related processes. For example, eWizard platform is the leading marketing software for omnichannel content creation, reuse, and distribution covering multiple channels. With uncertainty brought by the COVID-19 into life sciences and digital technologies that became an organic part of today’s world the industry needs, as never before, to strengthen a well-orchestrated omnichannel strategy. The great thing is, no matter whatever omnichannel pathway you are in now, starting to implement an omnichannel strategy should not necessarily be tough and dramatic. What is your company’s current level of omnichannel readiness? Viseven omnichannel experts are here to help you create a harmonious palette of HCP experiences, automating the largest amount of processes possible. This way your company gets an omnichannel toolkit that can be organically implemented into your current marketing ecosystem (using your existing CRM system, communication channels, etc.), uniting the physicians’ experience through channels. Provide your customers with the omnichannel experience they merit. Let out skilled experts elaborate perfect omnichannel journeys along with sound advice and technical support.
The Secret of Effective Interactive Visual Aid for Pharma Company Posted on October 9, 2020 by Andrii Nikulin Every reputable company has to conduct some promotional campaign to spread recognition about their product or services, even in such times of fast-growing markets as the pharmaceutical one. When promoting your products or services, you do the same about your company brand. It would be better to elaborate on an effective marketing campaign if you’d like to reach a decent level of recognition. The “effective visual marketing campaign” may sound quite harsh and complex for those familiar with the topic superficially. Nevertheless, don’t get flustered; there’s no need to invent a new method of product advertisement. There are many ways to promote your business ideas via visual aids like brochures, Thank You cards, whitepapers, etc. It especially became necessary in the pharma and life science industries. Pharma Visual Aid stands in the first line when it comes to communication between the revenue team (marketers and medical representatives) and targeted audience (like health care providers (HCP)). Properly created attractive materials can increase your company’s brand awareness and add another score in the pharma industry leadership race. Fancy-created pharma visual aids have all the essential product and service information that helps the viewer retrieve a lot of details. It should include the product company name, the compound of salts, the advantages, and other info that represent the complete picture of your business message. The pharma visual aids should be personalized and visually comforting for viewing as it dramatically influences physicians to decide to move forward with you or take a look at other proposals. What is a pharma visual aid? The pharma IVA (Interactive visual aid) is usually a piece of printed work or an e-document providing product details. Healthcare professionals use it to show product detail to physicians. It consists of text, photos, logos, and schemes to illuminate all the information on the product. The core visual aid for pharma companies is forceful It takes a moment to understand an image that causes an enduring impression on the viewer’s mind. Graphics included in it help patients and physicians to recognize the product quickly. The famous aphorism that has gained time credibility states that a single picture speaks 1000 words. Informative Print and interactive visual aids provide all the critical details about the product. It combines texts, pictures, and symbols. Essentially, it assists the HCPs in keeping in mind medicine for a long so they would consider it relevant to prescribe it to the patient. What are creative pharma visual aid design examples? As mentioned above, such visual medical materials can be presented as e-documents, presentations, and eDetailers with interactive design elements such as navigation bars, pictures, graphs, diagrams, etc. It should consist of information that will nail all customer inquiries about the products or services designed and presented in the visual form. For example, it could be an animation of the digestive process and an enzyme pill that gets inside and smoothes the process by unloading the pancreas and liver. If a particular process is presented as an interaction, it has to be consistent and creatively designed. Why is it better for you to follow such an interactive pharma visual aid approach? We will dive deeper into the topic below. Why is pharma visual design important for medical representative? The evident reason is that it has all the necessary information about the medicine. It advises HCPs or medical representatives to acknowledge and consider the product comprehensively with a higher probability of prescribing it to the patients by a doctor. Pharma visual aid design should clearly display all the info of the drug elements, such as a brand, compound, type, advantages, and indications for use. Since HCPs are highly busy and hard to reach, medical representatives do not waste their time bubbling on the matter but catch their attention with concise pharma visual aid samples with interactive data they can follow and get what they need for their work. The benefits of pharma visual aid Capable tool for Brand Awareness An interactive data visualization of fine quality is a solid medium for brand awareness among the target customers, even in these modern times. Design Brand Identity Pharma brands invest time and money to elaborate on conceptual pharma visual aid. They implement a design code that helps HCPs to understand and remember the brand identity. Compound Information The main point of a