The World of Omnichannel Comes to Life Sciences: What Digital Transformation Looks Like in the Pharma Industry

Where most of the other industries such as consumer packaged goods and luxury products have already have taken steps to implement digital transformation through omnichannel technology and personalized 1:1 engagements to create a single view of their respective customers, the pharma and life sciences industry has just recently joined this trend. The key focus areas driving this change are two-fold: living in a global pandemic-affected world is requiring health care professionals to seek information in real-time in order to be as effective for their constituents as possible and for potential patients and consumers to research more about his or her respective health needs.

Today’s ‘full stack’ marketer should be well-versed in these types of platforms to deliver the objectives and outcomes expected from his or her respective stakeholders seeking information in an always-on world. How these stakeholders now derive their understanding and gather information on indications, therapeutics, and disease states has evolved into a “pull” versus “push” model of information aggregation as many companies continue to be virtual. There continue to be fewer face-to-face interactions between doctors and life science representatives. The growing consensus is that this trend will continue into a both fully-hybrid remote and in-person models in the industry in the foreseeable future.

In order to appropriately serve these constituents, it is critical to have a 360-view of these individuals through a world-class omnichannel platform that enables activities like virtual live meetings, virtual congresses, segmentation, and meaningful customer journeys, and data-driven decision making through machine learning from these interactions and responses over time. The application of these learnings will rapidly improve both content creation activities and business decisions, based on real-time analytics that shines the light of understanding in ways that have not been possible before.

An example of this in execution is life science companies partnering with end-to-end cloud-based marketing solutions such as the Adobe Experience Cloud to create true digital transformation while delivering real-time omnichannel personalized engagements. Using a content management system like Adobe Experience Manager to create world-class websites and healthcare portals that help HCPs find content, segmenting those users through tools like Adobe Audience Manager and building informational customer journeys that drive better patient outcomes through customer relationship management/marketing automation tools like Marketo enables deep personalization of these experiences while creating a thought-leadership in the minds of these stakeholders for the companies deploying these solutions.

But how does today’s marketer know what activities are working to create the outcomes expected from these tools? Using the Adobe Analytics platform to set key performance indicators (KPIs) and relevant metrics (not just vanity metrics like time on site and click-through rates, but deeper level data and behavior-based triggers) will ensure that goals are met and the HCPs have better patient outcomes when interacting with companies using these strategies and solutions. Lastly, it is critical to implement these tools at the level of maturity of the specific organization to ensure both adoption and operational excellence for these platforms. There are plenty of tier-one level systems integration partners and business implementation partners that exist to help make this transformation a success.

Executing digital transformation rooted in omnichannel interactions requires its users to have both strategic and tactical skills with tools like these in order to move at the speed of the marketplace. In today’s world, each person has a voice and say regarding one’s healthcare, especially now living in a COVID-19 world. Being in lockstep with HCPs and consumers by providing the right engagement or requested content and messaging through the right channel at the right time will ensure trust continues to grow with these stakeholders and that they will look to your organization as a trusted advisor into the future.