Life Sciences Brands Need to Move Beyond Vanity Metrics for Point-of-Care Campaigns

Life Sciences Brands Need to Move Beyond Vanity Metrics for Point-of-Care Campaigns

By Stephen Hoelper, President, North America, Doceree

Vanity metrics are standard practice for measuring campaigns, but do these insights empower marketers to deliver campaigns that are of value to a business? Vanity metrics lack relevance for communication campaigns to healthcare professionals (HCPs) that seek to increase script lift. For life sciences organizations to master interactions with prescribers on point-of-care networks, marketers need to embrace the data analytics that matter and move beyond click-through rates, website traffic, page views and open rates, to name a few.

With this evolved mindset, messaging campaigns in the life sciences sector can be revitalized with actionable insights that can transform exchanges during the prescriber’s journey. With advanced data measurement solutions available to marketers, real-time HCP-level reporting is accessible to provide clarity for communication touchpoints on e-prescribing (eRx), electronic health record (EHR) and telehealth channels that will increase the ROI of messaging programs. Therefore, life sciences corporations can utilize data analytics to implement cross-channel messaging tactics based on the prescriber’s digital journey across the point-of-care ecosystem. By gaining awareness on the HCP’s practicing habits, marketers can deploy sequential messages at opportune moments that are tailored to their interactions with patients and supports therapy discussions.

Gain access to HCP-level reporting data to deploy actionable insights

To meticulously craft messaging campaigns, actionable insights are an optimal resource. Whether it is data collected based on an HCP’s treatment regimens, lab orders or platform usage, those metrics embolden marketers with intel so tailored messages can be produced to garner the attention of prescribers with the information that’s shared at opportune moments within point-of-care mediums. In addition, performance metrics can lead to channel-specific messaging that will further provide actionable insights to improve communication strategies to reach the targeted audience. Therefore, data points need to formulate distinctions among medical professionals to guide one-to-one conversations between life sciences marketers and HCPs that will drive script lift. The precision targeting taking place with HCP-level reporting data affords marketers to utilize actionable insights to formulate communication initiatives that will garner better business outcomes. Then, future tactics can be planned based on those learnings to determine when and where exchanges will be held with HCPs to have a substantial effect — an effort that would fall short with vanity metrics.

Remove ambiguity from point-of-care messaging campaign results

A brand’s strategy should be forward-thinking and based on statistics to advance the impact of digital communications to prescribers. So, actionable metrics can lead marketers on a path that will increase the ROI of messaging programs. With a data-based approach that goes beyond hollow metrics to reach HCPs, ambiguity during communications to the brand’s target audience won’t be there. Metrics such as click-through rate, which takes the attention of the HCP away from their patient should no longer be a prominent data set for point-of-care campaigns. Instead, data analytics are beneficial to capture messaging efforts to support business objectives. The connections to the type of content and channels need to correlate with business outcomes, so it is essential to link those data points to refine the deployment of content to HCPs that reflect their behavior. Thus, it’s crucial for metrics to illustrate the key decision-making moments when educational resources being served can lead to script lift. However, when the business results aren’t disclosed to inform life sciences companies of the key factors that led to the business objectives being met, then marketers are uninformed on the communications that matter most. So, the removal of ambiguity of the messages during the campaigns will enable markers to make progress in future communications that will boost the ROI for the company.

Increase script lift with measurement capabilities on messages to HCPs in near real time

The metrics of a campaign can demonstrate the script lift impact of the messages being served. However, when marketers don’t gain access to the results of communications until the program has concluded, then connections with prescribers have been missed. Hence, intel on the effectiveness of messaging efforts should be accessible mid-campaign. Then, marketers can advance messaging tactics for a campaign based on the content’s performance. To optimize communication initiatives, marketers must have measurement tools that pinpoint interactions with HCPs that lead to prescriptions being written. When brands launch a campaign, the expectations may not be met. Therefore, by evaluating the performance of messages, marketers can enhance their efforts to maximize the business results cultivated via the project. So, measurement solutions are valuable to life sciences companies to identify the high-performing elements of a point-of-care program. With such digital tools, marketers can obtain data points in near real time, so the marketing budget isn’t wasted, and the communication plans can be revisited to optimize the framework and content of campaigns to surpass business expectations.

An HCP communication strategy built on metrics that matter empowers life sciences brands to move messaging campaigns forward within point-of-care networks to deliver greater business results. Just because a metric is popular doesn’t mean it provides value for the company to achieve success. Vanity metrics can harm a business by providing marketers with a false realization that their messaging efforts are leading to positive outcomes for the company. It’s time to phase out vanity metrics with third-party cookies. A data-based mindset is needed by life sciences brands to deploy messaging tactics that take advantage of measurement solutions that effectively position their company’s communication strategies to optimize point-of-care campaigns to HCPs.

About the Author 

Stephen Hoelper is President, North America of Doceree, the first global network of HCP-only platforms for programmatic messaging. Doceree is aiming to address the acute problem of rising cost of healthcare by bringing in efficiency and effectiveness in messaging to healthcare professionals by life sciences brands on digital platforms with methodical use of data and creativity. Stephen has experience throughout his career conceptualizing and realizing healthcare go-to market strategies for start-ups and Fortune 50 companies. Learn more about Doceree at: doceree.com.