Suppose a cardiologist, Dr. Smith, attends a conference sponsored by a pharma brand. The goal of the event is to shed light on new ways to improve cardiovascular health. During the company’s presentation, he becomes interested in an innovative medication designed for managing hypertension.
Soon after, Dr. Smith receives an email from the pharmaceutical company, suggesting a meeting with a sales representative to answer his additional queries regarding the medication.
Following the email link, he navigates to the company’s LinkedIn profile. There, he explores the details of the clinical study that brought this drug to market, and he also reads positive testimonials from other healthcare professionals (HCPs). When Dr. Smith finally meets with the sales representative, he receives personalized information and printed materials for more in-depth review.
As the HCP went through decision-making process, the pharmaceutical brand met him at each touchpoint delivering consistent messaging through multiple sales channels. This omnichannel experience did not just focus on the medication. Instead, it revolved around meeting the specific needs of this HCP, so he could improve his patient services.
When looking at the evidence, it becomes clear that this approach pays off. Businesses that adopt an omnichannel approach witness a 90% higher customer retention rate than those who do not. To help you win customers’ loyalty, the Viseven team has compiled a list of omnichannel sales trends for you to laser-focus in 2024.
Top Omnichannel Marketing Trends to Embrace Now
Not every customer has the same needs, and an omnichannel pharma strategy recognizes that. For example, some people prefer 24/7 interactions with the brand, while others expect businesses to engage with them through interactive content. Without further ado, let’s explore new trends in omnichannel technology in 2024.
Customers Crave for Personalized Experiences
Modern customers get annoyed when interrupted by advertisements. So, instead of throwing in-your-face, intrusive ads, businesses must offer content customers want to consume. Delivering personalized customer experience is how today’s successful pharma businesses captivate HCPs and patients. In fact, according to McKinsey, effective personalization tactics increase revenue by up to 15%.
Here are just few examples of how different life sciences brands have implemented personalized services into their omnichannel campaigns:
- Pfizer uses real-time data analytics to craft patient-centric content that resonates with its customer segments: patients, providers, and caregivers.
- Novartis established internal tagging for its content and the modular approach for more personalized messaging.
- Novo Nordisk achieved 24% higher open rate in its US email campaign by using an AI-driven brand language optimization solution.
Unlike other industries, the pharmaceutical industry does not sell products in the conventional way. Instead, life sciences brands initiate conversations with healthcare professionals (HCPs), who then continue them with patients and family members. Meaningful, personalized experience not only allows organizations to improve their bottom line, but also ensures that the right medicine gets the right person at the right time, leading to less complications and better clinical outcomes.
Chatbots Bridge Communication Gaps
The use of chatbots in pharma comes on the heels of their successful adoption in other industries, like e-commerce. Chatbots can easily address customers simple and repetitive questions, like dosage or contraindications. This improves the customer experience, saving users from waiting days for each minor query that could delay their, sometimes life-saving, therapy.
Pharma often integrates chatbots to support patients in their health journeys and build strong, long-term relationships with them. By analyzing frequently asked questions, they learn what concerns most their customers and employ data-driven decision-making to enhance the overall customer experience.
Pharma marketers can rely on chatbot integration to craft impactful campaigns on a large scale. For example, our content experience platform, eWizard, has an integrated Large Language Model (LLM) that can be linked to a client’s internal corporate data. This allows marketing teams to request content for a campaign and receive personalized, company-specific materials, avoiding generic outputs that any AI-powered marketing assistant could churn out in seconds.
Chatbots also assist pharma sales representatives in locating the necessary materials for engaging with a particular HCP. When they require a catalogue or a new demo, there is no need to spend hours searching through the tons of data pharma produces non-stop. It is right there, just a well-asked question away in the chatbot.
