UNDERSTANDING WHAT WORKS:

A CASE STUDY MEASURING RETURN ON INVESTMENT FOR

DIGITAL VERSUS PHYSICAL MARKETING ACTIVITIES AND
THE COMBINATION OF BOTH
Marc Singh-Jones
OCTOBER 2015

IN ASSOCIATION WITH
CONTENTS

03 Introduction
04 What does Coca-Cola know about pharma marketing?
05 The case for using alternative channels in pharma marketing
06 Case study: Measuring return on investment for digital versus physical marketing
activities and the combination of both
06 Balancing physical and digital
08 The digital campaign
09 Sales force activity
10 Campaign impact
12 Measuring channel effectiveness and HCPs behaviours
13 Channel by channel analysis
15 Optimising channels for maximum RoI
16 Learning from the case study
16 What can digital do for you?
16 What can you do for digital?
17 Conclusion
18 References
19 About M3 Group
INTRODUCTION

Launching a new product into a highly competitive market is a challenge value proposition to HCPs; we go forth and call on HCPs; we measure call
that every pharmaceutical business has faced. It’s even more challenging frequencies, message penetration and the impact on top line sales. Alas, if it
when your customer(s) is facing budget cuts, downward price pressure were only still this simple.
and a greater need to demonstrate the cost and patient benefits of a We have to evolve in this new landscape and, to compound things further,
pharmaceutical product in the context of the overall health economy. traditional face-to-face access to HCPs is decreasing. UK research from 2012
This changing and evolving customer model is having a direct effect on the way found that 52% of general practitioners (GPs) did not want to see pharmaceutical
that Life Science companies bring their novel innovations to market and optimise reps¹, and US research from ZS Associates in 2014 found that 49% of pharma-
their strategies and tactics throughout the product life cycle. friendly physicians had placed moderate to severe restrictions on access.²

In today’s complex healthcare environment we have more stakeholders with whom But within this environment of increasingly complex stakeholder needs and
we must communicate – regulators, payers, healthcare professionals (HCPs), decreased direct access there is an opportunity. Although traditional HCP
patient groups, new commissioning groups, government stakeholders, business stakeholders might be harder to reach physically, their adoption of technology has
savvy procurement executives – to name but a few. Each of these groups has provided an opportunity to reach them via other channels.
different customer needs and we must tailor our communications accordingly. The case study within this white paper acts as an example of how smart
Traditionally, the pharmaceutical sales model has been quite simple. We have pharmaceutical companies are taking advantage of this new digital world,
a good product with good clinical data; we segment our audience along value- optimising their reach to customers physically and digitally and analysing the
based models such as Pareto’s Principle; we build our key marketing messages; return on investment (RoI) based on the traditional sales model which senior
we arm our direct sales force with the tools and content to communicate our leadership understands: sales impact.

Understanding what works: A case study measuring return on investment for digital versus physical marketing activities and the combination of both 03
WHAT DOES COCA-COLA KNOW ABOUT PHARMA MARKETING?

The short answer is probably not a lot; however, what it does 10%
BLUE
know about is how to evolve its marketing strategy in a changing SKY
environment, after all its product(s) is one of the most widely recognised
in the world and is still the most consumed carbonated drink in most
markets³, despite growing consumer health consciousness.
20%
In 2011 Eric Schmidt, then Google’s CEO and now Executive Chairman of Google’s INNOVATION
holding company, Alphabet Inc. claimed that Google had proved that you could
systemise innovation.4 He cited its ‘70/20/10 rule’ where 70% of the company and
employees’ day is spent on core business, 20% is spent in the business but in another
team and 10% is spent on blue sky ideas. This is still a principle that Google holds today.

When Coca-Cola unveiled its 2020 vision, it applied this model to its marketing in
terms of its content excellence strategy and its budget allocations.5 In the vision, 70% 70%
CORE BUSINESS
of budgets should be allocated to bread and butter core marketing, 20% should be
allocated to innovations that have been proven to be effective, and 10% should be for
brand new higher risk ideas. The concept is that as you institutionalise innovation in
today’s changing marketing environment, you constantly try new things, understand
what works and then evolve the marketing array by moving your 20% into the 70%
bucket and the 10% into the 20% bucket, and so on.

