Optimizing Biopharma Digital Marketing: Insights to Improve Digital ROI, Performance Measurement, Field Force Support & Mobile Engagement

But with greater investment, Digital Marketers are also experiencing intense pressure to deliver results.

Best Practices, LLC undertook benchmarking research to understand how savvy biopharma digital marketers are using new tools and tactics to reduce cost, raise sales force effectiveness, measure performance and ROI for key channels, and critical trends in mobile customer engagement. This study will serve as a benchmark for Digital Marketers to drive performance excellence in the healthcare industry.

Study Snapshot

Best Practices, LLC engaged 31 digital, multichannel marketing and other commercial leaders from 24 leading healthcare organizations through a benchmarking survey instrument. Nearly 70% of the study participants serve at the level of director or above.

Key Findings

• Driving revenue growth is #1 objective for healthcare digital marketers: According to surveyed digital marketers, the top-ranked goals to ensure to the long-term success of the digital marketing function are to: 1) drive revenue growth; 2) raise customer engagement and satisfaction; and 3) increase customer access and marketing reach. Though important, objectives like raising value beyond the pill/product, growing internal digital capability, lowering total marketing costs to the organization and leading product strategy are all more marginal goals.
• Biopharma mobile footprint now includes regularly updated physician and patient applications: Close to two-thirds of benchmark DM teams have produced physician-oriented mobile applications, with 59% having also created patient-oriented apps and 23% creating apps for other customers (e.g., payers, KOLs). Mobile apps for core customer groups, sustained by regular updates to ensure relevance, have achieved solid uptake, with a high percentage of leading apps having succeeded in garnering more than 1,000 downloads. Digital health apps that may require FDA approval have been launched by 15% of companies; electronic health record-related apps are more rare (4%).

• Top-Ranked Goals for Digital Marketing Function
• Percentage of Organization's Total Digital Marketing Budget Allocated to Key Activities
• Investment into Key Digital Marketing Activities
• Successful Cost Reduction Tactics
• Valuable Approaches to Boost Sales Force Effectiveness
• Level of ROI Measured for Digital Activities
• Percentage of Companies Achieving Clear ROI (In Terms of Revenue Growth or Cost Savings) Compared to the Average Investment Healthcare Companies Make to Different Digital Programs
• Extent to which Participating Companies have been Successful in Standardizing Digital KPIs
• Level of ROI Measured for Digital Activities – Standardized and Non-Standardized KPIs
• Effective Performance Metrics for Key Digital Channels
• Effective Performance Metrics for Assessing Social Media Impact
• Effective KPIs for Measuring the Progress of Digital HCP Engagement Programs and Showing Their Value to Key Stakeholders and Leaders
• Best Digital KPIs to Standardize across Different Engagement Channels
• Top Multichannel Marketing (MCM) Attribution Approaches Used to Determine ROI for Different Customer Groups (Physicians, Patients, KOLs and Payers)
• Critical Customer Data Streams and Sources Used by Digital Marketing Teams to Distill Insights and Improve Customer Engagement
• Success Stories - Using Data to Drive Digital Marketing ROI
• State of Play for Healthcare Mobile Applications
• High-ROI Mobile Engagement Programs
• Effective Mobile Apps and Tools to Educate Customers & Enhance Decision Making
• Effective Mobile Apps to Support Digital Health & Digital Medicine