In the high-stakes world of pharmaceutical marketing, understanding what truly drives prescribing decisions can make or break a brand. Yet traditional market research often relies on simplistic surveys and predictable questions, delivering surface-level insights that fail to capture the complex reality of how healthcare professionals actually make decisions.
The Reality Check
Even the most evidence-driven physicians are human. Research by Croskerry (2013) in Academic Medicine demonstrates that clinicians frequently employ cognitive shortcuts—such as familiarity bias—when making complex decisions under time pressure. These heuristics lead physicians to favor treatments with known outcomes, even when superior but less familiar alternatives exist. Bornstein and Emler (2001) note that this isn’t a failure of diligence, but a natural strategy for managing overwhelming clinical complexity.
Traditional drivers and barriers studies often yield expected answers—efficacy, safety, guidelines—that, while important, rarely shift prescribing behavior. Standard research techniques fail to penetrate these ingrained cognitive patterns, resulting in uninspired strategies rooted in incomplete insight.
To break this cycle, forward-thinking pharma companies are turning to innovative, behaviorally informed methods powered by artificial intelligence. These approaches delve deeper into human psychology to uncover hidden drivers and barriers that traditional methods miss.
The Power of S+R Guided Deliberations™: Creating Productive Tension
Developed in collaboration with the University of Chicago Law School and inspired by jury science, our proprietary Guided Deliberations™ methodology introduces a crucial dynamic often missing in traditional research: tension.
By engaging physicians in structured debates around treatments they may not typically prescribe, we uncover the tipping points that shift their thinking. The most compelling insights often emerge when physicians are asked to defend positions outside their comfort zone. For example, in a recent oncology project, initially hesitant physicians became advocates for a newer treatment after debating its merits—an exercise that surfaced new pathways to persuasion.
This method is especially powerful when clinical differences between products are minimal. Guided Deliberations™ highlight subtle perceptions that tip the scales, captured in real time as physicians react to their peers and reconsider entrenched views.
Provocative Projectives: Shattering Status Quo Bias
Status quo bias stifles innovation. Our provocative techniques are designed to disrupt automatic thinking and elicit authentic responses:
- Hot Takes: Presenting extreme statements like “I would never prescribe this treatment for a frail patient” triggers immediate, instinctive reactions—bypassing rehearsed answers.
- Inversion Exercises: Instead of asking what physicians value, we ask what they avoid. This inversion surfaces unspoken priorities traditional questions often miss.
- Patient Rooming: Physicians sort hypothetical patient profiles to reveal their decision-making frameworks—particularly useful for new products lacking real-world experience.
The Fishbowl Methodology: Uncovering Emotional Drivers in a Clinical World
The “Fishbowl” is a proprietary Shapiro+Raj cognitive disruption technique that highlights the emotional currents behind clinical decisions. In one study, pulmonologists described entering the field with heroic ambitions—saving lives, mastering complexity. But when treating COPD specifically, their motivations shifted toward stability and security.
This mismatch explained a lack of energy behind COPD treatments, frustrating marketers. By addressing this emotional gap, brands can reconnect physicians to their deeper motivations—even in challenging therapeutic areas—and reignite engagement.
From What to Why: Advanced Quantitative Approaches
To scale insights from qualitative research, we use sophisticated quantitative techniques that add strategic depth:
- Relative Importance Analysis: Measures the actual weight of decision factors. When convenience outweighs clinical experience, it informs messaging priorities.
- Landscape Mapping: Reveals competitive white space and brand vulnerabilities—especially valuable for pre-launch planning.
- Bayesian Network Analysis: Maps interconnected decision pathways, showing how influencing one factor (e.g., rep relationships) impacts others across the prescribing network.
AI-Driven Predictive Insights: The New Frontier
Artificial intelligence enables a leap forward in strategic foresight. One standout innovation is our development of “KOL Avatars”—synthetic respondents trained on publicly available data from key opinion leaders.
These AI-powered profiles can simulate expert perspectives in real time, offering predictive insights from sources like conference transcripts, academic articles, and interviews. The result? Faster, smarter strategy development grounded in credible and evolving expert thinking.
Case in Point: Multi-Level Insights in Action
One brand team faced competing internal demands: senior leadership needed high-level brand equity insights, while the marketing team required tactical messaging guidance. Using Bayesian network analysis, they uncovered that “value” to physicians meant improving patient quality of life—achieved through the interplay of efficacy and safety.
This layered insight enabled messaging that addressed both emotional and clinical needs, satisfying multiple stakeholders and significantly enhancing brand perception and prescribing intent.
Your Competitive Edge Awaits
In crowded therapeutic categories where clinical differences are minimal, the real advantage lies in understanding the true drivers of physician behavior. By combining behavioral science with AI, we reveal not just what physicians say, but what actually moves them to act.
Ready to go deeper? Connect with the behavioral scientists and AI specialists at Shapiro+Raj to uncover insights that truly shift prescribing behavior and elevate market performance.
Contact us at [email protected] or visit our website www.shapiroraj.com to start a conversation about how we can shape the future, together.