The principle seems sound and has proven case studies behind it, but the key
question is: how does a company measure what has been effective? And to go a step
further, how can we distill what has been an effective campaign from other marketing
initiatives that we are running at the same time, for the same brand?

04 Understanding what works: A case study measuring return on investment for digital versus physical marketing activities and the combination of both
THE CASE FOR USING ALTERNATIVE CHANNELS IN PHARMA MARKETING

HCPs have increasingly taken to online channels to find out the McKinsey & Co. states the case for digital and multichannel marketing nicely in its
latest developments in clinical practice. The nature of the internet, 2012 white paper ‘Making sense of e-detailing in Japan’s pharmaceutical sector’
interconnectivity and increased uptake of smartphones and tablets has where they look at the benefits of digital marketing in the world’s most advanced
allowed the time poor HCP to quickly find relevant information which e-detailing market.7
helps them make clinical decisions. You see this in the proliferation of In the paper McKinsey highlights four main benefits as:
closed HCP communities, increased uptake of Twitter and hashtags
1. ‘Based on cost per detail, e-detailing is significantly more cost effective
such as #FOAMed (free open-access medical education), the rise
and efficient in maintaining interactions with physicians... the cost structure
in digital attendance at congresses and increased peer-to-peer
allows for sustained e-detailing – even when extending reach beyond the top
crowdsourcing. Although the opportunity for pharma companies to
prescribing quintiles of physicians’
reach existing and potential target customers through new channels
is obvious, their ability to navigate the appropriate channels, provide 2. ‘E-detailing significantly improves the accuracy of the product marketing
the right content for the channel, get over regulatory/legal hurdles and messages because it leaves less room for human error... the details are by
measure the effectiveness of campaigns continues to be a challenge. definition more carefully scripted’

This is evident from the latest Across Health Multichannel Maturometer 2015 study 3. ‘E-detailing can provide pharma companies a much more accurate set of
which has surveyed 260 healthcare executives, 89% of whom work in pharma/ data around physician behaviour – in much the same way e-commerce players
biotech. One of the striking insights is that despite the investment that pharma has sit on much richer data sets compared to traditional players’
made in multichannel, only 12% of the European respondents surveyed are satisfied
4. ‘The ability to provide “double coverage” can provide a multiplier effect
with their current digital marketing activities and less than 20% feel comfortable
towards prescription impact far beyond that of either technique alone’7
with measuring the impact and engagement of these. Around 40% of EU and US
6

respondents also state that they have a poor understanding of RoI.

It is important to bear these benefits in mind as we go on to discuss the detailed
Although satisfaction rates could be higher in terms of multichannel initiatives, there case study. Digital marketing has provided a new tool for pharma, it can help us
is a strong case for using alternative channels to supplement and increase the engage and use a different marketing model for different customer segments. It
effectiveness of traditional channels. One of the areas that pharma needs to pay does however also present a paradox – we have so much digital data to analyse
greater attention to is measurement, effectiveness and RoI. that we find it hard to make sense of any of it in a meaningful commercial way.

Understanding what works: A case study measuring return on investment for digital versus physical marketing activities and the combination of both 05
CASE STUDY: MEASURING RETURN ON INVESTMENT FOR DIGITAL VERSUS PHYSICAL MARKETING
ACTIVITIES AND THE COMBINATION OF BOTH

