What Physicians Want mms physician survey Report and recommendations

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What Physicians Want

2013 mms physician survey

Report and recommendations

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Introduction

mms believes that the key to successful medical direct marketing is listening to physicians, not only by analyzing results of client direct mail and email campaigns, but also by conducting annual surveys. Based on what doctors are telling us, mms develops successful direct marketing best practice recommendations that have improved client results by up to 15%. Therefore, as a service to medical marketers, we are pleased to present the results of our 2013 Physician Survey Series in this white paper. We begin by describing our survey methodology, followed by overall and market‐specific findings for continuing medical education (CME), pharmaceutical, and physician recruitment marketing. Finally, we make ten recommendations based on the survey results. We hope these survey data and recommendations will help you improve your marketing program.

Methodology

Early in 2013, MMS conducted surveys to physicians regarding three aspects of medical marketing: CME, pharmaceutical marketing, and physician recruitment. The surveys were emailed to random samples from the AMA Physicians List, generating 516 completed responses.

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Overall Findings

Findings for questions asked in all three surveys are as follows: 1) 72% of physicians want information from medical marketers. They are most receptive to information about CME. Physician Receptiveness to Direct Marketing (DM)/Non‐Personal Promotion (NPP) CME 86% Pharmaceutical 68% Recruitment 61% 2) Email is preferred by 62%, followed by direct mail at 13%. Preferred NPP Medium Email 62% Direct Mail 13% Detailed media preferences for CME, pharmaceutical, and recruitment are presented later in this document. 3) Readership Email: o Nearly 90% of physicians read email; o 32% of physicians read emails using mobile devices. Mobile readership is higher among residents, at 50%; o 84% of physicians report reading emails on their days off/weekends; o Evening is the most popular daypart for email readership. Direct mail‐‐80% of physicians read direct mail. Readership by medium Email 89% Direct Mail 80%

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Email readership by device, practicing physicians versus residents Email readership by daypart After 6pm 39% Noon‐6pm 21% 7am‐10am 20% Before 7am 8% 10am‐noon 6% 4) Most practicing physicians actively check no more than 2 email addresses. Residents tend to check more email addresses—only 10% of residents check just one email address regularly, compared with 30% of their practicing colleagues. Number of email address per physician

Emails addresses per physician Practicing Physicians Residents

1 30% 10% 2 46% 53% 3 15% 23% 4+ 7% 13% 5) Most physicians prefer to receive email at their professional address, except for recruitment email, which practicing physicians prefer to receive at their personal address. Physicians who prefer to receive email at professional (office) email address by content type 6) 94% of physicians are interested in honoraria opportunities

Device Residents Practicing Physicians

Mobile 50% 32%

PC/Laptop 50% 68%

Pharmaceutical 69%

CME 58%

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CME findings

1) Email is the most popular CME promotional medium, followed by direct mail Preferred medium for receipt of CME promotions Email 86% DM 11% Fax 1% Social 0% 2) Category I credit is the primary reason physicians choose a CME opportunity, followed by topic/speaker. Primary reason for choosing CME opportunity *Physicians Recognition Award 3) Online CME (traditional/performance improvement) is the most popular delivery mode, chosen by 34% of respondents. Preferred mode of receiving majority of CME Online Online Traditional CME/Webinars 25% Attend Traditional CME Lectures/Workshops close to my location 17% Attend Traditional CME Lectures/Workshops anywhere 13% Journals, CD/DVD, audio tapes, video tapes 13% Regularly Scheduled Series (Grand Rounds) 10% Online PI (Performance Improvement) CME/Webinars 9% Specialty Society Meetings 9% Availability of AMA PRA* Category 1 Credits 37% Topic/Speakers (relevant subject matter) 28% Convenience (available anywhere 24/7) 16% Price (the cheaper the better) 12% Destination (Golf/Ski Resort or other extracurricular activities) 10% Location (close to home) 6%

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However, offline modalities continue to be a significant part of physicians’ 2013 CME plans. 2013 planned CME consumption, online vs. offline

