Q. What is Awareness, Trial and Usage (ATU) research within the pharmaceutical industry and how do I find a vendor for conducting ATU studies for my pharma product?
Awareness, Trial and Usage (ATUs) or tracking research studies are a staple of the pharmaceutical industry and one of the more common types of studies conducted on a regular basis for licensed prescription products.
The purpose of an ATU is to track product awareness, to understand the extent of initial utilization as well as on-going prescribing for a prescription product in order to plan effective future commercialization plans and adjust marketing and targeting efforts on an on-going basis. ATUs are typically conducted monthly, quarterly, or bi-annually depending upon the current marketing efforts and needs of the client team.
A vendor for ATUs should have the proficiency, experience and understanding that is required in the pharmaceutical field to achieve these goals and objectives, with the competence to provide both practical and purposeful output to give the marketing team direction.
The output from an ATU should give confidence to maintain current efforts or to adjust direction based on measurable performance criteria.
Segmentation studies
A related type of research tool includes a segmentation study, where you may ask the same questions as would normally be included in a traditional ATU (including extensive demographics) but also add on specific attitudinal and behavioral questions in an effort to group respondents into similar segments. The purpose here is to understand market segments which may or may not be obvious without extensive analysis and comparison of potential groups.
Salesforce effectiveness studies
Salesforce effectiveness is also similar to ATUs, but with special emphasis on the promotional messages and recall from specific targeting goals related to the sales team for a product. In a salesforce effectiveness study respondents are asked when, where and how messages were communicated by a salesperson and compared to the intended marketing and promotional efforts of a marketing team.
The larger role of all ATU-type studies is to better understand the marketplace from the physician perspective and to guide marketing team’s decision-making regarding promotional efforts.