4 Ways By Which Retail Pharmacy Chains Can Boost Their Sales With Environmental Data

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Most traditional businesses worldwide need to reshape their marketing strategies to prepare for the uncertainties of the future. Retail Pharmacy chains (Pharma chains) are no different. Personalization and catering to customers’ needs quickly, or even predicting them, will be crucial if marketing efforts are to be successful in the coming times. In the myriad options available to marketers, one dataset stands out from the rest of the pack: Environmental Intelligence. Through the use of real-time weather, air quality, and pollen data, Pharma chains can quickly and effectively cater to both their own needs and those of their customers in ways that have hitherto gone entirely unaddressed.

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Pharma chain companies today face a dual challenge. On the one hand, they quickly adapt to tackling the various issues related to the COVID-19 spread, while on the other, to distributing and marketing their products to clinics, patients, and healthcare systems as they did in a pre-Covid world. New marketing strategies, therefore, will hopefully engage and protect patients from further health issues while keeping healthcare systems up and running in times of disasters such as COVID-19 and heatwaves. It is our belief that Pharma chain companies would be remiss were they to not use something as critical as environmental data in their marketing strategies. In this piece, we have highlighted just some of how Pharma chains can leverage this data and have highlighted four specific areas.

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Content Personalization

In cases of extending pollen seasons, longer summers, and extreme temperature changes, patients’ preferences vary with each health issue. Pollen-related diseases cause billions of dollars worth of losses across the world annually. Approximately a third of American and European populations suffer from some form of pollen allergy. To this end, Pharma chain companies need to be precise and up-to-date with their customers’ perspectives and on physicians’ interests so that they can gear up to supply the required medicines. Designing communications on an undifferentiated aggregate picture of customers and physicians or market segments is no longer sufficient. Environmental intelligence can provide just the help for pharma chain companies to compile a new set of marketing campaigns. It will cover the full spectrum of needs and provide insights to customers according to their requirements.

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While the personalized approach has been valid for many years, environmental intelligence can help large pharmacies apply hyper-personalization while targeting a particular set of customers. Environmental analytics can streamline content creation and review processes in marketing strategies with patient’s air quality, pollen, weather, and other ambient parameters.

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Analytics-enabled Engagement

A universal approach is no longer an option with hyper-personalization in place. The same is true for customer engagement. The days of casual appointments and conversation in the hallways are well and truly behind us. Interactions to create awareness of products are now almost entirely digital. A need, therefore, arises to take a fresh look at these old conversations and pave the way for new discussions. With environmental intelligence, pharma chain companies can create a setting by engaging the customers with alerts, trigger warnings for allergic patients, and talk about risks with proof from environment forecast data.

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Forecast data can create avenues related to an individual’s health. Environmental data helps pharma chain companies build surveys to identify preferences and bring awareness to how patients can avoid the upcoming allergy. Doing so has already produced surprising results at many pharma chain companies.

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Interestingly it isn’t only environmental forecast data but also historical data of the patient’s environment, which can significantly help create further engagement for pharma chain companies. As new drug sales progress, essential factors such as patient’s historical ambient environmental data, physician’s feedback based on their surrounding climate, and prescriptions to avoid future risks can create total engagement for the pharma chains.

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Pharma chains can partner with environmental intelligence companies like Ambee to have a data backbone to implement these processes seamlessly. Ambee has created dashboards for pharma companies to keep their customers engaged with environmental intelligence-based targeted marketing. It can also improve the patients’ decision-making process and trigger warnings through optimized channels.

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Innovative Patient Channels

In a survey conducted by McKinsey, More than 74% of the respondents reported that patients delay necessary care, with severe consequences including an increase in complications from the disease, a loss of income, and a rise in care costs. How can pharma chain companies create awareness that will persuade the patients to opt for treatment? A potential answer lies in environmental intelligence. For new drug sales campaigns, environmental intelligence can help patients understand the severity of the situation, providing the much-needed nudge they need to get themselves medication that will cure the disease. Additionally, thinking ahead is forced onto the minds of patients from the already unfolding pandemic.

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Through optimized channels such as digital health services and wearables, companies can use environmental intelligence to tap into the pool of patients who are wary of face-to-face interactions, especially when it comes to allergies. With pollen and air quality intelligence, patients can better prepare for the necessary drugs and buy them through various online pharma chain companies. Environmental data forecast presented through omnichannel methods can act as a double-edged sword to pharma chain companies. It can nudge the patients to stay prepared for the upcoming season and help large pharmacies streamline their inventory and stock up on those drugs on demand.

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Reimagined Frontline Operations

As pharma chains gear up for digital sales activities, environmental intelligence can help build their marketing capabilities to enhance the penetration of the new drugs. With the environment and pollen-based warnings delivered to patient’s fingertips in real-time, it can also urge the customers to put in order requests right away. This way, the sense of proximity by learning their conditions can close the gap between the pharma chain companies and the customers. Interactive tools such as personalized websites, dashboards, and information on the upcoming climatic conditions can help clinics and physicians gain insights into the pharmacies’ new drugs.

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Environmental data such as weather updates, air pollution levels, and pollen trends in the patients’ area give doctors a fuller view of their patient’s health issues. It allows large pharmacies to re-model their frontline operations by providing better access to drugs and improving their customers’ suggestions. This process becomes an efficient and effective way for the sales of drugs in a granular manner.

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Summary

The turbulence of recent years has made pharmaceutical chains keen on rebuilding their approach for the sales and marketing of their drugs. At some level, they made them reassess the fundamental way they build and grow their businesses and cater to customers’ needs. Integration of Ambee’s environmental intelligence creates enhanced awareness, which can be vital. It allows for greater engagement which enables large pharmacies to design their go-to-market strategies for drugs efficiently. A unique opportunity is presented to these companies with environmental data helping them experiment with newer approaches without disrupting the business models. Environmental data is the innovation that allows pharmaceutical chains to market their drugs sustainably while proving their value, reshaping the marketing strategies, and helping them gain increased visibility for higher ROI.

Ambee’s Air Quality data is a rich source of air pollution trends, with an accuracy of more than 96%, and is available for hyper-local levels in real-time.