Andrew Levitt

For example, one consumer reported a recent conversation with a neighbor on the topic of ulcerative colitis: "He was in his garden watering his plants. We started talking, and I asked him why he didn't go out so much. It turns out he has the same condition as I do. He asked me why I seemed so well, and I said I was using this product and was getting better. We told him to go see his doctor and ask for that product. He did, and then he went to his son's wedding a month later—the first time he'd left the house in eight years."

In another compelling example, a consumer shared this story: "I saw this family locally in the park and I said to them, 'Gee, your kid looks so small, maybe she needs to get checked.' The mother of that child liked me and asked about my kid because she is also very small. So I told the mother everything about what medication my child takes ... and I tried to help them out. That's why God gave us a heart; we should use it to help others."

Start the Conversation

Word-of-mouth communication has become a practical, measurable way for pharmaceutical companies to communicate with patients about health issues. It's a technique that is in its early days for pharma, and it must be handled with care. But word-of-mouth is a compelling concept, because it comes with the power of a recommendation from a trusted source—a friend, a family member, a business colleague—with an element of authenticity that a traditional advertisement can never match.

The goal of pharma WOM programs is to stimulate informed conversations about health conditions and to encourage people to ask their physicians about treatment options. Essential to the process is educating the consumers who participate so that they are well informed and knowledgeable about the condition in question.

The thousands of conversations that occur will be educational and informative, and will come from a trusted source—the very people who use these products or care for those who take them. These kinds of discussions can then motivate others to take action by seeing their physician, complementing existing DTC efforts.

The process of launching a WOM campaign typically starts with WOM-specific research to understand how consumers talk about certain conditions—what words they use, who they would speak to, where conversations happen, and why they occur at all. Those insights are wrapped into a recruitment process of engaging brand advocates to join a structured program. This type of direct relationship marketing puts a new spin on how to engage the folks who have opted for more information, but who are rarely contacted after that first welcome mailer.

Consumers may receive a permission-based e-mail offer from the pharma company to join an awareness program. After an individual opts in and registers on a site, he or she completes an online educational tutorial about the condition and is mailed a welcome kit. This kit includes materials that can be distributed to people who want to learn more about the health issue in question. The pass-along content includes consumer-friendly facts about the condition, and directs consumers to a microsite where they can learn more about symptoms, treatment options, and questions for physicians. (Think clear call-to-action, measurement, and engagement.)

The "brand ambassadors" then report back about their conversations by completing a brief online survey so pharmaceutical sponsors can gain insights into who is having conversations, where they are taking place, and what outcomes can be expected.

Word-of-mouth conversations typically take place off-line (see sidebar). But that doesn't mean that a WOM campaign cannot be tracked. As a place to start, you can measure and model various data points, such as the number of brand ambassadors in a program and the number of conversations that are generated as a result. You can then further explore opt-in rates from calls-to-action, time spent on Web sites, referrals to a physician's office, and of course, the number of new prescriptions that come from word-of-mouth programming.

And this doesn't even begin to consider the loyalty effect of the consumers who participate in a structured program, and receive ongoing messaging on behalf of the sponsor, encouraging compliance and brand affinity.