pharma visual aid is to give in-depth details about specific brands in a way that provides enduring brand uniqueness. It includes brands’ composition, indications, advantages, and mechanism of molecules in a precise creative description. Visual marketing A good pharma visual aid design assists companies in coaching their marketing team as if it gives a professional marketing pitch to customers. These solutions help them to remember the unique sales aid examples of their brands. Pharma visual aid is a dominant and influential means to design a niche for emerging businesses in the pharma market. Currently, pharmaceutical and healthcare brands are rapidly entering an extremely competitive pharmaceutical market. In such conditions, memorable, creatively designed pharma visual aid for medical representatives can provide aid for sales and drive pharmaceutical purchases. What are the challenges in visual aid pharma marketing? The pharma visual aid contains a large number of slides, but navigating between them is tough and uncomfortable, so the rep doesn’t simply have the time to switch over. In the flow of the conversation with the HCP, even seconds count. Here are some practical examples: Suppose the doctor asked a question about a drug – and the issue is actually covered in the presentation quite well; there’s a slide to show. Still, since navigating to it takes time, the rep may be (subconsciously) reluctant to use it, sticking to the general flow. Of course, the result is a stale conversation. Exactly what doctors complain about – in 64% of cases, it’s repetitive information again and again. Here’s another situation: the rep sits across the table or next to the HCP, showing slides on the tablet. Now, what’s the screen size? Arguably not that large. And the slide is so overloaded with information that the font size is as if intended for a website. The HCP has either to strain their eyes to see the content, waste another several seconds to take the tablet in their own hands – or just ignore the entire slide. This is, unfortunately, quite common. How to create a pharma visual aid design to gain more sales? Many manufacturers create pharma visual aid as a way of adding general, but important, info about the company’s indications, statistics with some graphs, and cure rates. It can drive sales if you stick to some main rules while designing a pharma visual aid: Cohesive exact info The main objective of a pharma visual aid design is to provide the compound, indications, and advantages of the specific product, so it should not meet someone halfway in the name of creativity. Edged brand purpose Any pharmaceutical sales manager should have a clear and precise image of the main aim of the particular brand, and it should be shown directly in their story. Unique selling proposition Your company will stick out among other medicines of the same compound if you succeed in outlining your unique selling proposition in your pharma visual aids. Visually attractive A picture talks a thousand words. Design your core visual message through applicable images. It would help HCPs to keep in mind your brand smoothly. Sticking to these four simple formulas will bring you a significant increase in your crucial and important productivity metrics. Are you Interested in examining your available IVAs to find out how good they are? You can download a complete checklist carefully prepared by IVA pharma professionals – and formulate your elixir for efficient detail cone or contact our team by filling contact form below.
Dynamic Content and Advanced Personalization in Omnichannel Communication Posted on October 7, 2020 by Andrii Nikulin Isn’t it great when someone knows exactly what you want at this moment? Dynamic content adds a personal touch needed to attract a customer and foster brand loyalty. Moreover, it sets a much deeper level of personalization that is currently under-proposed by pharma. Email remains one of the most effective tools for HCP engagement, so marketers are currently employing their best efforts to personalize this communication channel. In this article, we’ll try to investigate the power of dynamic content in personalization and HCP engagement and identify how it affects the email open rate. Why personalization matters The old one-size-fits-all strategy is no longer effective in customer engagement. A successful marketing campaign should make every customer feel an exceptional. Now simply entering the username in an email template and considering it personalized is like swimming in shallow water. So, the more personalized content you create – the more loyalty you get. It should take priority when you build an omnichannel strategy because the word ‘omnichannel’, above all, means personalization across channels. Personalization is meant to improve communication with HCPs across all channels and at every touchpoint. 74% of marketers say customer engagement is increased by targeted personalization. One of the key ingredients of omnichannel personalization is the adaptive content, which facilitates personalized interactions across all channels. What is dynamic content? Have you ever wondered why the video recommendations in your YouTube account match your preferences so perfectly? It’s all about dynamically generated recommendations based on your user behavior. Can users enjoy it in emails? Dynamic content opens up more possibilities for deep personalization of this communication channel. Dynamic content allows to create a general template for communication, that can be modified during the distribution process according to the customer segmentation (specialization, geography, age, gender, etc.) and attributes of their actions. This data is supplied by the users and collected from landing pages, forms, etc. Therefore, dynamic algorithms can change the format and placement