Subjects - Internet and Businesses Online

“It’s not 100% up to date but….”

Do you encourage people to go to your website? Perhaps you find yourself making excuses for it as you give the url? Is it a good representation of your business?

I recently received an email from a business acquaintance, proudly announcing that after ‘

According to USFDA, a combination product is one composed of any combination of a drug and device; biological product and device; drug and biological product

months of work’, she was delighted to invite us to go to her brand new website. So I did. It was truly awful, by any standards. Ugly, cumbersome, old fashioned. Fortunately, I hardly know the lady in question so I did not feel the need to respond personally to the email, although I was tempted to reply sayi

; or drug, device, and biological product and fixed dose combination would include two or more combinations of drug.

Examples of combination products may in

g “but really, it’s rubbish, what were you thinking?”

There is no better way to shortcut the introduction stages in a business relationship, than by inviting potential customers, partners or advisers, to have a look at your website. The flip side is, you can just as easily cut short that relati

lude drug-coated devices, drugs packaged with delivery devices in medical kits, and drugs and devices packaged separately but intended to be used together.

onship, if they form a negative opinion based on your online presence.

Do you have a sneaking suspicion that your website is not what it should be? Face up to the facts and fix it. Equally, if you are confident that your site is fantastic, make sure that you are getting good rankings, and maximi

here is enormous increase in the number of combination products entering the market in the recent years. Combination products have proven advantages but fixe

ing opportunities with the visitors you get.

Practical steps to get it right

Make time to sit down and focus on checking your site carefully, each page. List and change if possible all errors, dead links, out of date information, dodgy images, empty pages etc

Enlis

d dose combinations are still in the process of convincing regulatory authority on their advantages over the single ingredient formulations.

Combination pro

t a group of mystery shoppers to test your website. Go for the toughest crowd you can and make it clear you want their completely honest opinions. Steel yourself for criticism, it will be absolutely invaluable. Include a couple of youngsters if you can, teenagers are particularly good at pointing out painfu

ucts have become life saving products for the pharmaceutical companies who doesn’t have many innovative molecules in their product pipeline and have been inc

ly obvious holes in a website.

Do not ‘over brief’ them. The less they know about your business the better. You want them to go the website, and form an opinion about what it is you are offering, and how they can access your product or service. Make it clear you want to improve your website and a

easingly used in the product life cycle management. Even the companies having product patents are trying to extend their product life cycle through the combi

sk for suggestions.

After the testers have been to the website – ask for first impressions, and then more questions to ascertain the user experience. Do not, under any circumstances take the comments personally, your panel might hold back on stuff which could make a big difference.

nation products and maximize the revenues. But the companies involved in this practice are overlooking that they are burdening the patients both economically

may decide on reflection, that some of the user comments are not completely relevant or constructive – but consider the whole picture before you start to disregard any information. Remember that they are the visitors, and in some respects all of the observations are valid.

What you need to know (frank

and physically. They need to rightly judge the benefits of the combination products and they have to even look at the risks involved when combining the produ

and honest answers)

First impressions?
Can you tell immediately what this business is?
If you were a prospective customer, would you contact me?
How would you get in touch?
Is there any information you would expect to see that is not on the website?

ts. Some of the combination products were well accepted by physicians while others suffered. Companies involved in development of combination products are fi

Did you feel confident that this is a professional business?

Did you find spelling mistakes, grammatical errors?

Was there anything out of date?

How would you make the website better?

What next?

Review the information you have f

ding difficulty in defining their combination products and facing various challenges from selecting a combination to marketing it.

Following aspects would a

rom your panel.

Grade and group the comments in order of priority.

For example, if 4 out of 6 of your reviewees, could not find the contact details easily – this would qualify as a high priority action point.

If 2 out of 6 were not keen on your font, this may not require urg

dd to the challenges in developing combination products:

Which markets to tap where the combination products can do fairly well?
Which combination prod

nt attention.

If only 5 out of 6 could tell immediately what your business is – this would still be high priority, you should aim for 100% understanding of this critical factor.

Draw up an action list depending on the findings of your testing panel. Deal with those actions you can, imm

cts are meaningful and rational?
Which therapeutic categories to select?
Which Combinations can address unmet needs of the patients?
Do combin

ediately, and then decide on a strategy to complete the list.

You may not need a redesign, investigate options to spruce up your site without going down the sometimes tortuous redesign path.

If you do decide that a complete redesign is necessary – make sure you are completely clear abo

tions increase the patient compliance?
What would be the developing cost?
How to tackle the risks encountered during combination product developmen

t the brief you need to achieve – and ask around for personal recommendations for the right web design agency for you.
Getting the website up there in the first place was torture, I can’t face that hassle again! This is such a familiar cry, whatever the size of your business or budget. Howeve

t?

As combination products don't fit into the traditional categories of drugs, medical devices, or biological products, the USFDA is in the process of devel

r, web business is booming for all sectors, and you cannot afford to fall behind. Use your experiences to give you the confidence to be more demanding of your web agency, and more decisive in your actions.

Who can help?

There is little in the way of governance for web design companies a

ping new procedures for reviewing their safety, efficacy and quality.

Professional from academic institutions, pharmaceutical industries, health care indust

yet, so choose wisely. Given the proliferation of ‘web design agencies’ in the last ten years, it is wise to entrust your site to those companies who have been established for some time.

Check that the web design team has business and technical expertise – this is absolutely key. Technical expe

y and representatives from various regulatory agencies are working out to design the regulatory requirements for manufacture and sale of combination products

rtise without business experience results in websites that consistently fail to engage visitors, or sell business concepts.

Look for strong testimonials, and a focus on the importance of sticking to budget and deadlines.

Ask around for personal recommendations, based on direct experi

.

As there is an increasing trend of the combination products companies manufacturing such products should be able to tackle the problems involved in the de

nce as a client (beware of the potentially catastrophic “my nephew is at University, he can build you a website – no problem” conversation.)

Need help now?! Serious Web Support is a trouble shooting bureau style service aimed at those businesses that need an emergency service, or

elopment. They need to be wiser in analyzing the market trends and the regulatory requirements.

Companies that provide selfless information through particip

those looking for a more regular management contract. A wide range of services, with the option of paying an hourly rate for small or ad hoc jobs, or monthly payments for ongoing management of your site.
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tion in industry events and feedback to regulatory authorities would be able to face the challenges and will be successful in developing combination products

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