3 E-detailing Platforms Worth Looking Into

The word edetailing conjures visions of sales reps feverishly trying to find the right screen on their iPad while desperately making the most of the 5 minutes they have with the HCP that it took them 6 months to secure. But in recent years, the term edetailing has evolved to include any digital interaction that educates an HCP about your product. And with the recent green light from the FDA on social media, this means anything from Facebook ads to mobile apps.

In this blog entry, we’ll give you a brief overview of the different kinds of edetailing that have emerged over the past few years. Before we get started, it’s worth defining a few terms that get thrown around in any edetailing discussion.

• Most of the leading solutions for edetailing are cloud-based. This means that files are stored on the internet or on a remote server rather than on each user’s individual computers. Among other benefits, the key advantage to cloud computing is the ability it gives software companies to make updates to their platforms without users having to halt business activities to download new versions or patches to the program.

• MultiChannel Marketing (MCM) is a key component to edetailing. E-mail, print, web, and e-detailing are among the many channels available to marketers to reach their customers.

• All of those channels should feed into a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) program. In essence, this is a database that houses all of your sales and MCM information. Sales reps can access robust information about their prospects, including past and upcoming communications, data, and analytics. This information can be used to send targeted follow-up communications. The more advanced CRM systems are fully integrated, allowing reps to send communications directly from the platform.

• Closed Loop Marketing (CLM) means just that. It is an approach where the marketer closes the loop from the sales rep back to the home office with in-depth reporting and analytics.

In-person E-detailing

In-person e-detailing will always exist. It’s the preferred method of detailing because sales reps get the vital one-on-one face time necessary to build a personal relationship with the HCP. The rep uses the evisaid to support their sales call, not drive it. While optimal for personal interaction, this form of detailing can make it difficult to properly collect metrics on the HCPs engagement. Since the edetail is secondary to the interaction, analytics may be skewed. For instance, time spent on a screen is supposed to indicate the HCP’s interest level in that screen. But sometimes the sales rep can be sitting on one screen discussing something else. And since time with the HCP is still a commodity polling and evaluation forms are usually out of the question.

Remote E-detailing

E-detailing platforms are now offering the opportunity for rep guided edetailing that the HCP can initiate from their own computer or mobile device. It’s like a WebEx. The call is scheduled with the sales rep and both users log onto the system remotely. The sales rep calls the HCP to walk them through the edetail. The HCP still has access to the sales rep’s expertise, but on their own timetable. And because they are initiating the detail at their own convenience, there may be more opportunity for polling and evaluation post-detail.

Self-guided E-detailing

A branded or unbranded website is also considered an e-detail. A password protected site can be used to log the activity of each user, track their click-thru behavior, and feed the information into a CRM system. The reps can then access the CRM to pull the information. Social and mobile marketing also fall under the self-guided edetailing category. They can be tracked just as easily as a website.

If you’re planning to initiate edetailing with your sales force, here are a few platforms you can look into:

Veeva is a rapidly growing company that provides cloud-based edetailing, CRM, and content management solutions to the pharmaceutical and healthcare industry. Their success comes from staying in pace with the industry and building what every pharmaceutical company needs one fully integrated solution that brings MCM and CRM together into one easy-to-access platform.

Salesforce.com has 15 years of experience in cloud-based CRM. In a recent innovative move, they purchased Exact Target, a sales platform with 12 years of experience in email and mobile marketing. Salesforce.com now offers a broad array of services ranging from sales management to mobile and social marketing.

iQ.mercury 3 is a new platform developed by Inventiv Healthcare. It offers programs for remote, in-person, group, and self-guided edetailing, as well as auto-synch file sharing programs that allow users to exchange locked, compliant files while ensuring they have the most up-to-date version.

Parting Thoughts

Advances in mobile development coupled with the FDA’s positive draft guidance about social marketing, there are ample opportunities to break through the older challenges of edetailing. Scheduling conflicts and time constraints can be easily avoided with remote and self-guided solutions. With so many more channels to collect metrics from, reps can tailor their communications to the HCP’s interests more than ever.

If you’re looking to make an interactive connection between your sales force and their HCPs, look no further. CMW has over 25 years of experience creating targeted and innovative interactive solutions for our pharmaceutical and healthcare clients. Call us at (800) 737-1123 or send us an email at info@creativemediaworks.com to speak with our Multimedia manager about your next project.