The changing role of market research
pharmafile | June 8, 2009 | Feature | Sales and Marketing |Â Â NHS, marketing researchÂ
Market Research and analytics is an area which continues to present new challenges and opportunities for our industry. I first started working in this discipline over 10 years ago working for Lilly, then GSK and now UCB.
Over the years I have worked in a number of different therapy areas across all disciplines and I've seen many changes within code of conduct and customer groups.
The most recent change for me is the shift towards new and emerging customer groups and so the questions I frequently ask myself are; "Are we spending enough of our budget on these customers?" and "Do we have enough customer insight to ensure the money is being spent as effectively as possible?"
With the environmental changes in the industry we need to think differently about with whom and how we conduct market research. Traditionally research has been conducted among primary and secondary care physicians, as well as patients utilising a number of different research techniques, traditional and innovative.
In the current times we can't forget about these customers groups, particularly patients, however we do need to understand the beliefs, motivations and behaviours of new and emerging customers such as payers, commissioning leads, directors and regulatory bodies such as NICE.
So who are the best people to uncover these insights? I would suggest researchers working alongside NHS/Market Access teams to understand their needs and link these with the needs of the patient.
The task here is to understand who the key decision makers are and how they influence healthcare policy in their area? Are your NHS/Market access teams getting time with them? Are they discussing the right issues/providing the right information to ensure these customers are supportive of industry strategy as well as the innovative products being launched?
How do we answer these questions? There are a number of innovative techniques we as researchers can use which are not just for prescribers and patients and can uncover valuable understanding and insights to this new and emerging group of customers which until recently may not have been explored to the greatest degree. Through firstly allocating budget and resources, building internal relationships and asking the right questions you will be able to uncover insights which up until now may have been indiscernible below the surface.
So how can conducting research support this group? Through understanding their issues and challenges, we as an industry can work with them to ensure our communication is relevant and insightful enabling them to make the right decisions for their healthcare goals in their area.
At UCB we understand the importance of these customers and are including them within our research, carefully considering respondents, objectives and our approach to ensure we maximise the budget we are investing.
We then work cross functionally to ensure all insights uncovered are communicated across teams, making sure our communication is relevant and that our internal customers again see the value of Market Research in UCB.
Karen Nicoll is head of sales and marketing effectiveness at UCB
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