Rise in use of QR Print to Online Codes

hSince I last blogged about these 2-D print  "action codes,"  especially QR codes, in February, boy has there been a dramatic increase in their usage.  Take a look at the exponential increase in 2-D action codes in magazines:  over 500 in the month of September, as Mediapost quoted a study by NellyMoser.

QR codes have the highest market share of these at 60%.
The codes are mostly in consumer magazines, and mostly in advertisements.  Healthcare specifically is not cited.

 Thanks to the comment (below)  by reader Ardash K, we can also see there has been a dramatic rise in Google searchers for QR codes.

This shows the mainstream exposure to certain core demographics, and that is a trend that consumer healthcare marketers should realize is at least worth a test.

Copay cards - follow the money

Co-pay cards are an often used tactic to encourage patients to try a new branded medication that is prescribed by their physician, eliminating the concern for an expensive co-payment that can come with a Tier 3 drug. In CRM terms, they are used as a conversion tactic, and can even be the gateway to an adherence program.

Here is another perspective on co-pay cards:

In a very interesting article and interview in MMM, the Pharmaceutical Care Management Association is cited in an estimation of how much additional cost must be reimbursed because of the use of copay cards: $32 billion over the next ten years. In addition, the PCMA clarifies who is paying for those costs: employers, unions, and state employee plans. As well as taxpayers.

In other words, someone has to pay the insurance companies the money they expected in their copayments. Some is borne by the phramaceutical manufacturers, but some is also paid for by those who contractwith the insurers, like employers et al. The details of this analysis are not crystal clear, but it most likley is based on the missed savings that would come from generic usage. In any regard, this is a thought provoking total.

Want to read more about the perspective of the PCMA?: Browse their website, or a research report (by Visante) about their planned drug cost savings over the next 10 years.

Turning the Waiting Room into an Education Center

The medical practice waiting room can be a point of either acquisition or conversion for CRM, depending on how educated the patient is about the therapeutic category, and whether that patient is aware of the treatment options.

Come read this week’s MediaPost Marketing:Health Blog to get a perspective on how waiting rooms can be leveraged for better education, and facilitating the patient-doctor dialogue.

There are discussions of how to better educate patients before they see the physician, and techniques for measuring the effectiveness of waiting room programs.

High Stakes Business Analytics Across Industries

This Wednesday I had the pleasure of participating in the first Aberdeen Business Analytics Summit in Boston. It was a fascinating collection of business and I.T. speakers across industries: banking, packaged goods, semiconductors, auto, health, etc. These business leaders have critical jobs like forecasting customer demand, optimizing the supply chain, or monitoring efficiency and profitability at retail locations across the country. Having access to real time, insightful analytics is critical to performing these jobs.

I participated in a panel on how better alignment can be achieved between "business users" and the "I.T." community. There was a surprising statistic that Aberdeen found which as 57% of business user do not see the value of business analytics. What shocked me was that... the business users should be defining and driving the value in the first place!

At times it can seem like two very different environments: the world of data and technology on one hand, and the world of marketing, sales, and supply chain on the other. I've been fortunate in my career at General Electric, Pfizer, and even now at The CementBloc, to be part of a "bridge" department that spans both worlds.

However, in these days of convergence, the more each of us can understand the language and motivations of our collaborators, the better our companies will be.

I would love to hear comments from readers on your perspective!

Linked in Groups - redundancy and analytics

For those of you participate in LinkedIn, you may have joined a few groups. I must confess that my visceral reaction to LinkedIn groups is an optimistic one, hoping that they are useful for networking and solution finding, and even can recapture the old days in the 1980s of Usenet groups.

However, ever notice how much there is duplication across these groups -- they have similar sounding names, overlapping memberships, and similar content. Here are a few of my groups:

* AWA - Advanced Web Analytics

* Advanced Business Analytics, Data Mining and Predictive Modeling

* Analytics Executives Network

* Business Analytics

* CRM Experts

* Data & Text Analytics Professionals

* Digital Analytics Careers

Get the idea? Can you tell these apart by the names? And I only listed up to the "D's" Plus each of these send me E-Mails weekly (daily is optional too), and I rarely open. Those who are considering making another LinkedIn group, first check to see what is there.

However, there is an upside to LinkedIn group creators. As reported in the Mashable Blog, LinkedIn groups now have analytics dashboards. The new dashboards show displays with various demographics on membership, growth of members, and activity of posts.

For more details, you can also see the LinkedIn Blog.

So, let's keep this valuable networking resource user friendly.

Brainstorming: food for thought

Ever get a group of cross-functional people in a room for a CRM or PRM tactical planning session? Perhaps to plan media placement or other promotional ideas? Better ask them to do some self-study ahead of time.

A recent article in The Washington Post by Jena McGregor comments on a research study about brainstorming. The study was done in the Journal of Cognitive Psychology by Nicholas Kohn and Steven Smith, two researchers at the University of Texas at Arlington and Texas A&M University.

The researchers asked undergraduate students to contribute ideas, both individually and in collective groups. They shared the ideas on a computer, either in small chat groups or alone, but combined together after the fact. As expected, those made up of individual ideas that were later pulled together, outperformed the real chat groups, both with the number of ideas and the diversity of them.

Thus, think about asking teammates to make a short list before hand, to avoid the herd mentality.

Convergent Times

Check out some great healthcare, multidisciplinary thinking on the new website: Convergent Times There are articles on ipad selling, managed markets, consumer experiences, and much more.

Let us know what you think... join the convergent conversation!

Consumer Youtube channels -- various industries

I've been reviewing YouTube channels of various companies and industries that need to reach consumers. I'm looking for inspirations particularly outside of traditional pharmaceuticals, to industries where consumers need information on how to use products, before making a purchase decision: consider automobiles, cosmetics, and consumer electronics.

The spectrum of channels seems to range from advertising outposts to true peer to peer experiences. At the one end, Honda channels are predominantly commercials, and a few public service corporate videos. Apple's channel is in between in that it delivers instructional videos, but they are delivered in the official corporate messaging and video quality: see this iPad2 video on Apple channel.

Two companies for me have channels exemplifying more of the peer to peer, instructional nature taht consumers in the acquisition stage of CRM really need: http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifthey must understand how to use the product. See for example The Mercedes channel, with sample start ups. Video quality less slick but authentic, nad I learn something about the dashboards, engine noise, etc. Then there is Destination Beauty by L'Oreal Paris. Sure, cosmetics firms make plenty of slick commercials with movie stars. But rather than show those, this YouTube portal is a series of tutorial videos by consumer-friendly "artists" that present peer to peer instructions on hos to use the products for face, or hair.

The more authentic, and the more helpful, the YouTube videos, the more influential on CRM conversion they will be.