A study from Comscore Inc Online Marketing Effectiveness Benchmarks for the Pharmaceutical Industry provide with insight into the impact of various online marketing activities on brand awareness, favorability, and sales.
“Our benchmarking data continue to show that branded websites have the greatest impact on conversions and also reinforce the significance of display and search advertising in increasing awareness and favorability toward a brand.” said John Mangano, vice president of comScore health marketing solutions.
The study found that visitation to a branded website generated the greatest positive lifts in conversion. Existing patients increased their refill rate 15.5 percentage points more than those who did not visit the site. The percentage of prospects beginning treatment after visiting a branded site was 8.8 percentage points higher than prospects with no exposure to the branded site.
The study also found that exposure to online display advertising and branded websites have a positive impact on awareness and favorability among both prospects and patients. For prospects, exposure to a display ad increased both aided and unaided brand awareness by 2.8 and 1.8 percentage points, respectively. The impact is greater for exposure and interaction with rich media ads, showing a 3.1-percentage point increase for aided brand awareness and a 5.5-percentage point increase for unaided brand awareness. For patients, favorability was increased only by exposure and interaction with rich media ads, showing a 4.1-percentage point lift.
Apart from online advertising, branded pharma websites also continued to have a significant impact on awareness and favorability among patients and prospects. Prospects exhibited a 16.9-percentage point lift in favorability after visiting a branded website, while patients reported a 15.6-percentage point lift.
Branded pharmaceutical websites most impactful in driving conversions prospects-patients