Closed Loop Marketing (CLM) is a business process wherein physician behavior & attitudes are captured, analyzed and integrated into the sales & marketing process. To put it in simple words, it is a continuous cycle of customer feedback and a relevant business response devised to build stronger customer relationships, in turn leading to a significant monitory impact. The overall CLM implementation strategy may vary between or even within organizations as there is no one-size-fits-all approach; however, the end objectives remain same:
- Improving customer experience and interactions
- Revenue opportunities – through greater insight into customer’s needs and preferences
- Cost efficiency opportunities – using insights to better target how we interact with customers
Closed Loop Marketing has truly revolutionized the way Pharma operates & is slowly altering the industry mindset from mass marketing to targeting individual physicians’ needs. Since inception, CLM has been christened by industry experts as the new ‘guardian angel’ for the data deprived industry. However, for most Pharma companies it remains a distant dream to conquer. Which in turn raises a key question – why are not most companies able to leverage it to their advantage?
The primary reason why CLM initiatives fail is that companies are not able to use the data they collect from their customers to generate even basic insights about them. Companies are practically drowning in data on their customers. However, lack of people and process capabilities to analyze it makes it very difficult for them to find actionable insights from it. In other words, Pharma companies need to improve in collecting the right datasets, analyze them with right frameworks & derive insightful conclusions from the analysis.
Planning, developing and launching a Closed Loop Marketing Analytics (CLMA) platform is a complex process involving integration & validation of data from multiple technical platforms. Data captured using iPADs / Tablets & other channels syncs directly into the CRM system (Veeva). The core goal of a CLMA strategy should be to utilize this data captured across channels & combine it with existing knowledge of customers in CRM, to generate insights about customers. Better insights help in developing more robust customer segmentation. This in turn leads to maximizing brand content impacts, eventually making headcounts & investments more efficient.
When developing a CLM based analytical model, the lesson learnt is to go ‘Slow and steady’. Most industry experts advise a four-phase approach. Phased out manner is very helpful in gradual implementation along the CLM maturity curve.
1.Adoption & Utility Monitoring:
- Capturing a few basic Key Performance Indicators at initial launch
- Focus on utility of content/channel
- Monitoring quality of data captured & the extent of integration between CRM-CLM data
2. Combining historical content/channel inclination with existing knowledge of the customer in the CRM database (Specialty, Tier, region) to devise preference driven Micro-segments (beginning with customer groups eventually moving down to the individual consumer level)
- Monitor KPIs across micro-segments to study behavior, attitudes & propensities
- Each time marketing deploys new content measure feedback in target audience
3. Business Impact & ROI Assessment: Correlating content usage & feedback captured in a CLM system to business impact measures captured in CRM database
- Measure direct ROI of content in the target micro-segment
Customer Relationship Management
Customer Relationship Management (CRM) is nothing new, yet many companies in the pharmaceutical and healthcare industry fail to build the business case, let along successfully implement a working CRM strategy.
It is often the lack of knowledge, experience and expertise that prevents organizations from quickly shifting towards a client-centric and commercially successful transition. Developing a clear CRM strategy and successfully implementing it is what organizations struggle with most.
Clear Vision and Goals
It sounds obvious, but it is this initial stage where most companies fail. The first and foremost step in determining your competitive strategy is doing your homework, meaning doing0020proper analysis. Treacy and Wiersema distinguish 3 basic competitive strategies with different scopes towards customer orientation: Operational excellence, Product leadership, Customer intimacy focus. Customer intimacy focus might seem like the obvious one, but that is not always the case. An organization needs to properly analyze which of these competitive strategies is the best fit with the business model. Each of these strategies can perfectly suit the needs for a more customer-centric focus, but will require a different approach.
Do not Forget the Client
Finding success is looking first at what organizations are struggling with most so you will know which pitfalls to avoid. Even if an organization managed to define a clear vision and a proper set of goals, they fail in the actual implementation stage. The A is defined, yet how to get to B is not so clear. It is often the narrow focus within the organization that is a determining factor.
Customer Relationship Management is seen as a responsibility for Marketing and Sales and to some extent IT department. An integrated and multidisciplinary approach is often missing. The biggest mistake organizations make here though is failing to include actual customers in the process. The base for any successful CRM strategy is founded on the demands, wishes and needs of the customer. There is no better source for expressing these than your customer. Make sure to include them during every stage of the process, from defining your strategy to the actual implementation. The strategy is described as client-centric for a reason.
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