Channel overload? How many touchpoints HCPs actually want

We’re all feeling it: too many pings and too many platforms. In our always-on world, digital fatigue is real.  

If it’s overwhelming for the average person, imagine how it feels for HCPs. Between treating patients, managing paperwork, and staying on top of medical news and treatments, they’re bombarded with content all day long.  

And physician shortages have changed the equation. Their attention is limited, patience is thinner, and tolerance for irrelevant content is low. To connect with HCPs today, brands must trade reach for relevance and focus on showing up in the right places with a clear purpose.  
 

When reach turns into overload 

Not having a presence across every platform possible may feel like a missed opportunity, but for HCPs, more touchpoints can mean more frustration—and potentially damage their perception of brands. And when they're already working demanding clinical schedules, every new message has to compete with fatigue, not just distraction. 

A study conducted by Digital Savvy HCP found that 62 percent of HCPs are “overwhelmed” by product-related promotional content they receive from drugmakers, making them much less likely to engage. When campaigns overload one touchpoint, like email campaigns, or spread too thin across too many social channels, the result is the same: low performance and a diluted message. Building a foundation of support for HCPs starts with understanding that HCPs aren't asking for more messages—they’re asking for better ones. 

Common pitfalls  

In the race to stay relevant, many brands overextend across digital channels without a focused strategy. Here are common mistakes that hold campaigns back: 

• Chasing every new platform: Trends are tempting, especially if the majority of the industry seems to be investing in the latest channel. However, jumping onto the latest social media platform without a plan often results in fragmented messaging and wasted effort. 

• Lack of journey mapping: Approximately 40 percent of pharma companies struggle to fully understand HCP customer journeys. If brands don’t know where HCPs consume content before launching a campaign, they end up wasting time and money across multiple channels trying to figure it out.  

• Disconnected experiences: While it’s true that every platform has a different audience and content type, spreading campaigns across multiple channels can lead to inconsistent messaging that erodes trust instead of reinforcing it. 

Avoiding these missteps—and prioritizing coordinated, meaningful outreach—helps brands earn attention, not just impressions. 

Stepping into the right channels from the start 

To identify the most effective channels and touchpoints, marketers should look at behavioral signals: where HCPs are already seeking information, how frequently they engage on certain platforms, and what kinds of content hold their attention.  

Tapping into existing engagement data, such as open rates, dwell time, and click-through behaviors, can reveal which platforms and content types resonate most with HCPs. 

It’s also critical to align content delivery with clinical workflows, where HCPs are most engaged. Channels that fit into daily routines, like point-of-care resources, early-morning inbox checks, or mobile use between appointments, are more likely to be seen as helpful rather than disruptive. And don’t forget to monitor for signs of fatigue—a sudden dip in engagement metrics may signal overexposure to a piece of content or irrelevant timing. Use A/B testing and frequency capping to strike the right balance, ensuring the message is present enough to be useful, but not so often that it becomes background noise. 

The brands that break through aren’t the loudest; they’re the most relevant, consistent, and considerate of real clinical needs. By delivering purposeful touchpoints across the clinical journey, life sciences brands can transform digital interactions into meaningful connections—and build lasting brand loyalty in the process.

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