Web Analytics are there (if you know what to look for)

The more sources of information you have the more you will be able to get
a better picture of what your customers are thinking and saying.

Time on site should also be looked at but be careful here. Too much time on your site could mean that people are having a hard time finding information and too little time on your site could mean that they are not interested in your information or that they felt your information is too promotional.


One of the best tools you can use on your site is a pop-up survey. These surveys have a test and control group and can report on top box "intent" to ask their HCP about/for your product. You can also get a lot of feedback as customers rate your site from everything to navigation to content via an easy to read dashboard that is available 24/7. I use CRM Metrix and I believe they offer an excellent product. By the way people love to give feedback so don't worry about not having enough people fill in the survey to quantify the data. You can also have an opt-in for a re-contact survey so that you can determine if people took action or learn why they did not. It can provide you with some great insights.

Another great tool is the click stream analysis reports that can be purchased from third party analytic companies. The click stream analysis tells a story of both how people came to your site and what sites they went to after visiting your site. At Lilly we used Hitwise and it clearly showed me that the people who were coming to my site were then going to my competitors sites to compare products/medications.


Finally, since social media is so important in healthcare marketing, I believe that you should utilize analytics that can give you some information on what customers are saying to each other. I use Nielsen Buzz Metrics which provides me with a quarterly report on "buzz" around the Web on diabetes treatments and mediations. It really can provide a great forecast about important patient issues that can effect your brand.

Reporting Web Analytics

So you now have a big pile of Power Point presentations with web analytics on your desk. Your next goal is to share the relevant information with your managers in terms they understand. You also want to tell a story about what is happening and why with visitors on your website.


I usually start with an executive summary with no more than 4-5 bullet points of key findings from web analytics. For example if traffic is up you should indicate why and tie it back to current DTC programs. I like to show cost per visitor to my website as the web is usually more cost effective than other channels. I then like to show the "lift in intent to ask about/for our product" by using the top box survey results. You would be surprised how many people love to hear that we had a 20% lift in intent to ask for our product as a result of people who visited the website vs. those that did not visit the website.


Finally, with all these web analytics are your disposal, you should see a picture developing of what people are looking for and make changes to your website as needed. I don't mean developing a whole new website, I am talking about continually optimizing your site so that you can both meet customers expectations and business objectives. Pages that receive little of now traffic should be deleted and tools that engage your audience should be transparent throughout the website.

In today's complex pharma business environment if you want more money to do more things you have to demonstrate success of past programs. A great web analytic set of tools can provide eMarketers with more than enough information to win over even the most skeptical managers that the web is a great platform to meet business objectives.