A global pharmaceutical and medical device company was launching a new initiative to partner with influential experts and identify unmet needs in the eyecare market. To achieve its aims, the company needed to effectively engage eyecare professionals (ECPs) to gather insights on the patient experience.
Business Challenges & Goals
In the eyecare market, ECPs are issued with ‘fit sets’ – sets of contact lenses for various prescriptions and patient needs. These include toric lenses, which are specially shaped to treat astigmatism, and multifocal lenses that contain two or more prescriptions to correct vision at different distances.
The challenge for ECPs is that their fit sets contain numerous trial lenses, but they don’t necessarily meet the needs of every patient. If ECPs don’t have the correct set of lenses, then they have to order them in, and ask the patient to return for a follow-up appointment. There’s a clear opportunity to improve the patient experience.
Insights & Actions
For the first time ever, our client company was preparing to launch a multifocal toric fit set into the market. They had a simple question for ECPs: if they could design their own perfect fit set, what would it include?
The company worked with Within3 to create a feedback survey on multifocal toric lenses. They engaged 20 ECP innovators who would then trial exclusive product launches with their patients.
Using the Within3 Insights Management Platform, the team was able to quickly and effectively engage the ECPs in a highly collaborative space – resulting not only in powerful insights capable of informing their go-to-market strategy, but in improved relationships between the client company and the HCPs themselves. What’s more, they were able to execute their feedback survey and obtain the insights they needed in an aggressive time frame of just a few days.
“There’s no way we could have talked one-on-one with all the ECPs within that time frame. There’s no way we could have gathered that information without the platform.”
– Global Director, Professional Education and Development
Business Results & Metrics
The insights the client received through the Within3 Insights Management Platform helped them to design a more streamlined, effective fit kit that would meet the needs of ECPs and their patients. “A lot of these practices are small, and they don’t want a big fit set,” the Global Director of Professional Education and Development told us. “I thought we would need everything, because that’s what one of our competitors has.”
Instead, with the insights provided by the feedback survey, the client company was able to significantly reduce the size of the proposed multifocal toric fit kit – a move that resulted in significant cost savings.
“With the feedback that we received, we reduced the fit set plan by 23 percent – and that is a cost saving of six million dollars.”
– Global Director, Professional Education and Development
The successful feedback survey provided the client team with insights that increased confidence in their go-to-market strategy. The result was a smooth, efficient, and cost-effective product launch:
“With a robust plan supported by these insights, we achieved quick alignment with our leadership team, minimized the risk associated with the launch, and reduced the plan to save millions.”
–Global Director, Professional Education and Development
