eDetailing is all about the experience

A saturated pharmaceutical sales force is pushing eDetailing from the margins into the mainstream. While a handful of service providers clamor for attention, smart marketers recognize that successful eDetailing hinges on a good user experience, not the technology platform. Viewed from this perspective, every eDetailing initiative needs an interactive architect.

A decade ago, adding a pharmaceutical sales representative to your sales force yielded 750 physician visits per year. By 2000, the number dropped to just 17 visits per year. Today, more than 90,000 drug reps compete for the attention of 768,500 doctors. This influx of sales reps has produced diminishing returns. For every 100 visits only 8 reps succeed in speaking to a physician and being remembered.

Against this backdrop electronic detailing or eDetailing has emerged as an increasingly popular alternative. When Forrester looked at eDetailing’s influence on doctors it found that 31% of physicians participated in eDetailing in the past year.

Manhattan basically agreed, finding that the number of  U.S. physicians participating in electronic detailing has nearly doubled in the past 3 years, to 246,000 in 2005 (or 32% of active AMA physicians). More impressively eDetailing usage peaks among high prescribers. Some 48% of physicians who write more than 100 scripts a week have been eDetailed.

Not surprisingly a number of eDetailing vendors have emerged, including Aptilon Health, Group DCA, iQLearning, Lathian Systems, Medsite, and Physicians Interactive. It reminds me of the early days of content management systems. Vendors are busy comparing the features of their technology, when the user experience is what matters.

The best eDetails are short, available 24 hours a day, contain fresh content, interactive and self-guided, and include an incentive. In other words it’s not the tool, but how you use it. What physicians want from an eDetail is a great user experience. And one thing I’ve learned after 8 years at the helm of an interactive agency is that great user experiences don’t happen by accident, they happen by design.

Comments

[Arturo Orozco]

We have been developing eDetailing for the mayor international pharmaceutical companies in Mexico for the last couple years. Soon we realized sales reps felt jeopardized by eDetailing or “virtual rep” as some people call it. Definitely, eDetailing won’t replace sales representatives since not all doctors respond to electronic messages, and sales reps incarnate the human face the pharmaceutical companies give their doctors. We learned to combine eDetailing with the sales force to achieve best results and avoid internal boycott. Our biggest success story is a product which market share jumped from 1.7% to 13.8% as a direct result of an e-detailing, in a city not visited by sales reps. Unlike webpages, where ROI is measured mostly in terms of clicks, pageviews and users, eDetailing’s ROI may be measured in dollars. In our market, response depends on the user's age. Older, internet reluctant physicians are less likely to respond, while younger, tech-savvy doctors tend to respond better. Our typical responses rank from 10-15%, being our best ever a 30% completion. Besides design and user experience, we have concluded that a reliable, updated database is critical to have a successful eDetailing. No doubt, eDetailing will keep growing in the next years.

[Richard Willis]

E-Detailing is an exceptional communication tool for a market that is short on time and saturated with competition. The combination of e-detailing with periodic rep visits and direct PDA feeds makes the most marketing sense for us and many of our competitors.

-Richard
www.4mysales.com

[Tim Ferland]

I would really like to know what are the main roadblocks standing in the way of pharmaceutical companies using e-detailing as their main means of doctor relationship building tools. Can someone help me out with a few good examples of why pharmaceutical companies are not going more exclusively to e-detailing instead of the traditional methods and the DTC method?

[Don Wright]

I am trying to find an estimate for the cost of a sales call for a pharmaceutical rep. Does anyone have any information.

Don Wright

[Don Wright]

I am trying to find an estimate for the cost of a sales call for a pharmaceutical rep. Does anyone have any information.

Don Wright

[pirkka kaijanen]

Sales calls cost approx 250$ a piece. Don´t remember the source, but did my thesis on this issue.

[sara brady]

What are the differences between iQLearning and the other edetailing sites?

[Jack]

Hi,

I`m looking for companies that provides E-detailing services..

Does anyone know some?

[Colby Wright]

I have a joined a new medical community that combines eDetailing with video conferencing to replace the traditional pharmaceutical sales call. I believe it is free to all physicians and preferred physicians even get a free web camera and microphone and free accounts for friends and family. Its new so I have not tried it out much.
www.clinicalinfonet.com

[Colby Wright]

I have a joined a new medical community that combines eDetailing with video conferencing to replace the traditional pharmaceutical sales call. I believe it is free to all physicians and preferred physicians even get a free web camera and microphone and free accounts for friends and family. Its new so I have not tried it out much.
www.clinicalinfonet.com

[sara brady]

I would like to know whether there are any testimonials out there on how well eDetailing works...it sounds like a compelling service however.

[Michael Breen M.D.]

I'm a physician who markets for other physicians, device makers, and hospitals.
In my experience, the face-to-face contact with reps is crucial. A doctor's willingness to change prescription habits is relationship-based and contingent on some informal quid-pro-quo (even if it's just a staff lunch.)

Michael Breen M.D.
www.drmichaelbreen.cm

[εξωσωματική γονιμοποίηση στην Ελλάδα]

Hi

I donot know about E Detailing and I am looking for those companies which are provided E Detailing services.

[eDetailers.com]

The Following Pharma and Latin American Pharma Domains are For Sale:
www.eDetailers.com, the name says it all.

www.LatPharma.com, great for Pharma companies trying to market to the Latin American Space.

Contact: KeithBarkley.MackenzieGroup@Gmail.com for information.

Additionally, go to www.eBullHorn.com to view other similar businesses for sale

[Sarah]

I recently came across your blog and have been reading along. I thought I would leave my first comment. I don't know what to say except that I have enjoyed reading. Nice blog. I will keep visiting this blog very often.

Sarah

http://www.lyricsdigs.com

[walker thompson]

I also just found your blog... Very interesting... I will follow and comment on the discussion when appropriate.

[robseo]

Now a day E Detailing very interesting and upcoming popular service in medical marketing .

[Don]

The sales staffs that we work with are begging for eDetaling to help generate warm leads. We have been doing a version of this service for 10 years. Take a look at our site: http://www.diemdesign.com/medical/diem_medical.html

[RemoteRep]

ROI is so often quoted by marketers but so seldom actually measurable. When projects are designed from the outset to achieve a goal and then are measured against that specific goal of sales or reach or frequency as examples, then the ROI can truly be defined. Have a look at RemoteRep as an example of how ROI can be tracked and measured and linked back to a specific timeframe and even a message designed by Marketing and delivered by reps. Take the power of RemoteRep to extend the abilities of reps and reduce the significant down time they endure on a daily basis and combine it with the assurance of consistent messaging, trackable message progression (reports available in realtime to Sales and Marketing), and measure all of it against the plan of action or sales data and you have an ROI. With RemoteRep sales reps can detail in person F2F using the RepServ mode, customers can receive a detail from a rep and go through it themselves using the SelfServ mode, or reps can detail current or new customers where ever and when ever using the RemoteServ mode allowing for video detailing. Now is the time to help reps become more efficient and effective and actually be able to promote thier true ROI in the sea of market channels. RemoteRep combined with the skills and experience of reps provide new and real opportunities to not only demonstrate ROI but drive it.