The pharmaceutical product landscape has changed dramatically over the past decade. The reality is that pharmaceutical products rarely sell themselves. Strong market research is essential to ensure companies develop the right strategies, reach the right audiences and bring commercially relevant products to market. This need becomes even more pressing as research budgets shrink and pressure to perform continues to grow.
Why market research matters more than ever
Many products that once delivered tremendous value have since gone generic and newer products do not always deliver better outcomes than less expensive alternatives, creating significant differentiation. Key challenges include:
- Declining product differentiation in an increasingly generic market
- Shrinking research budgets alongside growing performance pressure
- A checkbox mentality that undermines the true value of research
- Skepticism among some executives about research delivering measurable returns
Companies that recognize pharmaceutical market research as a driver of competitive advantage consistently make better-informed decisions from product development to audience targeting.
Doing less to deliver more
One of the most counterintuitive truths about market research is that doing less can produce better results. This does not mean arbitrarily cutting studies. Rather, it means being selective and strategic:
- Prioritize research on specific business problems.
- Make the most of what you already know before starting new research projects.
- Identify true knowledge gaps, not just finding what you have already researched.
- Make sure that each research investment made produces high-quality and actionable results.
Customers tend not to change easily and as such, prior research is still applicable. Good research is often conducted, but it is not utilized properly.
Hallmarks of high-quality research
Companies that make the most out of their market research efforts tend to share certain defining characteristics, including:
- Marketing and research teams working together in a collaborative fashion, with the research arm seated solidly at the table in terms of decision-making
- Customer experience management consulting bridges the gap between raw data and meaningful customer understanding
- Diverse research tools, including ethnography, social media analysis and secondary data, are being employed to produce a richer customer profile
For a pharmaceutical organization, customer experience management consulting can play a significant role in developing strategies that are more aligned with the customer.
Turning insight into action
The other half of the battle is ensuring that good research is communicated well or that enough time is spent reviewing it. The common pitfalls include:
- Presenting data without synthesis or business context
- Lack of sufficient time spent on internalizing research
- Lack of link between research and next steps
Organizations that prioritize market research as an integral part of their business tend to outperform companies that don’t. In the pharmaceutical industry, market research should shift from the fringes to the forefront of the marketing mix, no longer regarded as something to be completed but as something that can truly propel an organization forward. When combined with effective pharmaceutical market research and customer experience management consulting, an organization can be better poised to make more informed decisions, deliver better experiences and retain a relevant edge in an increasingly competitive environment.
