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HEALTH & WELLNESS
Simplicity is key to online success with consumers.
[Pharmaceutical Executive]
The Internet has grown to the point that it reaches consumers at most socioeconomic levels, expanding the market and creating new opportunities for pharma. According to Paulo Costa, Novartis’ CEO and president, that means the industry must do all it can to meet the increasingly sophisticated needs of millions of e-health consumers-and the millions more that they influence. An estimated 63.3 million consumers are searching the Web for accurate, credible, easy-to-understand health-related information – and not finding it. Even those who find the information they need often don't understand it. Costa sees that failure as pharma's opportunity: to improve the quality and delivery of both disease- and treatment-specific web content and to raise consumers' health literacy.
"Patients and their loved ones have a right to know about diseases and treatment options and a right to have that information presented in a relevant, accessible manner," says Costa. "We understood early on that the use of technology can improve marketing efficiency and customer relationships."
Costa says Novartis learned that investment in technology can equal investment in consumer satisfaction, and that helping consumers get the information they need online when they need it not only encourages them to take an active role in their healthcare but also provides value to the company and its individual brands.
"Each day, our customers validate that theory in increasing numbers," he says. "Our commitment to Web-enabled health literacy has helped us progress from building Web sites to building one of the industry's premier online brand experiences in just two years."
Missed Opportunities
Novartis' e-marketing team commissioned Manhattan Research to interview 3,003 consumers to determine their attitudes and needs regarding online health information. The research showed significant needs in providing third-party content that is easy to read, accurate, and credible.
Manhattan Research’s president, Mark Bard, says that, within disease categories, there are two subsegments – patients and information seekers – that are important to companies’ understanding of the way people search for or use information. "Although the two overlap in many cases, there is still a segment number of non-patient information seekers."
Bard believes it’s a mistake to look at customers in that subsegment and dismiss their relevance to marketing efforts. "In an area like oncology, 40–50 percent of those seeking information online are not patients, but they may be parents of children with cancer or children of cancer patients."
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