Emotional Reactions Primary Driver in Physician/Patient Relations
In a recent article published in Pharmaceutical Executive, author Daryl Travis outlines some of the primary misconceptions regarding the motivators behind the average physician’s decision-making process as well as the behavioral trends of patients during a prescribed treatment regimen.
Discordant with the commonly held belief that all physicians make decisions based solely on scientific research and their professional experience in the medical field, recent research has shown that physicians often rely more on “feelings, intuitions, and instincts versus proven clinical data.” In fact, Travis goes so far as to say “an overwhelming body of evidence confirms patients and physicians alike often behave, dare we say, irrationally.”
Further, emotional motivations seem to carry into the patients’ adherence to their physicians’ treatment regimen in a similar fashion. Where a physician’s dosage and interval guidelines should dictate a patient’s actual compliance with treatment procedures, it seems that external emotional factors play the larger role in the patient’s obedience, or as many case show, disobedience.
How can this insight affect our focus and decisions as marketers? As Travis puts it “If the power of behavioral economics can be used to increase healthy habits around the world, we can use the same disciplines to increase brand preference.”
Even outside of the medical and pharmaceutical industry, by using proven emotional research techniques, we now have the ability to tap into the reality of a consumer’s decision-making process. By leveraging consumers’ emotional – and sometime subconscious – motivators, we can refine our brand image into a far-reaching influencer across virtually any industry.
Click here to read Daryl Travis’ full and insightful article on Pharmaceutical Executive’s website, PharmExec.com.
And click here to learn more about AdSAM’s proven Emotional Response Model to see where and how quantified emotional research can impact your brand.
