According to research between pharma professionals and customers, there is still room for improvement regarding prioritized customer experience.
As customer journeys have become more complex, with digital opening up many new engagement channels and touchpoints in recent years, customer experience (CX) has been increasingly prioritized by pharmaceutical organizations.
However, recent research among both pharma professionals and customers shows that there’s still a lot of work to do. Pharma organizations are reporting low digital product success rates, and HCPs are reporting low levels of trust and satisfaction with digital content and platforms currently on offer.
Companies need to evolve their approaches and bridge the gap between organizational and customer needs to create better customer experiences and drive more engagement. By addressing the underlying challenges and embracing innovative approaches and new mindsets, pharma teams can drive sustainable growth and, crucially, build authentic and meaningful relationships with customers.
Digital Transformation in a Decade Many brands had invested in digital transformation, yet the COVID-19 pandemic exposed both the strengths and weaknesses of each organization’s digital capability. With reps forced to wait for access to their target customers, brands quickly accelerated their digital transformation in several areas to reach HCPs and patients in several ways. Remote engagement was propelled rapidly up the list of priorities. With COVID-19 restrictions, pharma companies turned to virtual meetings and webinars to connect with HCPs and patients, boosting digital interactions and requests for product information.
There was also a shift to omnichannel marketing, when pharma shifted from traditional channels to digital-first marketing amid pandemic constraints, using social media and online campaigns to engage HCPs and patients virtually, reflecting a broader embrace of digital strategies.
Finally, there was a renewed focus on digital health solutions, with organizations striving for innovation and impact in this space. The pandemic highlighted the need for and potential of digital healthcare, leading pharma to invest in telemedicine, remote monitoring, and digital therapeutics to improve patient care, beyond drugs.
The Digital Customer Experience Opportunity
Overall, the COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the adoption of digital technologies of pharmaceutical companies towards digital engagement. A logical move, and digital channels offer numerous advantages, including:
• Accessibility
Customers can interact with a company anytime, anywhere, using personal and corporate digital devices.
• Personalization
Digital channels allow for the collection and analysis of vast amounts of customer data, enabling companies to deliver personalized experiences tailored to individual preferences and behaviors.
• Convenience
Digital channels offer convenience for customers, allowing them to research products, make purchases, and seek support without leaving their homes.
• Real-time communication
Digital tools facilitate real-time communication between companies and customers, enabling quick responses to inquiries and issues.
• Omnichannel and multichannel integration
Companies can integrate various digital channels, such as websites, mobile apps, social media, email, and chatbots, to provide a seamless and consistent experience across multiple touchpoints.
The Confused Customer Experience
Whenever a digital product or service is created for customer engagement, there is a risk that those solutions do not fulfill the aims of the organization or satisfy the customers.
As we highlighted in a recent white paper, only four percent of pharma companies report consistent success in digital product launches. That means that more often than not, many digital products—digital platforms, tools and experiences designed for specific audiences—have become failed experiments; not satisfying either the business or the customer.
The products and experiences that often remain online, whether successful or not, present a tapestry of touchpoints for end- users. With brands operating hundreds of websites, from many different departments in their organizations, the result can often be a confused customer experience. Some elements are effective at delivering value to end-users, providing a consistent, personalized experience, but many are not—the ‘failed experiments’.
The Digital Dilemma: Understanding the Root Causes
The failure of digital product launches and engagement strategies in the pharmaceutical sector is symptomatic of deeper issues related to customer dissatisfaction and inadequate interaction. A significant factor contributing to this trend is the disparity between the creation of digital products and the needs of end- users, particularly HCPs.
Our recent first-hand research conducted among HCPs highlighted a trust deficit, emanating from concerns regarding language, objectivity, and fragmented communications, which acts as a significant barrier to the adoption of pharma-provided digital content. Moreover, the absence
of a cohesive brand experience across various touchpoints exacerbates the problem, leaving customers dissatisfied and disengaged.
Additional factors exacerbating the issue are pervasive throughout the industry. Such is the cyclical nature of the pharma industry; aligned with commercialization of products, and staff which hold roles for only a few years, there is often a lack of continuity of ownership of digital products and services. With each regime change comes new ideas and priorities. Without addressing fundamental issues, digital products will continue to fall short of their intended purpose.
