What Do Our Customers
Really Want?
The Role of Market Research
in Planning for a Consumer
Health Website
Julia Sollenberger
Bernie Todd-Smith
What do we want to do?
Project Mission
Provide all the people of the
greater Rochester area with
the high-quality information
and resources they need to
make wise lifestyle and
healthcare choices so that
Rochester can become a
healthier community.
Primary Partners
• Libraries
• Medical, Public, School,
Academic
• Health Agencies/Associations
• Healthcare delivery systems
• Educational Institutions
Health Information
Services in Rochester
• Current State
•
Services are at
varying levels
• Future State
•
Consistent, high
quality services
Consistent, High-Quality
Health Information
• Training
• Referral Network
• Web-based local health
information
• Awareness/Publicity
• Measuring impact on health
status of public
Funding for
Implementation
• NNLM Planning and
Implementation Grants
• LSTA Grant
• CLIC and the City –
NNLM “Access to Electronic
Health Information” Grant
Funding for
Implementation
•Future Funding
•New York State
•Federal – Seniors CLIC
proposal to be submitted to
NLM June 1, 2003
•Local Foundations
•Corporations
Developing a
Community-Wide Approach
to Consumer Health
It Takes a Long Time to Grow
an Apple Tree
1999-2000
Cooperation Established
2001-2002
Cooperative Planning
•Expanded
services/resources in
competing hospitals
•Received NLM grants in
competing hospitals
•Library council’s role as
intermediary established
•Held Many meetings
between hospital
librarians
•Held More meetings with
all groups
•Received NNLM, NLM &
LSTA Grants
•Steering Committee &
Teams formed
•Held Forum
•Awarded Ad Council
Roundtable
•Commissioned Market
Research Study
•Hired Project Director
2003-2004
Joint Resources
Developed
•Benchmarked other
programs
•Completed Market
Research
•Website-software,
content, usability
•Trained public & school
librarians, agency staff,
school nurses (pilot),
senior center staff (pilot)
•Submit new grants
Seniors CLIC
The Future
Forum
Forum
• Held in public
library
• Two hours
• Convened by Deputy Director
of County Health Department
• Local agencies recruited
• Hired professional
moderator
Forum
96 Attendees
Literacy educators,
insurers & others
Senior Center &
Nursing Staff
13%
Health
Educators/Providers
6%
33%
Health Sciences
Librarians
7%
9%
School Librarians
& Nurses
10%
Public
Librarians
20%
Health
Agency Staff
Website
Recommendations
from Forum
• Features
• Address different literacy levels
• Usability regularly tested
• Useful to disabled, visually
impaired
• Current
• High Quality
• Interactive
• Culturally sensitive
Website
Recommendations
from Forum
•Content
•One-stop shopping
•Disease and Wellness Information
•Support Groups
•Complementary Medicine
•Non-clinical Information (financial,
legal, treatment coordination)
•chat rooms
Team Formation
Website
Forum
Teams
Information
Referral
Market Research/
Publicity
Evaluation
Forum
Key Accomplishments
• Focused our ideas
• Identified key players
from outside of medical
library community
Website
Recommendations
from Forum
•Content
• Features
•One-stop shopping
•Support Groups
•Complementary Medicine
•Disease and Wellness
Information
•Non-clinical Information
•chat rooms
 Address different literacy
levels
• Usability regularly tested
• Useful to disabled,
visually impaired
• Current
• High Quality
• Interactive
• Culturally sensitive
Forum
96 Attendees
Literacy educators,
insurers & others
Senior Center &
Nursing Staff
13%
Health
Educators/Providers
6%
33%
Health Sciences
Librarians
7%
9%
School Librarians
& Nurses
10%
Public
Librarians
20%
Health
Agency Staff
What’s Missing?
Benchmarking
Market Survey
Objectives
• What health issues are of
highest interest?
• What sources of information
have been used?
• What is the satisfaction level
with these sources?
• What are seen as the advantages
and disadvantages of using
Internet sites for such information?
Market Survey
Methodology
• Random digit dialing
• 300 households in Monroe
County
• Limited to those with Internet
access
• Screened out those who work in a
library, for a health care provider, or
for a health insurance company
• Surveyed individuals UNLIKE those
who attended the Forum
Market Survey
Demographics
• “Typical” User
•
•
•
•
Age 25-64 (85%)
White (88%)
Female (61%)
Income Level
$25,000 – 100,000 (64%)
• With Internet Access at
Home (87%)
Do you use the Internet
to look for health
information?
