Edelman Health recently launched results from a new study – Consumers and the Digital Health Information Journey – that focuses on how US consumers engage with and use digital health content.Partnering with Edelman Berland, they conducted research that looked at 1500 US adults consisting of Millennials (ages 18-34), the Sandwich Generation (ages 35-64) and Seniors (ages 65+). Additionally, a Caregiver group was identified that included those adults who are responsible for the health decisions of a parent or other adult relative. While the study initially set out to explore how the different generations consume and use digital health content, it soon focused on the interesting results related to the Caregiver segment.
This deck is a deep dive on the digital health behaviors and preferences of Caregivers who revealed themselves as more engaged and influential than the generational groups, including Millennials. We believe that Caregivers are an overlooked group by healthcare marketers and represent a real opportunity for targeted engagement by pharma, biotech, payers, providers and other stakeholders within the healthcare industry.
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Consumers and the Digital Health Information Journey
1. Edelman Health Sector | January 2016
Consumers and the Digital
Health Information Journey
2. Methodology
Objective
To understand the digital health “pathway,” and
how it varies across demographic and
pyschographic segments.
Timing
Survey fielded May 22 – June 12, 2015
Audience
Online survey of 1,500 U.S. adults who use digital health
resources, across the following demographic and
pyschographic segments:
◉ Millennials, ages 18-34 (n=420)
◉ Sandwich Generation, ages 35-64 (n=826)
◉ Seniors, 65+ (n=254)
◉ Caregivers, responsible for the health decisions of a parent
or other relative who is not a child (n=200)
Digital Health | Edelman Berland 2015 2
3. Caregivers are relying on digital health
information more than ever
Caregivers want online health content
that is detailed, factual and puts them
in control.
Caregivers share – but not always
publicly.
Caregivers trust owned content.
Caregivers will share sponsored content that
is entertaining, but informational content will
help them change behaviors.
Key Insights
3Digital Health | Edelman Berland 2015
5. Q13: In the past year, would you say that you have become more or less reliant on online resources for information about health?
Q14: For what reasons have you become more reliant on online health resources in that past year? (Open-end, Asked if more reliant, n=578)
Caregivers are increasingly reliant
on digital health information
Percent who are increasingly reliant on online resources compared
to last year—and why:
39%
56%
49%
TotalCaregiversMillennials
5Digital Health | Edelman Berland 2015
6. 62%
51% 50% 50%
41%
34%
26% 24%
13%
57%
50%
54%
39%
29%
Total (for myself)
Caregivers (for a relative)
Caregivers are looking for information about medications,
treatments, hospitals and recovery on behalf of a relative
Percent who have viewed each of the following health-related
information online in the past year:
Health
Symptoms
Doctors/health
care providers
Treatment
Procedure
Medications Specific disease/
condition
Health insurance
providers
Hospital/
facility
Test results Recovery
46%
58%
6Digital Health | Edelman Berland 2015
37%
23%
Q9: Which, if any, of the following health-related information have you viewed online in the past year for yourself / for a relative?
7. 20%
28%
29%
29%
32%
34%
35%
Adjust my behaviors / daily routine
Supplement information from my doctor
Make decisions about my treatment
Discuss it with my doctor
Verify other information sources
Self-diagnose my symptoms
Caregivers are more likely to use digital health information to
change behaviors
Of the total respondents, percent who have used digital health information to:
Q16: How have you used the health information you’ve read/viewed online in the past year?
Make decisions about my treatment
Adjust my behaviors/daily routine
Digital Health | Edelman Berland 2015
28%
Caregivers more likely to
◉ Encourage someone to adjust
their behaviors (36%)
◉ Find or select a doctor for
someone I’m responsible for (27%)
7
Find / select a doctor/ health facility
9. Q34-35: Which of the following statements comes closest to your opinion when reading information online about a chronic / acute condition? Digital Health | Edelman Berland 2015
Consumers – including Caregivers – want detail and control
Percent who agree with each statement:
provide very detailed,
clinical information
A lot of detail
38%
provide a summary, but allow me
to deep dive into the areas that I
want to further explore
Give me control
41%
provide an overview without
getting into the details
Give me an overview
21%
9
10. 29%
26%
25%
13%
11%
19%
18%
5% 5% 5%
Q36. When you are looking at health information online for the following types of conditions, do you prefer that the information sounds…?
