Rob Stephen
VP, Marketing
Verywell
Revamping the Online Experience
When Rob Stephen joined Verywell he aimed to elevate how pharma meets the needs of today’s health consumers. He challenged the industry to think differently about how they create health solutions and define and measure success. He set out to identify the most important factors impacting the online customer experience.
In his first few months, Rob completely transformed Verywell’s marketing materials and operations. He guided the team in creating a brand-specific narrative around human needs that captured the attention and interest of new partners across the pharmaceutical field. He aligned the entire team in sharing the story—sellers, account managers, and editors began to champion the brand like never before. His leadership inspired pitches and proposal decks infused with stronger strategy, visuals, and insights. Rob’s efforts contributed to 50% YoY revenue growth, partnerships with more than 40 new advertisers, and a 95% renewal rate across campaigns. The Verywell model quickly became the standard for teams across Dotdash, Verywell’s parent company.
Rob also pioneered first-of-its-kind research to quantify Verywell’s impact as a site in putting user needs first. While everyone else superficially talks about the importance of page speed, brand voice, and ad experience, Rob was an early crusader beyond the surface, identifying the critical factors that consumers say actually impact a positive online health experience: Empathy, relevance, ease of use, and credibility. Those insights led to improvements on the site and inspired evolution in Verywell’s offerings, even leading to the creation of new solutions. Rob took the opportunity to better educate the market about the ideal online experience, inspiring others to dig deeper in order to better serve consumers.
Rob has had the privilege of working with almost every top pharma company and brings deep industry knowledge and insight to Verywell thanks to his 20 years of strategic marketing experience, with previous roles at Time Inc., Everyday Health, and FCB Health. And Rob continues to venture into new territory and expand Verywell’s platform and message. Where others see uncertainty, Rob sees opportunity. As one client said, “Verywell is everywhere!”—thanks to Rob Stephen.
