Increase ROI with Smarter Segmentation

Thank you to Intouch colleague Jen Klingensmith for this excellent ePharma Rx Guest Blogger contribution!

In a down economy, marketers are evaluating their efforts to ensure they’re getting the most bang for their buck. One key factor in improving ROI and brand identity is becoming more targeted in your marketing vision. Segmentation, therefore, must go beyond the formulaic approach of "we make drug X to help people with condition Y." Take, for instance, the following female consumer.

Case Study: Female Consumer

Ranking the Case Study's Priority
Based on the information presented and your overall marketing vision, there are two different ways you might interpret where this woman ranks in priority.

If you are creating a community Web site or forum to learn how people with her condition manage without medication, she is highly relevant to your intended audience. Alert her to your new site or branding materials.

However, if you are creating an e-mail blast with an incentive of getting reduced-cost prescriptions, the fact that she has standard co-pay prescription coverage and does not take medication would tell you that the probability of her responding to your offer is low.

While it may take some advanced preparation, looking beyond basic indication targets provides higher rates of relevance between your audience and your brand, and ultimately improves your ROI.

In the March issue of DTC Perspectives, Kevin Clancy, Chairman of the marketing consulting firm Copernicus, refers to this approach as tapping into problems and pains. Clancy recommends looking into the factors of life events, treatment attributes and benefits, and the intangible emotional responses that move people from prospects to consumers. Likewise, Forrester Research encourages marketers to “[gain] a better understanding of the consumer targets for a given offer, involving deep technology adoption (tech ownership and attitudes), behavioral, attitudinal and demographic segmentation.”


For more information on how Intouch Solutions can help you refine your segmentation to create smarter targets, contact us at getintouch@intouchsol.com.