Percentage of planned CME Online Offline

>50% 31% 34% 25%‐50% 43% 47% 10%‐25% 13% 12% <10% 11% 10% Clearly, online CME has a bright future. All respondents plan to obtain as many or more CME credits in 2013 as in 2012. Planned online CME consumption in 2013 vs. 2012 4) 75% of physicians have CME stipends Physician stipends by dollar value 0 25% <$2K 34% $2‐5K 34% >$5K 5% More 45% Same 53% Less 0%

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Pharmaceutical findings

1) Physicians prefer to receive pharmaceutical product information via email versus sales reps. Direct mail ranks third. Product information receipt preference 2) Physicians are most interested in email offers of honoraria and samples Most popular email offers Honoraria offer 49% Sample offer 20% App for patient 9% Co‐pay coupons 8% Edetailing offer 6% App for me 6% Webinar Announcement 6% Email 56% Sales Rep 20% Direct Mail 18% Other 3%

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Recruitment findings

1) Physicians prefer email for receipt of job opportunity information, followed by direct mail. Practicing physicians are less likely than residents to prefer job boards. Job opportunity communication medium preference 2) Location is the most important factor in choosing a practice opportunity, however there are substantial differences between practicing physicians and residents. Practicing physicians are far more concerned with compensation, whereas ties to a location (where the candidate was born, trained, and/or licensed are of greater importance to residents. Most important factor when deciding on a practice opportunity

Preferred Medium Practicing Residents Total

Email 44% 43% 44% DM 13% 9% 11% Journal Ads 11% 8% 10% Job Boards 7% 14% 11% Phone 6% 3% 5% Web other 5% 8% 7% Social 4% 2% 3% Job Fairs 3% 6% 5% Text 2% 2% 2% Fax 0% 0% 0%

Factor Practicing Residents

Location 50% 54%

Compensation 32% 17%

Ties 8% 14%

Call 6% 5%

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3) Physicians prefer to respond to recruitment email by email or phone Preferred response method to job opportunity emails Reply to/send email 59% Call the recruiter 30% Register on a Web site 7% Send a letter 2% Fax information 0% 4) Most physicians aren’t being overwhelmed with recruitment offers. Surprisingly, nearly a third of residents report not receiving direct mail recruitment offers, which may be an opportunity. Recruitment offers received per week Frequency Email Direct Mail

Practicing Resident Practicing Resident

0 7% 0% 12% 28%

1‐10 75% 73% 7% 59%

11‐20 6% 18% 5% 7%

20+ 3% 6% 2% 3%

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Recommendations

Physicians are telling us that: 1. They want and read email and direct mail, and are reading email on mobile devices such as smartphones more than ever before. Therefore email and direct mail should be part of every medical marketer’s multichannel mix, and emails as well as landing pages and web sites should be user‐friendly and multi‐screen viewable. Direct marketing should be used to identify and focus upon the most receptive prospects with multiple contact marketing plans. Send direct mail to your target audience and email to those with email addresses. Then use email, telemarketing and direct mail to follow up on those who opened your initial email. 2. They read email during evenings and weekends/days off, so send times should be tested accordingly. 3. They check multiple email addresses. The increasing popularity of smartphones means that physicians have anytime/anywhere access to all their email addresses. The key is to send your email to each physician’s preferred email address, where it is most likely to be read. Sending to all email addresses available for each recipient should be tested. 4. A majority prefer email at their professional/office address, but a substantial minority prefer to receive email at their personal or home address, so marketers should use an email service that includes both types of email address. 5. They are almost unanimously interested in honoraria, which should be offered whenever legal, ethical, practical, and profitable. 6. CME marketers should emphasize Category I credit, topic/speaker, and convenience. 7. Online CME is on the ascendant, so CME marketer should offer and promote online options. 8. They prefer to receive pharmaceutical information via email instead of from sales reps. 9. Pharmaceutical marketers should offer samples in their email marketing. 10. Recruiters should emphasize location and compensation in direct marketing, and make it easy to respond by email and phone. Include in your target files those candidates with ties (born, trained, licensed) to your specific location. Email should be a primary medium, but more direct mail to residents may be indicated. Both media should be addresed to physicians’ personal addresses whenever possible.

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To use these findings and recommendations to improve your direct marketing results, contact us. Findings may be published or quoted with attribution including backlink to www.mmslists.com.

What Physicians Want mms physician survey Report and recommendations