Consumers – Caregivers included – want information that’s
direct and instructive, not personal or humorous
Percent who prefer online health information that sounds:
Digital Health | Edelman Berland 2015
Direct Instructive Matter-of-Fact Clinical Down to Earth Academic Encouraging Personal Light-hearted AspirationalAuthoritative Humorous
Objective Subjective/Soft
36%
34%
10
11. Video content: The message is more
important than the messenger
Preferences for video content, in rank order:
Educational focusGraphic detailsPatient testimonialsDoctor interviews Medical explanations
More engaging and useful
Digital Health | Edelman Berland 2015 11Q33: Thinking about the types of health-related videos you see online, how engaging and useful are each of the following?
13. Q17: How have you shared the following types of online health information with others in the last year?
Who shares: Caregivers are more likely to share….
Percent who shared digital health information in the last year:
TOTAL
61%
Digital Health | Edelman Berland 2015
MILLENNIALS
73%
CAREGIVERS
77%
13
14. Digital Health | Edelman Berland 2015
Percent who shared digital health information in the last year:
But they are more likely to share privately
TOTAL
60%
CAREGIVERS
76%
MILLENNIALS
70%
Shared in person
or by email/
private message
Shared information
on social media 22% 44% 34%
14Q17: How have you shared the following types of online health information with others in the last year?
15. 19%
21%
21%
25%
28%
31%
33%
33%
35%
35%
60%
7%
7%
5%
5%
6%
5%
10%
6%
10%
6%
22% Shared in person or via
email/private message
Shared digitally (public)
Digital Health | Edelman Berland 2015
Percent of the types of digital health information consumers share online
or in person in the past year:
Sharing privately is true across digital health information topics
Any
Exercise/fitness information
Diet/nutrition information
Information about treatment options
Information about symptoms I’m having
Medication/side effect information
Information about test results
Doctor reviews/ratings
Information about symptoms for someone else
Medical facility reviews/ratings
Information about post-treatment recovery
15Q17: Have you shared the following types of online health information with others in the last year?
16. 15%
14%
12%
11%
10%
7%
6%
5% 5%
30%
19%
20% 21%
19%
11% 12% 12%
10%
30%
25%
26%
23%
19%
12%
10%
11%
8%
Total Millennials Caregivers
Q29: In the last year, how have your participated in sharing health information online? Digital Health | Edelman Berland 2015
Social sharing behaviors: Caregivers, like Millennials, are active
online sharers/creators
Percent who have shared health information online
in each way in the past year:
“Liked” or
“favorited” a post
on a social
media site
Reviewed a doctor
or service provider
Engaged in
fundraising on
behalf of a cause
Posted a comment
to an online
community
Re-shared content
on social media or
other online sites
Shared your story Taken a pledge Submitted
a photo
Submitted an
essay
16
17. 37%
35%
31% 30%
24% 24%
20%
17%
15%
34%
42%
34%
26% 26%
22% 22% 22%
20%
39% 38% 37%
33%
28%
25%
30%
22%
13%
Total Millennials Caregivers
Cause is key for Caregivers
Percent why specific audiences shared health information
online in the past year:
Educate others
about a cause
It was easy Help someone
I know who
is affected
Raise awareness
for a cause
Help someone,
even if I don’t know
anyone affected
It didn’t take
much time
To be seen
as supporting
a cause
Friends/social
network
supporting a
cause and
encouraged me
Had a
photo/story
comment ready
to go
Digital Health | Edelman Berland 2015 17Q30. In the last year, why have you participated in sharing health information online? (Asked if shared online, n=597 total, n=264 Millennials, n=120 Caregivers)
18. 75%
70%
65%
64%
55%
56%
56%
43%
40%
40%
36%
34%
60%
53%
52%
49%
42%
40%
39%
32%
31%
29%
28%
24%
Likely to Share - Total Likely to Share - Caregivers
Digital Health | Edelman Berland 2015
Caregivers are especially likely to share online health content
Percent who are likely to share the following types of online
health content with a friend or family member
Educational games
Mobile apps
Quizzes
Photos
Videos
Graphics/Informational charts
Reviews/comments from patients
Healthcare provider ratings
Comments from healthcare professionals
General information in text form
Advertisements
Podcasts
18Q31: How likely are you to share the following types of online health content with a friend or family member? (Shown: Top 2 Box)
20. 83%
76% 75%
66% 64% 62%
54% 53% 51%
48% 46% 45%
31%
28%
87% 85%
82%
76%
71% 72%
65% 64%
55%
59%
63%
54%
40%
32%
Total Caregivers
Caregivers have a much higher trust in online health content,
including owned content
Percent who trust each type of website for health information:
20Digital Health | Edelman Berland 2015
Q24: Below is a list of online information sources. For each type of source, please tell us how much you trust it as a source for health information. Please use a
9-point scale where one means that you “do not trust it all” and nine means you “trust it a great deal”
21. Digital Health | Edelman Berland 2015
Caregivers and Millennials are comfortable with sponsored
content
Percent who are comfortable with sponsored content “as long as it clearly shows
who the sponsor is and it’s relevant to me”:
TOTAL
54%
MILLENNIALS
60%
CAREGIVERS
59%
21Q42. Overall, which of the following best describes your perspective on sponsored health content?
