ast year, my firm published a study entitled Marketing to Life Scientists:
Keys to Success. Our objective was to help marketing professionals better understand
how to optimize their marketing mix in the academic, industrial, and government segments
of the U.S. Life Sciences market. In order to understand how life scientists prefer to
learn about products and technologies, a survey was mailed to 10,000 U.S. researchers.
Respondents were asked a series of questions about the relative effectiveness of sales
representatives, catalogs, the World Wide Web, direct mail, print advertising and
scientific meetings. The scientists were also asked to describe their "likes"
and "dislikes" about each technique.
he responses to our survey clearly confirmed
some commonly-held beliefs, but challenged others. Among our major findings:
Life scientists overwhelmingly learn about vendors
and products from catalogs and through colleagues.
Life scientists do not perceive sales representatives to be an
important channel of information regarding new products and technologies, but concede most
salespeople are very knowledgeable about their individual product lines.
85% of all respondents have used the World Wide Web to find
information about companies and their products, with more than a third reporting they do
so frequently.
"Currently using the vendor's products" is the single most
important factor considered by a researcher when deciding to open unsolicited mail.
"Substantial technical content" is the single most
important factor in drawing the attention of a life scientist to a print advertisement.
An overwhelming majority of respondents prefer to attend smaller
meetings devoted to specialized topics.
ore significantly, the responses to the survey indicate
purchasing decisions often take place in the realm of perceptions and familiarity
-- despite the scientific nature of the products and the customers who buy them. Many
people have always assumed that because this is a scientific market, customers buy
products based strictly on technical performance. In fact, we discovered quite the
opposite to be true. Brand preferences, and perceptions about the supplier, are extremely
strong motivators, even where the products are essentially the same.
ast year, my firm published a study entitled Marketing to Life Scientists:
Keys to Success. Our objective was to help marketing professionals better understand
how to optimize their marketing mix in the academic, industrial, and government segments
of the U.S. Life Sciences market. In order to understand how life scientists prefer to
learn about products and technologies, a survey was mailed to 10,000 U.S. researchers.
Respondents were asked a series of questions about the relative effectiveness of sales
representatives, catalogs, the World Wide Web, direct mail, print advertising and
scientific meetings. The scientists were also asked to describe their "likes"
and "dislikes" about each technique.
he responses to our survey clearly confirmed
some commonly-held beliefs, but challenged others. Among our major findings:
ore significantly, the responses to the survey indicate
purchasing decisions often take place in the realm of perceptions and familiarity
-- despite the scientific nature of the products and the customers who buy them. Many
people have always assumed that because this is a scientific market, customers buy
products based strictly on technical performance. In fact, we discovered quite the
opposite to be true. Brand preferences, and perceptions about the supplier, are extremely
strong motivators, even where the products are essentially the same.