by Sharanjit Singh
Elevating customer experience (CX) in the life sciences industry is a significant challenge for marketers. 73% of customers expect companies to understand their unique needs and expectations, while 85% expect consistent interactions across departments, according to a Salesforce report. Take the case of healthcare professionals (HCPs). According to a survey by Indegene, 62% of HCPs demand hyper-contextualized interactions from pharma companies. So engaging customers more contextually, anytime, anywhere, is now a key priority for most life sciences marketers. But building a comprehensive digital strategy to meet these expectations is not simple.
Here are 6 Digital CX trends life sciences marketers must focus on in 2023.
1. Customer-centric operating models that deliver superior brand experiences
As the life sciences industry continues to evolve and products become increasingly intricate, a large number of life sciences companies are recognizing the significance of a cross-functional, integrated approach to commercialization. Because customers expect customization and control over their brand experiences. By embracing a customer-centric operating model, teams across the organization are empowered to collaborate more effectively, share insights, eliminate internal barriers, and foster greater coordination and alignment around the customer.
To ensure that the customers’ voice is heard and their experience is delightful every single time, key members of the team – CX leads, for example – must be designated as customer custodians. These custodians can work closely with various functional teams to develop strategies that strengthen customer relationships over time. Customer satisfaction metrics, such as net promoter score or a CX Index, are given more prominence and highlighted in performance scorecards, emphasizing the importance of CX in driving business success.
2. MarTech stack modernization that transforms CX and speeds time-to-market
The underutilization of MarTech, and a lack of alignment between MarTech strategy and commercial objectives are prevalent issues faced by life sciences organizations. However, by thoughtfully selecting and integrating the appropriate platforms, automating processes, and establishing well-defined value architectures, organizations can deliver more targeted and efficient marketing campaigns and outcomes.
A seamlessly integrated MarTech stack allows for the smooth flow of data and user experience, enabling the automation of personalized journeys where each touchpoint builds upon the previous engagement in a seamless manner. To fully realize the true potential of these connections, it is important to prioritize the most essential ones and have a clear understanding of the customer journey. This includes being adaptable across channels to engage customers at their preferred time, location, and device.
The most successful channel strategies strike a balance between push and pull tactics, utilizing data and insights on the target audience and their previous interactions to deliver highly relevant messages through their preferred channels.
3. Context-specific, atomized content that is fresh and engaging
In order to establish a truly impactful and personalized customer experience, it is essential to craft content that directly addresses the unique needs of your audience. Personalization is not just limited to the type of content, but encompasses the tone and format as well. For instance, if your target audience comprises patients primarily, then incorporating patient stories, real-life experiences, and images of patients may resonate better.
To achieve this level of personalization, a robust content management system is necessary. This includes utilizing digital asset management, implementing efficient medical, legal, and regulatory affairs (MLR) processes, and developing modular content. By integrating an intelligent content engine with a digital asset management (DAM) system, organizations can harness the power of AI/ML-powered content tagging and segmentation, which enables the creation of atomized content that is tailored to the specific region, language, and context of your audience.
Additionally, an intelligent content engine can help repurpose top-performing content, allowing key pieces to remain relevant and useful for an extended period, ultimately generating more ROI opportunities. And the benefits are real. One of our clients, a global pharmaceutical organization, increased asset reuse by 50%, while also reducing their cost for asset operations by 45%.
4. Trust and transparency management that protects and conforms
A recent consumer privacy survey by Cisco found data transparency to be the top thing organizations can do to build trust with their customers. The democratization of data in the healthcare system, brought about by advances in technology and a shift towards patient-centric care, is leading to a shift in power dynamics. As healthcare providers and patients take on more active roles in sharing their personal data, life sciences organizations must adopt compliant practices and provide a robust framework that delivers best-in-class privacy, consent, and transparency.
To build trust with customers and stakeholders, life sciences organizations can increase transparency in data collection, storage, and usage, and demonstrate the tangible benefits of data sharing. As trust is built, HCPs and patients will be more willing to share their data, allowing life sciences organizations to provide better experiences for them, ultimately leading to a more equitable and CX-centric healthcare system.
With more countries regulating the collection and use of personal data, life sciences organizations must ensure that their MarTech stack evolves alongside a changing regulatory environment by adhering to country and region-specific regulatory and compliance nuances, by leveraging new consent management and preference management platforms.
5. Human experiences that are accessible and inclusive
Accessibility and inclusivity must take the centerstage and drive the architecture of your MarTech stack. Incorporating accessibility and inclusivity as core drivers will ensure that customers, regardless of region, language, and ability, have access to and receive content they can relate to and identify with. This will not just improve the overall CX but also help reinforce positive brand identity and loyalty. Campaign effectiveness will also see a significant uptick thanks to a wider audience pool.
From a legal compliance standpoint, many countries have laws that require websites and other digital materials to be accessible to individuals with disabilities. By ensuring that marketing materials are accessible, life sciences organizations can avoid potential legal hurdles and fines while demonstrating their commitment to accessibility and inclusivity.
6. Sustainable approaches that drop carbon footprint – and your Opex
Customers are also increasingly aligning themselves with companies and experiences that are sustainable. For instance, 43% of customers would hold businesses and brands accountable over themselves in taking steps for decarbonizing the way they experience advertising. Giving your customers the ability to self-craft and curate experiences on a sustainable platform would be an invaluable differentiator.
To address these expectations, life sciences organizations must implement sustainable and environmentally conscious IT practices and infrastructure, which not only benefit the planet but also reduce operational costs and decreases energy consumption, and emissions. Techniques such as Green SEO can be used to make web properties and marketing technology more eco-friendly, and optimizing travel routes leveraging engagement analytics & insights for sales representatives and medical science liaisons on a global scale can lead to fuel savings and a reduction in carbon footprint.
Additionally, a higher uptake of E-detailing strategies, which have been used by pharmaceutical companies for years, also present an opportunity for brands to increase revenue while minimizing their environmental impact. Highlighting the environmental advantages of virtual engagement may even influence physicians to prefer electronic delivery over traditional in-person engagements.
The road to marketing transformation is not as long or as arduous as it’s often made out to be. Consolidating your 2023 strategic priorities around delivering an industry-leading customer experience consistently, anytime, anywhere, should give life sciences marketers a solid head-start in the new year.
Sharanjit Singh, AVP, Enterprise Commercial Solutions, Indegene
(DISCLAIMER: The views expressed are solely of the author and ETHealthworld does not necessarily subscribe to it. ETHealthworld.com shall not be responsible for any damage caused to any person / organisation directly or indirectly.)