The last few years have marked major changes in omnichannel, including a transition from the historic focus on in person reps to digital. 

However, doctors’ preferences are shifting, with more HCPs preferring an approach that combines digital with in person communication.

MM+M spoke with Nancy Phelan, SVP of omnichannel activation at Indegene, about how companies can best transition from simply adapting to these changes in omnichannel — to building excellence around them.

This interview has been edited lightly for length and clarity.

MM+M: What are some of the shifts you’ve seen in omnichannel marketing in recent years? What challenges do they present?

Phelan: Where we were and where we’re going are different places. 

Sales and marketing were developed jointly in service of a brand and service of a customer experience. When COVID-19 hit, all of a sudden that face-to-face channel wasn’t as accessible as it once was.

Now, we’re starting to see that doctors’ preferences have changed. We know that a doctor still wants to see a rep, but they don’t only want to see a rep. This is putting a lot of strain on companies that have historically anchored everything on the rep and put the rep as quarterback. Now they’re starting to see that it’s evolved. They’re no longer looking to adapt and get through it, but to build excellence around it.

Some of the trends that we’re seeing that are driving this are coming from the physicians changing their preferences. Nearly three-quarters of HCPs are no longer independent business people in the U.S. They’re owned by an integrated delivery network or an institution, many of which put requirements on HCPs in terms of how they spend their time. This dictates whether or not they’ll see a rep. So that means that companies, if they’re going to support physicians, have to think in a different way.

The point of view that we take is that it shouldn’t be an ‘either or.’ It should be an ‘and.’ That’s the power of omnichannel. However, that’s where the struggles are, because our systems and data aren’t always interconnected. When you put these two things together — where it’s in-person as well as digital, it results in a much better experience, but it requires you to work in a different way. That’s what we’re seeing people are starting to grapple with: needing to move from adapting to it and thinking of it as a short-term thing, to building excellence in it and getting great at it because it’s here to stay.

MM+M: You mentioned you’re seeing that doctors don’t want one or the other; they’re preferring both. What would a successful hybrid approach look like?

Phelan: Traditionally, when you think about launching a brand, you think about how many physicians you need to reach and how many reps you need. Then you layer on a marketing program. You might empower your reps with some digital tools like rep-triggered emails and then you go into the market.

What we’ve seen be successful with some of the capabilities we’ve built is to actually flip that on its head. Instead of focusing on what the customer wants, if you put the customer first and understand their preferences, and then go to market that way, it’s going to give you a totally different approach. 

You have to lead with the right channels, content and cadence to meet this customer’s needs. Only then can you layer on reps seeing a physician and determining what challenges are best solved face-to-face.

We’ve seen this result in physicians being more productive in terms of their prescribing. This approach benefits the product and it benefits the patients.

MM+M:Do you have tangible examples of what sort of challenges are best dealt with face-to-face versus not?

Phelan: If you have a product launch, digital can be effective in helping build up that product awareness. Digital can be a much more efficient and targeted way to get a specific brand message out to an HCP so they become aware of the product.

When you want to convert awareness into trial and usage, that’s a great place to have an in-person talk about the specific patient types. That can help understand where you may have unique prescribing, dosing or onboarding requirements for specific patient populations. It’s about taking the best of both.

MM+M: Are there any emerging trends or major changes in omnichannel that you see happening in 2023 and moving into 2024?

Phelan: One of the trends that we’re seeing is a change in the mindset where people are thinking about the rep as a channel. That requires a different way of coordinating, planning and executing.

When I flash forward, another one of the biggest trends is around precision. Being able to take a one-size-fits-all approach to the U.S., for example, is not going to work. 

There are different seasons, market access, physician types, product types and institutions. A major trend is being able to get precise data and stitch it together at a physician level — figuring out their access, their digital affinity, their content affinity, their affiliations and publications. Machine learning and AI algorithms can help mine this and put it together in an intelligent way.

That has profound downstream implications in terms of getting all this knowledge, and activating it in a way that’s coordinated, well-timed and designed with intent. The future is going to belong to the companies that are either building it internally or partnering with experts to take a data-driven approach to how they score and look at  their KPIs in an actionable way.

Next, content is king. Historically, there’s been a higher focus on channels. I think the future will hold a much higher emphasis on content. Physicians are looking for content that’s relevant, coordinated and personalized. Companies that can figure that out are going to have a disproportionate advantage.

Another trend is that we’re always going to have a need for in-person and for people. The sooner we can get away from the debate of ‘rep-versus-no rep,’ the better we’re going to be. Our best programs perform when there is the presence of a rep in addition to digital. The opportunity is for all of us to figure out how to build that expertise and do it consistently.