Drive Research recently partnered with a healthcare organization and a marketing company to conduct an online survey project. The main objective of the study was to understand usage and appeal of telemedicine services, obtain data to support a name choice, and discover the brand perception of the healthcare provider in the market area. 
What is telemedicine? Telemedicine is the remote delivery of healthcare services using telecommunications technology including two-way audio/video. For example, using telemedicine, a healthcare provider can evaluate, diagnose, and treat patients using audio-visual communications via the internet.
Telemedicine opens up communication from provider to patient in more convenient ways.
Objectives
A client recently hired Drive Research on a market research study. The objectives of the market research included understanding and testing a name choice for a new telemedicine product coming to market. These and other secondary objectives were covered in this market research. The investment in market research provided the healthcare organization with definitive, measurable, and actionable feedback to guide next steps with its decisions, ensuring the choice of name matches preferences of the target market.
Approach
To address the objectives at-hand, Drive Research utilized an online survey via social media. The survey questions were drafted and finalized in early February. The online link and survey message was targeted to a random population of Facebook users in the market area of Western Massachusetts, Central Massachusetts, and Northern Connecticut. The focus began with a 15-mile radius around each of the 5 locations. This was then opened to a 20-mile radius before expanding to a broader geography in the targeted territories. This expansion helped the survey reach new respondents and shorten length of fieldwork.
The audience naturally skewed female and older age groups 45+ (typical for a healthcare survey). The survey included a total of 8 questions (5 core questions) and took approximately 1 to 2 minutes to complete. The online survey was fielded from Saturday, February 10 through Friday, February 16, 2018 (6 days). A total of 417 responses were collected (a +/- 5% margin of error). A total of 3 $50 gift cards were raffled to survey respondents to entice participation.
Results
Although the results remain confidential with the client, several objectives were addressed in the online survey. Here is a list of the questions which were asked to the general public as part of the randomly targeted online survey.
- How likely would you be to use telemedicine services?
- Which of the following names do you most prefer?
- Which of the following names do you least prefer?
- What is your perception of the healthcare organization?
- Is the healthcare organization a leader in technology or innovation?
- What is your ZIP Code of residence?
- Which of the following are you interested in?
- Please enter your contact information.
Answers to these survey questions helped address key objectives for the client to help offer and guide direction on the name of choice and to understand usage and appeal of telemedicine services.
- What is the most preferred name for the telemedicine service?
- How likely are respondents to use telemedicine if available?
- What is the perception of the healthcare organization?
The online survey addressed most and least preferred name choice options. The technique used was called Max Differentiation (MaxDiff). MaxDiff is an excellent way to create variance between preferred options (name choices, preferences, etc.) MaxDiff is calculated by subtracting least preferred from most preferred to arrive at a calculation.
For example:
55% prefer Name 1 the most, 10% least prefer Name 1 = +45% MaxDiff
25% prefer Name 2 the most, 22% least prefer Name 2 = +3% MaxDiff
10% prefer Name 3 the most, 30% least prefer Name 3 = -20% MaxDiff
10% prefer Name 4 the most, 38% least prefer Name 4 = -28% MaxDiff
Contact Drive Research
Drive Research is a healthcare market research company. Our services include online surveys, focus groups, and feasibility studies. Our team can be reached at [email protected] or by calling 315-303-2040.