22. Caregivers will share
sponsored content that is
entertaining, but
informational content will
help them change
behaviors.
I N S I G H T
23. Relevance is key to draw interest of Caregivers and others
Sponsored content attention-getters for total respondents, in rank order:
MORE IMPORTANT IN DRAWING INTEREST
Digital Health | Edelman Berland 2015 23
Q39: Thinking about the ways that health companies can use sponsored content to draw your interest, which of the following is the most important or least
important?
Include the name
of the author of
the content
Include video
content
Include
appealing
images
Tell an
interesting story
Information on which
the company is an
authority
Be on a
website I know
and trust
Content that is
informative
Information
that is relevant
to me
Be sponsored by a
company or brand I
know and trust
Content that is
entertaining
24. Info that gets shared is different than what changes behavior
Types of sponsored content that would increase various
sharing habits vs. behavior changes, in rank order:
Get Shared >> Change Behavior >>
Repost content to
your social network
Recommend to
others
Share content with
friends or family
Discuss content
with your doctor
Adjust your
behaviors/daily
routine
Informative
Interesting story
Relevant to me
On a trusted website
Entertaining
Relevant to me
Informative
On a trusted website
Brand is an authority
Brand is trusted
24Digital Health | Edelman Berland 2015
Q40: Again, thinking about the ways that health companies can use “sponsored” content to draw your interest, which of the following would increase the chance
that you would…?
25. Action plan for brands
25Digital Health | Edelman Berland 2015
26. Action plan for
brands
Develop strategies – like linking your brand
to a cause – to activate the influential
Caregiver audience.
Present information straight up, and give
Caregivers control over the level of depth
and detail.
Create content that can easily be shared
privately and links back to owned properties.
Take full advantage of the high trust
Caregivers place in owned content to
engage and influence.
Explore new ways to measure the private
sharing of health information to more fully
capture brand impact.
Digital Health | Edelman Berland 2015 26
29. Digital Health Across Life Stages
Millennials (Age 18-34) Sandwich (Age 35-64) Seniors (Age 65+)
• In control of their health for the first time
• Highly engaged, use many sources, want details
on a breadth of topics
• High-information diet can make them feel
concerned and overwhelmed
• Sandwich Generation attitudes and behaviors
are in line with the “Total” findings for adults 18+
• Go online to supplement information from their
doctors or to verify other sources
• Want information specific to their own
symptoms, disease states, medications, test
results and treatments
Digital Health | Edelman Berland 2015
Caregivers
• Spans life stages: Millennials (34%), Sandwich
Generation (60%) and even some younger
Seniors (6%)
• Need information about specific symptoms,
disease states and treatments relevant to their
loved ones
• Active in sharing digital health information
online to help educate others and raise
awareness about a cause or issue
THREE GENERATIONS:
ONE CROSS-GENERATIONAL SEGMENT:
29
Editor's Notes
This past summer, Edelman and Edelman Berland set out to better understand the digital health journey. We wanted to dig deeper into what people are looking for in online health information, how they use it and the type of and tone of content that they are looking for.
