My goal in attending conferences like CBI’s iPharmaCONNECT, which is currently in progress in Philadelphia, is to come away with at least one new topic worthy of discussion. Thanks to yesterday’s session on “What Makes a Health App Effective?” presented by Jim Dayton (@JimDayton), Snr Dir Emerging Media at Intouch Solutions, I have a topic I think worthy: Are we getting too much religion (preaching to the faithful) versus science (useful data) at these conferences?
Dayton was reviewing the story and “success” of GoMeals, the iPhone/iPad/Android app developed by Sanofi Aventis that is intended to help people with diabetes count their calories whether at home or eating out at restaurants. I have reviewed this program in a previous post (read “The iPad as a Pharma Marketing Platform“).
One piece of data that Dayton presented was the fact that the GoMeals app has been downloaded about 415,000 times since it was launched in November 2009. Of course, it is widely known that nearly 85% of the people who download apps use them maybe once or twice and then never use them again. I did that with GoMeals. I stopped using it when my favorite local restaurants were not included in the database.
Also, like me, maybe many people downloaded the GoMeals app to multiple devices (eg, iPhones and iPads).
Thus, the number of downloads of an app is NOT a useful KPI (Key Performance Indicator), IMHO.
Dayton did mention that GoMeals enjoyed an abandon rate slightly less than the 80-85% average I mentioned above. But he couldn’t (or wouldn’t) give the audience any hard data regarding that or practically anything else that might be considered a true KPI.
Dayton, of course, is limited in what he can reveal about his client’s product. It’s obvious, however, that Sanofi considers GoMeals a success because it has continued to update the program and supports it with a web site and a twitter account. All of this requires a certain commitment of resources. But is this commitment justified by relevant data or just because the faithful believe in the program? Do you justify money spent by science or by religion?
Sanofi obviously collects useful data from GoMeals users. For example, the application includes a survey that asks questions such as:
- Do you or anyone in your household who uses GoMeals have diabetes?
- How often do you use GoMeals?
Great post and great point! I would love to see more hard data – and be able to share more data. The sad reality is though that when I get hard data I will probably not be allowed to make it public. I suppose though we should also remember that hard data from other industries can be equally hard to get hold of – unless it is years out of date that is!
Really Good Post!!
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Jim Dayton new approach "What Makes a Health App effective" seems to me very good. I think clients will be beneficial by using this program. Thanks Sanofi and Jim for revealing special app.