Interactive Content Assigns HCPs an Active Role
Interactive content is one of the trends that provokes more multi-channel engagement, as it requires the audience to shift from passive recipients of information into active participants in the discussion. With interactive content, pharma brands can build stronger customer connections. This type of content offers insights into what HCPs like and dislike, personalizing their customer experience. Some examples of interactive content include:
Quizzes and Assessments
By using assessments and quizzes, pharmaceutical brands can check how well HCPs understand the materials, like therapy options, disease management, or the medicine’s effects on co-morbid patients. This helps identify knowledge gaps and create relevant content for them later on.
eDetailers
The way sales reps used to meet HCPs changed due to COVID. Now, more than 85% of physicians prefer online interactions. HCPs’ busy schedules make it increasingly challenging for pharma reps to connect meaningfully. Thanks to eDetailers, pharma can communicate in a way that suits HCPs. Moreover, it allows for a more personalized approach, shedding light on preferences of each provider.
Viseven’s Digital Content Factory works with a variety of content formats, including eDetailing. Our team offers not only personalized remote detailing but also creative self-detailing, which allows HCPs conveniently review the materials without the pharma reps’ guidance.
Tailored Content Portals
Having timely access to latest findings and breakthroughs saves patients’ lives. Personalized content hubs allow healthcare professionals (HCPs) to find reliable, relevant information based on their specialties and interests. By collecting data on their preferences, this interactive content helps ensure that, for example, an endocrinologist will stumble upon the most up-to-date evidence-based data on diabetes management rather than, say, asthma treatment alternatives.
Social Listening Creates Social Brands Omnichannel Strategies
For a brand to truly be social, it has to walk a mile in customers’ shoes and offer solutions to their problems at every step. Social listening is a means to understand what customers from every corner of the globe want and need. In contrast to conventional research, it enables companies to examine the perceptions of millions of people on a specific topic at any location and at any point in time.
Social listening can be easily applied to multiple use cases. Do you need to get a glimpse of the competitive landscape of the life sciences industry or identify the most-discussed properties of a particular drug?
Or perhaps you need to view your brand through your customers’ lens? What are their opinions of your new product? Good or bad? Social listening gives you the answers.
A pharmaceutical company X, for example, might wish to implement social listening to analyze the sentiment surrounding the traditional asthma inhalers. The findings reveal that many patients perceive inhalers as inconvenient and bulky, making them challenging to carry throughout the day.
In response, this brand develops a more user-centric inhaler, addressing the portability concern. The company X presents the new device on social media, highlighting its ease of use. By attentively listening to customers’ complaints, it gains a competitive edge over other market players and sets the stage for strong brand loyalty.
Social Responsibility Matters Now More Than Ever
Until the start of 2020, organizations mostly highlighted climate change, sustainability, and diversity in their social responsibility efforts to build an empathetic corporate image. The global pandemic changed everything, shifting the focus onto what brands were doing for their communities and employees.
Then, in 2022, Russia’s war against Ukraine made justice, human rights, and democracy top priorities. International organizations stopped collaborating with Russia to avoid backing aggression with their taxes, supply chains, and technologies.
Nowadays, customers are voting with their wallets to support socially responsible businesses. According to the PwC, 40% of consumers worldwide take into account environmental, social, and governance factors when buying products or services.
Moreover, there is a growing willingness among audience to pay extra for sustainable products. So, in 2024 it is wise to consider incorporating corporate social responsibility in your omnichannel approach to cater to the demands of today’s consumers.
Video Content Is Where Pharma Needs to Be in 2024
Both live streaming and short video content are not going away anytime soon. According to Statista, in 2023, online videos reached an audience of more than 92% globally.
Many businesses create a video content strategy not only to engage with a larger number of clients across multiple channels but also to highlight accountability and the human side of their organizations. Nowadays, consumers expect transparency and personality from brands, and video content marketing provides them with the best way to translate this to the audience.
Additionally, pharmaceutical brands create educational videos to establish themselves as experts in their area. Instead of explaining the product functions in a lengthy read, they use the format of short videos to convey a thousand words in no more than 60 seconds.
In certain cases, they opt for a live stream to demonstrate to customers some of the inner processes at their companies. For example, Pfizer shared a video showing the people behind clinical trials to underscore what it takes to bring high-quality medicine to the market.
Meanwhile, many brands are not quick to adopt video content practices in their omnichannel strategy. Statista reveals that 48% feel their company is not leveraging existing videos to its maximum potential.
