The physician practice landscape has undergone a considerable transformation in recent years, with advancing technology, an evolving healthcare environment and a push for patient-centricity in pharma. Faced with these changes, pharmaceutical companies need to adapt their healthcare professional (HCP) engagement strategies to meet new demands and the expectations of healthcare professionals (HCPs) who are increasingly proficient in digital technologies.
Traditional HCP engagement processes rely heavily on face-to-face sales and marketing, including meetings with pharma reps, conferences and events, with significant support from non-personal promotion (NPP) techniques, such as medical journals and publications, direct mail campaigns, and printed marketing collateral.
But with the pandemic, the need for NPP surged as the demand for safety and social distancing led to enormous leaps in innovation and digital technologies. This kind of transformation and rapid adoption of technologies is now driving cutting-edge digital HCP engagement strategies. Clunky legacy methods of engagement are being replaced by digital tools and digital communication channels, as digital-first marketing takes center stage. But are pharmaceutical companies doing enough?
According to McKinsey’s Digital Quotient, pharma is slow to adopt digital processes in their HCP engagement and is lagging behind all major industries, except for the public sector, in digital maturity.
The critical question here is—how can pharma navigate rapid digital evolution and transform HCP-pharma interactions to meet HCP demands?
HCP engagement refers to the process of connecting, interacting and building a meaningful relationship with HCPs so that pharmaceutical companies can support HCPs in their practice and improve patient outcomes.
For pharmaceuticals, effective HCP engagement improves reputation, enabling them to stay competitive in the market and contribute to the success of their products and services.
This is an ongoing relationship with open and transparent communication that responds to HCP needs and feedback. It involves communicating the latest developments, offering relevant information, and providing effective tools and solutions to inform better HCP decisions.
Interestingly, while millions are invested in market research to understand HCPs’ behaviors, preferences, and decision-making drivers, this research often focuses too narrowly on treatment decisions from a physician’s perspective. What’s often overlooked is that HCPs are human first, not just treatment decision-makers. This gap creates a significant disconnect, as pharma brands frequently fail to capture the human side of their customers, neglecting the dynamics that shape their professional behavior. Check out this data-backed infographic to explore the rapidly changing landscape of medicine and how it is impacting the lives of physicians in the US. As a result, traditional engagement methods are being replaced by innovative digital HCP engagement tools and omnichannel strategies.
Digital HCP engagement is the use of digital technologies, tools, platforms, and channels in the engagement process, driven by the increased demands for personalization and seamless experiences. Tech-savvy healthcare professionals, especially younger HCPs, now emphasize a work-life balance and prefer the convenience and ease offered by digital technology.
Digital engagement takes place through e-mail, social media, apps, virtual meetings and events, websites and other digital communication channels. It involves providing online educational resources, creating interactive portal content, edetailing, harnessing data and leveraging behavioral targeting.
To develop effective HCP engagement, understanding digital trends and HCP preferences in a highly evolving digital landscape is necessary so that pharma can optimize their strategies. Here are some notable trends driving digital HCP engagement:
Growing digitization, with rapid advances in AI and machine learning, has completely changed HCP expectations, despite the return of face-to-face meetings after the pandemic. More healthcare professionals are now used to the ease and convenience offered by digital formats. As busy professionals, they are time-poor and want to receive relevant content through their preferred channels and devices, which include virtual meetings, websites, webinars, emails, and social media.
This transition from traditional HCP engagement to approaches that include both personal and non-personal channels, with a strong focus on digital technologies, emphasizes the important role of omnichannel strategies in HCP engagement. These strategies integrate multiple channels and personalized content to deliver a cohesive and seamless engagement experience.
Research shows that physicians actively engage with life science brand content across more than 10 digital and in-person channels. This highlights the importance of leveraging multiple digital channels along with personal promotion methods, and not only relying on one or two channels to engage with HCPs.
The goal of omnichannel HCP engagement is to create a synergistic experience across all touchpoints between pharmaceuticals and HCPs. It’s about guiding HCPs along the customer journey by utilizing various channels where pharma companies can meet HCPs where they are and engage with them in meaningful ways. The approach not only enhances HCP interactions and improves their satisfaction but also extends reach, strengthens relationships, and ultimately contributes to better patient outcomes.
Watch this webinar where Newristics shared the latest developments in omnichannel marketing and provides recommendations to get more performance out of non-personal promotion channels.
At this point, it’s important to understand that omnichannel engagement is not the same as multichannel engagement. These two terms are often used interchangeably but have different meanings.