of the content on a website or blog. The static content is much easier to implement, however, the difference is that dynamic content is applicable almost everywhere. You can use it on email marketing campaigns, social media ads, websites, etc. Dynamic content in email marketing Marketers use dynamic content at each stage of the customer journey because it greatly encourages their personalization efforts. In email campaigns, using dynamic content, you can create a single template that can be customized according to users’ data and preferences. Your subscribers will get the same email but with the separate images, call-to-actions and many other components. According to statistics, the click-through rate is improved by an average of 14% when using personalized email messages. Traditional personalization methods cannot provide such a personalized experience for your customers, and therefore they are less relevant today. Moreover, traditional email personalization methods require more customer data and segments, while dynamic content saves money and time spent on crafting hundreds of emails. Dynamic content in omnichannnel strategy Personalization in pharma is more in short supply rather than in excess. That’s why, there are plenty of reasons to start introducing dynamic content in your campaigns. The benefits of using it are obvious – it makes our messages more focused, personalized, interesting, and tailored for each user. At Viseven, we have conducted a series of A/B tests on different projects and tried to calculate how much personalization increases engagement and how it affects emails’ opening rate. One of the factors was the mention of the city in the email body. As a result, the open rate in our campaigns increased up to 34%. What does it take to make your content dynamic? From a technical point of view, many advanced automation platforms (Salesforce Marketing Cloud, Oracle Eloqua, Adobe Campaign) make this a reality. However, the key points to successfully apply this approach are: 1) Availability of certain data about HCPs Relevant emails must be of value to the target HCP recipient. Good segmentation of your target audience (existing accounts in CRM, prospective accounts or database records, or even the populations you’re targeting) will give you a clear idea of your potential customer. Creating personas allows you to single out a hypothetical persona that shares common characteristics for one group of your customers. The steps for creating a customer persona and segmentation are the same. This is the first step to the content that is relevant to the recipients. 2) The correct use of the data It is important to make sure that this data is organically integrated with the content and perfectly aligned to specific customers’ needs. If necessary make the required changes to keep the content engaging to subscribers. A group of brand managers and omnichannel specialists must also identify how physicians want to engage with that content and in which format. 3) The content itself Above all, you must provide HCPs with the content they want and that adds value to HCPs’ practice. Each HCP segment needs specialized content and wants to receive it in customized engaging formats. Even two endocrinologists will not necessarily be interested in the same content, because they may have different patient profiles as typical/predominant. Dynamic and personalized content should contain news or insight, and take into account the user’s previous interactions with the brand. Moreover, this message should engage users in further intense interactions with the brand. When it comes to effective email marketing, the marketer armed with the right data and delivering relevant content knows no boundaries. Dynamic content is a way to increase your exposure and click-through rate. What’s more, it saves your time, increases engagement, and improves customer experience. Today this approach assumes its rightful place in omnichannel campaigns as a powerful catalyst for comprehensive personalization. eWizard platform and the team of omnichannel experts create dynamic email content that turns your messages into an interactive and dynamic story. Fill out the form below to learn more about our expertise in the development of dynamic email content and get as much personalization you want.
Self-detailing is the Augmented Reality of Approved Email Posted on September 14, 2020 by Andrii Nikulin We’re all getting a bit tired of the words ‘remote communication’, aren’t we? However, in many places it is too early to say that the restrictions on in-person visits for HCP and medical representatives might be lifted shortly. Moreover, remote communication practices have shown their usefulness not only as a reaction to the coronavirus, but also independently of it. That’s why we observe the struggle of powers for the most diverse remote engagement techniques between pharma enterprises. This struggle has prompted marketers to turn their attention to a wide variety of remote communication tools, including those that were previously ignored. In much the same way, a growing number of experts have turned their attention to self-detailing and continue to explore its power in HCP engagement. Now let’s focus on the distinctive feature of self-detailing as a versatile omnichannel tool that augments the reality of Approved Email and complements other communication channels and devices for maximum engagement. Think of the evolution of eDetailing Considering that eDetailing became an integral part of digital pharma marketing nearly 20 years ago, it’s time to pause and reflect on how it turned into one of the major channels for HCP engagement. The reason behind this is the convenience and ability to present your product from various angles. Besides, it is its versatility that has large importance, as