No
24%
76%
Yes
How would you rate your
overall satisfaction with the
availability and quality of
health care information in
the Rochester area?
3=Fair
15%
Don’t
4=Poor Know
4%
3%
2=Good
55%
1=Excellent
23%
Note:
Overall Satisfaction
Increases with age
Percent of those who have a
need for the following types
of information frequently or
occasionally
Obtaining information on how to stay
healthy, such as exercise or nutrition
69%
Learning about a specific disease,
illness, or injuries
65%
55%
Getting definitions of medical terms
Learning about drugs and natural
remedies
49%
Finding information about aging or
senior citizens health issues
36%
Calendar of local events related to
health and wellness
30%
14%
Finding support groups
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
Use of Internet to obtain
this kind of Information
Obtaining information on how to stay
healthy, such as exercise or nutrition
37%
Learning about a specific disease,
illness, or injuries
58%
Getting definitions of medical terms
62%
Learning about drugs and natural
remedies
42%
Finding information about aging or
senior citizens health issues
30%
Calendar of local events related to
health and wellness
13%
20%
Finding support groups
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
Percentage of those who had a need for this kind of information who used the Internet to find it
Learning about a specific
disease, illness, or injury
Where did you obtain this
information?
80%
58%
60%
40%
29%
20%
7%
3%
2%
1%
0%
Internet
Health care
professional
Others
Library
Health
Other
related organization person
response
Learning about a specific
disease, illness, or injury:
In the FUTURE, where would
you go to get this kind of
information?
80%
63%
58%
60%
40%
40%
29%
20%
7%
0%
Internet
Health care
professional
12%
8%
Others
3%
Library
related
response
2%
4%
Health
organization
1% 3%
Other person
Calendar of local events
Related to health and Wellness
Where did you obtain
this information?
100%
80%
60%
49%
40%
19%
20%
15%
13%
4%
0%
Others
Health
Health care
organization professional
Internet
Other
person
0%
Library
related
response
Finding Support Groups
Where did you obtain this
information?
100%
80%
60%
40%
36%
24%
20%
20%
16%
4%
0%
0%
Health care
Others
professional
Internet
Health
organization
Other
person
Library
related
response
What internet sites do
you use for health
information?
No specific site/don’t know
27%
Use search engine
20%
WebMD
14%
Yahoo
9%
Google
9%
MSN
4%
AOL
3%
0%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
Other sites mentioned
(No more that 3 mentions)
• Medical
• Health Central
• American Medical
Association
• UMIM
• Dogpile
• ASHA
• Discovery Channel
• Blue Cross
• United Health
• Dr. Coop
• Heart
• Road Runner
• NEJM
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Men's Health
Metlife
Blue Choice
Health Care Provider
Fitness
Medline Plus
Aetna
American Health
Network
Mayo Clinic
Dr. Dean Edell
Health Link
Medix
Walgreens
What do you like about
using the Internet to get
information about health
related Issues?
Easy/fast/convenient
66%
Amount/variety of information
26%
11%
Can use at home
Don’t have to bother Dr./others
7%
5%
Privacy
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
What do you dislike about
using the Internet to get
information about health
related issues?
Dislike nothing
67%
Sorting through lots
of information
23%
20%
Accuracy concerns
7%
Slow
Lacks human interaction
5%
Popup ads
3%
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
Our conclusions
• Results substantiate our
plans to build a local website
for health information
• Many are satisfied with the
information they get from the
Internet, but there is room for
improvement
• Wellness information more important
than we thought
Conclusions
• Two areas where Internet not
already well used
• Calendar of local events
• Finding support groups
These are exactly the information
gaps that could be filled by a
localized, well known Internet site.
Conclusions
• No one Internet health site
dominates
• CLIC-on-Health could establish
itself as the widely recognized
website of choice among Rochesterians,
since THE POSITION IS VACANT!
Future Plans for Market
Research
• Good baseline data for
evaluation purposes
• Plan to repeat this survey
several years into the future
• Will we have made a difference???
• That’s our intent!
Let’s have some fun –
Survey Out-takes
• “I go to government
sites like AMA and APA”
• “It’s that they would use
the big doctor talk, and I
would say, uh huh, okay,
whatever…”
More Out Takes
• What Internet site did you use to obtain
info on how to stay healthy, such as
nutrition or exercise?
• www.dentbaseball.com
• Where did you obtain info
on local events related
to health and wellness?
• The Bicycle Shop
Even more Out Takes
• What is your favorite site for
health information?
• Clubmed.com
And Finally…
• What site do you use for
health information?
“I don’t know.
I just click on health”