The following case study aims to distill the impact of different channels in The digital component was managed by M3 EU through its Doctors.net.uk
the pharma sales and marketing mix. This recent UK case study illustrates community (a closed authenticated HCP community), targeting both primary and
how a digital campaign can complement and expand the traditional secondary care in a highly targeted multi-wave programme with heightened activity
product launch model, using key touchpoints with GPs and specialists over four months.
to bring a novel therapy into a competitive primary-care market. It also The objective was to complement and enhance sales force activity by broadening
measured the impact of the various sales and marketing channels the reach of the launch programme and increasing contact volume and frequency
supporting the product roll-out, in terms of reach, geographical distribution, among GPs and specialists alongside the scaling up of sales force calls and use of
sales, associated sales and marketing costs and RoI. CSO services.
The findings suggest how a mixed-capability campaign might be understood and A typical product launch to GPs in the UK where the product has both primary and
refined to deliver optimal RoI, while challenging assumptions about the relationship secondary care applications involves around five key touchpoints/interactions with
between digital and physical capabilities in the context of a product launch. In this customers before a GP will prescribe independently. Typically this can take between
case the analysis was conducted retrospectively; however, even more learnings could three and 18 months.
be derived from a carefully constructed programme that set out to measure the impact
In the traditional sales and marketing model these interactions were predominantly
of the various multichannel marketing activities upfront.
initiated through reps, print media and events. However, in today’s multichannel
Balancing physical and digital launch, touchpoints can be initiated and sustained through a range of interactions,
The product in question was a new treatment with a unique mechanism of action, using sales reps, secondary care endorsements, promotional meetings,
launching into a crowded UK market where a number of leading pharmaceutical congresses, print, webinars and other digital channels which can expedite GPs
companies were already well established. along the product-adoption curve (see Figure 1).

This is a tough enough job but a further complication was that the pharma company
had focused on more niche therapy areas and needed to invest heavily in scaling up a
primary-care sales force for the UK launch. The company‘s main tactics were:
1. Build in a larger in-house sales team
2. Enlist the services of two contract sales force organisations (CSOs)
3. Commission a targeted digital campaign via an independent online
physician community

06 Understanding what works: A case study measuring return on investment for digital versus physical marketing activities and the combination of both
 GP LED
PRESCRIBING
EXPERT
ENDORSED
PRESCRIBING
EXPERT
INITIATED
PRESCRIBING

EXPERT
LED
LEARNING
BUILD
AWARENESS

Figure 1: GP adoption pathway

The new multichannel launch model in UK primary care (where the product has primary • Usually after six months, recommendations from health technology-assessment
and secondary care applications) is as follows: bodies such as the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) in
England or the Scottish Medicines Consortium (SMC) in Scotland take effect and
• First one to two months, a new product is introduced with awareness-raising
the potential market opens up as GPs begin to prescribe on the advice of local
through sales rep visits, backed up by online and offline marketing activities and
specialists
other prompts such as hard copy mailers

• At the next stage, GPs start to learn more about the product from local specialists Eventually, after becoming more familiar with the new product and its outcomes, GPs
(expert-led peer-to-peer engagement), bolstered by local networks and meetings, start to prescribe on an independent basis.
online and offline journals, e-newsletters and digital marketing etc.
The digital campaign that accompanied this launch supported the user journey that
• They then transition to supporting specialists through repeat prescriptions and you see in Figure 1 and provided multiple touchpoints in a linear and relevant fashion
monitoring of patient outcomes, again with back-up from print and online sources to act as a multiplier to increase product uptake.

Understanding what works: A case study measuring return on investment for digital versus physical marketing activities and the combination of both 07
 NICE and SMC alerts

1,813 unique users

2,854 campaign visits
DNUK
3,886 unique doctors
e-newsletter viewed the invitation 541 unique users
631 campaign visits

Invitation to
national event

24%
Invitation to
click-through local events
eDetail 83% of matched to
rate
sales force target list

2,422 unique users

3,426 campaign visits

The digital campaign

The Digital Sales Force Support campaign (see Figure 2) comprised:

• Segmentation: the Doctors.net.uk audience was segmented into named

target HCPs (data was matched against a OneKey ID list) and all other target
HCPs (non-named GPs)

• A series of e-newsletters containing product information and links to related

product content, sent to named HCPs from the company’s target list and the
Figure 2: Digital campaign flow product launch wider target audience (N.B. McKinsey & Co. – digital marketing cost structure
allows for sustained e-detailing, even when extending reach beyond the top
prescribing quintiles)