Multichannel engagement, which has recently been widely used to engage HCPs, utilizes multiple channels for engagement. However, all touchpoints are not coordinated and present a fragmented user experience to HCPs.
Omnichannel HCP engagement is holistic and creates a “surround sound” effect so that HCPs are experiencing cohesive messaging across all channels. The HCP is central to omnichannel strategies, where all touchpoints work together to present a unified customer-centric user experience. Omnichannel engagement is, in fact, digital HCP engagement, and the most effective way forward for pharma and life science companies.
Successful HCP engagement strategies seamlessly integrate digital tools with traditional methods, enhancing the overall experience for healthcare professionals, pharmaceutical companies, and patients alike.
Here are six key benefits of optimizing HCP engagement:
Adapting to HCP PreferenceNearly 70% of HCPs are digital natives, and more HCPs are using smartphones, apps, social media and other digital technologies in their everyday interactions. This is shifting their expectations even in workflows and business interactions, with an increasing demand for seamless and integrated experiences.
By using digital HCP methods, pharma can cater to what HCPs want and quickly adapt to their evolving digital and communication preferences, while remaining relevant and useful to HCPs. Not only that, but HCPs are also more likely to view pharma companies as being more in tune with the needs of patients and HCPs.
Increased Flexibility and Convenience Digital engagement channels allow HCPs to access content and engage with pharma companies at a time that is suitable for them. This is particularly important for many HCPs who need the flexibility in their schedules to balance a busy professional life, including time for learning and continuing medical education.
Digital tools and HCP engagement platforms streamline the process and offer easy and convenient access to resources, which not only reduces workload pressure but also allows for more quality time with patients.
This flexibility also supports a better work-life balance for HCPs, allowing them to manage their schedules more efficiently, reducing the need for time-consuming in-person meetings and spending less time on travel for on-site appointments.
When pharmaceutical companies can provide this kind of effortless convenience, HCPs are more likely to engage with them frequently.
Personalized Experiences Today, HCPs expect a customer-centric experience, making personalized engagement a top priority. According to a 2023 report, 40% of physicians believe that they are less likely to engage with life sciences or pharma if the information provided is not personalized or just “generic to their needs.” This highlights the importance of personalized experiences in the HCP engagement process.
Digital engagement tools and strategies enable personalization, ensuring the interactions are relevant and valuable to HCPs. With advanced digital technologies, the content and delivery can be customized to align with the preferences of individual HCPs and tailored to their specific needs, interests, and behaviors. This approach allows for the content to be delivered precisely when it is needed.
It also enhances efficiency in clinical practice. HCPs can deliver better care to their patients as they stay informed with knowledge relevant to their patient’s needs. When the content is personalized, HCPs spend less time wading through irrelevant information and promotions and more time on patient care.
For pharma, better engagement leads to stronger relationships with HCPs. By providing personalized user experiences, pharmaceutical companies demonstrate empathy and understanding towards HCPs, which leads to deeper engagement and higher conversions. This tallies with a 2024 report that personalized experiences have the biggest impact on HCP engagement.
Enhanced Omnichannel Strategies While many HCPs are increasingly engaging through digital channels, there are those who also prefer traditional methods of engagement, such as face-to-face meetings. An omnichannel approach allows pharma to meet the diverse needs of HCPs, using a mix of digital and traditional engagement methods. This enhances the effectiveness of omnichannel efforts by seamlessly integrating multiple channels and unifying the messaging across all touchpoints. As a result, HCPs encounter a more synergistic and personalized user experience tailored to their needs and preferences.
Utilizing various engagement channels also helps pharma reach a broader audience. For example, 87% of pharma reported a wider geographical audience due to virtual attendance, according to an EPG Health report. Omnichannel strategies multiply the marketing effort across various channels, ensuring the content and messages are more likely to be seen and remembered, offering a higher return on investment for pharma and, ultimately, better experiences for HCPs
According to a 2022 McKinsey report, when omnichannel engagement is implemented well, early omnichannel adopters observed increases of 5%-10% in revenue, 10%-20% in marketing efficiencies and cost savings, 3%-5% in number of prescribers, and 5%-10% in HCP satisfaction.
Better Data Utilization Data plays a crucial role in successful marketing efforts. Information about HCP characteristics and their interactions—including data on products, services, content, market and sales—is essential in developing patient-centric models of marketing that align with HCP preferences.
