Advancing digital engagement in pharma and healthcare: 2024 focus areas

Most organisations have an omnichannel strategy and enabling technology in place by now.

The conversation has moved on from being something all organisations need to do, to something that everyone is now doing in some capacity — with varying degrees of success.

In 2024 we expect to see better results, with customer segments identified, pathways and funnels defined, and content and channels aligned to meet their audiences. We look forward to seeing brands succeeding and sharing their wins with the industry.

The best commercial results will be observed with those brands that have adopted behaviour-change models like AIDA, as mentioned by Andrew Binns in our recent webinar.

Taking an iterative approach to omnichannel strategies will also improve the chances of success — learn as you go, experiment, analyse the data, seek customer insight, then scale the approaches that work.

Valuable content sits at the centre of marketing.

It's crucial to create content that genuinely adds value and is sympathetic to the needs and contexts of audiences. This is the only way to cut through the noise and drive audience engagement.

Organisations can build trust by providing transparent, educational and authentic content across a variety of formats and channels to suit individual needs and preferences.

We hope to see an even higher level of value-add in medical comms and a higher degree of creativity in brand campaigns and activation over the next 12 months.

Despite nearly every organisations saying they need to be more data-driven, it feels like progress in this area has been slow and the conversation hasn’t moved on much in the past 12 months.

Leaders want to see data and tangible ROI from digital marketing activity, and bringing that data into the business is more important than ever in 2024.

Determining the right metrics to track will be key to using data successfully. What is being measured has a direct impact on behaviour and internal culture, because that’s how teams are being incentivised. If organisations want to be customer-centric, they need to prioritise the data points that facilitate this.

With effective journey orchestration becoming a priority, focus should be placed on the touchpoints that customers engage with — yes, all of them.

Content and user experience need to work together. There’s no point investing in creating great content if your customers can’t conveniently access it. Teams should focus on improving the impact, look and feel of their digital products through human-centric design. Simplify user journeys to help users quickly locate the information they need and complete their intended tasks.

Recognise that customers will be engaging with multiple channels and touchpoints that each need to be highly usable, accessible and connected.

We can help with usability, accessibility and effectiveness audits. Get in touch to learn more.

Pharma and healthcare organisations are looking hard at the platforms that power their digital engagement strategies. Getting them right is key for efficiency and scaling.

Many organisations are now embracing design systems to allow them to scale their platforms across brands, devices and markets without losing consistency and quality. Tasks that are often considered time-consuming, like the migration of multiple unique sites to a new visual identity or UX, can be hugely accelerated.

Whether it’s your design tools, CMS platform, CRM or analytics dashboard, investing in the right tools in the right combination will be key for future-proofing your digital products and strategies so that they can grow with you.

A switch to a new digital platform can seem like a daunting task, but it will pay off in the long run and can be painless if you work with an experienced partner. Having clear and comprehensive documentation will empower marketers and AORs to embrace new platforms and use them effectively, along with thought-out internal launch, training and socialisation plans.

In an article looking at 2024 digital focus areas, we couldn’t avoid mentioning AI…

It feels like the hype around AI might have reached a peak in 2023. Our hope for 2024 is that we see use cases that demonstrate it’s not something to be feared and can help create better experiences for customers.

One way that AI could be transformational in terms of digital engagement is by utilising it to process the vast amount of data that pharma organisations hold. Those that can harness the power of AI to generate sophisticated customer insight on a vast scale, then apply this across their omnichannel strategies, will get ahead of the competition.

A word of warning — unless tools are used intelligently, and staff upskilled to use them properly, they’ll end up as expensive licence fees with zero ROI.