Market research comes in all shapes and sizes. Oftentimes, the structure of a research project is dependent on the type of respondent or participant brands want to gather feedback on.
For example, conducting market research with gastroenterologists is much different than surveying anyone who shops at Target.
It requires different best practices and processes to accomplish a successful study with doctors who are constantly on the move. Luckily, we can share some insight into this audience.
Learn more about the challenges, solutions, and approach to conducting market research with gastroenterologists by reading the detailed case study below.
Challenges Facing the Healthcare Organization
Up to 68% of current patients believe doctor interaction could be improved. At the end of the day, conducting research with gastroenterologists (or physicians of any kind) comes down to improving the patient experience.
Doctors are key in this experience, and the feedback they share is crucial for improvement.
For instance, the healthcare organization is on a mission to enhance the quality and delivery of personalized care for those with chronic conditions such as Crohn’s Disease and IBD patients.
In part of this mission, our client was challenged with gathering feedback from gastroenterologists.
They hoped to measure doctors’ and specialist nurses’ interest in using a resilience-building multidisciplinary digital solution to co-manage IBD patients.
💡 The Key Takeaway: For this project, we conducted market research with gastroenterologists to get their perspective on a personal care strategy for Chron’s and IBD patients.
Solution: Conducting an Online Survey with Gastroenterologists
After understanding the challenges and objectives of the healthcare provider Drive Research recommended conducting an online survey.
The medical market research would target gastroenterologists (MDs and NPs) among providers in the United Kingdom. More specifically, the survey gathered feedback from practicing physicians, not residents or fellows.
The data and insights gathered from this audience would help our client create a complementary resilience-building multidisciplinary network that would be extremely appealing for gastroenterologists to join and co-manage IBD patients.
💡 The Key Takeaway: Market research in healthcare is essential because it connects the provider to the patient. This results in patients receiving the care they need from their medical team.
Approach to Conducting Market Research with Gastroenterologists
While our healthcare market research company offers end-to-end project management services, the versioned survey script was drafted by the client.
Upon approval, Drive Research programmed and tested the online survey before launching it to gastroenterologists.
The process of conducting an online survey with gastroenterologists included:
- Signed proposal
- Kickoff meeting
- Drive Research programming the 2-minute survey into our survey software
- Making suggestions on wording and questions
- Soft-launching the survey with 10-20 gastroenterologists to start before the full-launch
- Quality-check responses using Drive Research audit checklist
- Sending the healthcare client a passcode-protected online portal of graphs tabulated in real-time
Fieldwork lasted 1-2 weeks. As a final deliverable, the healthcare provider received a final data file in CSV with raw responses from all survey respondents.
💡 The Key Takeaway: Our medical practice market research began with a proposal and ended with an in-depth data file that displayed the results of our research.
Sample Survey Questions for Gastroenterologists
Our market research with gastroenterologists covered a wide range of subject matter.
- What is the specialty of the practice where you currently work?
- Do you currently manage patients with IBD, including Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis?
- In what hospital office setting do you mainly practice?
- Please rate the value of the following benefits of becoming a Certified IBD Provider and co-managing patients with a remote Resilience-Building Multidisciplinary Team.
- Please rate the value of the following free features of a remote resilience-building multidisciplinary co-management solution
- Are there any other features in this complementary resilience-building multidisciplinary solution that would benefit you and your patients?
- Do you have any additional feedback or questions about this resilience-building multidisciplinary solution to co-manage your IBD patients?
💡 The Key Takeaway: When crafting questions for a market research project, it’s essential to be detailed–especially when dealing with the medical field. The more detailed, the better chance for actionable feedback.
Findings from the Online Survey with Gastroenterologists
As with all studies commissioned by our medical industry market research company, the exact findings remain private with the end client.
The online survey was successful in providing the healthcare organization with data needed to improve their multidisciplinary digital solution network.
For example, gastroenterologists shared feedback on components such as:
- Percentage of gastroenterologists interested in joining the Certified IBD Provider Network.
- Top benefits of becoming a Certified IBD Provider in the U.S.
- Top benefits of becoming a Certified IBD Provider in the U.K.
- Main differences between the benefits of becoming a Certified IBD Provider in the U.S. vs. the U.K.
- Top free features gastroenterologists would most be interested in.
With these unique findings in hand, the healthcare agency will be able to improve its service offerings with data-driven decision-making rather than making general assumptions.
💡 The Key Takeaway: Effective medical market research has the potential to result in a massive impact for patients. In this case, our client was able to work with detailed feedback and put it to use.
Best Practices for Surveying Gastroenterologists
Since being a physician is a very specialized job with many small details, conducting research with them needs to match that specialization.
Aside from their job being ultra-busy, doctors are often under a tremendous amount of pressure and stress! They won’t gravitate to a project they feel could take time away from their practice and patients. Making sure research is easily conducted and time-efficient is essential.
How can this be done? We’ll tell some of our favorite tips for conducting market research with doctors and physicians below.
Consider the Time Commitment
If you’re not a fan of rejection, be prepared. Doctors may reject taking part in a research project due to the potential time commitment.
What we mean here is, keep it short and sweet! Just like what we said above, doctors don’t have a ton of time to spare–and they certainly won’t be inclined to take part in a project that could take up a large chunk of that time.
At the most, keep your surveys brief for them–we’re talking 10 minutes tops. Our firm suggests including only core concepts in the survey. Avoid the fluff!
Make Use of Screeners
This is part of the qualitative recruitment process if you are conducting focus groups or in-depth interviews.
For example, in this case, the recruitment process centered around targeting gastroenterologists only. Since the product of our client was for those with gastrointestinal issues, it wouldn’t make sense to have any other specialists participate in the research.
Recruitment screeners make this process simple. That way, the client was sure they were getting the right feedback from relevant experts.
Generous Incentives
Take it from us: incentives are ideal for any group of market research participants. But for doctors, you must go big.
Due to their hectic schedules, your doctors need to be rewarded for their time fairly.
When it comes to phone surveys, doctors should be paid $200 to $250. For online surveys, doctors should be paid $40 for each one.
For more information, watch our video for of our favorite ways to create a positive experience for research participants.
💡 The Key Takeaway: Effective research with doctors means getting straight to business, so their practice can remain top-of-mind. Research needs to be tailored to the specific needs of those in the field.
Contact Drive Research to Survey Gastroenterologists
Drive Research is a full-service market research company specializing in various industries including healthcare. Our team has commissioned various research studies with patients, doctors, healthcare decision-makers, and other medical personnel.
Interested in partnering with Drive Research? Learn more about our services or contact our team today.
- Message us on our website
- Email us at [email protected]
- Call us at 888-725-DATA
- Text us at 315-303-2040
Emily Rodgers
A SUNY Cortland graduate, Emily has taken her passion for social and content marketing to Drive Research as the Marketing Manager. She has earned certificates for both Google Analytics and Google AdWords.
Learn more about Emily, here.