Analytics empower omnichannel engagement by integrating data from various channels, presenting a comprehensive view of HCPs. This allows pharma to derive valuable insights and develop meaningful and personalized touchpoints along the customer journey for each HCP.
Better data optimization enables better A/B testing and the development of agile content delivery, which can drive improvements in product positioning, channel mix, messaging optimization and HCP engagement.
Stronger Business Relationships Companies that incorporate digital engagement approaches can effectively use digital tools and platforms to engage with relevant, real-time and ongoing communication and support. This is favorably perceived by HCPs, who look at pharmaceutical companies as digital innovators committed to patient-centricity and the needs of HCPs.
By providing relevant and timely information, pharma can demonstrate their commitment to patient care, compliance and transparency. These build trust and they are seen as trusted partners whom HCPs can rely on.
The integration of digital technologies and personal promotions also supports the sales process by enabling sales reps to deliver targeted messaging in face-to-face meetings based on feedback from digital channels. Conversely, insights gained from the sales team can help refine digital content and digital engagement strategies. This symbiotic relationship between marketing and sales leads to more effective HCP engagement and strengthens relationships between HCPs and pharmaceuticals.
Research shows that 98% of pharma executives believe that implementing omnichannel strategies is important. Pharma leaders understand that an omnichannel approach with digital competencies is the best way to engage with busy HCPs who are often inundated with information and promotional content. They are aware of the changing demands and expectations of HCPs, and they understand that meeting these demands is critical.
While a high percentage of pharma executives emphasize the importance of omnichannel strategies, executing these strategies is a different story.
Many pharmaceutical companies still have separate marketing teams for personal promotion and omnichannel marketing or multi-channel marketing. This tallies with a 2023 study by EPH Health, which states that “Only 15% of pharma consider their HCP engagement to be omnichannel (with centralized content and data management to enable fully integrated channels).”
That means 85% do not think their HCP engagement to be omnichannel. The same 2023 study reports, “While some are still using entirely isolated channels, half describe their current HCP engagement as multichannel (delivering touchpoints with some consistency of strategy, content and experience) and a third are leveraging cross channel (connected journeys across multiple channels).”
With separate teams for personal promotions and omnichannel or multichannel, the content creation process is initiated by the personal promotion team, who design visual aids used by sales reps during their in-person meetings with HCPs. Omnichannel teams inherit this content and are responsible for adopting legally approved content for digital and other channels. Omnichannel teams also often handle many brands, whereas each brand has its own personal promotion team. This scenario can create several issues, hindering HCP engagement:
With teams operating in silos, there can be inconsistencies in content and brand messages across the various channels, which can be confusing for HCPs.
Rather than presenting a unified user experience, disjointed messaging across personal promotion and digital channels can create fragmented experiences for HCPs, diminishing the effectiveness of the marketing strategies. This can also negatively affect HCP satisfaction and engagement.
For omnichannel strategies to be effective, the content needs to be personalized for different HCP segments and channels. However, when the omnichannel team simply repurposes content from personal promotion for other channels, it misses the opportunity for personalization, leading to a weaker impact on engagement.
Each channel needs a different format of the content, as each channel has unique requirements. Additionally, HCPs engage differently with each channel. When content is merely inherited from the personal promotions team, it may not be optimized for other channels or for HCP preferences. This type of one-size-fits approach fails to leverage the strengths of each channel, resulting in lower HCP satisfaction.
Separate teams can pose various challenges in coordinating action plans between personal promotion and omnichannel efforts. Without close collaboration and alignment between the teams, the cohesive brand experience for HCPs is compromised.
When teams and campaigns are not aligned, the subsequent data and insights from disparate activities present an incomplete picture, restricting the ability of omnichannel teams to effectively optimize content for HCP preferences and different channels.
While HCP engagement offers many advantages, it also presents some challenges that need addressing:
Even though HCPs are now asking for hybrid forms of interaction that include both virtual and face-to-face meetings, nearly 44% of HCPs have a preference for face-to-face interactions in the channel mix, according to a 2023 IQVIA analysis. Digital engagement technologies such as virtual meetings, online events, and webinars do not offer the benefits of personal interaction necessary to build trust and meaningful relationships.
According to EPG Health, less than 20% of HCPs are getting personalized experiences. This means that nearly 80% of HCPs believe they’re experiencing a one-size-fits-all approach, which is a major challenge of digital engagement, especially when the content and experiences are not optimized for each channel. Delivering the right content at the right time based on HCP preferences requires various elements to work harmoniously, such as predictive analytics, data-driven insights, responsive technology and close listening. This can be challenging, especially for pharma companies struggling to transition from legacy processes.
