Group 8020 Blog

Consumers Prefer To Learn About Drugs Online

March 4th, 2009

epsilon Consumers Prefer To Learn About Drugs OnlineAs reported in MediaPost Marketing Daily,  the results are in from marketing services firm Epsilon. 

Consumers would rather learn about prescription drugs via Web sites and email than through traditional offline advertising and marketing… 

While an in-person conversation still topped the list of sources for new information, Epsilon reported that receiving an email from a physician was significantly less desirarble at just 14%.   Other findings include:

  • Consumers who opt to receive emails from pharmaceutical companies are more likely to fill prescriptions and take them properly (42% of respondents said the emails have a direct impact on such offline activities)
  • More loyal to the sender’s products and brands (60% said they have a more favorable opinion of the senders, 53% expressed more loyalty to those products and brands, and 44% said they are more likely to stay on a drug)

Epsilon has also published a special a special report “Prescription for Customer Engagement: An Inside Look at Email Marketing for the Pharmaceutical Industry” which is available for download on the Epsilon site  [note: will open new window with PDF]

Clearly a multichannel approach is called for.  But does research like this indicate that print and television- like the backbone of traditional Direct to Consumer (DTC) advertising – is on the way out?

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