PM360 Digital Compendium March 2011

5 Statistics That Could Change the Way You Work

BY LEIGH HOUSEHOLDER

BIG NEWS IN BIG NUMBERS

We see them every day: the headlined percentages; the big
trends that are verified in one study, only to be disputed
by another. It’s hard to know which numbers to trust.
So, we identified five statistics worth giving a second
look. These are trends that we’ve seen building over time
and are proven by multiple researchers.

98%
That’s the whopper of an adherence rate in
a trial of GlowCaps—a pill bottle cap with
reminders built in. That represented a 27% leap in the typical
71% adherence rate among hypertension patients. Mobile
reminders have shown similar results in other pilots—
particularly in “silent disease” therapeutic categories where
the impact of the pill is hard to visualize or feel.1

8 million
That’s the number of planned
sales calls that didn’t happen
last year because more doctors closed their doors to reps.
Those docs say they expect sales calls to be more relevant,
personal, and responsive.2

72%
of physicians carry smartphones. Almost
all of them (95%) use them to access medical
information. Their #1 search: information on prescription
drugs. Manhattan Research expects the percent of
physician smartphone users to reach 80% by next year,
but some specialties like OB/GYNs are already there.3

BIGGER NEWS IN DECEPTIVELY
SMALL NUMBERS

9%
of mobile-phone carrying Americans have
already installed a health app. 17% have used
their phone to look up health or medical information.
That number is approximately 1:3 when you look at the
under 29 set. Think those numbers look small? To us,
they look a lot like the social media stats from a few years
ago—solid and growing fast.4

17%
That’s the number of physicians who actually
prefer to always meet in person with sales
reps. The rest? They prefer online or at least a choice.
Most brands are only ready for the 1:1. 5

REFERENCES
1. Partners Healthcare’s Center for
Connected Health, 2010
2. AccessMonitor, 2010
3. Manhattan Research, 2010
4. Pew Internet and American Life
Project, 2010
5. Physicians Survey, Business Insights,
Ltd, 2009

LEIGH HOUSEHOLDER is VP, digital brand strategist at
GSW Worldwide. Contact her at leigh.householder@gsw-w.com.