We looked at 4 audience segments: 3 of these are demographics – Millennials, Gen Xers or Sandwich Generation and Seniors. We also looked at 1 cross –generational audience – Caregivers (which we defined as adults who are caring for another adult family member, so not parents of children).
We saw some interesting findings across most of these groups, except the Sandwich Generation which behaved similarly to the totals that you’ll see throughout the data sets, so we did not continue to break them out.
Most interesting to us is that Caregivers may be our most unsung and influential group in terms of how they can affect health behavior. Additionally, a survey of the landscape reveals that limited research has been done on how Caregivers interact with online health information so we decided to do a deeper dive on their digital health preferences and the opportunity that exists for communicators and marketers to target this powerful yet somewhat misunderstood cohort.
Our study lead to 5 key findings or insights, and the rest of our presentation will provide the supporting data points in each of these 5 areas.
Caregivers are relying on digital health information more than ever
Caregivers want online health content that is detailed, factual and puts them in control.
Caregivers share – but not always publicly.
Caregivers trust owned content.
Caregivers will share sponsored content that is entertaining, but informational content will help them change behaviors.
Let’s start with our first Insight: Caregivers are relying on digital health information – in all forms – more than ever.
It is no surprise that consumers are increasingly looking for and reliant on online health care information – there have been other studies showing this.
The reasons that consumer cite for this is that there is that much more information available online than ever before and that getting information online is easier than going to a doctor.
Caregivers especially stood out as being even more reliant on digital health information – surpassing Millennials – and this was pretty revealing to us. This finding was consistent with the rest of the survey results that found Caregivers to generally be more engaged with digital health information.
Caregivers are often looking for online information on behalf of someone else and seem to be more engaged than the average consumer when it comes to engaging with most types of digital health information. Specifically, Caregivers are more likely to look at medications and information on specific diseases, and are especially engaged when it comes to information related to treatment procedures, researching hospitals and recovery information. Their increased involvement towards the latter half of the patient journey makes sense because it is quite possible that Caregivers are not even engaged by the person who they are taking care of until a diagnosis has been made.
They are a very interesting group – and one that we need to consider how we target more effectively
Compared to the total, Caregivers are especially more likely to use digital health information to encourage someone to adjust their behaviors and find or select a doctor/health facility. This shows that Caregivers are not just more likely to consume digital health information but are also more likely to use it to influence behavior change – a very important finding for brands.
We now know from our study what health information Caregivers most engage with online and what they want out of it. Now we looked at the preferred tone and content of that information.
Our research revealed that Caregivers, like the rest of consumers, want facts and information and want to be firmly in control of how much information is right for them at any particular time. This slide shows the total numbers and it should be noted that Caregivers were more or less the same in their preferences for how they want digital health information presented.
Our packaging of health content needs to allow for the consumers to drive – whether they want snackable content or prefer to deep dive into a particular topic – or as more than 40% of survey respondents said, they want both.
In terms of tone, again consumers were clear. Only total data is shown but as in the last slide Caregiver data is very similar.
Overall, one in 3 preferred direct, instructive and straight-up information when it comes to health.
More subjective tones like encouraging or personal or lighthearted were not preferred.
This finding has implications for the content we create across channels given that we know that certain content gets shared more in the social media environment as well as what gets clicks or hits.
We dove a bit deeper as well to look at specific types of content – specifically video given how important this medium has become online.
Similar to the overall tone that Caregivers want from health information, the same straightforward, educational emphasis is most helpful and engaging when it comes to video. It’s less about the messenger in these situations than the content being conveyed. It doesn’t mean we shouldn’t use testimonials or interviews, but the information needs to be presented in an explanatory and educational manner
Many of the digital health campaigns that we create for our clients are focused on encouraging consumers to share or like the content and information – to pass it on to their networks.
So we’ve seen that consumers – Caregivers included – want control over the depth of info they search for, they want it direct and straight-up. We now take a look at what they do with this information.
It is not surprising that Millennials revealed themselves as likely to share but it is somewhat surprising that Caregivers were even more likely to share (77% vs. 73%). This only reinforces the notion that Caregivers are an untapped resource, especially for campaigns that rely upon the sharing behavior of consumers.
