Why (& How) Pharma Marketing Research Must Keep Innovating: Even Small, Fun Ideas Can Make a Big Difference

The Dual Challenge: Data and Engagement

Over the past decade, the pharma, biotech, and medtech industries have become increasingly data-driven. Sophisticated analytics platforms tapping into Big Data now enable answers many of the business questions that once required traditional primary research. This shift poses a major challenge facing our business: how do we ensure that marketing research continues to be relevant, valued, and -- just as importantly -- engaging for the respondents who provide the insights?

The answer lies in continuous innovation. Innovation not for its own sake, but to create methods that yield deeper, more personal insights while keeping participants genuinely invested in the process. The goal is twofold: stay indispensable in a data-saturated environment while at the same time making the experience of contributing to research feel worthwhile, even enjoyable.

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Learning From Outside Our Industry

One of the most powerful ways to drive innovation in healthcare marketing research is to look outward, drawing inspiration from industries, practices, and even family pastimes that have nothing to do with pharma. Too often, our research methodologies become insular and recycled, relying on incremental tweaks to familiar techniques. But true engagement happens when we introduce novel, unexpected approaches.

For me personally, I draw a lot of inspiration from games we play around our dinner table. We often use Table Topics to elevate our mealtime conversation. In the center of our breakfast room table sits a clear box that holds dozens of cards, each containing a question, some thought-provoking, some playful, all conversation-starting. You draw a card at random, read it aloud, and everyone takes a turn answering. It’s a simple concept, but it invariably sparks energy, curiosity, laughter, and connection.

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A “Random Question Box” for Respondents

Now imagine applying this concept in a pharma/medtech research context. Instead of being passively guided through a predetermined, set survey path, survey respondents could “pick” from a set of questions -- or a system might serve them a random prompt from a pool of carefully designed items.

Why would this matter?

1. Excitement and engagement – The very act of drawing something unknown introduces an element of anticipation. It’s similar to the thrill of a boardwalk arcade game, like that "claw" machine where you try to grab and hoist a toy out with a wobbly mechanical crane: you don’t know exactly what you’ll get, and that makes the experience more fun and unexpected.
2. Choice as data – Allowing participants, whether HCPs, patients, or caregivers, to choose the question they want to answer adds another layer of insight. Their choice alone reveals preferences, priorities, or even personality traits.
3. Depth of response – When asked more reflective, human-centered questions, respondents often give answers that uncover emotional drivers, values, and lived experiences that traditional, straightforward queries miss.

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Sample Questions That Spark Insight

Consider some of the Table Topics–style prompts:

• Which of your personality traits would you like to change?
• If you got a tattoo, what would you get and where would you put it?
• How would you like to spend your elder years?
• Is it more important to be book-smart or street-smart?
• Which of your ancestors would you most like to meet?
• If you knew that you were going to inherit a fortune, how would your plans for the future change?

While these aren’t necessarily literal suggestions for healthcare research, their spirit is invaluable. They prompt respondents to reflect, share, and reveal something personal. A similar set of industry-appropriate questions, crafted with care, potentially could function as icebreakers in interviews or focus groups, opening the door to richer dialogue.

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Why This Matters for Pharma and Medtech

The stakes are high. As I've come to appreciate through my conversations with top fielding partners over the past few weeks, respondent fatigue is real...and engagement is therefore declining. If research feels like a chore, participants will disengage, providing superficial answers -- or worse, opt out entirely. On the other hand, when research feels dynamic, relevant, and even a little entertaining and gamified, participants lean in. They become partners in discovery rather than passive data providers.

In an era when analytics can provide quick answers to many surface-level questions posed by commercial teams, primary research must lean into its unique strength: its ability to capture human complexity. By experimenting with methodologies that spark curiosity, foster reflection, and respect participants’ time, we not only improve the quality of insights but also demonstrate that marketing research itself is evolving.

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A Closing Thought

Oftentimes, the best ideas often come from outside the walls of our own industry. As commercial, analytics, and insights professionals, it is our responsibility to continuously adapt, borrow, and reimagine. Steal if we have to! By constantly innovating, whether inspired by family games, consumer trends, or emerging technologies, we ensure that our research stays vital, our insights stay fresh, and our respondents stay engaged.

Innovation is not optional; it’s the key to keeping our beloved field indispensable in a data-driven world.