08 Understanding what works: A case study measuring return on investment for digital versus physical marketing activities and the combination of both
• Newsletters linked to a self-directed e-detail hosted on Doctors.net.uk, Sales force activity
containing five pages of key marketing messages and Clinical Alerts containing The direct sales force campaign delivered 54,132 visits by account managers
short, sharp, single pages of content promoting the products endorsement by (including around 5,000 group detail sessions/lunch and learns etc.) over a
NICE and SMC 12-month period, with the client’s existing sales team responsible for 60% of calls
• An invitation was presented at login for any HCP who had engaged with and the two CSOs for 31% and 9% respectively. At the height of the campaign
the e-detail or Clinical Alerts. This included information about local educational there were around 140 account managers in the field.
meetings with specialists to discuss the therapy area and new treatment options As can be seen from Figure 3, the sales activity ramped up towards NICE approval
(facilitating cross-over of digital and traditional tactics) of the new product from Month 6, and then again after the 90-day period for
• A national event invitation for HCPs who had engaged with all content mandatory adoption of NICE recommendations and provision of funding for
elements in the online launch campaign which highlighted a national event on the treatment in Month 9.
disease and the new product
Monthly activity
• Aggregate data provided back to the company on the named GP practices from
14,000
which HCPs had engaged, against target list and non-target list practices
12,000
10,000
The digital campaign delivered 18,042 interactions with 4,291 HCPs over a four-

Rep calls
month period. 8,000
6,000
The average number of touchpoints/digital visits per HCP was 2.5, with each HCP
4,000
spending an average of around 4.5 minutes viewing content. Over 80% of the targeted
HCPs engaged with two or more separate elements of content. What this pharma 2,000
company had effectively managed to do was develop a significant number of brand 0
interactions with a potential customer, in a short space of time. These interactions were

10

on 1
12
1
th

th

th

th

th

th

th

th

th

th

th

th
on

on

on

on

on

on

on

on

on
also being supplemented with ‘double coverage’ (a benefit highlighted in the

on

on
M

M
afore-mentioned McKinsey & Co. report) through face to face and other channels.
Client sales force CSO1 CSO2
The reach is crucial but the frequency of visits and interactions is perhaps the most
important in terms of understanding engagement and sales impact. Figure 3: Sales force activity for product launch

Understanding what works: A case study measuring return on investment for digital versus physical marketing activities and the combination of both 09
Campaign impact 5.6 of 8 key 6.1 of 8 key
The rationale behind the parallel digital campaign for the new product was to messages messages
complement the physical sales force presence on the ground, raising awareness in
a very competitive market of brand messages and building credibility that could be
reinforced in face-to-face meetings with sales reps.

Traditionally pharma has evaluated the effectiveness of account managers, reps and
marketing collateral using sales numbers as well as other analysis such as message recall
from rep-visited HCPs. These message recall analyses have commonly been referred to as
a Detail Follow-Up (DFU) or a Post-Visit Evaluation (PVE). Sales metrics are the behavioural
metric while DFUs and PVEs are the attitudinal analysis. For the digital campaign the same
analysis was conducted, with sales and attitudes measured. 70% 76%
The attitudinal study on the online campaign included a group of 50 GPs and 20
specialists who had viewed the online campaign (interactors) and 50 GPs and 20
specialists who had not (non-interactors). It was found that GP interactors with the
online campaign were further along the adoption path compared to non-interactors
and could recall, on average, 5.6 out of 8 key messages. Specialist interactors were
able to recall, on average, 6.1 (Figure 4).

GP interactors Specialist interactors

Figure 4: Key message recall for digital campaign

10 Understanding what works: A case study measuring return on investment for digital versus physical marketing activities and the combination of both
 Almost all of the GP interactors who were aware of the brand intended to start were reported to have the biggest impact on their decision (33%) and then
prescribing the drug, or to step up their prescribing in future – markedly more than recommendation by a specialist (20%)
among non-interactors. 92% of the GP interactors stated that they would increase While GP interactors were slightly further along the adoption curve and more likely
prescribing of the drug compared to just 35% of the non-interactors (Figure 5). This to associate the brand with the promoted drug attributes, the digital campaign was
difference was less pronounced amongst the specialists where 87% of interactors especially popular among specialists who were less familiar with the brand and
intended to increase prescribing compared to 80% of specialist non-interactors. wanted to learn more.