When we look at HOW our audiences share and where they share, we see that they are more likely to share via private channels: in-person interactions or by e-mail or private messenger. As we can see, this is especially true of Caregivers where 76% share privately and only 34% share via social media. So sharing is important – but most health information sharing happens through private channels. The same gap, while to a lesser extent, can be seen in the other audiences as well. This is an important implication for how we measure digital health programs, especially those that include a Caregiver element.
Additionally, the fact that most digital health information is shared privately means that a lot of content is being separated from the channels where it is initially shared (think content being copy/pasted into an email). This separation may mean that we need more links and calls for action embedded in the content. Additionally, this has significant implications if we are counting on these social channels to have a dialogue with our consumers. How do we get them to come back to the channel? Brands may therefore need to consider more tools and resources for each audience.
For example, for the Caregivers – the audience most likely to share privately – we should consider a curriculum approach to information to get them to continue to interact with the online content.
We also see that the preference for private sharing among Caregivers – similar to other consumers – is true across the board, regardless of the type of digital health information. Even something as seemingly innocuous as exercise and fitness information or diet and nutrition content – consumers 3 to 1 will share that information privately vs. in public or social forums.
When we look across the audience segments about how they share socially, we see some differences emerge. In particular, Caregivers show themselves to be the most engaged of all audiences, even more so than Millennials. For 6 of the 9 social sharing behaviors, Caregivers were the most likely to have participated over the last year. Caregivers typically participated in behaviors that were less time-intensive while Millennials were more likely to participate in social sharing that requires more time and effort like submitting a photo or essay.
When we compare our audiences – for Caregivers the key driver to sharing health information socially online is if it is associated with a cause.
This has implications for our health-related programs and potentially the partners we want and need to align with in order to encourage these audiences to partake and share.
In particular, Caregivers want to be seen as supporting a cause that is important to them and to which we can hypothesize is linked to a particular health condition of the person they are caring for. How can we help them link to the causes that are important to them?
Across the board, Caregivers are more likely to share all types of online health information compared to the total. This is especially true when it comes from comments from healthcare professionals, videos, photos and general information in text form. This reinforces the opportunity that exists within the Caregiver community when it comes to sharing online health content.
Caregivers are sharing digital health information, and they are sharing your content as well.
Caregivers are more likely to trust owned content so there is a lot of potential for engaging them in particular. As you can see, they are more trusting than the total for every single source of online health information. Quite simply, they are a trusting and engaged group.
The majority of our audiences are comfortable with sponsored content so long as it is clearly labeled as such – giving even greater impetus for brands to engage in and seek these opportunities. Caregivers are right behind Millennials in being the most trusting of sponsored content.
Let’s drill down on sponsored content. What is most effective?
Each type of content has it’s benefits and we need to use them appropriately
Content that is relevant and informative will draw interest, but it has to be on a website and coming from a brand that consumers know and trust. This slide shows the rank order of what all respondents considered to be important in drawing interest through sponsored content. The rank order for Caregivers was almost exactly the same as the total.
But perhaps more interestingly – we will need different content (and likely different channels for that content) to move people from sharing to shifting behaviors.
If we compare what gets shared to what changes behavior, we see that the important attributes of content changes considerably (the attributes in each box are in rank order of importance to consumers)
Being informative and interesting might be important for shareable content, but in order to change behavior it must also be relevant and from a brand that is trusted and considered an authority. So from our standpoint, this demonstrates that no one piece of content can do it all. We need to move people through a content continuum – getting their attention with entertainment, and ensuring it’s relevant and informative if we want them to share the information. But for the highest order of what we are health communicators and marketers are trying to do – change behavior – we need to ensure we are trusted by that consumer. Influence comes from Trust.
Need to have the right mix of channels as well – and need the right levers to move people from asset to asset that.
We’ve provided our takes on what this data could mean for brands engaged in health
Our audience segmentation across demographics points to the opportunity to engage online with health information with an audience that is particularly influential – the Caregiver. We need to ask ourselves if and then how we are targeting and leveraging these important online health audiences. Here are some recommendations for brands when it comes to engaging the untapped and influential Caregiver audience through digital health information.