Finding & Showcasing Digital Impact: ROI, Performance Metrics, Launch & Maximizing Digital Performance

Best Practices, LLC undertook this study to examine a host of foundational benchmarks required to achieve best-in-class performance in digital marketing in the healthcare sector - and help drug and medical device manufacturers foster a stronger digital culture throughout the organization. The study analyzes critical operational areas for measuring and demonstrating return on digital investment, key drivers and timing factors for maximizing ROI, cross-channel performance metrics for individual channels, program approval timeframes, and insights for overcoming common regulatory hurdles.

Study Snapshot

This research engaged 39 digital marketing leaders from 30 leading pharmaceutical, biotech, and life sciences companies. Thirteen study participants represent large pharma organizations, while the remaining benchmark class represent medium or small companies.

Key Findings

· Medium & Smaller Companies Better Leverage Content, Analytics than Large Pharma: Digital marketing teams in the medium/smaller company segment show relatively greater success in their use of dynamic content, advanced analytics, and online engagement tactics. Roughly one-third of these teams report “high ROI,” compared to just 15% of large pharma peers. Sixty-one percent of large companies also indicate “unclear ROI” from social media programs.
· Traditional Websites Register Highest Impact, with Mobile Gaining Steam: Websites were ranked by benchmark companies as delivering the highest impact overall, followed closely by content and collateral development and field support activities. Driven by market demand, mobile is climbing the ranks as a valuable customer engagement channel. Analytics may have little direct impact on customers, but predictive modeling is key to informing strategy and tactics across a wide spectrum of customer channels.

· Compliance Hurdles Are Ranked the Most Significant Force Undermining Today’s Competitive Digital Deployment, followed by Insufficient Resources: Regulatory pressures in the healthcare industry render approval hurdles with various medical, regulatory and legal teams the most persistent challenge to digital competitiveness.

Table of Contents

Executive Summary pp. 3-10
Research Overview p. 3
Key Findings & Insights p. 6
Detailed Research Findings p. 11
I. Measuring Return on Investment p. 12

ü Top Areas for Digital ROI
ü ROI Drivers & Characteristics
ü Measuring Impact across Lifecycle Stages

ü Assessing the Value of Multichannel Metrics
ü Effective Metrics for Individual Tactics & Channels

ü Top Forces Undermining Digital Competitiveness
ü Impact of Regulation on Digital Approaches
ü Approval Speed & Effective Approval Tactics