The Significance of Market Research in Pharma
A thorough market research and insights operation is vital for the success of a pharma brand. However, it is particularly crucial for the pharma industry because of the sophistication involved in both the products as well as the consumer stakeholders in the industry.
Every pharma company has numerous consumers they need to target and better comprehend through market research:
- Influencers- Hospital/IDN Admins, Employers, Payers, and Advocacy
- Care Providers- Pharmacists, Physicians, and NPPAs
- Recipients- Caregivers, Patients, etc
- Other- Regulatory organizations and government officials
Another circumstance to note in this industry is that every consumer as a stakeholder has their own attitude, behavior, methodologies, requirements, demographics, etc. This calls for pharma market research to be conducted by the brands to study all key stakeholders and offer deep insight into each one to propagate tactics and brand marketing strategies dedicated to each stakeholder. Though this multiplies the sophistication of market research compared to other industries, it is high time that it embraces advanced technologies to meet the requirements.
Another challenge that looms over the pharma industry, particularly, is that it requires driving substantial behavior change in consumers.
Altering consumer behaviors needs a holistic understanding of current consumer behaviors and the deep-rooted drivers of decision making that drive consumers to behave the way they do. Many times, consumer behaviors can be irrational, leading to average care for patients and substandard health outcomes.
It takes more than 10 years to launch a pharma where the cycle goes from identification of the molecule an FDA compliance brand in the marketplace. Pharma market research, therefore, strives to inform a very extended product launch strategizing cycle, leveraging a diverse set of needs for the launch planning team.
Key Factors of a Market Research Study- Every Pharma Company Should Incorporate
- Specifying Objectives
Coming up with transparent and actionable goals is the primary step in a pharma market research study. The objectives should comply with the 360-degree business strategy and address particular research questions, such as enhancing patient engagement or perfecting promotional strategies. Aligning objectives with the role of consulting in pharma success can drive better outcomes.
- Gathering Data
Collecting data through various modes, such as interviews, surveys, and digital analytics, is the core of pharmaceutical marketing research. Effective data collection tools are crucial to ensure data accuracy and security, which is vital for understanding the patient journey in life science.
- Presentation and Reporting
Impactful communication data through presentations and reports is important for stakeholder engagement. Executive summaries, visual aids, and actionable recommendations assist in translating pharma research insights into strategic actions.
- Data Analysis
Methodologies for interpreting and analyzing data include statistical analysis, trend identification, and thematic coding. Data analysis enables organizations to procure actionable insights and make informed decisions, emphasizing the vitality of data-driven decision-making.
Best Methodologies: How Companies Can Perform Effective Pharma Market Research
- Quantitative Surveys- Over the years, quantitative surveys have evolved in how it is done in the pharma industry. These days, a do-it-yourself (DIY) or AI-based survey writing is incorporated to form surveys more efficiently and also enhance the respondent experience during the surveys.
Simultaneously, AI-driven enterprises are training ML models to serve as synthetic respondents that can be used to supplement samples in rare diseases.
- Qualitative Interviews- F2F qualitative interviews have gone through a dramatic shift, especially during the pandemic. It almost got out of the methodology. But pharma organizations are not only coming back to it but also preferring it due to the perceived better quality of the feedback.
Currently, qualitative research organizations can capitalize on AI and summarize interview scripts in no time, carry out NLP text analysis, and even produce summary slides from every interview.
- Micro survey Research- On one hand, micro survey research is well embraced by the pharma industry, while on the other, actual utilization might fall short of industry 5.0 expectations due to the sophistication of DIY survey programming.
- Desk/Secondary Research- It makes the preliminary research concrete, and AI integration has made it much seamless for pharma enterprise marketers and insights professionals to conduct desk research, that too within a tight budget.
- Neuroscience coupled with wearables- This effective combination is making it hard to fetch data about the patient journey and also to gather more system-1 based responses to marketing stimuli like creative concepts, mood boards, messages, positioning statements, etc. It’s appropriate for rare disease cases where patient recruitment is difficult.
- HCP-Patient conversion analytics- The inclusion of generative AI in recording these conversations and extracting actionable insights is helping the industry tremendously in market research. There are advanced enterprises that have devised innovative ways to capture numerous physician-patient conversations at scale, and currently, most of these enterprises are focused on HCP workflows like patient note transcriptions, patient recommendations, patient file updates, etc.
- Patient chart audits- this methodology has been in effect for several decades in the pharma industry, despite some of the shortcomings, like data collection, limited sample size, anecdotal misconceptions, etc.
With the advanced use of HER-EMR systems, patient data is now available at scale, and large language models (LLMs) can be incorporated to derive better insights out of unorganized patient files instead of asking HCPs to explain their treatment decisions for a patient after looking at the file.
- UI/UX Research- This type of research is increasing in the industry because of interactive visual aids, better utilization of social media channels, and development of patient-facing mobile apps. However, the field continues to scale up because there is limited methodological innovation beyond A/B testing in how one’s UI/UX research works.
- Affect Research: voice tonal/microfacial analysis- Inclusion of reading emotions and affect sensing technologies is vehemently growing in pharma market research. Affect levels can be measured in humans using a plethora of techniques, including voice tonal analysis, micro facial expression, text analytics of spoken words, and biometric sensing of body temperature fluctuations.
Conclusion
It’s evident from the above research techniques that the inclusion of advanced technologies in pharma market research has taken a steep turn. And it's only going to impact how market researchers deliver quality data to the pharma organizations involving HCPs and other stakeholders. It's only a matter of time before the pharma market will adopt ‘patient-centricity’ in its true form.
Advanced brands like Newritics are redefining how pharma marketing is conducted in this fast-paced industry by offering heuristic-based messaging. They offer a holistic service where the legwork, i.e., target market research and its respective messaging, is taken care of, driving the best patient outcomes.