How to apply purchase funnel for pharma marketing
Today your field sales force promotes a brand, after two weeks they again meet the customer and continue the same process. Let’s say the target customer has not convinced. So they may repeat the same process for another month, three months, six months or a year. But, you must be probably having the experience that the particular customer has not convinced yet even after a year. However, if you are aware of the purchase funnel layer of your customer this might not repeat. Would you believe me if I say the problem is you don’t pay attention to the level of your customer in the purchase funnel? So try to apply a purchase funnel for pharma marketing as well.
Here is the answer to, how to apply the purchase funnel for pharma marketing; do a comprehensive survey on your customer or customers. Find whether they are in the layer of Awareness, Consideration and Conversion. Obviously, if the customer is in the conversion stage you should know that already. Indeed, you must find whether your customer is in either the awareness stage or consideration stage.
According to the identified layer now, you can determine what stimulants to use without wasting the resources of the organization. Read further down for more information.
Why is it important to know the exact layer of your customer?
Marketers or experts have introduced many purchases or buying funnels. Some of them have four or five layers (Image 1). But the basic buying funnel has only three layers (Image 2). I hope we all are comfortable with less, so let’s discuss three layers of the purchase funnel.
Let’s take the brand “A”, recently launched and now you should promote the product to spread awareness. But how many months should you promote the product with the intention of awareness building? In pharma marketing, we always see field force promote the product brochures years to the customer and trying to build awareness. But what if the customer already has good awareness about the product, and the customer stuck in the consideration layer and expecting further stimulants to move towards the conversion layer? But your sales staff still building awareness. Haven’t you seen this happens in your field promotions (Image 3)? Read more about challenges with the marketing field force here.
By identifying the purchasing or buying layer of your customer correctly you would achieve many things such as,
- Take immediate steps to push the prospect through the funnel
- Save your resources allocating unnecessarily around value less prospect
- Create quick revenue by converting prospects into a customer through the right stimulants
- Make loyal customers before the competitors and outperform the competition
Things you can do to understand the prospect’s buying funnel layer
You could do many things to understand or find what layers your customer is in. Assuming the wrong position will lead to losing your customer while wasting your firm’s resources. These steps may help you to determine the correct layer of the customer in the buying funnel.
- Survey to find prospect’s behaviour with competitors
- Through probing questions in a discussion
- Invite for a meeting or an event
Potential stimulants you can use at the each layer to push the prospect in the funnel will discuss in another article here.
