Shrewdly Building HCP Personas for Superior Omnichannel Experiences

We are interviewing Jason Bryant , Senior Director at SkyBlue Healthcare Associates, to gain insights into the importance of building HCP personas in shaping tailored omnichannel customer journeys. His expertise in healthcare marketing and personalized engagement strategies will help us understand how these approaches can drive better outcomes for healthcare providers and their patients.

Karsten: Thank you for taking the time for this interview, Jason. To get started, why do you think that building HCP personas is critical to creating effective omnichannel customer journeys?

Jason: Thanks for having me. Because we should not forget that HCPs are customers in their everyday lives and expect their experience with life sciences solution providers to be at least as valuable as with other companies.

To get anywhere near achieving a positive customer experience (CX) we need to understand our HCPs in more depth and cater for their differentiated needs at different times.

Hence personas help us understand and group HCPs to engage them in different ways. Engaging HCPs effectively, by persona, will also help to differentiate you from your competitors so it can and should be a ‘win:win’.

Karsten: How should Life Sciences companies approach the development of HCP personas, and what key factors should they prioritize to ensure effectiveness?

Jason: I’d suggest that one of the first stages we become aware of HCP personas at is when the brand’s positioning and where it fits in the treatment algorithm are well articulated.? This is what we sometimes see referred to in brand plans as “where to play”; or in other words your brands’ sweet spot.

Knowing where to play leads you onto the next step which is mapping the customer experience. The CX defines what you want HCPs to feel or experience from choosing your treatment.? What will it do for them, their patients, and their patients’ caregivers?

Achieving the desired CX needs the HCP to undertake a customer engagement journey (sometimes called a CEJ).? It’s this journey which maps, by persona, how and when they’re engaged with information, messaging and interactions.

The persona helps differentiate the journey in terms of which channels, the choices of content shared, and the style of communications.? Knowing the persona also helps to inform how the CX can be measured, including measuring what matters most and provides more value to each persona type.

Let’s look at this in a broader context as it may help to orientate us:

1.??? Segmentation is about dividing the market into distinct groups

2.??? Targeting is about choosing which segments to focus on

3.??? Personas are detailed fictional representations of ideal customers within those targeted segments

These concepts work together in a sequence: first, you segment the market, then you choose which segments to target (or not), and finally, you create personas to better understand and connect with your target customers.

You might only start with two identified personas; a ‘traditional’ HCP and a ‘trailblazer’ HCP. Clearly these are two very different styles needing separate and highly relevant engagement. The personas themselves can be developed using a range of qualitative and quantitative approaches. More on this in a moment.

The approach can vary by segment (groups of customers or accounts) and there may be many segments available, some of which you might actively choose to de-prioritise in terms of engagement.

It’s important to involve your customer-facing teams in both the definition phase and when you apply the personas within target segments. Qualitative persona development techniques can include behavioural segmentation and belief mapping, whereas quantitative techniques tend to be more data driven and can be modelled across the segment, utilising proxy markers as needed.

The crucial part is ensuring that you have widespread buy-in and belief from the teams involved, otherwise execution (of the CX and CEJ) can be impacted negatively.

Lastly, it is important to track not only HCP engagement but CX overall.? Analysing CX over time will help to pinpoint which downstream outcomes are being positively or negatively impacted by the HCPs’ journey with your company and brand. Optimising the CX will impact outcomes and build loyalty with HCPs and patients alike.

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Karsten: How can companies ensure that insights are effectively integrated into every stage of the brand planning process, from strategy through execution?

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Jason: At the start when the brand strategy and CSFs are being defined, it’s crucial to base your decisions regarding ‘where to play’ and which segments to address on sound externally referenced market and customer insights.? Situation Analysis and Market Landscape are two such vehicles to capture these insights. Things change rapidly so at the minimum I’d suggest a bi-annual refresh of your insights to ensure currency and credibility. Artificial Intelligence can also help with this.

Once the plan is formed and all key steps to effective HCP engagement including the CX, CEJ, metrics and content / channel blends defined, the upstream (CX, NPS, satisfaction, ratings etc.) and downstream (patient identification, therapy starts or switches, sales, market share etc.) metrics should be measured in as close to real-time as your budget and resources will allow.

