The value proposition of a medical device or a drug is one of the key determinants of its commercial success. I’ve deeply analyzed this subject in 4 different articles and you can read all about it starting here.
In today’s post, I will revisit the subject focusing on a crucial aspect of the value proposition design: the customer. It’s my hope that at the end you’ll have further insight into why the customer is the cornerstone of a great medical value proposition. So follow along.
The foundation of the value proposition: The customer
You’ll agree that to design and effectively promote medical products and services that satisfy our multiple customers we must have a comprehensive knowledge of them.
And to correctly use the value proposition canvas, we first need to understand our various customers and their “Jobs To Be Done”.
As competition gets higher, differentiation among the products decreases and the number of customers and diverse stakeholders increases, companies in the medical sector (pharma or MedTech) need to have a more refined and differentiated approach to customers.
To begin with, companies must engage with a wider number of stakeholders and deeply understand their specific needs originating from the jobs to be done including gains and pains.
Knowing fully well that different stakeholders have varying jobs to be done, gains, and pains, it is crucial to ensure and understand that they will be looking for different benefits.
To reach a deep understanding of the customers, medical companies must perform extensive market research on customer segments, characteristics, drivers, motivations, needs, and wants.
Customer segmentation
In the current medical context, it is often necessary to produce a segmentation that goes beyond the standard categories.
Any segment must be divided into sub-segments according to its specificity in order to demonstrate and deliver value to the appropriate sub-segment.
For example, the customer “patient” must be divided into sub-segments based on the Job To Be Done and pains and gains. This way, it will be possible to capitalize on specific pain relievers or gain creators and deliver and communicate a substantial value for this subsegment.
Likewise, the formulation process of a drug for children must consider the pains related to the administration like unpleasant taste and smell, frequent dose, and therapy duration. Also, if the drug is only available as a suspension, a large administration volume needs to be taken into consideration. New formulations like oral disintegrating tablets that quickly dissolve in the mouth without water and with a pleasant taste are specifically designed for this customer population.
This tailored approach allows the production of value from one segment to the other coordinating clinical development, features development, and user experience that will produce outcomes for the single segment.
Payers and administrators typically have different requirements compared to healthcare professionals and patients. This distinction must be taken into account when developing a value proposition.
How to deliver value to the specific customer
The first challenge in developing a compelling value proposition is to understand the jobs to be done, alongside the pains and gains of the single stakeholder. And only after this step we need to produce value through pain relievers and gain creators.
For medical products, several approaches are available to develop value through pain relievers and gain creators, some common examples are:
- Develop clinical data
- Broaden indication and use
- Collect and generate real-world evidence
- Produce health economics research
- Create new price structures
- Develop special features producing outcomes
- Generate outputs developing outcomes
- Include services
Another important aspect of value proposition design is the prioritization of customer jobs to be done and the pains and gains. This is because, in the customer’s eyes the weight of jobs, pains, and gains is not equal.
The goal is to create a list and regularly test it with actual customers to determine the most important jobs, the most severe pains, and the most essential gains that should be prioritized.
Remember also that for customers, including healthcare professionals like physicians, nurses, and administrators, social and emotional jobs are significant in their work. Therefore, don’t base decisions solely on rational reasoning.
Conclusion
The development of the value proposition is an integrated and cross-functional project.
In the current context companies active in the pharma or medical device sector must consider a much broader number of stakeholders and deeply understand their specific needs deriving from the jobs to be done, gains, and pains.
Sales and marketing professionals working in the medical sector should consider that product success will come from understanding the different customers and executing integrated marketing campaigns to communicate the value proposition.
When developing the value proposition of your next medical product, are you considering all the customers and their most important jobs, pains, and gains?
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