The survey also found that consumers who conduct online ailment and drug research largely favor general health web sites (54 percent) and specific ailment-focused sites (37 percent) over pharmaceutical company sites (4 percent).
Respondents also shared their frequency of conducting online health-related research. While the majority (40 percent) said that they had conducted online research only two times or less during the past six months, 33 percent reported research frequency of at least once-a-month, followed by every other month (27 percent).
When asked what would peak their interest in specific drug treatments for their ailments, the majority cited drug samples (55 percent), followed by e-newsletters to help them learn more (35 percent) and coupons (10 percent) as the top incentives.
“What’s particularly interesting is the low number of consumers who rely on pharmaceutical sites for information, indicating that brand managers need to find new ways to peak consumer interest and engage them,” said Jere Doyle, President and CEO of Prospectiv. “Educational e-newsletters, health-focused web sites and micro-sites focused on specific ailments have proved very effective in this regard.
The first step toward initiating these online resources is for brand managers to build an in-house database of self-profiled consumers who have expressed an interest in learning more about their treatment options.”
83 % surveyed expressed concerns that pharmaceutical ads on television can be confusing and misleading, 89 %agreed with the sentiment expressed by some government organizations and consumer advocacy groups that television drug treatment advertisements need to be more closely regulated 72 % of respondents also said that there were too many drug treatment advertisements on television.
