Going online for health

6/18/2007 01:24:00 PM

Posted by Neha Patel, Industry Marketing Manager, Health

Research has shown that more and more consumers are going online for health information. Our team wanted to understand this a bit further, and so we partnered with Harris Interactive on a new piece of market research to understand consumer behavior online as it relates to health conditions.

What did we find? Online research brings consumers into the health system and effects change. We found that after gathering health information online, consumers take action!

·         Some 40 percent of consumers interact with their doctors after looking for information online

·         78 percent take action within a month's time because of what they found online.

·         31 percent of consumers notice health ads online while searching for information on a health question.

Trusting the Internet for health

8/21/2007 08:59:00 AM

Posted by Neha Patel, Industry Marketing Manager, Health

According to Prospectiv's "2007 Pharmaceutical Marketing CPI" poll conducted in June, 75% of 800 consumers surveyed feel the Internet is their most trusted source for health information. And not only was the Internet the most trusted medium, but it was the most reliable place to research ailment and drug information, more so than broadcast media (15%) and magazines (10%). The study also found that online consumers favor general health Web sites (54%) and ailment-focused sites (37%) over pharmaceutical company sites (4%).

What does this mean for brand managers? Jere Doyle, Prospectiv's president and CEO, noted, "What's particularly interesting is the low number of consumers who rely on pharmaceutical sites for information, indicating that brand managers need to find new ways to peak consumer interest and engage them. Educational e-newsletters, health-focused web sites and micro-sites focused on specific ailments have proved very effective in this regard. The first step toward initiating these online resources is for brand managers to build an in-house database of self-profiled consumers who have expressed an interest in learning more about their treatment options."

Also of note from the survey: consumers tend to research often. One-third conducted research at least monthly. So think about all the condition information you can bring to users apart from your branded sites, via general health websites.

Health search

7/31/2007 02:19:00 PM

Posted by Neha Patel, Industry Marketing Manager, Health

We know consumers looking for health information turn to search engines -- but how do they decide what to click? Advertisers continue to try to understand how online users search and find health information. Jupiter Research's new US Health Consumer Study 2007 takes us one step closer to understanding how consumers search for health information. The study's overarching theme: relevance drives clicks. Four times as many consumers who used a search engine for health info clicked on a result because it was relevant, compared to others who click because the link was to a trusted source. And fully 65% of searchers clicked because the text was most relevant to their query. In addition, the study found that people seeking health information show no bias against sponsored results (versus natural results).

Doctors and the Web 2.0

7/17/2007 03:02:00 PM

Posted by Neha Patel, Industry Marketing Manager, Health

Did you know physicians are more likely than consumers to use the web and other technologies to access information? A new white paper from Manhattan Research, ‘Physician and the Web 2.0’, states that physicians are embracing Web 2.0 technologies -- podcasting, social media networks, online video, blogs -- in large numbers. In fact, the study notes that more than 25,000 physicians are actively reading and posting to blogs and more than 80,000 doctors participate in online communities. For these physicians, the online landscape is evolving into an interactive forum for information sharing and education. And it’s not just the young docs who grew up on the Internet -- the report notes that an older generation of more experienced physicians want to share their ideas through this new interactive medium.

Think of all the innovative ways you can share health, medical and treatment information with physicians. Evolve your marketing strategies to make your information portable and available in new formats. Now is the time, because your doctor is more than just online.

Source from: http://google-health-ads.blogspot.com/