Often, we see companies setting up a beautiful brand plan then rushing through the list of tactics at the end. There’s little, if any, connection to the brand plan CSFs and minimal regard for the importance of regular course corrections with frequent checks on metrics.?

Once the brand plan is deployed and the tactics set running, that’s the time to keep checking and asking ‘what should we stop, start and continue’ to maximise our CX performance. Keep it all connected!

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Karsten: How do omnichannel strategies help Life Sciences brands effectively leverage HCP personas to meet their overarching business objectives and enhance customer engagement?

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Jason: By delivering what the HCPs need, when and how they need it. Of course that’s easy to say, but it needs a technical infrastructure in place, teams need to be bought into the mutual value omnichannel can deliver, and the quality and frequency of omnichannel engagements optimised per HCP persona type.

Done well, omnichannel will add value to your brand proposition, drive HCP loyalty and differentiate you from the competition.? It isn’t easy though – every webinar I go to on the subject still reports a significant proportion of companies at the ‘pilot’ or ‘not started’ stages of the omnichannel transition!

Karsten: What best practices should Life Sciences teams follow to keep insights actionable and impactful throughout the omnichannel customer journey?

Jason: This is a big question!? To answer succinctly I’d suggest keeping the refresh frequency high, looking for the signals amongst the noise, and not being afraid to test alternative tactics (and react decisively to what you observe).

We and our customers live in an ‘always on’ fast paced world where technology makes pretty much anything possible at lightning speed.? Educating our senior leaders to try, fail, re-try and continually adapt is a must-have.? Having the permission and bandwidth to innovate will make the difference, and of course insights are the fuel for that innovation.

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Karsten: How can companies optimize their customer-facing capabilities to enhance omnichannel engagement with healthcare providers?

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Jason: You will not be able to achieve 100% omnichannel engagement overnight and it will not be instantly delivered by some whizzy technical solution.? I think the key is to start somewhere tangible and measurable, then scale up.? As you scale, economies will start to appear, and synergies will be realised. Keeping things customer-centric also helps with resource optimisation when several brands or indications are competing for airtime.

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Karsten: How should companies measure the success of omnichannel campaigns built around HCP personas?

Jason: This is quite a simple one (I hope!)? I would say CX as we know CX links to a raft of associated outcomes and metrics.? The most established measure is NPS but there are lots of incarnations of CX metrics to pick from.? Choose something you can explain to your grandmother (and CEO in an elevator), and which means the most to your HCP customers. If it means something to them and you give them more of it, you should see improved results!

Illustration: Suggested Pillars for Approaching Omnichannel Engagement Using HCP Personas and Customer Journeys Linked to Brand Planning

Karsten: How can Life Sciences companies ensure compliance and data privacy while creating tailored omnichannel journeys for HCPs?

Jason: This area can be the ‘elephant in the room’ as we can see compliance take a risk-averse approach and not embrace the opportunities fully.?

In my own experience, having the required opt-outs and preference settings well articulated and easy to self-manage (for HCPs) bolsters trust internally and externally. Being seen as a data privacy safe partner counts for a lot in an organisation’s reputation.

Involve your compliance colleagues from the start, treat them as a partner and listen to their suggestions. Chances are they’re a customer of financial organisations or similar and have some views on what makes a good or bad customer engagement journey – so ask them and bring them into the discussion. It will also help them see that what you’re trying to achieve is ‘business as usual’ in other industries!

Karsten: Thank you so much for your time and insights, Jason. Your perspective on building effective HCP personas and creating tailored omnichannel customer journeys has been incredibly valuable.

In summary, we can say that building effective HCP personas is essential for creating personalized omnichannel journeys that enhance both customer engagement and healthcare outcomes. By understanding HCP needs, optimizing content and channels, and continuously leveraging data and insights, companies can differentiate themselves, improve CX, and build lasting relationships with healthcare providers. Ultimately, these strategies lead to better patient care and stronger business outcomes.

Please feel free to reach out to [email protected] or [email protected] for more insights or to discuss how building effective HCP personas and tailored customer journeys can benefit your organization.