Online marketing ‘continues to perform well for pharmaceutical companies’

Online marketing techniques continue to deliver significant positive benefits for pharmaceutical companies, according to a new industry study.

The eighth annual Online Marketing Effectiveness Benchmarks for the Pharmaceutical Industry report from comScore compiled survey data from 163 pharmaceutical studies, showing that online direct-to-consumer marketing continues to drive brand awareness, favourability and conversions.

Site visitation was shown to influence both new patient starts and adherence or refills, with natural search-referred traffic most impactful in conversion among prospects.

Moreover, a study of billions of pharmaceutical advertising impressions spanning more than 15 brands showed that 51 percent of ads were viewable, the highest ratio of any industry. To improve performance further, the report argued that companies need to improve their targeting of mobile platforms.

John Mangano, vice-president for comScore Health Solutions, said: "Our research shows that regardless of how condition sufferers get to the site, that visit has a significant influence in those patients seeking treatment."

This comes after the corresponding report from 2013 suggested that healthcare companies have been successfully increasing the effectiveness of their digital marketing efforts for a number of years now.