Of the specialists that had started to prescribe the product, educational meetings
(30%) and the online campaign (30%) had been equally impactful on their decision.
Of the GPs who had started to prescribe the product, educational meetings

Prescribing intention: Interactors vs. non-interactors

% of respondents
100
Start prescribing for the first time
19%
27%
35% 33%
35% Increase significantly
15%
Increase a little
NET 80% 23%
Increase: 13% 87% Stay the same
92% 25%
Decrease a little
65%
30% Decrease significantly
44% 29%

20%
13%
8% Q9/Q14 Thinking specifically about the product, how, if at all, do you expect your prescribing of the product to
change in the future?
Q14 As a result of the information resource for the product, how, if at all, do you expect your prescribing of the
Interactors, GPs Non-interactors, Interactors, Non-interactors, product to change in the future?
(48) GPs (26) specialists (24) specialists (30) Base: All respondents (ns are in x-axis titles)

Figure 5: The majority of interactors aware of the product intend to start or increase prescribing the drug in the future, with a marked difference between GP interactors and non-interactors

Understanding what works: A case study measuring return on investment for digital versus physical marketing activities and the combination of both 11
 NICE approval 90 days post-NICE
7,000
22 account managers Face-to-face
from CSO 1 in the field CSO 2 calls / meetings
6,000 in the
79 account managers field Digital engagements
from client in the field
5,000 Sales
12 account managers
from CSO 1 in the field
4,000
49 account managers
from client in the field
3,000
32 account
2,000 managers from
client in the field

1,000

0
Month Month Month Month Month Month Month Month Month Month Month
0 1 3 4 6 7 9 11 12 14 16
Figure 6: Physical and digital campaign over time versus sales

Measuring channel effectiveness and HCPs behaviours

A further analysis drawing on a range of data sources sought to measure channel This analysis of channel effectiveness did not include the impact of largely above
effectiveness and its impact on sales performance as the new product rolled out in the UK the line advertising activities such as print and digital display advertising for the
market. new brand or more elusive factors such as word-of-mouth recommendation.

Digital-engagement data and physical sales force activity were analysed on a monthly basis Sales of the new product peaked where there was a high frequency of both
over the course of the launch and cross-matched to monthly sales in geographical ‘bricks’ physical and digital calls – notably a whole two months after NICE’s cost-benefit
or postcode areas. The relative costs of engagement were factored in to generate RoI per assessment, when formulary access to the new product opened up (see Figure 6).
pound spent for each channel or combination of channels used.

12 Understanding what works: A case study measuring return on investment for digital versus physical marketing activities and the combination of both
Channel by channel analysis
Coverage, performance and cost-effectiveness were then split into four segments:

• No promotion: covering 24 bricks, where there were no sales calls by reps on

the ground, nor digitally through Doctors.net.uk

• Face-to-face only: covering 360 bricks, where there were physical calls by
account managers but no digital visits

• Digital only: 111 bricks, where there were digital visits but no sales calls

• Face to face plus digital: 1,190, bricks, where there were both sales calls and
digital visits

It must be noted that not all bricks are the same size or have the same market
potential as some brick geographies are more rural while others are in urban areas.
In other words, each brick will have different numbers of potential patients suitable
for the product. Therefore, although the following analysis demonstrates channel
impact, each group is not the same size.

