That statement of “all of my patients are important to me and should all be treated the same way” was an eye-opener! It came from one of our client team members who had previously worked as a nurse, RN, to be specific. This client, one of the first clients that hired me after I left Pfizer to form M2WorldWide (a Global Relationship Marketing Communications Company), was looking for some guidance. For those of you keeping score at home, I formed M2WW (Mike and Mark) with Mark Anzalone, whom I worked with at Wyeth consumer and then at Pfizer Inc. We did some great, innovative stuff together and truly added value to many companies looking for real experience and consultation.
Now back to our client. This was a mid-sized, mid-west pharma company whose largest selling brand was an Rx Proton Pump Inhibitor (PPI), not to be confused with another PPI, the Patient Package Insert (you gotta love pharma acronyms). The client had developed a Direct Response Consumer TV campaign that aired nationally in the US. The campaign did a great job of getting consumers to ask for more information and, in fact, over 1 million names opted in for over a 6-month period.
The ASK? Figure out the ROI. Oh, what should we do with all those names?! This work led to some great initial ROI modeling approaches which focused on the impact of both direct and indirect influences on the campaign’s effectiveness. I will leave the evolution of the ROI modeling subject for a future blog. Anyway, the client was unsure of the program’s value and how to handle the million names that have been acquired.
We needed some insights and, therefore, had to answer some questions to determine a few key variables:
- How many valid names were actually acquired (mailing name and address/email address)?
- Was the name a patient or caregiver?
- Were they on therapy or considering therapy?
- Can we determine and prioritize them based on their potential value to the company?
This last question was the hardest.
We reviewed the data and found out that not everyone was currently a patient. Some were consumers just looking for information. Others were brand managers or agencies from competing PPI companies in the market, GSK, AZ, etc.
After this exercise, we had to determine “what do we want to provide or fulfill/send to each contact?” With that we could then prioritize the names based on their potential value to the company. Remember my client, the Nurse? Well, in her mind, rightly so as a nurse — and thank GOD for the nurses in the world — she felt that “EVERYONE in the database IS IMPORTANT to me and we need to treat them all the same way.” Well, that’s not entirely possible, nor cost effective. Or is it?
So, we rolled up our proverbial sleeves and got into it. First question: What do we want to send them? Well, it turned out to be a box of information. Cool. Awesome. Sweet. But how much does that box of information cost to produce (not including agency fees)? 20 bucks? Even sweeter. So, $20 x 1 million people is $20 million. Is there $20 million in the budget for fulfillment? Okay, maybe not so sweet.
The point here is, this is where the pharma industry falls short in truly becoming leaders in customer experience. What are the odds on being 100% customer-focused while ensuring 98% happiness? Not so hot, right? We tried to communicate this to our clients. The truth of the matter is, some patients will never go on therapy. Some patients already are on therapy. And, some patients who are on therapy, may not be compliant. It’s a bit of a pickle, huh? Which brings me to the following key customer experience principle:
“Not every patient has the exact same value.” No disrespect to patients. We love ‘em. Where would be without ‘em? Nor does every patient need to be communicated with in the same way. They also don’t require the same information. So, what’s a brand manager/agency man/woman/child to do? You do what so many companies are doing now. You need to analyze and understand the data, prioritizing the segments of who is considering therapy, currently on therapy, and who most likely will be compliant to that therapy!
Prioritizing patients, understanding the barriers to behavior change and providing them with the needed information through the right channels is key to pharma companies and patient Nirvana.
So net net, If you focus on the right patients at the right time with the right message, the price will be right…. Johnny, tell ‘em what they’ve won!