The absence of face-to-face (F2F) interactions can also present problems with personalization. More than 76% of experienced key opinion leaders (KOL) feel that F2F interactions are more personalized. That’s because F2F interactions offer higher levels of personalization and enable real-time modification of the interaction based on the immediate needs of HCPs, enabling relevant information and insights to be delivered on the spot. This is somewhat possible with virtual meetings, which offer some degree of personalization. However, other digital channels lack this kind of immediate adaptability.
The dynamic digital environment can prove to be overwhelming for HCPs when they are constantly bombarded with information. This can lead to content fatigue and affect engagement rates, making it harder to capture their attention, especially when the human attention span is already limited with regard to digital content. In fact, 62% of HCPs feel overwhelmed by the promotional content pushed by pharma on their digital channels, highlighting a major challenge of digital engagement.
One huge stumbling block for pharma is providing “real value”—a major challenge for 77% of companies according to an EPG Health report. This is largely attributed to the poor digital maturity of some pharma companies and the lack of personalized experiences in digital engagement. Additionally, there is an increasing lack of trust in pharma content, particularly when many HCPs consider the content on digital channels to be promotional. This is driving HCPs to seek credible and trusted information from third-party or independent providers.
Building long-lasting HCP engagement strategies that work is more difficult now, with constant changes and disruptions in the digital technology landscape—from algorithm updates, content filtering to new technologies and communications platforms. Pharma now faces the challenge of staying ahead of these changes to effectively engage with HCPs.
Pharmaceutical companies must comply with strict regulations and compliance such as GDPR and HIPAA, that govern digital data and how it is used for personalized experiences. They must also comply with specific market regulations for each region or country when creating or repurposing content for various digital channels.
The good news is that 63% of pharma believe they are well-resourced to implement omnichannel activities. This is a positive indicator of the industry’s readiness to embrace omnichannel engagement. But having the necessary resources is not enough. What’s important to successful omnichannel strategies and HCP engagement is the integration of technology, infrastructure and content to create a seamless and personalized user experience. Here are some best practices for a sound digital HCP engagement strategy:
HCP Segmentation HCP segmentation helps to identify and categorize HCPs into distinct groups based on various criteria such as their behaviors, attitudes, clinical knowledge, specialties, communication preferences, geographic location and demographic factors.
With proper segmentation, pharma can develop personalized and tailored content for each HCP segment, which will likely resonate better, leading to higher engagement rates.
Segmentation also enables precise targeting of the content and communications based on the actual needs of the HCPs and helps pharma focus on high-value segments. This leads to an increase in quality leads and efficiency in resource allocation, with a greater return on investment.
Watch this Newristics webinar to learn how customer segments can be successfully activated to deliver personalized messaging that can turbocharge the communications of pharmaceutical brands.
Besides, segmentation ensures that HCPs receive the information and content they need to provide better patient care.
Data-Driven Personalization Personalization in omnichannel strategies is only possible when pharma companies have comprehensive data and insights into HCPs, including an understanding of their personas, customer journeys, and specific needs and preferences. Behavioral information—such as what channels they use and when, and how they respond to different messages—is also vital. This enables pharma to hyper-personalize at the individual HCP level.
Using predictive analytics is also another important data-driven approach that aggregates various data from multiple sources predicting the behavioral trends and preferences of each HCP segment. This enables omnichannel teams to anticipate what information HCPs need and how to deliver it efficiently. With emerging AI capabilities, predictive modeling can be done in real-time and help transform digital HCP engagement.
Decision Heuristics Messaging Decision heuristics science is a field of research that explains how human beings make 95% of decisions using heuristic decision-making or mental shortcuts without being aware of them. These heuristics are rules or strategies that guide quick decision-making and are a valuable tool in understanding HCP decision-making and delving deeper into their behaviors, especially when they are under pressure or have a limited amount of time.
Decision heuristics science can also help inform channel preference and content format for HCP engagement, enabling the creation of more targeted messaging that resonates with HCPs and ultimately increases engagement and conversions. Check out Heuristics Science Institute (HSI) – one of the most comprehensive sources for pharma marketers to learn about decision heuristics science.
Optimize for Mobile and Point of Care Access Since more than 80% of HCPs are using smartphones and tablets to access clinical information and educational content—it makes sense to optimize content for mobile devices so that is easily accessible and seamlessly delivered to time-poor HCPs.