The following data has been used to calculate cost-effectiveness and RoI:

• The cost of each account manager visit has been estimated at £120 – we have
taken ‘group details/lunch and learns’ into account and estimated the value of
each of these to also be £120

• The cost of each digital visit was £7.53

• The cost of the pharmaceutical product was taken from the NHS list price as
sales data provided was in unit sales

Understanding what works: A case study measuring return on investment for digital versus physical marketing activities and the combination of both 13
 No marketing
Individual channel analysis and key insights No marketing activities
No marketing
activities activities
No marketing
activities
Face to face only
No promotion No marketing Face to face
Face-to-face only onlyofto
Face face only
No marketing ROI £0.20
activities
Even where there were no sales calls or digital • AM calls accounted to for 22.7%
every (360)
£1 spent
activities No
Nomarketing
marketing ROI
Face ofto£0.20
face ROI
only of £0.20
visits, print advertising, mailers and other to ofevery
all potential bricks
£1 spent to everyand 13.4%
£1 spent of all
activities
activities
factors such as word of mouth were enough to NO PROMOTION FACE-TO-FACE ROIAMof £0.20
activity – they were associated with
Face
generate 0.5% of total to inface
sales 1.5%only
(24) of ONLY to 19.2%
every of£1total spent
sales.
Face to face only Digital only
all potential bricks ROI of £0.20 8 AM calls and 8 Digital visits 4 AM calls and 8 Digital visits • RoI of £0.20Digital per pound only spent
ROI of £0.20
to every £1 spent Face
Facetotoface
faceonly
only Digital only ROI: £3.49
to every £1 spent
ROI
ROIofof£0.20
£0.20 ROI: £3.49 to ROI:every£3.49£1 spent
Digital only to every £1 spent
totoevery
every£1
£1spent
spent to every £1 spent
ROI: £3.49
Digital only Digital only Face-to-face
to every £1plus spent digital
Digital only Face to face
ROI:alone
• Digital engagements £3.49were made in • 75.1% (1,190) of all potential bricks,
plus
Facedigital
to face
ROI:
7% (111) of allto
£3.49
everybricks,
potential £1 spent
making Digital only Face
82%to face
of AM activity and 94% of digital
to every £1 spent Digital only plus digital
ROI of £0.10
up 6.6% of all digital activity – they were plus digital
activity, with a ratio of 80% AM calls to
DIGITAL ONLY ROI: £3.49
FACE-TO-FACE
Face (account
ROI of £0.10 manager)
associated with 2.4% of overall sales. ROI:
toPLUS
£3.49
everyDIGITAL
£1 spent ROI20% ofto face
digital
£0.10 engagements
versus
(account
– combined,
£1.57 (digital)
manager)
to every £1 spent plus
theydigital
(account were manager)
associated with 76.1% of all
• Digital alone is anFace
effectiveto face
driver of product
to every £1 spent
versus £1.57 (digital)
Face to face 8 AM calls and 4 Digital visits 4 AM calls and 4 Digital visits ROI of £1.57
sales
versus £0.10
across (digital)
the four segments
plus
sales with an almost digital
immediate
to every £1 spent
plus digitalRoI due to low (account
• to every
94% £1manager)
spent
of overall digital activity was directly
ROI of £0.10
cost per engagement versus
ROI of £0.10
(account manager)
Face to face supporting 82%(digital)
£1.57 of all physical calls, acting
(account manager) Face
plus to face
digital to asevery £1toolspent
• RoI of £3.49 per pound£1.57
versus spent (digital) a support to increase awareness.
plus digital
versus £1.57
to every £1 spent(digital) Channel Segments ROI of £0.10
to every £1 spent ROI of £0.10
(account manager) AM - Account manager/Rep
(account
versus manager)
£1.57 (digital)
Figure 7: Sales, performance and cost-effectiveness by channel toversus
every £1.57 (digital)
£1 spent
to every £1 spent

