Optimizing the pharma customer experience with EX
In the quest to deliver seamless CX (customer experiences), pharma companies can achieve 1.8 times faster revenue growth. How? It is time to make EX (employee experience), or employee experience, a priority within your strategy.
Pharma is a complex buyer’s collective. It crosses patients, healthcare professionals (HCP), experts, and influencers. Employees have an important role in the customer journey. After all, their experience within the organization has a direct impact on the kind of CX delivered.
The first step must be for customers to identify their pain points. Specifically discovering where they most need guidance and educational content.
Relationships and trust are mandatory for success. Thus, the networks developed and nurtured by each employer are valuable to the company.
Employees’ expertise and satisfaction can help optimize the stages of the journey. They are critical to enabling a more productive and efficient customer progression down the funnel, from drug development to prescription or acquisition.
EX or CX: Where to begin?
According to the results of research conducted by Forbes and SalesForce, 70% of executives agree that placing EX as a priority has a direct positive impact on CX improvement. Therefore, pharma companies need to start by improving the employee experience. This will optimize the customer experience and lead to revenue growth.
This same research concludes that great CX fuels revenue growth. This statement is supported by 54 percent of executives at sales leaders.
The majority of revenue-growth companies – 89% – agree that better EX results in better CX.
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The latest statistics and conclusions highlight several major benefits besides quick revenue growth. Some of them include:
- Loyalty increases for both employer and customer;
- Evolving, agile and reactive teams that embrace technological advances;
- Organizational improvement in digital transformation adoption; and
- Full alignment between customer journeys and business goals.
Planning the strategy: Key points for pharma
1) Shared value
It’s vital to have both employees’ and customers’ experiences improvement as important goals to achieve. Pharma companies must align them together to achieve sought-after revenue growth.
So, they must identify a shared value proposition between employees, customers, and businesses. Then, combine them into not only a positive experience but also a valuable and meaningful one.
With the proposition in place, we have the starting point of a strategy that benefits all stakeholders. This enables fit-to-size tactics for a clearer notion within the decision stage.
The shaping of operational strategy to enhance CX is seen as the best way to boost revenue. 66% of executives at high-EX companies agree, as do 43% of executives at average or below-average EX companies.
A common pain point for an employee is also one of the customers’ concerns that need addressing or solving. By being present at the right time with tailored content and/or personalized solutions, pharma companies can increase trust, satisfaction, and loyalty on both ends.
2) Expertise advantage
Creating journey teams that have EX and CX skills allows for a better knowledge of the customer. It also opens the doors to possible routes while eliminating misalignment possibilities.
Aligning employee and customer needs is a crucial part of the strategy’s success. So, integrating data-driven insights into the mix is a must. This is so the teams can better segment their audiences through further tailored optimization.
Therefore, structuring incentives around CX and EX will present improvements for both. 46% of executives at CX leaders agree, as do 43% of executives at average or below-average CX companies.
3) Touchpoints and mapping
Understanding the connected pain points of employees and customers combined with data-driven insights is essential.
With that, journey teams can see the bigger picture. They can identify the major touchpoints, causes, and solutions where interactions matter most.
The 360º view enables further mapping of the stages of the customer journey, from beginning to end. It also clarifies the roles played by each member in both EX and CX optimization. Collaboration is key, with the same mindset running across the whole organization.
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4) Experiences and vision alignment
Throughout departments, everybody must be on board and focused on the enhancement of EX and CX to add value to the business. Improvement is possible through organized employee and customer management within a well-planned operational strategy.
Teams that are aware of their worth and contribution are more productive and have higher levels of satisfaction. Employee satisfaction means customer satisfaction.
Reaching the perfect alignment might be complex. But it’s also rewarding, with benefits to all parties involved in the process and faster revenue growth for the business.
It’s important to underline that 65% of executives have indicated that CX will be among their top 5 priorities within the next three years.
Conclusions
Among the best ways to improve EX, the research conducted by Forbes and SalesForce concludes the following with one survey:
- Setting the right tone at the top (39%);
- Having more flexible employee work-from-home policies (36%);
- Ensuring that the workplace is a safe environment (34%);
- Treating employees’ needs compassionately (32%).
In pharma, relationships are everything. Each employee is an important piece with a specific role to play in the customer journey. They have a direct impact on the CX.
Using a shared value proposition helps enhance segmentation and personalization. It also clarifies the stages and major touchpoints. Through this, the interactions become timely and meaningful.
With the journey mapped out, the most suitable tactics can be put into place within an ongoing, reactive approach. For the most part, it’s a combo of teams’ skills and expertise with data-driven insights.
A 360º strategy that has its starting point in EX improvement, enables trust-building and an increase in loyalty from both ends. We mean it for both employees and customers.
This also feeds the wheel to complete the buyer’s journey full circle from drug development to prescription or acquisition.
The complex buyer collective is at center stage. Thus, pharma teams need to communicate effectively and add value to each interaction.
Pharma must deliver the right communication at the right time. This leads to boosting customer satisfaction by prioritizing employee satisfaction. Happy employees, happy customers!
