Abstract:

This paper describes how to segment a patient market for pharmaceutical products 'through the eyes of physicians.' Using an innovative card sorting technique, physicians can rate emotional, clinical and lifestyle-related needs of a group of real patients. Physicians are often in a better position to judge patient needs - especially in complex disease states that are little understood by patients - than are patients themselves. Specific answers to challenging segmentation questions, such as global sampling issues, balancing need scores, and data quality will also be addressed.