Yahoo!: Health searchers more apt to visit, act on brand sites

Yahoo!: Health searchers more apt to visit, act on brand sites

Consumers who search online for health information are more likely than non-searchers to view branded pharma Web sites and act on them, reports a new Yahoo! consumer survey. The study reveals a huge opportunity for pharma to capture engaged consumers online, and in a media environment cluttered with messages, maximizing search is key to brand success. Online health searchers are three times more likely to visit a branded Web site than non-searchers. Sixty-one percent of searchers have been to the doctor or plan to visit the doctor since their search for information. Searchers also become loyal to whatever brand they research, Bonnie Becker, director of the pharmaceutical category for Yahoo! Search Marketing, tells ePharm5. The study showed that 70% will question their doctor if they are prescribed a different drug than the one they have researched. ----------- Yahoo!: Online health searchers more likely to visit brand sites, act on them Consumers who search online for health information are more likely than non-searchers to view branded pharma Web sites and act on them, reports a new Yahoo! consumer survey. The study reveals a huge opportunity for pharma to capture engaged consumers online, and in a media environment cluttered with messages, maximizing search is key to brand success. The Yahoo! survey of 5,600 patients showed that 55% of Internet users researched health information online using search in the past three months. Online health searchers are three times more likely to visit a branded Web site than non-searchers. More than half--54%--said they used a branded pharma or drug site to look for health information in the past 12 months, compared to only 16% of non-searchers. Sixty-one percent have been to the doctor or plan to visit the doctor since their search for information. In addition, 71% of searchers talk about medication with their doctors. Searchers also become loyal to whatever brand they research, Bonnie Becker, director of the pharmaceutical category for Yahoo! Search Marketing, tells ePharm5. The study showed that 70% will question their doctor if they are prescribed a different drug than the one they have researched. Health searchers are hyperengaged, says Becker, who came to Yahoo! from a brand management role at Pfizer Consumer Healthcare, adding that the use of search for health information is indicative of a shift in consumer behavior. She says consumers are more empowered and active in their healthcare and searchers bounce around the Web gathering information about their condition. They might start out on a third-party site, such as WebMD or Yahoo! Health, then click on a display ad, and then view a site for a particular pharma brand. "They are going to multiple places to learn and information-gather," she says. Consumers are also becoming their own best advocates, and search is helping them do that. Becker says that 34% of searchers will not take a drug without first looking it up online. Moreover, 31% use search to become more informed about their condition before even setting foot in the doctor's office. Searchers are 130% more likely to have seen an online display ad and view it as informational, and 20% of consumers were driven to search online because they saw an advertisement and wanted more information, according to the research. This search behavior also appears to hold true across treatment categories. The Yahoo! survey focused on consumers who searched for information about allergies, depression, and high cholesterol. Becker says she was surprised to learn that aside from a few variations, attitudes and behavior surrounding search tended to be the same across conditions. Aside from the search engine itself, searchers spent the most time with health sites, such as WebMD and Yahoo! Health, followed by brand/drug sites. Searchers said they spend more time using these sources than they do asking friends or family, reading ordinary brochures or flyers in the doctor's office, visiting pharmaceutical company sites, and reading newspaper or magazine articles. Becker says pharma needs to pay more attention to search, and that the Yahoo! research adds weight to the important role that search plays in engaging consumers. She says search marketing tends to get lost among other media, but should become a bigger priority. Maximizing search is key because it's a way to capture the consumers who are most engaged and the most likely to act.