14 Understanding what works: A case study measuring return on investment for digital versus physical marketing activities and the combination of both
These data (Figure 7) do not reflect longer-term considerations such as the impact
of relationships built through physical sales calls, nor do they measure explicitly the
comparative effectiveness of digital versus physical sales activity. What they do tell Could we use
us is that digital visits are immediately highly cost-effective due to the lower cost per Digital as a more cost
engagement when compared with face-to-face calls.
effective channel for the
lower quartiles?
Optimising channels for maximum RoI
As an exercise to consider the optimal channel mix the data was re-analysed by
dividing the target group into four roughly equal sales quartiles, then matching them to
brick coverage and the volume of calls through either sales reps or the digital channel,
to give some indication of how the ratio of physical to digital sales activity might be
adjusted geographically to lower operational costs and achieve better targeting of What if we reassign
resources.
more of our AM team to the
In the top-performing quartile (Q1), for example, 25% of sales were generated across top performing quartile?
just 4% of bricks using only 6% of all sales calls and 3% of digital engagements – a
relatively low level of effort and cost for a relatively high return. In the worst performing
quartile (Q4), it took 61% of all sales calls and 61% of digital visits to achieve the same
proportion of sales across 72% of all bricks.

Since we have already seen that digital is significantly more cost-effective, at least in
terms of immediate RoI, this raises the question of whether digital activity should be
ramped up to maximise RoI in the lower two quartiles, while sales teams might be
more productively re-assigned to the high-performing quartiles.

Understanding what works: A case study measuring return on investment for digital versus physical marketing activities and the combination of both 15
Learning from the case study • A cost-effective means of amplifying sales force activity by multiplying
A number of conclusions may be drawn from this case study. The data shows not only interactions with target customers and opening up new avenues for dialogue
that digital activity alone can be a driver of sales and improved RoI but that it is reaching around the product (e.g. where sales reps call on HCPs who have already
the right customers. In this instance, 94% of digital activity was directly supporting 82% of engaged with the brand online)
sales calls, so that the promotional push to target customers occurred both in and out of • A channel to engage new customers who are not currently seeing
office hours. representatives but are prescribing your products and may increase prescribing
The study also illustrates that digital can be used to improve markedly immediate RoI further with face to face plus digital
from sales activity while enabling physical resources to be targeted more productively.
Where the sales force is not reaching HCPs with the right patients, costs may be reduced What can you do for digital?
by switching to digital engagements and remote detailing. At the same time, digital
• Invest in measuring your new campaigns: as an industry we spend money
was shown to identify new customers who were prescribing the drug without any visits
on running a campaign but we often leave measurement as an afterthought.
from sales reps, suggesting these HCPs and the associated sales bricks should be
A simple rule would be to allocate 10% of campaign spend (dependent on
incorporated into account managers’ target-customer lists.
channel) to measurement. Pharma should push third-party providers to help
Where the biggest uplift to sales was observed during the new-product roll-out – around measure effectiveness, working with them collaboratively to provide the right
90 days after the NICE recommendation on uptake – the volume of digital activity was data and tools to get the right insight to assess outcomes
almost equal to that of the physical contacts, amplifying the key messages and helping to
• Translate the impact of multichannel campaigns into metrics that senior
boost sales with considerably less resource and at a much lower cost.
leadership can understand, ideally a mix of attitudinal and behavioural analysis
alongside sales data
What can digital do for you?
• Segment and target based on the channel and its cost-effectiveness
It is clear from this example that a complementary digital campaign has considerable not just target customer lists – digital tactics allow companies to have a
value as: different model to reach potential customers that have value, just potentially not
• A cost-effective driver of business on its own account, reaching and the same value that requires a representative visit
influencing customers where physical activity may be restricted or cannot be
justified due to costs

16 Understanding what works: A case study measuring return on investment for digital versus physical marketing activities and the combination of both
CONCLUSION

While this study was UK-specific, the learnings are applicable at

European or even global level. The UK is among the most advanced
markets for digital media in Europe, making it an ideal location for
this kind of multi-channel analysis. That in turn suggests that a more
enthusiastic embrace of digital channels across Europe will help to
identify the most impactful and cost-effective balance between physical
and digital resources in pharmaceutical sales and marketing.
The message for pharma, wherever it is located, is that industry should be challenging “Industry should be challenging itself and providers
itself and providers more aggressively on exactly when, where and how different
more aggressively on exactly when, where and how
sales channels – including digital – can generate the best returns by optimising
awareness, recommendation, uptake and sales, as well as focusing investment where
different sales channels – including digital – can
it will really make a difference. Sales and marketing teams should allocate part of generate the best returns by optimising awareness,
their campaign budget to analysing outcomes and measuring RoI from physical and recommendation, uptake and sales, as well as focusing
digital activities. Only then will they have a clear picture of how these strands function investment where it will really make a difference.”
both independently and synergistically to deliver a mix fit for today’s challenges in the
pharmaceutical market.

