Website Development: Build it Right and They Will Come

By Tanya Lewis

The number of adult consumers seeking pharma information online has more than doubled since 2005, up from 55 million to 112 million last year according to Manhattan Research's 2010 ePharma Consumer v10.0 study. Not surprisingly, pharma spend in digital channels has also increased.

“We've witnessed a higher comfort level with investing in websites in general,” says Wendy Blackburn, EVP at Intouch Solutions. “If they don't have a website then a consumer is going to get information somewhere else.”  

CEO of Heartbeat Ideas Bill Drummy also reports increased digital channel investments, but he says pharma is still spending significantly less compared with other industries.

The ePharma study found 65% of people visit product websites, while unbranded sites draw 36%. Manhattan Research doesn't formally track spend, but VP of research Monique Levy notes increased interest in understanding unbranded investments in the last several years, which she attributes to concerns about DTC regulation and a “broader trend toward more customer care and a more service oriented approach to marketing.”

Blackburn says brand.coms are “a given,” and notes unbranded sites work well for first-to-market treatments, market leading products and rare diseases. Drummy's clients build more brand.coms than disease.coms, but he's seen increased investment in disease.coms. Both Drummy and Blackburn caution about being mindful of fair balance when linking unbranded and branded conversations.

“Consumers resist branded communication unless they absolutely know they need [a product],” Drummy says. “The branded website is about conversion. It should convert the right people to your product at a pretty high rate. That doesn't necessarily mean the best way to get them there is to start out with a branded message.”  

The ePharma research found consumers tend to use disease state content earlier in the treatment continuum, and unbranded sites are most likely to prompt them to seek additional condition information online. Product websites are most likely to drive users to talk with their doctor. Content designed to drive doctor discussion is common among brand websites that rank highest in driving prescription requests.

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