Building trust and credibility online

Evidence suggests that while many doctors would like to access the wealth of information and scientific data that pharma companies hold, they often struggle to do so.

This is because pharma has historically tended to simply promote products to doctors, rather than share its expertise and scientific data.

As a result, pharma company resources are viewed with scepticism by many doctors who need independent, unbiased materials and therefore favour sources such as peer reviewed journals, independent online networks and government websites.

This attitude is borne out by the fact that while many pharma companies have invested heavily in developing their own branded websites in recent years, research conducted for Doctors.net.uk shows only three per cent of doctors think that online pharma resources are credible and 42 per cent never visit pharmaceutical websites.

To help pharma companies overcome the credibility problem, Doctors.net.uk, which is regarded as one of the most trusted resources for its 200,000 plus members, has launched a new service that encourages doctors to engage with selected pharma and other healthcare websites, and which provides detailed profiling information and data insights.

ClinAccess works via an Application-Programming Interface (API) - a 3rd party web hosting system that provides a seamless link between Doctors.net.uk and a pharma or other healthcare company website.

The service, which can be deployed within two weeks, is also available to users of the award-winning, practical medical information tool, MDLinx, which is owned by Doctors.net.uk's parent company M3 Group. It can cross match doctors against a target list and can be upgraded to provide more detailed information, such as changes in prescribing intentions, following a campaign.

One pharma company that has used the service said: “In two weeks, we've had more than 400 target doctors visit our website who may not have otherwise engaged. We have also been able to use the added profile information to help build up a more detailed picture of those doctors engaging.”

For more information on Doctors.net.uk, please call Tim Ringrose on +44 (0)1235 828400, or email Tim.Ringrose@mess.doctors.org.uk. You can also follow Doctors.net.uk on Twitter: @doctors_net_uk

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