the tool to provide HCP engagement here and now, when the doctor is ready. Continuous development of interactive technologies like 3D animation and gamification elements that are now available in eDetailing are making the content even more interactive for the HCP. How this all started and where everything goes The whole eDetailing thing started as the meetings that were tied to the doctor’s schedule. However, timid voices soon began to emerge, calling for the opportunity for doctors to watch content on their terms. With the advanced development of technologies, various derivations of eDetailing have appeared. Due to many obstacles to timely and structured communication between the doctor and med rep, self-detailing has not lost its relevance; however, it receded into the shadows for a long time. Now, however, this long-neglected long-neglected “relic of the past’’ got a renaissance when remote communications became a priority. The remote mode of HCP engagement has made pharma brand managers appreciate the flexibility, convenience, and unimpeded communication this solution provides. Moreover, attention was drawn to its ability to work in conjunction with other channels of communication, which got new appreciation in the era of omnichannel engagement. This is how the story looped and self-detailing regained its former popularity in our troubled days when pharma marketing needs more mature strategies to engage HCPs. Preferable marketing channels to engage HCPs, based on research The turmoil began when the coronavirus pandemic banned face-to-face visits with HCPs. Pharmaceutical brands maintain a dialogue with their target audience through all means of communication. Although, now, in an effort to retain their target audience, numerous pharmas rushed to invest their efforts in remote communication channels. One of the most important insights is that HCPs show readiness to receive this information online (79%). Moreover, they signal that they want to receive this information through a mix of channels. For example, 43% of HCPs prefer to engage with reps through email versus remote engagement (12%). This way, everyone turned to omnichannel for a reason. It has already been proven that marketers using three or more channels in their campaigns earn 90% higher customer retention than those using single-channel campaigns. Here are the top channels for HCPs engagement: Going back to remote communications, it is worth saying that even the greatest of channels may become oversaturated eventually. This is what many marketers are seriously wary of today. When COVID broke out, pharmaceutical companies started bombarding doctors with thousands of emails and other messages from all quarters. Hence the fear of “digital oversaturation” began. HCP pharma emails may simply become alike… How to stop killing the email channel and stay on top? The answer is to diversify your email practices and add: Personalization with dynamic content Flexibility and quick production with modular approach Use of extra capacities such as email fragments in Veeva Approved Email What is Self-Detailing? Earlier in our blog, we talked about what self-detailing is and why it remained in shadow for a long time. During self-detailing HCP looks through all the materials independently. The ability to provide HCPs with valuable information respecting their schedule is one of the greatest features of this communication channel. Besides, the average duration of engagement increases to 25 minutes. This guarantees that the HCP will have time to carefully read all information. Let’s look at the process of self-detailing: The agency creates assets Detailing slides and Approved Email Then the content is uploaded in Veeva Vault (or other DAM system) Content gets approval in Veeva Vault (or other DAM system) Detailing slides published to eWizard content authoring solution Content published to the CRM Representative sends Approved Email to HCP HCP clicks the link and views the Detailing slides Detailing Session KPIs are synchronized back to the CRM Self-detailing cannot be a substitute for all channels, but it indeed can become a great addition. The rep can share the information on products that were not detailed on remote call for any reason (poor internet connection, lack of time, etc) after both face-to- face or remote calls. Alternatively, self-detailing can be used as the follow-up to share additional information with HCP after a webinar or a regular F2F eDetailing session. As 65% of younger-generation HCPs considered digital natives prefer a mix of face-to-face and digital channels, high target face-to-face calls frequency can be mixed with Self Detailing. Sometimes marketers want to present more than one product during a meeting, which is difficult or even impossible due to the doctor’s lack of time, but more precisely because it is simply too much. Then, it is highly recommended to use self-detailing as the complementary tool to give profound information about each product. 