"How Accurate Is Your DTC Website?"

The Savvy Consumer
"How Accurate Is Your DTC Website?"

When consumers click on a company's Web site for patient information, they expect to receive accurate and up-to-date material. Unfortunately, that is not always the case. The Internet exposes the consumer to a wide range of information, and many consumers find it difficult to judge its quality. As more and more consumers are learn how to research diseases and medications on the Web, it is critical that companies are certain that the consumer information on their Web sites is clinically accurate, up-to-date, and understandable.

There are horror stories of graphic designers in ad agencies being assigned the task of developing disease information for DTC Web sites. Graphic designers generally lack clinical training and an understanding of whether a journal article is a primary reference source. If it is, they lack the experience to evaluate whether the information is accurate. This means that people with inadequate clinical expertise are writing content for Web sites and simply copying from sites that are inaccurate or obsolete. They fail to grasp how to make the information trustworthy, readable, and useful to the consumer. What a potential for disaster!

Pharmaceutical companies have a wonderful window of opportunity right now. Consumers are searching for credible sources of information, and are trying to weed out the good from the bad. That task is next to impossible for lay people to do on their own. Consumers need to know where to go for information they can trust.

Pharmaceutical companies should insist that their agencies provide them with the following quality checks before a Web site goes live:

Request a drug literature search to ensure that the Web site contains up-to-date information. Companies should request a copy of the electronic search results with short abstracts. That will help indicate the agency's capability to conduct high-quality drug information searches. It will also help the company track the references used to support the content of the Web site.
Insist that the references used to develop the site be primary references (original clinical articles) from reputable journals. Avoid statements from unreferenced or poorly referenced Web sites. Even information posted by some national consumer organizations should be critically evaluated.
Request that the agency reference every statement in its site manuscript as well as provide a manuscript that is cross-referenced to specific statements in those articles. The manuscript will become an important component of a company's safety net in the event of consumer litigation.
Be sure that the Web site correctly interprets the clinical articles. That process requires extreme attention to detail. It is critical that a pharmaceutical company post only content that conveys drug information clearly and precisely.
Ensure that the information has been accurately translated into language the consumer can understand. That process requires stringent clinical input, incorporation of behavior modification techniques–so that people will be motivated to make the lifestyle changes recommended–and literacy expertise.
Ensure that the information is useful and comprehensible to consumers. Too many Web sites contain language only a health professional could understand. Such content is useless to the average consumer.
Make the site interesting. Use graphic animation to help explain the course of a medical condition. Use color appropriately. Follow all the patient education principles that apply to printed consumer information materials in Web site content development.
Publish the date of the site's last update. That will help the consumer determine if the information is current.
Keep the Web site up-to-date. That process may involve daily, monthly, or yearly updates. Obsolete information on disease management and medication instructions can be deadly.

In the end, consumers need to be able to trust the information in DTC Web sites. Pharmaceutical companies should make them aware of the stringent process undertaken to ensure that their sites contain accurate, useful, and current information. That will increase your company's credibility with the audience it targets for its DTC campaign.

Dr. Dorothy L. Smith is a consumer education expert and president of Consumer Health Information Corporation. The full-service company specializes in patient labeling, program development, and strategic planning for DTC campaigns.

Do you have a DTC question? E-mail it to dlsmith@consumer-health.com or call (703)734-0650.



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