We have observed there is often such a sense of urgency to satisfy internal stakeholders that the priority becomes ‘to launch’—rather than to truly create a solution that meets the needs of its customers, as well as the sponsoring business.
Human-centered design (HCD) is focused on solving exactly that. It is an approach to problem-solving that focuses on understanding the needs, behaviors, and preferences of the people who will ultimately use the product, service, or system being designed. It involves empathizing with users, generating ideas, prototyping solutions, and testing those solutions with users to iteratively improve and refine the design.
The failure of digital product launches and engagement strategies in the pharmaceutical
sector is symptomatic of deeper issues related to customer dissatisfaction
and inadequate interaction.
Customer Experience (CX): The Antidote to Customer Confusion?
CX refers to the plan and approach adopted by a company to manage and enhance the overall experience that customers have when interacting with the company’s products, services, and brand across various touchpoints and channels.
In essence, CX focuses on ensuring that every touchpoint a customer has with a company is positive and aligned with the company’s brand values and objectives.
These touchpoints include everything from rep visits to banner ads, flyers to congresses, and predominantly today, they are focused on digital platforms and services. To overcome the challenges associated with digital engagement in the pharmaceutical industry, Digital and Tech leaders must together to embrace a customer-centric approach rooted in empathy and insight—the approach offered by Design and CX.
Understanding the daily challenges and pain points of HCPs is paramount, necessitating continuous research before, during, and after the design process. By understanding the needs of HCPs, stakeholders can gain invaluable insights into their preferences, behaviors, and unmet needs, and create more impactful solutions that satisfy their customers.
How might we unlock the power of CX for authentic and meaningful engagements?
Unlocking the power of CX involves a holistic approach that integrates
various strategies and practices. Here’s a framework to achieve this:
• Deep understanding of customers
Collecting and analyzing data from various touchpoints to gain insights into their preferences, behaviors, and needs.
• Personalization
Utilize customer data to personalize interactions, such as recommending products/services based on past purchases or preferences.
• Empathy and emotional connection
Train your team in active listening, acknowledging customers’ feelings, and demonstrating understanding and compassion.
Provide ongoing training and support to ensure they
have the skills and resources needed to meet customers’ needs effectively.
• Consistency across channels
Ensure a consistent experience across all customer touchpoints, whether it’s in-store, online, mobile, social media, or customer support. Customers should feel a seamless transition between channels.
• Transparency and trust
Be transparent in your communications and actions. Build trust by providing honest information, admitting mistakes, and resolving issues promptly and fairly.
• Proactive engagement
Anticipate customer needs and reach out proactively. This can include sending
personalized recommendations, offering assistance before customers ask for it,
or providing relevant updates about products/services.
• Feedback mechanisms
Establish channels for customers to provide feedback easily. Actively solicit feedback and use it to improve products, services, and the overall customer experience.
• Employee engagement and training
Engage and empower your employees to deliver exceptional customer experiences. Provide ongoing training and support to ensure they have the skills and resources needed to meet customers’ needs effectively.
• Continuous improvement
Continuously monitor and analyze customer feedback and metrics to identify areas for improvement and innovation.
• Measure impact
Define key metrics to measure the impact of your CX initiatives, such as customer satisfaction (CSAT), Net Promoter Score (NPS), customer retention rate, and customer lifetime value (CLV). Use these metrics to track progress and make data-driven decisions.
Deliver Value and Foster Meaningful Relationships
The transformation of pharma-HCP engagement in the digital age necessitates a fundamental shift towards customer-centricity and empathy-driven design. By addressing the underlying challenges and embracing innovative approaches with a Human Centric Design and Customer Experience mindset, Tech and Digital leaders can unlock the full potential of digital products to deliver value and foster meaningful interactions with HCPs.
From understanding the needs of end-users to personalizing content and optimizing usability, every aspect of digital engagement must be guided by a relentless commitment to enhancing the user experience.
As the pharmaceutical industry continues to navigate the complexities of a rapidly evolving landscape, prioritizing customer-centricity will be indispensable in driving sustainable growth and differentiation, as well as crucially build authentic and meaningful relationships with customers