Several reasons play into this. More specifically, 43% believe the lack of in-house skills, such as editing or filming, presents a serious barrier. Another pitfall is the big budget needed to cover the work hours of the entire video production team.
To solve these challenges, businesses rely on AI to automate content production at scale. For instance, our content experience platform, eWizard, features an AI-driven avatar solution, which allows users to effortlessly produce attention-grabbing content.
All they need to do is pick a human-like avatar and type in a text to make it speak. These videos can be further customized by choosing the preferred voice sample and language from forty available options.
How to Implement Omni-Channel Marketing Trends
Once you are aware of major trends to watch, the next step is to learn how to implement omnichannel trends without hiccups. Based on our experience, here are some proven strategies:
Identify Your Customer Touchpoints
The main goal of an omnichannel strategy is to evoke desired reactions on target platforms, whatever they may be. It is essential to put yourself in the customers’ shoes to determine customers’ touchpoints.
What challenges and frustrations do they experience along the way? Are any elements of the experience misaligned? Writing a customer’s journey may help you to better grasp the needs and pain points of your target audience.
When you clearly understand the major gaps in your strategy, the next step is to analyze whether you have appropriate technology, which allows you to automate campaign processes in one place and gain a single view of the audience across sales channels. It is increasingly important that your technology support personalized marketing strategies and integration across channels.
Produce Quality Content
Do you want patients and HCPs visit your website for answers? If answer is yes, you must create an omnichannel experience where your audience perceive you as the go-expert in the pharmaceutical field.
Think of your main area of expertise and ensure it is translated into content. These omnichannel strategies drive traffic to your website, thereby creating a lead generation flywheel.
Also, ensure social media integration with your website. To achieve this, consider using the modular approach as a part of your omnichannel strategies.
Close the Gaps Between Channels
When you think about an omnichannel strategy, the first thing that comes to mind is seamless customer experience. Your customers want to travel effortlessly from one touchpoint to another, and it is essential that each touchpoint is aligned and reliable.
For instance, your YouTube channel can be linked to your website. HCPs who engage with your videos on YouTube can easily find more information or make an action on your website, like request prescription drug samples or order vaccines.
During in-person meetings with pharma reps, you may present providers with printed materials or invite them to register for upcoming events. This creates cohesive and effective omnichannel experiences without the destination being a purchase.
Track Your Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
Measuring your KPIs allows you to understand if your marketing efforts are paying off or you should pivot to another approach. One of the main omnichannel KPI is the number of customer interactions, like clicks on links, emails sent, or website visits.
Equally important is the quality of omnichannel customer experience. You want your customers to be satisfied with ease of navigation, the speed of page loading, customer service, and overall user experience.
Lastly, track your return on investment (ROI). The cost of the integrated marketing campaigns should not exceed the revenue generated from them.
Is Your Business Omnichannel-Ready?
When going an omnichannel strategy, you do not need to immediately consign all marketing campaigns to the dustbin of history. Grow your omnichannel selling capacities gradually, one step at a time.
What Viseven can offer you to enhance these capabilities is:
- Integration of your tools into a single ecosystem;
- Customer journey optimization;
- Customer segmentation backed up with real-time analytics;
- Content production and management all in one place;
- Implementation of the modular content;
- Delivery of remote and self-detailing.
Summing Up
If you decide to pursue the omnichannel path, you may require a trusted MarTech provider to support you in your strategy. Viseven boasts over 14 years of experience assisting pharma and life sciences in their user-centric marketing efforts.
Our experts specialize in crafting personalized omnichannel plans tailored to your distinct brand strategy. Through an omnichannel audit, we thoroughly analyze your technology infrastructure and your customers’ behaviors, build comprehensive omnichannel customer journeys of any level of complexity, and establish clear, measurable KPIs.
Speaking of KPIs, our clients who implemented top omnichannel trends have reported a 20% higher click-through-rate. What’s more, the engagement rate has skyrocketed to an impressive 250%.
If you want similar omnichannel success, do not hesitate to reach out to our experts to discuss the project details.
