Doctor portal users make purchases without a prescription at an above-average rate
12.02.2013 10:17
Users of doctor portals buy over-the-counter medications more than average and are very interested in health topics. This is proven by a study by the agency dcore on behalf of the largest German doctor recommendation portal jameda. 64 percent of portal users said they shop at a pharmacy at least once a quarter. In a comparison group of typical Internet users, only 54 percent go to the pharmacy every three months. Users of the doctor's portal also purchase over-the-counter medications more often than average when filling a prescription. In this group, a good two thirds of the patients supplement their prescribed medication with an OTC medication (in the comparison group it is only a good half).
“As the person responsible for marketing Germany's largest doctor recommendation portal, I often hear concerns from the pharmaceutical industry's marketing departments that patients who are planning to visit a doctor are not interested in over-the-counter medications,” says Markus Reif, member of the management team at jameda. “Our study clearly shows that patients who prepare their doctor’s visit online have a high affinity for over-the-counter medications and at the same time are happy to invest in their health.”
Users of doctor portals are in demand for health advice for their environment and are very health-conscious
71 percent of doctor portal users say that it is particularly important to them to do a lot for their health (in the comparison group it is only 55 percent). They are also twice as likely to obtain information about current health topics from the media (one in two doctor portal users but only one in four typical Internet users). It is therefore not surprising that they are often viewed by those around them as competent contacts for health issues. 45 percent of the doctor portal users surveyed are regularly asked for health tips from their friends. In the comparison group, only 24 percent said this about themselves.
About the study
The results were collected in a comparative on-site survey among users of the doctor recommendation portal jameda and a general interest portal (FOCUS Online). Of the total of 1,295 participants, 697 are users of the doctor portal and 589 are users of the general interest portal. The results are representative of the users of the portals. The survey period was December 2012.