While the use of digital strategy and tactics does not provide a silver bullet to the ever
changing and evolving landscape, it does provide us with complementary tools to
target, gather insight and manage operational expenditure to get the highest returns
for your investments.

Understanding what works: A case study measuring return on investment for digital versus physical marketing activities and the combination of both 17
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1. PMLive (2012). Doctors.net.uk survey finds many GPs favour digital channels for
independent product information.
http://www.pmlive.com/digital_handbook/online_audiences/online_physician_
communities/doctors.net.uk_survey_finds_many_gps_favour_digital_channels_
for_independent_product_information (accessed September 2015).

2. ZS Associates (2014). Even traditionally rep-friendly specialists will see fewer

pharmaceutical sales reps this year.
http://www.zsassociates.com/about/news-and-events/even-traditionally-rep-
friendly-specialists-will-see-fewer-pharmaceutical-sales-reps-this-year.aspx
(accessed September 2015).

3. The Richest (2013). The Top 10 Bestselling Soft Drinks.

http://www.therichest.com/rich-list/most-popular/the-top-10-bestselling-soft-
drinks/ (accessed September 2015).

4. Forbes (2011). Google’s Innovation -And Everyone’s?

http://www.forbes.com/sites/quentinhardy/2011/07/16/googles-innovation-and-
everyones/ (accessed September 2015).

5. Coca-Cola (2012). Coca-Cola Content 2020 Initiative Strategy Video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G1P3r2EsAos (accessed September 2015).

6. Across Health (2015). Multichannel Maturometer 2015.

http://www.slideshare.net/AcrossHealth/across-health-multichannel-
maturometer-2015-48950551 (accessed September 2015).

7. McKinsey & Co. (2012). Making sense of e-detailing in Japan’s pharmaceutical sector.
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Japan_pharma_sector.pdf (accessed September 2015).

18 Understanding what works: A case study measuring return on investment for digital versus physical marketing activities and the combination of both
AUTHOR

Marc Singh-Jones, About M3 Group Further information

Business Director, M3 (EU) M3 is a trusted global provider of information and For more information on M3 and its European Division
Marc has a wide range of sales, connections in healthcare, and has a reach of more which includes the independent medical education offering
marketing and media experience than 3.5m physicians worldwide - making it the world’s as well as www.doctors.net.uk, www.m3medical.com,
having worked in public sector largest network of physicians. www.mdlinx.com, and www.networksinhealth.com
networks, events, radio and digital
M3 helps healthcare organisations to access, connect Phone: +44 (0)1235 828400
communications. His passions lie in people, big ideas
and communicate more efficiently with physicians
and disruptive technologies that can reduce the cost of Email: [email protected]
and other healthcare professionals in order to share
healthcare. Website: http://eu.m3.com/
knowledge and innovations. It also provides ongoing
data-driven results and insights, so that it can Twitter: @M3_Europe
continually improve its service.
CONTRIBUTOR
For physicians, M3 provides dedicated and trusted
community spaces in which they can connect with each
Dr Tim Ringrose, CEO, M3 (EU)
other, as well as healthcare organisations - to learn,
Tim Ringrose trained in nephrology
access new information, and share knowledge and
and intensive care in Oxford
experiences. M3 also has a separate division providing
before joining Doctors.net.uk, part
independent medical education.
of M3, in 2000. Tim has led the
development of services provided Through its commitment to progress and its investment
to doctors and has had considerable experience working in deepening connections, M3 will continue to
with a wide variety of healthcare clients to deliver market break down the barriers that stand in the way of
research, targeted online communications and educational improvements and progress in healthcare.
programmes to doctors.

Understanding what works: A case study measuring return on investment for digital versus physical marketing activities and the combination of both 19