It is widely recognised that Detail Follow Up [DFU] studies provide invaluable feedback about the effect your medical representative call is having on your customers, however for many agencies and client’s alike DFU studies can be challenging, time consuming studies and often fraught with issues.
Vicky McLellan 
19 Feb, 2008
Quantitative Corner: How to get the best out of your DFU
It
is widely recognised that Detail Follow Up [DFU] studies provide invaluable
feedback about the effect your medical representative call is having on your
customers, however for many agencies and client’s alike DFU studies can
be challenging, time consuming studies and often fraught with issues. Some
of the ‘issues’ that are encountered during the study can be avoided
during the design and set up stage by taking into consideration the following
points:
The ‘window’ of opportunity
One the key criteria tested within a DFU, is the level of customer recall, it is generally accepted within the industry that interviews should be conducted within 10 days of detail to ensure optimal recall. After 10 days the customers memory is often less reliable which will result in a significantly higher screen out rate therefore failing to provide a ‘realistic’ picture of recall levels
Information provided by the call lists
Typically call lists consist mainly of the customers name, practice/ hospital address, telephone number and date of detail. Few contain email addresses. In light of this DFU’s may be one of the few quantitative studies left that need to be conducted by using one of the more traditional quantitative methodologies, namely CATI (computer assisted telephone interviewing). Using a web based methodology could be setting the study up for a fall as by the time the customer has been recruited and sent an online link the ‘window’ of opportunity’ would have narrowed significantly.
Quality and quantity of the call lists
When it comes to recruiting from call lists on average every 1 out of 10-12 customers will be successfully recruited. This should help gauge how many contacts need to be provided to hit the required number of customers. Basically if you want 50 GPs at least 500 usable names are required. However, this is based on the assumption that the call lists are of good quality, up to date and provided on a regular basis (ideally every other day). Good call data is key to the success of the study. If there is time a ‘dry’ run of the call data should be conducted to ensure that the call data will support the required sample minimising any potentially ‘difficult’ conversations that might need to be had with brand teams regarding the quality of the call lists.
The interview length
Bearing in mind that the most commonly used approach to conducting DFU’s is CATI, the interview length can also be a key driver to the success of the project. From our experience, the shorter the interview the less likely you will have physicians refuse to participate. Ideally the interview should take around 10-15 minutes to complete as most physicians will tend to do the interview there and then rather than scheduling an interview date and time which are often then postponed.
Target customers
Generally it is accepted that primary care healthcare professionalsl are easier to contact which means that they may take less time to survey than secondary care healthcare professionals. To reduce the time required to survey secondary care healthcare professionals additional sample should be supplied or perhaps a reduced sample should be considered. If few representatives are actually targeting secondary care healthcare professionals it may even be more appropriate to consider a qualitative methodology with these customers.
From an agency perspective, two questions that we are asked more frequently are:
- Do you have access to normative data?
- Should we also speak with the representatives?
So do we have normative data?
Few agencies, including BHI, have access to substantial normative data which will allow significant cross comparison analysis. Each project is unique to each client and their needs make it difficult to confidently compare findings. Even though ‘key’ questions such as spontaneous/ prompted recall of the detail and messages are asked in most surveys, it is unlikely that the normative data held by agencies is reflective of your particular therapy area. However, what we can do is provide a more qualitative assessment based on our experience of conducting DFUs which will give you directional guidance as to how your call compares to others.
Should you speak with your representatives?
Yes – speaking with representatives
will provide 360° feedback. Not only will this provide a fuller breadth
of information but it will also ensure that your sales force feels more involved
in the projects and that this is as much as an assessment for them. You could
even complete the representatives interviews post the main DFU to allow you
to follow up on any particular issues that have come out from the research,
equally it can be just as interesting to run both phases concurrently to see
if findings correlate!
What is key to the successful running of any study, but in particular DFU’s is having an open dialogue between the agency and the client to ensure that if issues do occur during the study these can raised and addressed rather than sweep under the carpet which often results in them to become bigger issues and more difficult to solve.
So the next time you are looking to conduct a DFU hopefully the above will provide guidance in the design and set up of your study to ensure that your DFU runs smoothly. Should you wish to discuss any of the points mentioned above, contact Vicky McLellan at BHI.
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