@AZHelps Celebrates, But Does It Actually Help People?

I wasn't able to attend ExL's Digital Pharma East (DPE15) conference last week in Philly, so I assume no tough questions were asked. For example, nobody asked AstraZeneca if its @AZHelps Twitter account actually helps people.

@AZHelps was featured in a "Customer Service Fireside Chat," which focused on opportunities for pharma to "build a stronger relationship between Marketing/Communications and Customer Service, perhaps even driving additional revenue and better health outcomes."

Leigh Householder (innovation officer at GSW and the editor of the Health Experience Project) wrote a glowing report, which summarized how @AZHelps supposedly works:

"AstraZeneca has been investing in supporting people via social media for 6 years. Their goal is to educate patients about available resources (including cost, access, affordability) and to address specific product inquiries.

"AZhelps uses Hootsuite to listen for comments about their products. When they see a comment that meets their engagement criteria, they respond. Clear rules of engagement mean they don’t respond to every tweet they see.

"They’ve built their social support system right in the call center with someone (Heather!) who is experienced addressing customer questions and is scheduled and dedicated to the task."

I find it hard to believe, however, that @AZHelps drives revenue or better outcomes or that it even marginally helps people. Read on to find out why...

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