3d or 4th product can be shared via Self Detailing. This way, we come to understand that one of the greatest features of self-detailing is the ability to complement any communication channel and any device. In other words, the possibility to act as a complementary tool for the pharma multichannel and omnichannel approaches. This channel can a part of face-to-face, remote engagement, used in conjunction with email, webinar, or mobile and receive maximum engagement. Doesn’t it sound like a great promise in the future of omnichannel-oriented HCPs? Self-detailing + Approved Emails The key to self-detailing is email. The representative sends the HCPs an Approved Email with a link to view a presentation by themselves. Session KPIs, questionnaire answers, feedback are collected automatically and synchronized back to the CRM system. Thus, self-detailing is capable to supplement and diversify your email practices. However, it’s anyone’s guess what happens to email when we send it to the HCP. Whether it was even opened, read, or immediately deleted? Slightly above, we found out that interactivity and a high level of personalization are the factors that will allow your emails to stand out. It is important, because according to statistics, 66% of HCPs want to be able to receive email from the med rep. If you’re a doctor and you receive an email with a self-detailing presentation inside, it is your chance to dive deep into fascinating interactive content. Something different from the usual eDetailing, as a full-screen interactive presentation with the voiceover/script with pronounced messages, subtitles, clear navigation, and self-guided flow. Once physicians review the materials, they can fairly evaluate the content. This feature is called to reveal HCPs’ “unfiltered” opinion on presentation. Besides, the combination of Approved Email and Self-Detailing allows you to cover doctors in remote areas where they usually cannot be reached. Thus, you can expand the coverage of HCPs in any location, at the peak of remote communication boom and in the future. The final thought In the era of hybrid communication, it is difficult to choose the right channel to engage HCPs. The gradual changes in quarantine measures continue to undermine the ever more precarious position of the marketers. For this reason, they are in search of reliable solutions that will provide stability in relationships with HCPs. The self-detailing module carefully designed and improved by Viseven enables unprecedented HCPs coverage and considerable savings. Add self-detailing in your campaign to get the most honest metrics and gain a better understanding of HCPs’ true behavior and interests during the pandemic, and further. Contact us to get a demo and reach out to HCP through the ideally personalized communication channel.
How to Improve Patient Adherence with Omnichannel Technologies Posted on September 7, 2020 by Andrii Nikulin New technologies influence the majority sides of the healthcare industry, from how the treatment is provided to the time and place where patient’s interactions are carried out. Past are days of frequent clinical visits and phone-only support using legacy technologies. On the contrary, customers anticipate HCP to implement digital patient adherence strategies to fit both expanding patient preferences and increasing trust in mobile platforms. HealthTech magazine research shows us the COVID-19 circumstances made patients use mob devices much more frequently to communicate with medical professionals. For instance, Mckinsey report uncovered that 80% of Med Tech companies dislocated some of their marketing costs (in some occasions more than 20%) to digital channels. It’s no wonder ⅔ of Med Tech companies anticipate digital channels to answer with more than 20% of their profit by 2025. By questioning themselves on how to improve adherence to medication, many HCPs modernized communications by using omnichannel technologies. It has become a primary case for healthcare leaders to comply with preferences of patients, engagement strategies, and perfect customer experience. What is meant by improving patient adherence? We are going to reveal this further below. What is Patient Adherence? Patient adherence characterizes a grade to what patients properly stick to primary care advice. It is generally all about curing or drug compliance, but it might also relate to other contexts, such as medical device use, self-care, taking medications, or therapy proceedings. Both parties: the patients and HCP, stick to compliance. Meanwhile, a friendly physician-patient relationship is also critical in enhancing adherence. Access to treatment plays a central role in adherence, whereby longer wait time to access medication contributes to greater job no-shows. The cost of prescription care also plays an important role. Compliance can be mixed up with concordance when patients and physicians decide together about taking their medications and treatment plan. Globally, non-compliance is a primary barrier to adequate health care. In 2021 World Health Organization indicated that only 50% of patients with chronic illnesses residing in developed countries stick to care advice with notably low adherence to therapy proceedings for diabetes, hypertension, and asthma. The main obstacles to compliance include the involvement of contemporary medication regimes, poor health literacy and not comprehending care advantages, the appearance of unpredicted “side effects”, low care satisfaction, the price of the drug, and insufficient connection between patients and physicians. Attention to perfect compliance has involved: simplifying medication packaging; sending effective care reminders; improving patients literacy; limiting medications prescribed synchronously. Researches show a wide variety in terms of the characteristics and effects of interventions to improve medication adherence and help patients. However, It is still obscure how to sequentially improve medical adherence to cause clinically significant results. Barriers to Medication Adherence Unluckily, there are several barriers to reaching medication adherence which all cause alerting results and statistics spoken in the previous paragraph. Here are 3 of the most extraordinary factors: poor health literacy The Center for Health Care Strategies unravels that about 36% of adults in the US have poor literacy, explained as the grade to which persons can acquire, process, and comprehend basic info and services required to decide on proper care. Little health literacy causes medication non-adherence (in addition to some other wellness and financial factors). Patients cannot seize critical