The Value of Understanding HCP Channel Preferences | Leveraging Data Across Direct, Indirect and Digital Channels

Our experts explore how tracking HCP channel preferences across direct, indirect and digital channels can enhance engagement, build trust, and improve marketing outcomes for pharma companies using omnichannel strategies.

Healthcare provider (HCP) channel preference behavior is important to track, given the multiple ways marketers can reach HCPs through omnichannel strategies. Pharma marketers who understand channel engagement preferences can make more meaningful connections. 

Between staffing shortages and growing patient loads, HCPs have very little time to engage with pharmaceutical marketing content. This means marketers and sales reps need to deliver messaging to HCPs in ways that strengthen trust and improve engagement without adding to their daily burden. One way to do that is by understanding how, when, and where individual HCPs prefer to engage with marketing.

Omnichannel marketing presents the best possibility for reaching HCPs in the commercial field by using a mix of channels: face-to-face meetings, email, webinars, conferences, virtual and digital messaging, etc.  All these channels have the potential to make lasting impressions. However, not everyone engages with them in the same way.  

Like all of us, HCPs have their personal channel engagement preferences. Some HCPs may prefer to read morning emails while others engage late at night with ads online. Knowing which HCPs prefer which channels and when allows sales reps and marketers to better strategize, connect, and build authentic relationships with HCPs, the kind that truly educate and assist in their work. 

Benefits of Understanding HCP Channel Preferences 

• Enhanced Decision-Making: Comprehensive HCP engagement data allows life sciences companies to prioritize their efforts strategically. By understanding which channels individual HCPs prefer, reps can tailor their approaches to maximize engagement and impact. 

• Increased Access and Receptivity: Aligning outreach efforts with HCP preferences enhances the likelihood of gaining access to HCPs and increases their receptivity to the messaging. This alignment fosters more productive and meaningful interactions.   

• Optimized Call Planning and Strategy Adjustments: Knowing the preferred frequency and channels of communication for HCPs enables precise call planning and strategic adjustments. This optimization ensures that outreach efforts are efficient and effective. 

• Personalization at Scale: Combining detailed HCP preference data with automation tools allows for the delivery of personalized messages at scale. This approach maintains the relevance and personalization of communications while enhancing operational efficiency. 

• Boosted Digital Engagement: Insights into the optimal mix of digital and non-digital channels can significantly enhance digital engagement. By ensuring that digital communications complement other outreach efforts, pharmaceutical teams can create a cohesive and compelling engagement strategy.

Channel Preference Data and Reporting Tools 

The truth is the data is available everywhere. If you are looking for comprehensive insights, data is not enough. You’ll need an analytics component that can easily customize to your campaign and report insights through easy-to-understand dashboards. Otherwise, disseminating raw data becomes a fruitless task.

When looking for this tool, make sure it can capture insights about: 

• Individual HCP channel preferences 

• Individual HCP engagement frequency preferences 

• Group HCP preferences based on specialty, location, and other factors 

• Levels of HCP digital literacy (both individual and group) 

• Messaging strategies based on multiple preference profiles 

When these insights are available to marketers, successful engagement is imminent. This data-driven approach not only enhances the effectiveness of marketing campaigns but also maximizes the efficiency of resource allocation, ultimately driving better commercial outcomes. 

For more information on how to leverage HCP engagement data to enhance your marketing efforts, contact our expert at Tim.Jones@syneoshealth.com. 

Contributors

Tim Jones | VP of Commercial Excellence & BI

The Syneos Health Insights Hub generates future-focused, actionable insights to help biopharmaceutical companies better execute and succeed in a constantly evolving environment. Driven by dynamic research, our perspectives are informed by our insights-driven product development model and crafted by subject matter experts focused on real answers to customer challenges to help guide decision making and investment.