Audrey Gilfor
Director
CRM BioPharm Communications

How to Prepare?

• Filter. With Apple Mail potentially registering 100% Open Rates, it will be important to filter out “false” email opens and engagements so that clients receive an accurate account of how their marketing materials are performing, so they can invest in channels wisely. Independent of our channel/deployment platforms, BioPharm maintains its own BOT filter which looks at a variety of datapoints (timestamp, OS, browser, number of clicks per HCP, ghost pixels, etc.) to remove any suspected BOT traffic. BioPharm will adapt and test this filter to account for Apple’s Mail Privacy Protection Update.
  • Note: Once the filter is applied the initial Open from an Apple Mail user would be stripped from the data. A second “legitimate” email open occurring on a secondary device or browser (Outlook App, Google Chrome, etc.) would pass through the filter and into the campaign response data. This will not capture all legitimate opens but will provide additional datapoints.
• Measure. With Open Rates becoming a less reliable indicator of performance, marketers will need to analyze their historical data in order to measure success and plan for future campaigns, especially as they relate to subject line selection, creative preference, and proper send time. In addition, benchmarking trends based on Operating System/iOS will become important in assessing the 50%+ of target audiences who use Apple Mail. Here at BioPharm we have 15+ years of HCP email response data to help inform a world without opens. A few options for defining your future audience include:
  • Affinity Scores. BioPharm Affinity Data shows an HCP’s preference for Message Type (EFF vs MOA) and Channel (Email vs Direct Mail).
• Activity Score. BioPharm tracks HCP engagement to help identify higher-value targets as well as to maintain proper list hygiene and help identify HCPs for re-engagement programs.
• Increase Omnichannel Efforts. Channel variance is a critical component of omnichannel marketing. True omnichannel campaigns are designed using data to determine targeting, spend levels per target, message segmentation, channel deployment, and coordinate delivery. Feeding promotional response data into client Sales Force Automations Systems (SFAs), like Veeva, to drive appropriate action by sales representatives truly integrates all channels. (Source: Orchestrated Storytelling)
• Redefine Traditional KPIs. Measuring omnichannel requires us to look past line-item channel performance. Reporting and optimization should be organized to help demonstrate the value of each tactic and the engagement it drives. This can be done through an HCP Impact Score™. In this model, each tactic is assigned a value based on message type, authority and depth of engagement to determine a total “achievable score.” The greater the channel variance, the higher the achievable score becomes. As assets push into market and HCPs engage, each tactic engagement is scored and weighted. At the end of the campaign, the total value of engagements is measured against total targets to provide the “earned score” achieved. Experience has demonstrated that higher HCP Impact Scores are an effective leading indicator of ROI. (Source: Orchestrated Storytelling)
• Diversify Email Journey Models. Using promotional response data to fuel the next message or channel in a journey is a great way to walk HCPs through the brand story and build toward a goal. In the future, these journeys will still be vital to omnichannel marketing plans, but may require modifications to deployment cadence and trigger activity (Email Open/Click, Banner Clicks and/or Informed Delivery for Print).

While the future of Email Open Rates may seem uncertain, the potential impact of Email and Omnichannel Marketing on HCPs remains the same: informative, essential, and measurable.