concepts: how to fulfill medication, when, and how much to take prescribed pharmacy. Attaining and sustaining adherence becomes too demanding, if not possible. side effectsWhen patients experience adverse side effects from medications, they are more likely to stop taking the drugs or attempt to self-adjust their regimen to offset the effects. Many different side effects can contribute to non-adherence. A survey presented by Health Dialog found that weight gain, nausea/indigestion, dizziness/fatigue, and skin irritation were examples of such adverse side effects. polypharmacyPatients who take at least five drugs commonly referred to as polypharmacy, face many problems directly related to many prescriptions. These include a complicated dosing schedule, confusion in instructions, numerous side effects, and high costs. The challenges and barriers to medication lead to a loss of brand loyalty among the patients who feel like the X brand has failed to meet their expectations. The reason behind poor medication adherence strategies starts with simple forgetfulness. However, in most cases, the gaps in day-to-day interaction between patients and pharma brands are to blame. You can avoid all those barriers and leverage patient care to a new level of excellence if you implement a proper omnichannel marketing strategy for adherence. Let’s dive into the topic below. Strategies to Improve Patients Adherence to Medication The modern approach is not about medication sales. It revolves around the customization of disease management and helping patients. The statistic is relatively straightforward, 84% of all customers say it is essential for companies to treat them as a person, not a number, to win their business. That’s why pharma brands are going after omnichannel experiences meant to express genuine concern for patients’ health and engage them in the healthcare journey across multiple channels. Omnichannel empowers patient-centricity driven by productive engagement tools and opens new ways to improve medication adherence. The omnichannel journey starts with identifying pain points to map the patient journey and define the engagement strategy that says, “we root for your success”. It is crucial because 61% percent of customers say a commitment to their success or satisfaction strengthens their loyalty. The optimal channel mix supports your message and provides value measured by good treatment outcomes based on overall satisfaction of patients. In summary, omnichannel stimulates interaction where one channel complements the other, thereby improving patient outcomes and provider performance. How Omnichannel Enhances Patients Adherence? Our team of experts has been engaged in developing a full-fledged customer journey for patients suffering from chronic diseases. The process consisted of several necessary steps. Regarding an adherence program, it is worth considering all possible scenarios of patients’ behavior. As far as early identification of patient needs leads to a more customized patient experience, segmentation was among the first steps to take. It gave us a profound understanding of patients’ needs, medication regimens, data about their behavioral trends, and barriers preventing them from timely medication. The team has chosen an optimal mix of significant and additional communication channels for always-relevant engagement. Integration of those channels has paved the way for personalized interaction providing interconnection with the content transmitted between them. As a result, patients enjoyed timely and targeted delivery of individualized content regarding prescribed medicine through preferred channels. Based on all the steps, we developed a deliberate architecture integrating all channels into an omnichannel approach and activating the customer journey chain built on various scenarios of patient behavior. Factors such as level of commitment and motivational triggers were taken into account to dose patient support wisely. As a result, the communication program increased the adherence of patients with heart disease by 2.8 months. The adherence of patients with diabetes increased by 4.1 months. Medication Adherence Solutions Patient-centricity provides a degree of empathy and management to close gaps in day-to-day communication between patients and HCPs. It helps to achieve the best possible results and lower healthcare costs for both parties. The introduction of an omnichannel approach toward modern medical management is vital, and its role in daily patient care and regimens cannot wait. To learn more about the true nature of the omnichannel approach to designing holistic communication with the patient, download a free copy of our medication adherence patient case study.
5 Omnichannel Tactics from Different Industries – Adapted for Life Sciences Posted on September 2, 2020 by Andrii Nikulin Many industries, from groceries to cosmetics or entertainment are currently on their way to omnichannel. Pharma rushes to keep pace with customer expectations and introduces omnichannel tactics into campaigns. However, compared to other industries, pharma is rather slow in mastering omnichannel. So far, almost exclusively large pharmaceuticals are managed to provide omnichannel experiences to their customers. Let’s compare the experience of using omnichannel tactics in pharma and other industries and try to figure out what is already successfully works, and what else could be adopted. 