Research also shows that HCPs prefer timely delivery of information and is most helpful when it aligns with a patient’s visit, particularly pre-visit and during the patient’s visit. Some HCPs need information outside the visit to conduct their own independent research. To enhance point of care access, pharma companies can integrate relevant content into the channels that HCPs frequently use to access information such as electronic health record (EHR) platforms, clinical calculators, journal articles, drug reference guides, podcasts, emails, and medical science liaison (MSL) and sales reps.
Optimizing and delivering relevant content precisely when needed, aligning information channels with the care journey, and incorporating responsive design and easy navigation can significantly enhance user experience and increase HCP engagement.
Connect With Virtual Meetings While there is a preference for in-person meetings, HCPs are also asking for convenience and ease offered by virtual meetings demonstrated by the 2022 BCG survey which found that 84% of physicians prefer to maintain or increase the share of virtual interactions with pharma companies.
Meanwhile, MSL representatives, sales force activities and scientific meetings continue to be the important channels of HCP engagement for pharma. Pharmaceutical companies are also placing greater emphasis on shifting away from virtual events and moving towards more on-site (in-person) events. However, this shift is not in line with HCP preferences.
Leveraging virtual meetings allows pharmaceutical companies to connect with HCPs in a flexible and convenient manner, offering accessibility across geographical barriers and time limitations. Virtual meetings are also cost-effective for both pharmaceutical companies and HCPs.
Besides, the digital tools embedded in virtual meeting platforms now allow greater interactions through breakout rooms, polls and Q&A sessions.
Streamline Personal Promotion with Digital Campaigns Overall, the importance placed on sales reps has declined, at least for HCPs. According to the 2023 EPG Health report, two-thirds of HCPs only want to interact with sales reps once a month at the most. This is attributed to nearly 70% of HCPs believing that sales reps do not understand their content needs and most HCPs prefer to conduct their own online research rather than rely on sales reps.
For pharma, this scenario underscores the need for better coordination between personal promotion and digital campaigns to deliver consistent messaging across all channels. Pharma companies need to ensure that the content provided by sales reps is aligned with HCPs’ needs and that what they encounter on digital channels reinforces the message.
Content Reuse Creating new content can present various challenges, due to the highly regulated nature of the content, regional regulatory requirements and potential copyright issues.
However, reusing and repurposing content across multiple channels is an effective strategy for delivering customer-centric omnichannel HCP engagement. This approach maximizes the content creation process, provides efficiency of resources and ensures that the message is consistently delivered at all touch points. However, the benefits of this approach can only be achieved when the content is customized to HCP preferences and optimized for each channel.
Pharma can efficiently create and reuse content by implementing a modular content system—the process of creating smaller reusable components or content blocks. Pharma companies can establish a modular content library by creating key content, such as information about diseases, products and compliance. These pre-approved content blocks can be assembled and reassembled to create various types of content for different channels.
AI has been revolutionizing many industries and pharma is no exception. Innovations in AI and machine learning have extended the capabilities of digital technologies beyond automation and reduced operational costs.
AI capabilities can empower predictive analytics and analyze vast amounts of data to provide insights on HCP preferences, behaviors and engagement patterns that can help customize messaging and content that resonates better with HCPs. AI can help identify high-value HCPs and develop focused outreach based on real-time data.
The pharma industry is investing resources to understand the potential of AI for HCP engagement with one survey stating that 79% of pharma companies are either testing AI or already using a combination of humans and AI technologies such as AI agents to help respond to simple HCP requests and questions. This can support the pharma workforce, saving them time for other necessary tasks.
On the other hand, behavioral science is set to play a pivotal role in HCP engagement, as it enables pharmaceutical companies to gain valuable insights into the cognitive biases and decision-making processes of HCPs. With these insights, pharma companies are in the position to develop resonant messages and content that tap into the psychological aspects of HCPs, thus enabling deeper relationships and more impactful engagement.
No single solution provides optimum HCP engagement. But one thing is clear—it’s time for pharma to put HCPs at the core of their engagement strategies. This means embracing analytics-enabled omnichannel methods in a highly evolving digital climate to offer data-driven personalization and enhanced engagement experiences.
Newristics is the market leader in pharma messaging-related services, including content development, market research, messaging analytics, and more! Combining the power of behavioral science and messaging AI, Newristics optimizes omni-channel messaging for the Top 20 out of 20 pharma companies and 100s of pharma brands. Reach out to learn more!
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Newristics
01 Feb 2024
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