Imagine this: You are a marketer at a medical device organization. Your products are cutting-edge, innovative, and best-in-class. It’s every marketer’s dream. But here is the big question: Is the experience your digital product catalog delivers as innovative as your products?
Often, the answer is “No,” and that’s not surprising. Many of us remember the days of paper catalogs and brochures. They are the forefathers of today’s digital catalogs — the ones that sit in the center of your website and, in many cases, closely resemble the product catalogs of yore.
However, consumer preferences and expectations are changing. And many organizations are finding it more challenging to get face-to-face with the audiences they serve on a consistent basis. That’s why unlocking the power hidden away in those online product portfolios is so critical to helping drive awareness, interest, and conversions. Let’s look at a few ways medical device marketers can supercharge the digital product catalogs.
Your digital product catalog should be as innovative as your product
If your product is cutting-edge, the best way to demonstrate that is likely not static product photos or paragraphs of text. Sure, those pieces have their place. But do they truly showcase what makes the product compelling? Can you interact with it, move it around, click the buttons, play with the interface? If not, your product page will benefit from a shot of interactivity.
Think about your last demo or trade show. What did your audiences actually do when they had the product in hand? Those actions should plant the seed of interactivity that you can build into your web experience.
Your digital product catalog should give a feel for the product
Years ago, I worked on a project with a medical device company that was looking at ways to better reach its audience members — which, in this case, was surgeons who performed a specific type of surgery. After interviewing a group of surgeons in this category, we heard loud and clear that they considered their surgical tool as an extension of their hand and described the surgery as something akin to sculpting.
As you might guess, this insight had our minds racing with possibilities. In a digital space, we can’t put this tool in the surgeon’s hand. But what can get us close? We can allow the surgeon to manipulate the tool with their mouse and simulate the ease of switching one head for another on the tool’s base. This gave our audiences a much better understanding of how this product might work for them. And you can bet they jumped on our friendly “Schedule a demo” CTA just to the right of the product interaction.
Your digital product catalog should feature layers of product knowledge
Now, you may have hooked your audience with a slick interactive experience. But when dealing with clinical teams, we know that is never enough. Layering in additional levels of knowledge allows audiences to go as deep as they’d like. Benefits, product information, specifications, ordering information and costs are the tables takes — no product page is complete without those. But can we go deeper? Sustainability information, papers and journey articles, and testimonials are all going to earn bonus points with your audiences, especially if you can make those a bit interactive too.
Whatever layers of information you decide to include, make sure it is easy to access from one location. Many sites silo the product pages from other resources, which just means your audience is either going to miss your great resources or spend several extra clicks trying to find it. I like to think of product pages as product hubs – one location for everything you could want to know about the product.
If you’re not sure what to include, go back to your personas and journey maps to hear directly from your audiences on what is most important to them.
Your digital product catalog should include a variety of media
Finally, successful product pages typically contain a few types of media. Perhaps there is a text-based testimonial by a loyal user or a video giving a glimpse of the manufacturing and QA process. Maybe you’ll include an explainer video or animation showing the product in action. Linking to podcasts, webinars, demonstration videos, customer stories and more will help round out the product page experience and help your audiences see a 360-degree vision of your product.
Before you jump into creating an interactive digital product catalog, be sure you are clear on the needs, wants, and perceptions of your audience members. Bells and whistles without any substance can turn audiences off. But creating a meaningful experience that energizes and educates your audience is a recipe for conversion.
Our Digital Healthcare Strategy team helps medical device organizations create memorable experiences that put your products into the hands of your audiences, driving usage, inspiring loyalty, and creating advocacy. Contact us today for more information.