5 Brands Where Omnichannel is Thriving 1. The real magic of ‘My Disney Experience’ app Disney is currently one of the leaders in the omnichannel promotion. Their own ‘My Disney Experience’ app is set up so you could plan every detail of your trip to Disney World. Customers start their journey on moble-responsive Disney website where they can purchase tickets to a theme park and movie theater, and many more. From the moment of order, visitors can feel the real magic of this application allowing them to track their route on the GPS map, search for the nearest restaurants or attractions, track wait times, and many more. The developed technologies allow visitors to save time and effort because the vacation on such a huge territory can be exhausting even in the magical kingdom (especially if you are with kids). Pharma’s response Disney obviously knows its audience very well. To achieve a similar effect, Pharma mapping patients’ journeys to lavish them with always relevant and targeted content in a format HCPs want to receive it and precisely through the channels they prefer. In theory, there could also be an application with a doctor’s personal account, where they can order a visit from a medical representative, check information on drugs, publications, company news, self-detailing, and much more. Just like Disney, pharma could also create equally convenient applications that allow, in a similar way, for example, to follow the course of medications by patients with chronic diseases who have been adhering to therapy for a long time. 2. Sephora as a brilliant example of in-app purchases Sephora is a top cosmetics retailer and omnichannel master that is blurring the line between online and in-store shopping experiences. Sephora is a brilliant example of in-app purchases. Their customers can make purchases online, put items in Beauty Bag, and track orders in their accounts. Moreover, the cosmetics retailer went further by offering customers video tutorials, the ability to compile wish lists with their favorite products, and try on products using specially developed digital software. In-store visitors can access their Beauty Bag through the available tablets. Pharma’s response In a similar fashion, American pharmaceutical retailer CVS/pharmacy introduces more convenience to the pharmacy experience with the Ship & Save online program that allows shoppers to use their smartphones and tablets to order, change or cancel medications, refill prescriptions, access daily updates, and more. Moreover, smartphones doctors carry every day could help them to perform their clinical duties by collecting patients’ data, accessing electronic health records and medical information, and many more. 3. Topshop: high fashion going out Topshop is an omnichannel groundbreaker among fashion retailers. Throughout fashion week in the UK, Topshop has shod trendy omnichannel shoes by introducing the concept of digital billboards. The Twitter-supported concept was designed to identify trends straight from the catwalk by generating hashtags on billboards. The target audience could easily find a trendy items directly from the catwalk, since each billboard was placed within a 10-minute walk of the physical store. Pharma’s response A similar concept has already been developed by one of the largest pharmaceutical companies when MYRA digital billboards were successfully used as part of their customer engagement strategy. Digital billboards can be further used in the pharmaceutical industry as an innovative communication channel to deliver dynamic advertising on the modern and technological canvas. 4. Starbucks: playing it for the personalization Starbucks App is redefining the traditional customer loyalty program with smart technologies. Starbucks app generates personalized recommendations based on more than 400 other store-level criteria. Moreover, visitors enjoy a free reward card accessible via the phone, website, in-store, or on the app. Any changes to the card or your profile are updated across all channels in real-time. Pharma’s response Starbucks users enjoy an algorithm that generates personalized recommendations for them. What about a similar algorithm that could, for example, select specialized articles and materials for doctors? Speaking of a similar flexible customer reward system operating in the pharma, there is American pharmaceutical retailer Walgreens with their own the Walgreens app allows users to earn points on purchases, store them in the app, and spend them as cash in a store or online. 5. Mercedes-Benz simplifies the customer’s life German automaker Mercedes-Benz also uses omnichannel engagement initiatives in their campaigns. The Mercedes Me app and a comprehensive program called “My Mercedes, My Service” are integrating multiple platforms to simplify the customer’s life. Within the program, there are different ways of making appointments with brand experts, including via the Internet. Moreover, there are functions such as “Remote video chat” and “Pick up and drop” designed to solve problems related to vehicle maintenance and others. Pharma’s response Today pharma deploying various apps for clinical communications. These types of apps simplify communication between healthcare providers and facilitate quick responses with virtual functionalities, such as voice calling, video conferences, messaging, etc. Moreover, today they present a grand convenience for the doctor to order a remote detailing or self-detailing session with a medical representative. Omnichannel came to pharma from other industries, so pharma is now in a unique position to adopt their best practices. Pharma is actively engaged in this process to unify the physicians’ experience through all channels. It means that all the information a doctor sees in an email, hears on a webinar or from a medical representative creates a harmonious palette. Omnichannel technologies open a wide range of possibilities for the doctor’s practice and can increase their brand loyalty. A move towards omnichannel starts with understanding how to manage it correctly. Turn to our experts for assistance and guidance to build elaborate omnichannel architecture ones, and get the expected outcomes for your brand.
