The quality of online health information

About the Author

Richard Meyer is a passionate Internet DTC marketer with over 15 years of progressive experience in consumer marketing who`s worked on top pharmaceutical brands like Cialis, Prozac and Sarafem, as well as two years with Medtronic Diabetes. He is currently consulting for his own company, Online Strategic Solutions, and writes a DTC column for PM 360 magazine and blogs for Eye for Pharma in addition to his own blog, World of DTC Marketing.

I had an interesting Twitter conversation last week about the quality of online health information. Late last year we recruited an online panel to review health information for 3 months and while a program monitored their Internet usage. We then followed up with some surveys to try an gauge the “quality” of online health information and the “experience” of their searches. Here are the results…

Top line results per the research report;

1. Consumers are overwhelmed with the amount of health information on the Internet and therefore they are most likely to start their searches for information at trusted sites like Web MD.

2. There is a direct correlation between the seriousness of the condition and the search for information. The more serious the condition, as judged by the patient, the more time they are likely to spend online searching for information on that condition.

3. Consumers will use social media for health information but take the information lightly. They look to social media to “balance out” the picture of their information.

4. Often a lot of the information online was difficult to understand for a lot of people. This was especially true when it comes to safety information.

5. Consumers want information on “how to live with health conditions” and want to know how certain health conditions (and medications) will effect their quality of life. There is a trade off between medications that have serious side effects and living with a health condition.

6. Even though some new social media health sites, and a search engine targeting health, have been launched unless these new portals spend a significant amount of dollars on search marketing or online advertising consumers who have never heard of them are skeptical of the information.

7. Drug company sites are often part of the search for health information but they do not meet all of consumers needs.

8. Consumers want to know if any sites have relationships (i.e. being paid) with drug or medical device companies as this is likely to cause them look for more information to validate that information.

9. The search for health information is often a long process that involves a lot of time on the Internet. There is not any one site that gives consumers all the information they need and want.

10. Most consumers will wind up printing a lot of information from health websites and they want the pages to be optimized for printing so pages can print without all the sidebars and promotional graphics.

Asked to rate the quality of their experience consumers gave it a 2.2 out of 5 (with 5 being excellent). The number of consumers used for this survey was over 600. We are in the process of starting a second recruiting process for next online panel and consumers were compensated with free broadband connection while agreeing to be part of survey groups.